Ive searched the forums and havent found an answer to this...

Ive got an 03 G sedan, with factory HIDs. Like most people, my lenses became yellow and terrible to look at. I did a full sand/pollish/wax on them and they looked like new... for a while. They have once again yellowed and look like crap.

Replacement housings for D2R run TWICE what the halogen assemblies do.
To the obvious point everyone makes: The bulbs/connections are not the same. Im well aware.
Im curious about the power going to each set of bulbs (HID/Halogen)? What im thinking about doing is getting a set of halogen housings, putting in aftermarket H1, HID bulbs, and either getting a D2R to H1 adapter or just changing the connection on the wiring to connect to the new H1 bulbs.

Thoughts/ideas?

 

If the headlight housing you get is for halogen bulbs HID bulbs are going to give you terrible output and blind oncoming vehicles with the scattered glare it will produce. Don't be that person please.

If you go with the halogen housing's rather than the HID you're looking at just using halogen h1 bulbs and not d2r bulbs. So I think, to do what you are talking about, you could run a separate wiring harness that will plug directly into the halogen h1 bulbs

I don't know if this would be the one you could use but check it out.
https://www.theretrofitsource.com/co...-relay-h1.html
You could call them to find out if you could use this harness or one like it.

Scott

 

^ good response. Don't put HID in reflector housings not designed for HID from the start.

I would recommend you just bake off the new eBay lens (use the cheapest you can find) and put it on your old headlight.

 

Ive put HID's in halogen headlamps many times. Im well aware of the 'glare' is causes for on coming drivers. Ive always adjusted my lamps down slightly to mitigate glare and blinding other drivers. Im more curious if changing the vehicle wiring would even work? Im not that great with this type of electrical work, but I feel like the HID equipped models have a different level of power then those with halogen bulbs. But then again, since I would still be running HID's, does it even matter??

Ive also considered picking up the cheapest set I could find and doing a lens swap. Ive read plenty of others doing this, but never having done it myself Im hesitant to try it. I would rather not spend all that money on new headlamp assemblies just to end up ruining them and/or my factory ones and be left with no lights at all. Also, I feel like a cheap set of headlamps probably comes with cheap lenses and I'll be stuck here in this predicament again soon.

 

Since it was done before doesn't mean it was right. Even though you aim them down it could still throw scattered light into oncoming traffic.

The HID's use a ballast and igniter to up the voltage for the bulb to start and stay powered up. If you did halogens you would bypass these components. To learn more about this check out: http://www.diodedynamics.com/store/r...earch-hid.html

My recommendation for your situation would be to sand and polish them again. If they come out good you could use something like this to get more life out of them: http://www.autogeekmobile.net/optimu...t-coating.html

If they don't come out great you'll at least buy yourself some time so this way you could save up the extra cash to put the correct housings in your car instead of cutting corners.

Or find a set of used assemblies in good shape. You could check the sale sections here and if you don't see anything do a WTB thread asking for what you're looking for. If the used ones need touching up I'd then seal them with the Optimum coating.

 

^^^^^^

OP... no eBay HID kits in your headlights please. Stick to OEM because seeing and not blinding other drivers is kind of important.

Again,

You can switch JUST the lens if you need a replacement.

 

Ok, a question....

I have an 04 sedan with factory HIDs. The lenses are beat. I have restored them three times but within a few months they're gross again. We've all been there.

I like the OEM look. I don't want to repaint or otherwise change the interiors of the housings.

Now.... I found a really donor set of non-HID housings at a pick n pull. They are from an 03 which was garaged its whole life so there's no sun damage.



My original plan was to adapt my existing HID bulbs to the donor housings, but now y'all have scared me with tales of poorly-scattered beams, etc. I don't want to be *that* guy, either.

So I guess Plan B would be to transplant the good lenses to the HID housings. I am nervous as hell about putting these in the oven. The whole point of swapping them is to get nice clear lenses. Won't exposing them to high head cause them to discolour? And won't it make the six(?) small tabs that attach the lens to the housing brittle and easy to break?

Also, are the HID and non-HID lenses exactly the same? Like, the tabs and screw positions between 03 and 04?

If you were me what would be your course of action? The more I read the more it makes sense to just swap the lenses, but I'm not sure if that's the best way.

Final thought: will putting a clear UV wrap on the new lenses prolong their life?

 

Cooking the headlights are no big deal at all.

First remove all wiring and bulbs and plastic caps and ballasts (if necessary).

Put a piece of wood under your headlight and "cook" it at 220 *F for 10 minutes. Remove all the screws. Use a pry tool to separate the fronts of the lenses from the rears. You can always add more time, low temperature is better as it's less likely to warp.

Go on you tube and watch headlight guides from "The Retrofit Source" and "Lightwerkz" and you should be off to a great start.

I can find you a local headlight retrofitter to swap lenses if you don't want to do it.

DO NOT PUT HIDS IN THE NON HID LENS. IT WILL REFLECT BADLY AND BLIND OTHER DRIVERS .

 

To the final thought, clean the lights when they go bad and then get them clear coated with a UV resistant clear coat.

 

My buddy has a body shop and he says to not clear-coat them. He says even the best clear-coat is going to start to cloud after a few years. Also, rock chips and sand will eventually destroy the clear coat.

He's saying to get a clear UV protective wrap. It's easy to replace when the time comes. I'm going to do that and will post about it here.

 

I agree with this as well. There are plenty of suggestions about spraying the lens with a rattle can clear coat. I would never do that because that clear is not going to last in the elements that the vehicle sees.

I still have the set of new lights that I need to install so I wondered if using an auto grade clear coat would be a good option. To find out I stopped by a few body shops to speak to the owners about spraying the lens with clear. The consensus was about the same as you mention. None of them agreed that it was a good idea as it would eventually have problems and would be very difficult to fix at that point. Another thing that a few of them mentioned was that the clear isn't designed to be used on the poly lens of the headlight. One shop did say they would do it if I really wanted them to BUT they wouldn't warrantee or guarantee the job.

Rather than use a clear coat I think it would be best to use a dedicated headlight sealant like Optimum Headlight Coating - http://www.autogeek.net/optimum-opti...t-coating.html once the headlights are prepared. This stuff is designed specifically for this reason and should work out well.

 

I had my lenses professionally polished and clear-coated three years ago when I had to have bodywork done. They are still absolutely crystal clear. There is one small chip in the clear coat from road debris. I'm happy with going that route. I believe they sprayed three coats of clear.

 

That looks GREAT! Nice work by them. If you could contact the shop to figure out which clear product they used and PM it to me I'd pass another thanks .

 

I'm pretty sure it was the body paint clear they were spraying everywhere else, but I'll check for you, cause I'm a ***** for attaboys.

 

Yay.