camo31_10.50

hahahahahah Screw you guys, i'm still installing my 35w 6000K's in my 2nd gen 4runner.





if you guys find any better sources for light, let me know and i'll try them. bottom line is HID's are brighter.

justin_4runner

oh i love my hids, if i could put them in all my cars, and my daughters car, but they are not set up right for them and would blind people and i dont like being mean...

shaeff

You spent $161 (and probably + shipping cost) on a PnP kit? Yikes! You could have had the better part of a proper retrofit for that price. Here's a set of FXr projectors, which are a replica of the projectors I used in my pics above and give almost an exact replication of the output:
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...roducts_id=101

I'm anxious to see the cutoff you've got. Regardless, even if it's sharp, you still won't get the width of a proper retrofit. Not by a long shot.


Forget 6000k. Even that's too blue. As I said, been there, done that. I had a 6000k kit in my truck (in Hella E-codes and Hella fogs). The light is annoying. It has a very blue tint to it. The higher you go past 4300-5000k, the less usable output you get. Any higher than 5000k and you're sacrificing usable output for "cool" colors.

I never said that HIDs as a group aren't brighter. I said that the light output you get from putting them in a halogen housing is absolute garbage. When a xenon bulb strikes an arc, it bows upwards. When a halogen bulb is powered, the filament bows downwards. Halogen housings take this into account. When the arc goes the wrong way (xenon) you get glare, scrambled output, and fuzzy cutoffs. E-code housings provide a decent cutoff for HIDs, but the output is narrow and crap.

My FX35 retrofit shines from in the woods on the left side of the road, to in the woods on the right side of the road right off the bumper of my car, all while providing a wickedly sharp cutoff and NEVER blinding other drivers.

I swear, once you do a proper retrofit, you'll be me talking to you. You'll... err... see the light.

Good sources for PROPER HID lighting:

www.theretrofitsource.com
www.hidplanet.com

And again, here's a direct link to FXr projectors, which are bixenon and provide a fantastic output from a very small package:

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...roducts_id=101



Thank you for being responsible.

camo31_10.50

so here's a dumb question..





you said when a Xenon bulb strikes an arc, it bows upwards.....and halogen bows downwards.




can you rotate the xenon bulb 180* there for it is still bowing upwards(in relation to the base) but in relation to the rest of the world (and the housing) it is now bowing downards?



again, probably a DUMB question, but i don't know THAT much about HID's to be able to successfully answer it myself.



and if i COULD do a PROPER retrofit in my 2nd gen 4runner housings, i would....but since there are NONE that ANYONE has found, ima stick with these.


i know what it's like to be blinded by HID's, happens all the time, and i'm used to it now, (i also have eyes that are sensitive to bright light).

i also wont have this 4runner forever, so this will only be a short term fix lol

Camo2294

Would I beable to install my bulbs in those retrofits, or is it sold as a whole setup. And if not, do they have a 55 watt setup? I love the amount of light my setup was generating. And yes the highbeams were very smooth with no hotspots, and I didn't have my lights adjusted to far to the left for courtesy because when I had them both spread out I always got a high beam from upcoming drivers

shaeff

You'd have to modify both the bulb and the housing. Even still, I doubt it would fix the problem. And even if it did, you'd still have pencil-beams in comparison to a proper HID setup. Not worth the effort.

2nd Gen runner use H4 housings? If so, grab a pair of cheap-o housings off eBay and retrofit the FXr projectors into them. Done and done. H4 housings are EASY to retrofit.

By the way, there are no dumb questions. You've gotta learn somehow. I'm all about proper retrofits, so ask away and I'll answer anything I can as completely as I know to the best of my knowledge. I did a LOT of research before I did a retrofit.

Your bulbs aren't 55w, the ballasts are. The bulbs you have are just rebased xenon lamps to fit your application. You can't use your bulbs with an H4 base, as the FXr's use a D2S base. (which is likely what your bulbs were made from originally, or something similar)

If you want to retain your 55w setup, all you need is an adapter to go from the standard AMP style connectors I'm sure your ballasts use, to a D2S. They can be found from theretrofitsource.com as well. They're called AMP->D2S adapters. See here: http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...products_id=97

Then you can keep 55w and use your existing ballasts in conjunction with the FXr projectors. If you go that route, I can guarantee you will be blown away by how much usable light is available at the flick of your headlight switch. Also, for the most light, use stock D2S bulbs in the 4300k color range. You will get a nice blue cutoff, but beautiful white light on the road.

PS- the pictures above that I posted of my FX35 retrofit are of one SINGLE projector. See how wide that is? Now imagine how much light I'm putting out using TWO of them. ONE of my headlights puts out more usable light with a sharper cutoff, and WIDER than BOTH of your PnP kits ever will. This is why a retrofit wins hands down, every time. And it's only 35w.

Camo2294

Here's the conversions I have. Atleast they have a non blinding reflector

camo31_10.50

no. 2nd gen 4runners do NOT use H4 housings.

the photo above that camo2294 posted is of the housing found in the 83-95 pickups, and the 84-91 4runners....the rectangular ordinary generic headlight found in an abundance of vehicles.


my 4runner has the new housings. (92-95)


notice these housings are NOT rectangular. there are NO aftermarket housings for this year of 4runner.




now elaborate more on what i asked about the bowing upwards and downwards and rotating the bulb 180*, you said you'd have to modify the bulb and base, well how?

because even if it helped A LITTLE BIT, then i'd be willing to start modifying my new ones to help with the blinding effect.


P.S. my lights should be at my house today, and i'm going sunday to pick them up

shaeff

While they have a cap at the end of the bulb, that's not where the glare comes from. The glare comes from the arc of the xenon bulb illuminating the bottom of the reflector. (bottom of the reflector is where your high beams come from)

I see. If I were you, I'd go junkyarding and pick up an extra set. Doesn't matter how good the lenses are. Bake them in the oven, or do whatever you have to to to get the lenses out. Find a retroffiter online to make you a clear set on a vacuum table. Do the retrofit into your new housings, pop the clear lenses on, and be enlightened. That's what I'd do.

As for rotating the bulb 180°, I honestly don't think it'll do anything but scramble the light even more. The base of the bulb fits into a groove on the back of the headlight housing. You'd have to modify the base of the bulb to fit upside down in that groove, most likely. I wouldn't fuss with that, though. As I mentioned above I think it'd just scramble your light even more and make it damn near unusable.

Camo2294

Well on top of the reflectors in my conversions, my HID's also sit in these, which kinda solve the arcing problem ur talking about. And there is a very small opening in the bottom where when the high beams are engaged, the small bulb part line up with the slot

And I hate dodge pickups with HID's because there housings Blind everyone