996/986 LED headlamp bulb upgrade.

I asked a while ago and just wondered if things have moved on since.
I want something that doesn't involve butchering my headlamps to fit.
Any thoughts chaps?

My car had aftermarket HID bulbs and they were rubbish. Very white but not much light.

I took them out and replaced with Philips H7 Extreme vision bulbs. Took a while because I have projector bulbs and one of the plastic clips was missing - had to be ordered from Germany and cost about £7! I changed one at a time for comparison and the Philips bulbs are brighter although they looked yellow next to the HIDs.

Incidentally are projector lights really that good? My old Audi A4 quattro had them I was never too impressed. With a reflector, all the light is fed forwards, with a projector, half the light is masked off. My Mondeo has much brighter lights than the Porsche with halogens.

I've now ordered 55W HIDs (and bulb holders - BMW 5 series, hope they fit) from HIDS4U. They should be here very soon so I'll report back. They were a lot dearer than ebay but cheaper than Design911.

Then I have top pluck up the courage to restore the lenses......

Mike

So called Xenon/HID uprated 120% etc bulbs just don`t hack it - I have had them all Ring Ultima`s Nightbreakers, Blue tint ones etc and they are a little brighter but they don`t last long and they still have that dull yellow light output.

Anything that is tinted blue gives a whiter light but the intensity is reduced, the only way to brighter lights over OE halogens is a HID kit with 6000K bulbs these give a good white light with a blue tint but depending on the light reflector they can cause light scatter which annoys other drivers but now you can get HID bulbs where part of the bulb is shielded which is claimed to reduce this light scatter I have just ordered a pair of H7`s to try out although the Porsche has an open reflector it does have a heat shield which does cut down that light scatter.

HID kits work well with projector type lenses one of the RX-8`s I owned had projector lenses but with ordinary halogen bulbs (RX-8`s come with either Halogens or HID lights) I fitted an HID kit and the lights were transformed my current RX-8 has OE HID projector lenses but ordinary Halogen bulbs in the main beams a HID kit in the mains soon sorted that out now the lights are how I like them really good.

OE HID bulbs are usually 4300K whereas 6000K gives a slight blue tint to the light which I find is better anything white like road signs that the beam hits instantly lights up brilliant white but be aware the higher the Kelvin scale eg 8000K 10000K of the bulbs the bluer the light but with actual reduced intensity - they may look pretty but with a poorer light which defeats the point of the object!

I have tried LED`s in the Porsche the better quality fan assisted kit not the cheap bulbs and they are very bright but cause too much light scatter and it annoys other drivers so I wouldn`t recommend those but would probably be OK in the main beam but with the integral fan housing they are quite bulky and with a HID kit already in the headlight there is not much room so for the time being I have abandoned the idea of HID dipped beams & LED mains.

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Del.

Wondering whether to go HIDS4U or the Design911 ones, will be keen to hear what you have to say!

To be honest I have had a kit from HIDS4U and I had faulty bulb and Ballast unit and although the quality is supposed to be better the Ballast are exclusive to HIDS4U but the bulbs appear to be the same as those sold on eBay at half the price.

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Del.

Thanks for the input chaps. :thumb:

Well I've fitted one of the 55W HIDS4U bulbs and it's good, much brighter than my former 35W bulbs and far whiter than the Philps halogen bulbs. I haven't driven at night yet to see how well they work in practice but it looked good when I switched them on after dark. Interestingly, HIDS4U say that the bulkbs are the same, the difference is in the electronics.

The HIDSU set up has similar bulbs but far higher quality looking electronics with 3 boxes, not sure what they all do!

I used supplied BMW bulb holders to fit the bayonets on my projector lights. The holders are difficult to fit so I put a light smear of vaseline on the 'O' ring.

I also had to buy longer cable ties to fasten everything together. I screwed the main box to the rear of the light housing and tied the other parts to it.

Finally, I started on the light lens. I tried some very fine wet and dry over a very small area but then moved to T cut which worked well - my lights are not too bad. I'll polish and wax them and next spring I'll try 2 pack clear coat on them.

Mike

I had a HIDS4U xenon kit in my last 4S. It was OK, but triggered a bulb failure warning every time I turned the lights on! Oddly the work-around was to turn the lights on before starting the car then it was fine.

I've got Philips Xtreme Vision bulbs in my X5, they are massively better than the standard bulbs but still lack the definition of xenons.

The new Osram Nightbreaker Laser would be worth a go as that uses pure xenon so might give some of the crisp, whiter light, still a road legal straight swap.

One job for the winter is to give the 911's headlights a good sand and polish with the 3M kit; that made a big difference with the dailies.

These HIDS4U 55W bulbs seem much brighter than the Xtreme vision but the proof will be when I drive it at night over the weekend.

