Hey all,

I've been wanting to upgrade the headlights on my ES300, and I really like the look of white/blue bright headlights. Not the NASA spaceship highbeams that blind everybody, even during the day, but just a more modern looking headlight.
I've cleaned and polished my headlights, because when I first got the car, they were dirty as hell. But even with that, the current headlights are fairly dim at night. So I'd like to get some brighter lights as well as update the color temperature to be more modern.

Would definitely want something like the 6000K Nitro Blue.
I dig the look of halogen bulbs, and never really been a fan of LEDs (mostly on headlights where you see the individual lights), but I could see how having LEDs might be a better long-term investment.

Does anyone have any experience swapping out their OEM lights with halogens like this:
Ebay Halogen Headlight Kit
This might be a stupid question, but I'm assuming the with the halogen setup, you just need to swap out the bulbs with the color temperature you want?

The goal is to keep the headlights looking mostly stock, though I'd like to black out the housing eventually.

I found this picture with what looks like smooth fog lights, instead of the vertical line pattern, and was wondering what those are called and where I could get a set? I know this is a JDM Windom, but is there an option that would fit the ES? I love the clean and simple aesthetic.

Thanks for any help!

 

Hello,

If your only goal is to make the headlights look more modern, the easiest way would be to just get different light bulbs, like these ones for example, they have a higher Color Temperature, so they will appear more blue-ish than stock, without melting everyone's eyes down the road.

I would say I am quite skeptical about LED bulbs in headlights that weren't meant for it, you need to have a perfect match between the light bulb and the reflector for the headlight to function properly. Here is a thread on the subject with links to lights used.

The most complicated way would be to get HID, or Xenon headlights off of post-facelift ES300. The beauty of them is that they don't have any filament in there to begin with, they are filled with Xenon gas that, under very high voltage, begins glowing. Those headlight are quite efficient, but they do require a ton of other equipment to function, like the Driver to generate that high of a voltage, as well as a separate system to control the aim of a light. HIDs have very high light intensity, so if they are misadjusted even a bit, like if you were to fill up the tank from empty, they will become a road hazard, hence why they need an automatic aim adjust system.

The picture you linked is indeed for a JDM Toyota Windom, but in terms of exterior styling, it is not that much different from the post-facelift 2000-2001 ES300 offered here. If you can find a front bumper with fog lights off of one, it will fit right up to your car.

DIY Halogen Kit, I am honestly not particularly sure what are they referring to there, since about 90% of road cars used to be equipped with Halogen lights from the factory, yours included. Halogen is just an inert gas that they fill into the bulb to prevent the air from oxidizing the filament, as well as to improve heat transfer and adjust color temperature. My only guess would be that this kit is dedicated to people who had HID headlights from the factory, even though there isn't much to modify.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

When you mean post lift ES are you talking about the model I drive the (MCV30) that looks like the 330? I recently restored my headlights and noticed that the color is completely different between the driver and passenger side so I plan on buying a pack of bulbs. I knew that the ES has a fancy startup when it was dark outside and the lights would "auto adjust" and didn't know the inner workings until you explained it. It seems like I'll be heeding your advice and will buy an OEM style brighter bulb that can be easily swapped out and not going LED.

 

Not really.. Facelift is just a mild, mid-run refresh, leaving the majority of the car intact. In case of MCV20, generation in question, it was produced from 1997 to 2001, getting a facelift in 2000, most major changes being an introduction of VVT-i system for the 1MZ engine together with the new transmission. For the exterior, it got new bumper with more integrated fog lights, two spoke grill, cleared tail lights, 16 inch rims instead of 15 inch ones, small changes like this to stay competitive before the end of model run.



In case of your car, ES330 is what got to be a facelift for an MCV30 model, it received the same basic kit of upgrades for the exterior, engine gained 0.3L, now called 3MZ-FE, new-ish transmission, and the same set of exterior upgrades.

