tiguy99

Ohh yeah...some of those other projectors just flat out have better performance than our hellas. The S2000 for one is superior to the beam patterns that we've got. Also, the Valeo units Audi uses in the A4 and the even stronger Euro version seem to outshine our units as well. So it kinda varies here. The best thing is to pull up next to a 5 series or even an X5 and compare and contrast. You can even do it on the highway. Note the areas where your beam may differ either positively or negatively and you'll know for sure. You picture isn't bad at all. I would probably keep it that way. Mine was horrible. I mean really bad. I had no choice. What does your beam look like with the projector outside of the housing held side be side with one in there?

Jmai22

i know my light output is pretty darn decent, i even have the inverted U's. but i just want a further cutoff line and sharper. as you can see my cutoff line isn't that great. i was going to get a custom headlight lens made by this shop that had a pressure mold thing, but he wanted about 1,000 each side for just the molds, but then i would be able to keep it and make as many as i want for a smaller fee. but there's not enough first gen gs for me to take that leap. and especially not enough lighting fanatics .as of right now my lightput is much better than the CLK430 with OEM HID that i drove for a month. mine was honestly at least 2x's better than the CLK in every field, distance, width, and sharpness, brightness. so i'm happy to a point but not all the way. i'm not sure if i want it to look cosmetically better or do something like yours with function over form.

the first gen gs lens is basically flat in the front so finding a oem HID lens should be easy. to do a retro on. just gotta see what i want to do though. btw how did you do the transplant with a good seal?

tiguy99

Thats cool. To insulate and seal it well, I used an clear epoxy glue that required you mix two chemical solutions together. The result, a water proof weather proof seal that withstands 1000 pounds of pressure is what holds my lenses firmly in place! Now if only our lexus sealant were that tough! I'm so glad your Us show up! I was happy when I finally saw mine for the first time after I did this! One more thing, I've been doing a good amount of night driving these past few days to test things out and make sure the aiming was correct etc. And I noticed certain cars equipped with HID not being up to par with the E39 projectors. The first bogey was the 350Z. I thought those things were bright until my setup was able to eclipse them. We were driving in a northern suburb with very low lighting and I discovered that the E39 Hellas are brighter than their dual reflector/projector design of their head lamps. Of course there was an equal display of light intensity when compared to another 5 series and X5 truck. I've seen three of those so far. The only thing out there thats brighter is the 04 Audi A6. There's an interesting thread here about why. CHeck it out

http://hidforum.com/forum/showthread...&threadid=6231

tiguy99

Wait...was that clk the newer design with the projectors or the previous model with the reflectors? Usually, projector>reflector in terms of light spread, cuttoff and distance.

Jmai22

the clk i was driving is the previous model with reflector hid.

Jmai22

One other question. is there a way to fuse the 2 lens together so that it looks like 1 piece and its smooth without seeing a crack?

tiguy99

MAybe...but thats when the professional molding comes into play...you have to get professional with molding plastics together to the point it stays clear. That I don't know how to do nor do I have the resources to pull it off here. I called like 20 plastic molding companies in my city that day I did my project and they were like no..we don't do orders that small or we do business to business sales on large orders etc

playa3uhh

The beams on your cars are awesome! What brand and types of headlights bulbs do you guys use? Any suggestions for a 94 LS400?

Thanks

tiguy99

The final breakdown of my setup is:

BMW X5 / 5 series E39 single xenon HID projectors

PIAA HID ballasts

Philips 4100K D2S capsules

Slightly modified ES300 lamps featuring BMW X5 lenses for maximum clarity over the older halogen designed Lexus plastic lenses.

For an LS400, the best option would be to do a kit with some sort of Caser Shield to block the staying glare produced. However, don't expect OEM quality xenon output unless you do a retrofit. Your results would differ from slightly to greatly depending on what setup you decide to install. Do your LS lamps feature glass or plastic lenses? Can the 98 style lamps fit your ride? I know they use ultra clear plastic which is what you want for optimum clarity. Check out www.hidforum.com for all the researching you'll need to begin the journey to maximum HID light output for your car.
Mik

mase

hey jmai, you got any suggestions for an aftermarket lens?

quote:
the first gen gs lens is basically flat in the front so finding a oem HID lens should be easy. to do a retro on. just gotta see what i want to do though

I've actually been looking around and I haven't really found anything I think would fit well on my 1st gen GS. I've almost decided (unless you have a better idea) to just get lexan mr10 sheets and just replace a big rectangle area that is flat. I'll seal it with the same epoxy (or maybe just sealant) that tiguy used.

If you got any suggestions for lenses that closely fit our cars, let me know.

tiguy99

Here's a camry project


http://maxima.cardomain.com/member_p...&cat=15&val=50

tiguy99

I wanted to resurrect this post for the folks interested in the E39 retrofit on the ES300