I'll also let you know about the bulb failure warning, they are supposed to be Cambus compliant.

I bought some very fine (2000 - 3000 grit) paper but I am reluctant to take off any more plastic than I need to and so far, T cut has been fine. The key will be putting a new surface on the lights and I think 2 part clear coat will be good. What does your 3M kit provide for refinishing the lights?

Mike

It has a couple of grades of sandpaper, a Trizact foam disc (where the magic happens!) and some compound.

You need to seal the light afterwards with some UV sealant, which the 3M kit does not provide- I used Glass Polish Surface Sealant.

I've not had any problems with yellowing or haze reoccuring on my '04 X5, which is kept outside.

Obviously the process is removing the OE UV coating, but as it was damaged anyway it needed to go... I anticipate needing to re-do it to an extent in the future, hopefully not the full monty, maybe just the compound.

There is technique involved- my first go was a disaster initially! Tips - use the drill pad on low speed for the 500 grit stage, and regularly change the 500 grit pads; I bought an extra pack. Stop and clean off the dust regularly, you can see the areas that still need attention. Keep it moving and watch for heat build up under the more aggressive sanding discs. Take time to ensure the fine scratches are removed at each stage, don't rush...

Having done my X5 twice (wasn't satisfied the first time) and my wife's A8 I feel ready to tackle the 996's Litronics!

Just using the compound and sealant brought up the rear lights beautifully.

I was hoping that the technology existed for a straight replacement LED but seemingly not.
My gripe with uprated bulbs is the limited life..

kas750 said:

I was hoping that the technology existed for a straight replacement LED but seemingly not.
My gripe with uprated bulbs is the limited life..

Click to expand...

My Philips Xtreme Vision ones have lasted the best part of a year, no issues so far.

kas750 said:

I was hoping that the technology existed for a straight replacement LED but seemingly not.
My gripe with uprated bulbs is the limited life..

Click to expand...

My HID (not LED) replacement was not at all difficult, I'll let you knwo this weekend whether it was really successful - so far so good!

Mike

maldren said:

kas750 said:

I was hoping that the technology existed for a straight replacement LED but seemingly not.
My gripe with uprated bulbs is the limited life..

Click to expand...

My HID (not LED) replacement was not at all difficult, I'll let you knwo this weekend whether it was really successful - so far so good!

Mike

Click to expand...

Cheers Mike.

Taken from Boxa.net..


So after a few threads, I decided to make this a go-to thread for information regarding anyone considering a HID upgrade.
 
What is a HID bulb.
A HID (High Intensity Discharge) bulb has become increasingly popular with modern cars due to their lifetime and power. The bulb itself has no filament, instead it contains two diodes with a capsule full of Xenon gas in the centre. The diodes ignite the xenon gas instantly, and light is emitted.
There's four main aspects to a HID kit:

Bulb - The bulb itself and its fitment. Bulbs come in normal fitments (H1, H7, etc) and can fit in most applications. The bulb also determines the colour.
Ballast - The ballast is the device that ignites the bulb, and supplies its power.
Wattage - This is down to the ballast, not the bulb. There are two common wattages available for ballasts; 35w and 55w. There's no issue with using either. I've ran both and found 55w to match OEM installed kits on other cars very well. The 35w kits tend to be slightly cheaper, but their output is still far better than that of a halogen bulb.
Canbus - This is designed for cars that detect bulb failures. A canbus HID kit is required for the 986 Boxster. Although the Boxster doesn't detect a failed bulb, a non-canbus kit plays havoc with the cars electrics, triggering warning lights and other anomalies.


Legalities of a HID kit.
In short, they're legal to use but with a few provisos. Garage have a tendency to think "They need self levelling and washers on the lamps to be legal", and they're right, for OEM installations. But the MOT guidelines from VOSA state that they need to work "where fitted". They are not required for an aftermarket installation, they just need to work where fitted. This was confirmed by VOSA when I requested information on it.
There's two things that will fail an MOT with a HID kit. The two things are the colour, and the beam pattern. Both explained below.
 
Colour.

The bulb is responsible for the colour (temperature) of the light. Measured in kelvin, the lower the number, the more towards the warm side of the spectrum the light goes. The higher, the colder. The most common application is 5000k, as this is considered a good choice in terms of light output. 
Here is what each temperature will look like (this is amended by myself to better represent the colours):


 
"But modern lights are blue, right?"
No. It's an extremely common misinterpretation with what colour to choose, as most people think "Modern lights look blue, so I need to get ice blue, so therefore I need to get 6000k". It's nonsense. There are no OEM applications that use 6000k bulbs. The closest is 5500k, but that temperature isn't available commonly as aftermarket. The reason why modern car lights look white/blue when you look at them is due to the colours splitting in the lens I'll explain below:

That's what a beam pattern looks like from a projector lens, fitted with a 5000k HID bulb. Notice that blue line? This is due to the lens refracting the light and the colours splitting, showing a very thin spectrum. This can sometimes be red, violet, blue, etc. That's what you're looking at when you look at on coming traffic. Look at the light colour itself - see how it's a normal white/warm light?
If you have a very blue light, this can fail an MOT and can also get you pulled. It's not worth it.
Which also leads us onto...
 