As I wrote before, that means you have HID, or Xenon headlights, they don't have regular light bulbs that we come to expect, per say. Depending on the mileage of your car, Xenon filled bulb can get worn out, but more likely than not, it is the Driver that is at fault. To know for sure, you can carefully take each bulb out and swap them around to see if the malfunction would switch to the other light. Do not touch the glass in the process, it will ruin the bulb, and whatever you do, do NOT try taking the bulbs out with the Headlights on, there is enough voltage to strike through the human body, while it likely won't kill, it will definitely leave some sweet memories and twitchy eye for years to come.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

Okay so I guess Halogens are standard, and if I really wanted the blue/white look, I would have go the xenon or LED route. Do all Halogen bulbs plug and play with most headlight units? I'm looking at the pack of 2.
Are Xenon bulbs plug and play with the halogen housing? Or would I need a different headlight housing/wiring kit for that? I installed an upgraded wiring harness for a Jeep I used to have, but that was years ago, and I'm basically new to mods again, especially on a smaller car like the ES.

So are you saying that for the smooth fog lights, the new postlift ES300 would have them? Because I have a 1999 ES300, and it looks like the top example, only my foglights have the vertical line pattern on them. So I'm guessing I got the facelift version, but not the foglights. Does that mean I could find those foglights in the States? Because I found a couple from Japan, but damn is that international shipping expensive. Costs more than the foglight units. They'd be used, so it seems risky to order them, but maybe that's just the risk I'd have to take. I haven't really found anything stateside for the foglights. You can see the line pattern in my foglights below:


(I painted the chrome trim black, btw)

If the headlights were on, wouldn't they also be hot? Seems like a bad idea all the way around haha.

Thank you for your explanation so far. I guess I might as well just pick up some much cheaper bulbs and see how that goes before buying whole new headlights. I wouldn't be opposed to doing that though, since mine have a couple serious chips in them.

 

Pretty close but my passenger was the one that has the worn out/different color, this weekend I plan on taking out the bulbs and will do a visual inspection then will visit my local auto parts store to see if I can swap out the bulbs for the color I want. Since I bought this car ay 160K miles sitting pretty with 190K now and didn't know that my bulb was a different color all these years due to oxidation. But yeah will make sure not to touch the bulb thanks with the headlight information

 

All Halogen bulbs follow specific standards, your car has H7 bulbs, the link you got is for H11 bulbs. If you do get correct bulbs, then yes, any Halogen option would be plug-and-play, no mods will be required to the headlight.

No, it is an entirely different system, with totally different headlights, it also requires additional systems, like motors to adjust the lens aim, and the sensor that monitors the position of a car's body to prevent those headlights from blinding others.

You have a pre-facelift car. To get newer fog lights, you will need a newer bumper off of car produced between 2000 and 2001.

The vertical pattern that you are referring to is just a design of a lens, any pre-facelift car, the one that was produced between 1997 and 1999, will have the same exact fog lights, with vertical lens pattern present.

Here is a link to an aftermarket bumper for a Facelift, it should fit your car, and here is a listing for Fog Lights to accompany that bumper.

I have a 2000 Lexus ES300 with smooth fog lights, it is in US alright, and I didn't have to hunt them down, below is a picture. Other member on this forum, LeX2K, has a very clean 2000 ES as well, here is a link to his album.



The thing is that Xenon or HID headlights don't produce any heat, this is why it is so efficient.

I am not entirely sure you followed along on the subject of my previous post.

If you have auto-aim, you have HID, or Xenon Headlights, refer to the video below for more information about what it is and how it works.

Xenon filaments is not a light bulb in a sense that we used to think about it, it is a capsule filled with Inert Gas. Not a lot of car parts store will have those bulbs in stock, and most of the time, when the color changes like that, it means that the system is not functioning correctly. Swap the bulbs around to see if it is the Driver, or the Bulb itself at fault before buying anything, stuff for HID headlights is expensive.


Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

Thanks for the links. Too bad the bumper is out of stock, but I'll do some hunting on eBay. I guess I was looking for Windom parts, and couldn't find anything, which was before I realized the newer ES models were the same thing here.

On the facelift, I guess I'm possibly blind and possibly an idiot. Only way to learn is to ask though ha. I didn't even realize about the differences in the bulb H-numbers, like H11 vs H7. So thanks for pointing that out.

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Yeah, now that's what I'm talking about!. So fresh and so clean. I wish my paint looked like yours .

Not trying to ask redundant questions, just new to this stuff. I appreciate your patience, and detailed information. You're definitely steering me in the right direction, now I have more stuff to look up

 

Look through your local junkyards, see if you will find any options there, it will be a lot cheaper, and less painful to ship.
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Trust me, it is not nearly as perfect up close as it looks on pictures, that car has seen better days. I am mostly making small steps to bring it back to former glory, we'll see how that will go..