SilentWish

finally had the chance to get my HIDs installed yesterday at my friend's shop (he works at a lexus collision center), and while they were at it, we put in these 6000k LEDs for the parking lights
http://www.v-leds.com/Interior-LED/G...-p6638587.html

my friend had a good idea to drill a hole at the bottom of the light housing to run and hide the cables and ballast as much as possible as if it were the OEM HIDs, but we ended up drilling the hole in the dust cap like everyone else because the dust cap is easy to replace, whereas if we drill a hole into the light housing, we'd have to replace the entire light housing if anything went wrong in the future.

since my friend took out the entire housing, he was able to find a good spot to mount the ballast and hide the cables so that if one were to open the hood, you can't really see an after market HID installed (but obviously people would know by looking at the 6000k that its not OEM).
i didn't get a picture of the final position, but as we know, ballasts get very hot, and mounting it on the plastic cover shown in the pics wouldn't be good as it would melt the plastic, so they simply just flipped it around and mounted the ballast to the metal bracket that's cover the plastic piece.

nevertheless, my friend did a good job hiding the cables and making things fit snug~

i didn't get a pic of where they mounted the fog ballasts, but its now right below the bumper support bar (they have a name for it, forgot what it was) i'm kinda worried that as it's below the bumper support, water and snow may creep up to it and short the ballast as its not mounted high enough. any experiences on that?

an unfortunate thing is that we believe we have a faulty ballast on the passenger side low beam as when we first installed it, the light flickered a bit.. then the light wouldn't even turn on. after a bit of driving the light finally came on, but it brights up slower than the driver side low beam when i start the car. i'll be getting a replacement ballast later on today.. but i'm wondering if this ballast will turn out to be fine? perhaps i should allow a few days to see how it goes? do certain ballasts take some time to warm up? or am i thinking of bulbs that need time to warm up and not ballasts?

my OCD is taking over.. its my fourth mod, and they were simple mods but i've had defects after each one
it now makes me think whatever i do to my car won't turn out right the first time and i'll have to do it again a second time

EDIT: i've also noticed that during certain times, my HIDs give off a very very faint green tint.. but it's so faint that i can't tell if its the lights playing with my eyes or if it's real. i notice it the most when i'm in the city.. when i'm in areas where its darker i don't really notice it. i'm thinking if it's the yellow city lights of street lamps and other cars that are mixing with the 6000k blue tints.. and yellow lights + blue tint = faint green tint?
or maybe it's my OCD again.. but does anyone have similar experience?

ISThree

iTrader: (2)

nice mod! output seems fine.

seems like you are off to a good start...
whats your 5th, 6th, 7th.... mod going to be?

shadowman

iTrader: (2)

Nice mod and pic! You are on a roll with your mods.

Unlike you, I have only one real mod so far.

SilentWish

thanks isthree and shadowman

lol my mods are "kiddy" mods compared to getting rims and dropping the car, and don't mention all the other crazy mods other CL members are DIYing to their IS!
which i really am not sure if i would be getting to those as those are where the real money goes to.. and real money is what i don't have to spend, and don't even mention my handy skills to perform those mods

whats the mod you have so far? and which ones are you planning to do next?

JMcDonald

iTrader: (2)

Nice setup...I wanna do this as well...good write up and pics!

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Nice and bright!!

Bigrahizzl

iTrader: (8)

Looks great!!!

Ill be wrapping the grille surround and painting the grill next week, just ordered the parts yesterday for the DIY

SilentWish

thanks guys

bigrahizzl what color u gonna paint ur grille? i think our grilles have a nice gun metal color
i wanna paint my grille surround too~ lol isthree maybe that'll be my next mods lol and maybe tinting my windows!
as much as i wanna put some rims on.. i know that if i start.. i can't stand not dropping my car!

RastaRacer

iTrader: (5)

looks great, i did the same mod when i 1st got my car and i love it, i know the avg. joe wouldnt notice but it makes a world of difference to me.

KI_GSE21

iTrader: (5)

Must be super bright at nice

516IS

iTrader: (12)

nice Mod... I like the output... good job>>>

SilentWish

thanks guys!

rasta, i agree with you.. it's been a month since i got my car and i had no confidence and almost wanted to hide myself when i was driving my IS with the stock halogens.. didn't wanna talk to ppl
my uncle and aunt came from california and i drove them around and when they got out of my car they pointed to my lights and said "hey they're not white!" that hit me man lol
now that i have my HIDs i'm proud to drive around! hey that's just us and our obsession

mahcah

iTrader: (3)

Very professional install

Bigrahizzl

iTrader: (8)

im doin it all black to match the car

SilentWish

ohhhh nice! post pics after you're done man!
and let us know how much it costs