Beam pattern.
Unfortunately, if you're considering a HID upgrade for a 986 Boxster (non-litronic), my initial recommendation would be not to. There's two different types of headlamps, reflectors and projectors. Reflectors (standard 986 Boxster) use the mirrored shape of the headlamp to produce the beam pattern, where as a projector lens (litronics and all 987/997 onward lamps) use the projector and a physical shield inside the lens to create the beam pattern.
A HID (or LED) bulb is a different shape to a halogen bulb. In a projector, it doesn't matter as the physical shield blocks light from scattering upwards, so you get great results with any brighter bulb. Using a HID bulb in a reflector will distort and blur the beam pattern because of its different shape, and it'll cause glare upwards, blinding other drivers.
This shows exactly what I'm on about:

The top photo is what you will have if you put HID's into your standard Boxster 986 headlight, and it's not good.
 
So can I use HID's in my Boxster?
If you have a 987 boxster, you're fine, as these have projectors as standard. Go ahead and buy a H7 Canbus HID kit.
If you have a 986 boxster, It's not recommended you use HID lights in a standard headlight. 

I have a 986 and want HID's. What can I do?
If you have a 986 boxster, it's not impossible, but it's a little more tricky.
 
You have four options:
1. Buy pre-owned OEM litronic headlights. These will be plug and play to get the headlight working, but the auto-levelling won't work. They can be very expensive too, at around £1,000 for pre-owned sets. No need to install HID's in these as they're built in.
2. Buy aftermarket headlights. Some have projector lenses in them, but these can be in excess of £1,000. You could buy pre-owned litronics for that. You'll then be able to use a HID kit. Be sure to read reviews though before purchasing.
3. Install a HID kit using reflector-friendly bulbs. If you're desperate, you can use HID's in the 986's reflector headlamps but only with special bulbs. The 986 uses H7 fitment bulbs, so buy a HID kit and use H7R bulbs (you can buy the bulbs separately, most HID kits have the same connectors). The 'R' in the name stands for 'reflector', and it's a HID bulb designed (loosely put) for reflector lamps, as the bulb has a painted shield on it to stop light going upwards. They're good, I ran them for a while and they're not too bad at all, the design of the 986 reflector surprisingly doesn't produce much glare with a H7R bulb. The only thing you'll suffer with is any sort of clean beam pattern, as it'll be blurry. But please don't even consider running normal H7 HID bulbs - only use H7R bulbs, and run 5000k or lower due to the issue of potential glare. Your beam pattern will fail the MOT, so change them before the test day.
4. Install projector lenses. You can buy aftermarket projector lenses to install in your headlight, like I have:

 
See the projector lenses? Those. Then you'll have an incredible light output. The lenses only cost £18, and the HID kit costs around £40. The biggest price you'll pay is the labour of splitting your headlights and installing these, as there's a lot of fabrication needed as they're not plug and play in any way. I won't cover how to do that here, as 986forum.com has a few guides. It doesn't take long to do (I did both headlights in one evening), and the results are absolutely incredible, but it's far from easy.
 
Extra information
Halogen alternatives. If you're not feeling brave enough to install projectors in your headlights (and I can't blame you having done it), there's two ways you can go with a halogen bulb. The first is a HID look-alike bulb, like an MTEC SuperWhite or CosmoBlue bulb. These are coated with a blue tint, which cancels out the warm halogen light, creating a white light. The only issue is that due to the nature of the bulb having a cover on it, they're not as bright. The other route is to get a far brighter halogen bulb, like an Osram NightBreaker. They're normal colour though.
Ballast install locations. Something to keep in mind if you're fitting HID's. The ballasts produce quite a bit of heat. I've seen people install them inside the lamp assembly but they're far too hot for this. What you'll need to do is drill a hole in the rear detachable cover, and mount the ballast to the outside of the cover. Then feed the wires into the lamp through the cover.
Cheap kits. Two places to avoid - Ebay, and HIDs-Direct. Ebay sells kits for less than £20, and these will bring you endless problems of mis-matching bulb colours and flickering bulbs/ballasts. HIDs-Direct are also dreadful for build quality. Their kits don't last at all, and I've had to replace a ballast 4 times in the space of a few months. I sent a few straight back too as they had clearly been thrown around or used, covered in dents, marks and dirt. They're horrendous. Scour the net and look at some decent kits. HIDS4U seem to be excellent.
 
So there we are, hopefully I've cleaned things up!