Projector retrofits worth it or put the $$ into suspension?

Yeah sorry was talking about the rx350s

 

Oh ok yeah I can't help ya there

 

Got one installed during lunch!

 

RX350's are a pain! You have to do nut and bolt method, which can be a giant pain the butt to get aligned. If I were to do mine again I would go either G5-BRT threaded shaft or the MLED 2.0. Both have output that rivals the RX350's at a fraction of the price and a threaded shaft.

 

Holy crap! I just bought some TYC Capa certified housings with the grey plastic back for $130 on Amazon and they are SOOOOO much easier to work with! The Autosaver ones I bought before were definitely permasealed. I've already got these apart and ready to paint in 30 minutes.

 

Well FUCK. Water got in the new retros from a rainstorm 2 days ago, pulled them apart and resealed, and now I'm popping fuse after fuse when I try to switch to high beam. I wonder if I got water in the motor for the high beam. I'm so unbelievably pissed off. I just spent 5 hours to make sure it was perfectly sealed and now I have no high beam. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU....... Any way anyone knows of to make it work short of popping them apart a THIRD TIME? I'd much appreciate it.

 

I doubt it’s the high beam actuator. Here’s a few things to check....
-Connectors for corrosion/shorting.

-Check the connector on the H4 MotoController, mine had corrosion buildup after only a couple weeks and shorted to the “ON” position. I cleaned the connector, added dielectric grease and all has been good since.

-If all that is checking good. Grab a multimeter and test at the connection at each projectors high beam connector (FYI, a d2s 4.0 I have laying around has 22 ohms of resistance, I don’t know if all projectors have the same spec). If you get .000 ohms, that actuator is shorted. If you don’t have a multimeter, grab some extra fuses.... Disconnect both high beam actuator connectors, flash high beams and see if it pops the fuse. If it does, you know it’s not the projectors. If the fuse is still good, the reconnect one projector (go with the one you suspect being bad first) and actuate the high beam. If there is a short in the actuator, wiring or one of your connectors it will pop the fuse.

 

Well I pulled all the wiring in the engine bay and put it back together and now the high beam works again. Oh boy am I relieved! Thanks for the advice. Here's a picture of the finished product:

 

You 05-11 guys have it easy with the retros lol!

 

Why's that?

 

I may be a peasant but I think our stock headlights are pretty damned good. There's NO way I'd spend that kind of money on something that's not a huge improvement.
Suspension is a different story. Of course, if you lift it much, you'll sacrifice comfort and driveability.
Yes, that's just my opinion. I'm a little old school.

 

These have the advantage of not blinding people while putting out more useable light than the stock ones in the low beam, and the high beam is amazing. But yeah, if you don't want the look of projectors then you can just do the ultimate stock upgrade that @crashnburn80 came up with and get about the same amount of light for a lot less money.

As far as suspension goes, if you don't cheap out it can actually ride better than stock, but you'll still have the geometry change issues associated with any lift. But yes, suspension's definitely more worth it than headlights. I just didn't want to have to get the Kings rebuilt so I went with the retrofit.

 

I’m partial to retrofits. Once you have a proper setup you’ll never want halogens again.

 

I'll agree the stock headlights are pretty good with an upgraded H4 (at least my experience with 12-15, not sure on the 05-11 models though). That's why it was my last vehicle I own to be retrofitted. BUT a retrofit is pretty amazing! Especially one using a D2S bulb or the NEW MLED 2.0! If you haven't experienced it, you need to find someone with them....it's insanely impressive! Again, the OEM housings are good though compared to many out there.

 

That's great to hear!! Did you find a specific connection that was the issue or did it just end up fixing itself after disconnecting everything and reconnecting?

I've also noticed in some situations the female connector pins may need some tweaking to ensure a tighter contact. Seems like its usually the 9006 connector that the pins are somewhat loose fitting.

 

This was the ops' observation in his ultimate headlight upgrade thread, that the '12-'15 housings are a big improvement over the '05-'11 housings. Pics in that thread of the '12-'15s putting out almost as much light as retros at way less cost and labor. I did the harness and bulbs and am happy but was hoping for more. I've seen retrofits over $1k and was thinking it'd be kinda a coin toss whether to do a front end update on my '10 and end up with the newer headlights or leave the truck as is and retrofit my current housings. I'm a glass half full kinda guy and some of the retrofit ballast issues give me pause. I do like being able to carry a spare bulb that I can swap out in a couple minutes wherever I am.

 

For what its worth, I had D2/S retrofits and removed them because I found it dangerous.

Due to how sharp the cutoff was, I could not see ANYTHING above the cutoff at night. So if I was on even a slightly hilly/curvy road, whenever the nose pointed down I could only see a few feet in front of me at best. Basically had to drive with the high beams on to be able to see.

And before anyone says it, yes they were aimed as high as I dared to go for flat roads.


Sold the retrofits and went back to halogen bulbs and been happy ever since.



Here are the old projectors I had though

 

You're not alone with this observation. I read that same thing in some customer comments on the TRS site and another reason I'm hesitant. Another issue is our housings, which need the h4 mount ground off the back to do the retrofit, so there's no going back, which I'll assume is why you sold yours.

 

It takes hours to align them to the correct level especially with the d2s 5.0 cutoff. I found them to take 2-3 times as much adjustment but I have hit a really sweet spot with them and am very happy. Cutoff and output is amazing on 55w.

 

I agree 100% with aiming/adjusting!!

Careful with the 50w ballasts though....they will trash projectors in no time! Some may last a couple years before the bowl's plating will deteriorate and some may happen in a matter of months. I think the main factor is bulb choice. OEM (Philips or Osram) bulbs have a very good UV coating while many aftermarket bulb have far less protection or none at all, either way it will burn the bowl quickly (even bulbs claiming to be a 50w bulb). UV rays are actually what "burns" (like a sun burn in the winter) a projector bowl, not heat which is a very common misconception. The added wattage significantly increases the UV output of the bulb. Not to mention bulb life is decreased....but that's an easily replaceable part compared to a projector.