I just purhased my gs, but it didn't come w/ hids. I was wondering if you guys can help me and give me some advice on how to convert my lights to hids.

Do I need the whole entire headlight assembly?

What do I need for complete install?

Which brands do you recommend?

And is it plug and play?

 

well you can get the 9006 hid conversion kit..try to search ebay...and about your foglight..you have to get the yellow foglight from steve at carson toyota or pm him at supratrd..

 

A few non-HID GS owners have put in OEM HID headlights directly into their cars. They bought the whole headlamps and the ballasts. One thing that if you do that, it won't have the auto-leveling hardware as it's wired w/ the front and rear suspension--however, so long as your car is not fully loaded in the rear, you shouldn't have any headlight aiming issues. I've seen them on Ebay for around $400-600 for a complete set of 2 headlamps.

As for the yellow fogs--you will have to get new assemblies. Differing from the normal white light output fogs, the yellow fogs have a yellow inner lense (it looks white from the exterior, until you light it up). There was a group buy about a month or so ago:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...hreadid=103567

 

what is the difference from just buying the bulb, and buying the headlight assembly?

 

for the headlights, you have two options

1) get hid kits. a new set would be around 500 now i think. it bolts right onto your current headlight. it's cheaper, but the light pattern is off and it's not the perfect solution in terms of the light pattern. it is still bright though
2) change out the whole housing to hid housing. if you get new it's very expensive, about 2k. used it depends on conditions, etc... the light output is so much better and cleaner, ultimate solution. no autoleveling though, but to me i dont care about that at all

for fogs

i am pretty sure you have clear fogs now. you need to get yellow fogs, it's a yellow lens inside the housing, you can get them from steve ganz (supratrd), very reasonable price

 

To further add to Romini's comments, if you buy an aftermarket kit, the light pattern does not look right. It produces an inordinate amout of glare as the regular halogen headlight housing was designed for halogen lights (longer wavelenghts), not one with a higher frequency bluish-white light, so it disperses wrong in the reflector (and not all of it is on the road). If you went with the OEM HID headlight housing, it is designed for HID lighting (obviously), and it will keep the light where it's supposed to be--at the road and not directly at oncoming drivers. If you've had physics in HS or college, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Aftermarket HID kits may be hard to come by, as I believe they were outlawed by the DOT in the fall of last year (2003), specifically for the reason above (the glare from HIDs in non-HID headlight housing blinds oncoming drivers). However, you could use them for "off-road use only". But again, if you use them, and you cause an accident from the glare, it's your rear. . . use this aftermarket option at your own risk.

 

by going w/ option 2, what does the whole hid housing consist of and where can i buy it?

 

As romini stated, they will run you a total of $2,000 if you want to buy all new OEM Lexus parts. However, if you look on Ebay, a complete set usually pops on there, and you can get them for $400-600, depending on the condition. What is involved? I believe that you'll need the HID headlamp housings (includes the motor actuators, and HID bulbs), electrical ballasts, and a harness.

I would call Carson Toyota (get the 800 number at www.carsontoyota.com) for the best prices on new Lexus parts. You can send a PM to "SupraTRD" as well--but calling is faster, and any of the staff can help you out.

If you look on Ebay, plan on looking around for about 1-2 months before a good, clean set pops up. Use the search phrase:

lexus gs* head*

The gs* is a wildcard for GS300 and GS400 and head* is a wildcard for "headlamp" and "headlight", use the wildcards to maximize the efficiency of the search.

Occasionally as well, you can look in the classifieds section on this website, and a set might pop up.

Good luck.

 

thanks seattle. i'm probably going to buy it used, buying brand new is just to expensive for me. Waiting won't be a problem since I just bought my car and now low on funds.

is it hard to install?

 

I haven't done the work myself, but believe it involves removing the front bumper cover (a few bolts, screws, clips) to get access to the headlamp assemblies. I can find you the front bumper removal info when I'm home and pass it on to you on how to do this. Other than that, it's relatively straightforward to replace the headlamps. Again, when I get home, I'll have more exact info on the replacement process.

There are others who have done this OEM HID replacement over the OEM halogen headlamps, and they could tell you exactly what they did, bought, etc. I hope they chime in to give you more specifics.

Here's a post on someone doing it:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...&highlight=hid

Send a PM to the following person--he's done it: wutdeheck

Also, instead of wire splicing as wutdeheck did, you probably could have just bought a wiring harness instead--again, call Carson Toyota, and they can help you out.

Good luck!

 

thanks for your help once again seattle, i was searching like a mad man, and couldn't find the exact information i needed.

 

sorry i have been away for a while. yes if you get the housing new it would be 2k easy. if you look at eba you will probably have more luck finding them used at better price. just make sure you get both at the same time otherwise the bulbs will look different in colors most likely

you will need the housing, the ballasts, the bulbs, and all the necessary wiring and harness. the harness and wirings for the leveling computer would be useless of course so you can just drop them.

another thing to be careful, there are 3 different types of headlights for the gs (the hid ones) -- totally chrome, a bit black chrome dark, and chrome with green tinted glass cover. make sure you get the one you like/want.

install shouldn't be hard as far as i know

 

where in california are u located, i am located in orange county, if u are local i can get you the 2001 headlights with the green tint used with all the bulbs and ballasts used for a pretty descent deal

 

Hi- I'm in SoCal (LA) and have a set of factory HID's, housing and all. PM me if interested.

 

pm'd you, let me know. e-mail me w/ your number and info at onefast4drgsr@yahoo.com