marks05es3

Hi Everyone, I am new here.
I just bought an 05 ES 330 and love it so far.
I was wondering about 2 things.

First, I just love those blue headlights on some of the newer cars.
Is there a kit that can make my headlights that cool looking blue?
I could use info on what kind of lights that are stock on the car. They are very bright and they are very white. Also, when I start the car up, they seem to tilt.
What is up with that? There does not appear to be any motor or anything.
Whatever it is, will it make my goal of getting blue lights more difficult?

Second, I had Sirius radio installed and had the antenna installed on the dash.
It does not work very well and want to buy a used roof mounted original equipment antenna from another Lexus or any other car at a junk yard or something. Anybody have experience with this?
Is anyone aware of a reasonably priced antenna that can be mounted on the roof? How hard would it be to install?

I hope some of you will have an answer for me.

Thank you for any help.


mark

Slooooooow

iTrader: (1)

Welcome to ClubLexus and the ES forum!
Learn the history and heritage of your car, one of the first two models offered by Lexus.

There are cheapo blue coloration lights that might appeal to you aesthetically but they actually illuminate more poorly than stock lights.
Then there are H.I.D.(High Intensity Discharge) lights that, as a feature of their temperature settings, can appear white or bluish, and actually improve vastly upon stock lighting, though with certain tradeoffs.
Educate yourself and learn the difference here.

JSM1284

Your car already has HID lights, These are the"Blue" lights you are referring to. You already have them so you dont need to change anything. Different projectors emit different color patterns at the cut-off even with the same bulb used in each. Get in front of your car with the headlights on, and kneel down to the ground and look at the headlights right in the light cut-off, you will then see that the are blue like you want.

mmatheny

Question about HID - does the control box go behind the headlight, or somewhere else? Is there only one for both headlights, or one for each? I'm thinking about upgrading mine to the HID headlights.

JSM1284

The stock system has a seperate ballast mounted in the bottom of each headlight assy.

kyarugi

HID's?? I don't believe so. They have projectors but NOT HID's. If so, they are not stock. I too have an 05 330 and it does not have HID's. It will soon enough, but they are not stock.

mmatheny

Do they use the stock connector that the non-HIDs use?

JSM1284

The original poster started that their lights tilt up when starting the car. This is because of the "Self Leveling" feature that is on HID equipped models. I too have an 05 ES330 with factory HID's, this was an option.

JSM1284

No, it uses a different connector

marks05es3

Hi,
I am still a bit confused but am getting the picture.
What I have learned from you fine folks is that I have the HID lamps, that are the Cool looking Blue lamps that I like and that they were optional. They self level (tilt) to perhaps the correct level if I have a heavy load in the trunk.

The reason I am confused is that they look very white to me. I stuck my head in front of the car last night, but did not see the blue that I am in quest of.
I see Beemers and MB cars with such a blue lights and mine are nowhere near the color of those. In fact they are so blue that I see blue being reflected from chrome wheels
from the car in front of them.
If I have the HID lamps ( it appears that I do due to the tilting up when I start the car),I guess that is going to be good enough. I was thinking that there was a blue bulb that goes inside. It seems to be a nasty job anyway. It seems as though I would need to remove the battery to get access to the drivers side bulb and the windshield washer fluid bottle on the passenger side. I notice a definite light/dark line on the roadway from the lights when turned on.
If you have more input, bring it on, otherwise, thanks for your expertise in this topic.

I am sure that I will have lots of other questions about my car, so I appreciate all of your time and knowledge!

mark

JSM1284

As said before, In a projector style lamp, the bluish color is only present at the light cutoff. If you stand far back enough away and move your eyes in and out of the cut-off, you will see the bluish/purple color. Diferent projectors have different color band at the cut-off. in recap, you see these lights that seem more blue in other cars while your driving down the street, because their cut-off is in your line of vision. I specialize in retrofitting Acura TSX projectors into Camrys here is a picture of the color band from a TSX Projector:

marks05es3

Hi,
Thanks again for the info.
I was not familiar with your term "cut-off" but now understand what you are trying to tell me. If anyone else out there is following this thread and is as clueless as I am, I believe the cut-off is the sharp line that separates the emitted light from the darkness.

Speaking of dark, I am still in the dark about how that "Self Leveling" feature works.
Is it a motor that tilts the lamp or some other electro-magnetic seleniod that does it?
Am I correct in my assumption that this is tilted to compensate for different loads in the car or trunk? If so, how does it know? Is there some control module that communicates with the lamps?

Many thanks,

mark

JSM1284

Yep, notice the White light that it emits, but color is only at the cut-off.

It is a motor, Located on the back side of the headlight. It compensates for vehicle load. There is a sensor mounted on the right rear control arms and to the car body to sense the load.

JSM1284

Oh yea, Notice the placement of my satellite radio antennea on the rear package shelf, next to the 3rd brake light:

marks05es3

Wow, Am I glad I found this site!!!!!!!!
What a wealth of information you have to offer and for me to learn.
Thanks again so much!
I trust that the antenna works very well for you. Mine is in about the same place but only on the windshield, yet I get drop offs fairly frequently....and I am not liking it.

mark