New Member! Xenon Hid Questions.

[JeffTsai]

Hello everyone! I just got my brand new Crystal White 2005 GS300 three days ago. It's kicking !Removed! and is an amazing car. This was the last 05 on the lot and the dealer was trying to clear out all of the remaining 05's so I picked this one up for 36K. The only option in this car is leather seats. After all this was the last car on the lot and on top of that I got a pretty good price on it. What do you guys think about 36K?

The biggest complaint I had was the car not coming with HID's. I am thinking of buying a set of HID from a GS430 on ebay and dropping them in. I understand that the HID in the GS cars are auto-leveling. Is it automated within the headlight or would I need a control unit? Or does it not have this feature? Going with the OEM headlights will cost about 600-700 on ebay for a relatively new set 03-05(green tint) with ballasts and bulbs.

I was also considering doing a custom Bi-Xenon BMW M3 projector retrofit. Basically I would take the headlights apart and mold some fiberglass in there and insert the projectors. Doing it this way will cost about $400 but will take about a month with my current schedule. What do you guys think?

Also, the foglights. I want the yellow look. Should I just get yellow bulbs or should i get the actual yellow lens housing. Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks for any assistance provided!

[NJLexusGS]

About the foglights. I love the GS430 look. They are great. If you want to get the correct yellow color, get the foglights from either the 01-05 GS430 or 99-00 GS400.

I tried the bulbs and they just didnt give the same yellow beam.

If you searched ebay you might come across the yellow lenses they sell for about $10. The look like a small yellow condom that you insert in the foglight. Dont get them. I tried them and they melted within a couple hours.

The best thing to do is get the yellow foglights from another GS.

They probably run about $200/pair on ebay.

[hlevin]

Hello everyone! I just got my brand new Crystal White 2005 GS300 three days ago. It's kicking !Removed! and is an amazing car. This was the last 05 on the lot and the dealer was trying to clear out all of the remaining 05's so I picked this one up for 36K. The only  option in this car is leather seats. After all this was the last car on the lot and on top of that I got a pretty good price on it. What do you guys think about 36K?

The biggest complaint I had was the car not coming with HID's. I am thinking of buying a set of HID from a GS430 on ebay and dropping them in. I understand that the HID in the GS cars are auto-leveling. Is it automated within the headlight or would I need a control unit? Or does it not have this feature? Going with the OEM headlights will cost about 600-700 on ebay for a relatively new set 03-05(green tint) with ballasts and bulbs.

I was also considering doing a custom Bi-Xenon BMW M3 projector retrofit. Basically I would take the headlights apart and mold some fiberglass in there and insert the projectors. Doing it this way will cost about $400 but will take about a month with my current schedule. What do you guys think?

Also, the foglights. I want the yellow look. Should I just get yellow bulbs or should i get the actual yellow lens housing. Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks for any assistance provided!

←

Well.....you may have some trouble retro-fitting the GS430 light assemblies into your 300 because the GS models that do have the HID built-in come with all kinds of automatic levelling gizmos. The sensor pack runs all the way to the rear bumper to do its job. I just signed for an '06 GS430 and am terminating the lease on an '02 GS300 Sport that didn't have HID. I was also disappointed in the lack of HID in the '02 because I was trading a '99 GS400. I bought a set of aftermarket HID lights and adjustable ballasts that are plug-and-play. Do you know what kind of bulbs you have? If they're 9006's, I'd be willing to part with this set of lights and ballasts for the right price. I'm certainly not giving them to Lexus.

[JeffTsai]

hlevin, thanks for the tip about the self levelling headlights. I didnt think it would be that easy to just drop in a set of new HID headlight enclosures. i knew there was some computer interaction with the levelling but I didnt think it ran throughout the whole car to the back. I guess i'm going to have to scratch that idea.

And thanks for the offer for the plug and play kit but I dont think I want to go that route. My friend has a plug an play kit in his 2005 VW Jetta GLI and that thing glares like crazy at night.

I guess now I'm most likely going to do the custom Bi-Xenon M3 projector retrofit for my GS300. The clean cutoff line from projectors are amazing. And it doesn't produce the glare like the plug and play kits.

[Neo]

everyone I know who has swapped OEM headlights from halogen to HIDs has skipped the auto leveling. You still get the OEM HIDs. With that said, I like projector retros better what you are doing is fine. :)

[Lex01_430]

My car has the self-leveling feature...can I just buy any headlight. mine has a crack in the left DRL. In turn it is dusty in there and looks a bit off. There are some headlights on ebay, but i am not sure what to get. do i need an HID one or will a non-hid one work. seems like a stupid question but i must ask cuz i'm ignorant...

[LexKid630]

My car has the self-leveling feature...can I just buy any headlight.  mine has a crack in the left DRL.  In turn it is dusty in there and looks a bit off.  There are some headlights on ebay, but i am not sure what to get.  do i need an HID one or will a non-hid one work.  seems like a stupid question but i must ask cuz i'm ignorant...

←

The DRL light housing is attached to the Headlight housing, even thought it looks like they're seperated. On our old 03 GS430 someone hit the "headlight" housing and the plastic broke. I had the same problem back then....I had to buy the WHOLE fixture that included the DRL housing...Had a shop install it though.

The only problem was that the left side had all sand chips in it, and the right side looked perfectly new. Then my wife picked up a rock and it chipped the headlight plastic again..we didn't even bother fixing it LOL

and you will need to buy a new HID housing, because it's attached to the DRL. also make sure it's for the 430...the other xenons for the GS don't have the greenish tint to the plastic.

[Neo]

If you currently have HIDs, you need to get new HID housings. The internals are different.

[Lex01_430]

Last dumb question on this topic...will the 00 gs400 hid fit the 01 430?

[Neo]

Last dumb question on this topic...will the 00 gs400 hid fit the 01 430?

←

Yes. You just won't have the green tint.