Bisonte

I have a 2000 Lexus ES300, Platinum Series. Currently, the factory HID headlights are installed.

Does anyone have a recommendations as to upgrading to LED?

The reason for my inquiry is there are numerous brands on the market. And with the numerous brands, there are numerous features an LED may or may not offer such as: brightness, direction, heat, color, etc.

Such features forces me to consider compatibility with my car. I do NOT want to see error messages upon installation.

Thank you in advance for your recommendations.

PFB

Do your research. LED headlights vs your OEM HID headlights wil be a downgrade NOT an upgrade

Arsenii

Hello,

Why do you need LEDs anyway? You will only make everything worse. I am an owner of a 2000 ES300 Platinum Edition, and those headlights are bright as a sun, and don't wear out that often. When headlights are designed, it is not only a brightness that matters, you also have to make sure you are not blinding everyone around you, hence why the lenses in headlights have very specific shape to them (LHD and RHD headlights even have different settings for that reason), and that is why you have a height adjustment bolted to your rear control arm. LED has different properties and light patterns, meaning that existing lenses will not work for them, hence you will either blind everyone, or make the light dimmer.

For the love of everyone on the road, please leave the system as it is, that will be much more beneficial to everyone around.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

longNaps

i made an account yall

TLDR: 2000 Lexus es300. HID system was probable cause of alternator burnout, unplugging the whole system solved the issue. Replaced a suspected bad ballast and the OTHER light started looking bad. Decided on leaving the whole endeavor behind and switching to LED (its almost 2023 bb)

The long version:

I have the same lexus that you both have, the 2000 es300, platinum edition.
Sometime last year I tried to replace a headlight that had burnt out. It was my first time doing the replacement, first time with an HID of any type, and I believe I put it in wrong and it burnt out instantly. Thankfully the guy at NAPA was willing to trade me out right there. I kept the bulb but wanted to wait until I felt more confident about putting it back, and besides that I was worried I might have burnt out the ballast. When I finally did replace the bulb, it flickered in a way that was worrisome, so I turned the car off, grabbed the bulb out and left it in the glove compartment.

This is when things got weird...

Sometime after this point, my battery failed. I had it tested at an O'reilly's and they said alternator bad too. I replaced the alternator and it failed again in about month or just under. Then the new one failed. I replaced it this time with the highlander 130 amp alternator and swung by oreilly's to have them check it and got back a code for a bad alternator not more than 20 minutes after the install. Electrical tests turned back some lost voltage, but minimal (12.1 out of 14) it was unclear what the issue was. After all these issues, I decided the only known electrical issue before all this mess was the headlight. Finally to the point.... When I unplugged the whole headlight assembly, all my electrical issues disappeared. Testing the battery and alternator, I was less voltage (13.1 of 14, not perfect but better).

To sum it up, I replaced a ballast to be 'safe' and the bulb flickered a ton. The two headlights were different colors (the one i left alone was orangish.. that seemed bad).. the whole thing made me want to just jump over to LED and leave the whole issue alone. The HID bulbs were expensive and a total pain in my ***. So that's one reason to switch.

All that said, I guess I'm reiterating the questions OP had: what brands are good? What compatibility issues should I consider? Heat? Cold? Directionality (I saw that mentioned already).
Also willing to hear any advice regarding the whole mess I've already dealt with. Reading through this short thread did make me consider just solving the issue... the HIDs really are so bright.. I miss them greatly :,(

Arsenii

Hello,

Welcome to ClubLexus!

I do have a 2000 ES300 Platinum Edition as well with HID headlights, and they have been nothing but a pure pleasure for me all along, so much better than halogen ones used in a majority of cars even today. As for LEDs, I do have some ... stretched relationships with them, especially with newer trucks that are not only equipped with LEDs capable of burning through walls, but with headlights right at my line of sight, so they ALWAYS end up blinding me at night. Ahem......

So where are you at with the current setup? Did you replace the ballasts or just the bulbs?

What brand of alternator did you end up using? Store brand stuff doesn't tend to last all that long, they can fail even before being installed in the car, here is a thread about one man's journey through O'Reillys alternators. Best bet would be to get a Denso Rebuilt alternator here.

Just to make sure that we are clear - HID bulbs require lots of voltage to run, not enough to kill, but more than plenty to make up for one memorable day, so make sure to always be careful when you are trying to access the bulb, it is best to disconnect the battery before even attempting to do any kind of work on HID headlights.

First of all make sure that it is the right bulb, and that it is seated correctly in the socket, you can use the other light as a reference. If the bulb is not seated just right, it may be causing a short that plays games with your electrical system.

HID bulbs usually don't quit unexpectedly, they fail over a certain period of time, switching color to more of a purple shade as they age. The failure that you described may be a sign of a failed ballast instead, which is likely what causing the issues you have.

Used ballasts are not that hard to come by for those cars as they were used in other models later on, and they are not that expensive either, here you can find a set with light bulbs included.

To install aftermarket LED bulbs, you will need to take out your original HID setup and replace it with halogen lights, otherwise none of the aftermarket bulbs will fit. All that is to say that the result will be more expensive, and likely worse in performance, not to say that it will be a shame to see factory HID system with auto-correct and proper lens setup being thrown out in favor of the aftermarket system.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

AllenC

I was one who wanted more down the road light on my high beams. I decided to try LED's on my high beams. This was a huge mistake, all I got was a very bright white light in front of my car and it looked as though there was a wall of light in front of the car, no down road vision capabilities, extremely poor visual perception and no DRL. I went to Phillips vision platinum, a bit on the yellow side, but I believe it seems to be a much better choice. I think the individual design of the light box on various cars effects the light brightness and the capability to project light farther down the road.