CLOSED - The Retrofit Source GB

Upgrade kit on there website

 

Some of mine are out and they are the newest generation. Does that matter? I'm going to fix it this summer when school is out.

 

Yours are already out? I remember I did mine at the same time as you. Glad I didn't use my halos or I'd be pissed. Is it me or they just don't last too long?

 

Reading this making me not eat to get halos

 

x2

 

I've avoided halos in all my retrofits just for one less thing to be a potential problem in the future.

I am going to retrofit my bike next and decided against halos once again

I already have two 55w ballasts and two d2s bulbs. But the headlights on the bike are so small I don't think I dare run 55w in them. So it makes no sense to buy a $140 worth of FXR projectors and possibly damage my lights when I can spend $240 and get the complete kit through the group buy and use the 35w ballasts


Speaking of which Andrew. Since I am a TW member and have ordered multiple kits from you guys will I be able to use the GB code even though they are going in my bike?

If I name my bike tacoma does that count? Lol


Here's what she will look like

 

Just put my order in. Are they still shipping in ques of 25? Or 10 or whatever

 

Who can we ask if we are completely clueless as to what to buy in order to get some bad ass looking lights for a 2013? I've seen so many awesome lights on here its crazy! I see some on ebay but mostly for under 12'. The one that i see for 13' + I dont really like all that much and they are a lot more $$ then the earlier ones (that also look better).
Do the halos really have a lot of problems? Thats one thing that i was kinda looking at getting. The little round thing around the center light (or ball).
Thanks.

 

I would suggest to you that this is the absolute last place you should ask about fleabay lights.

Say no to fleabay lights.

 

Yea when I redo mine, I think I'm going to put the halos on the outside. That way, if they do go out again, I can leave it off and still look good. Like tacodane's. Looks good with it off! VVVVV

 

I bought my halos last summer and wasn't gentle installing them and they've worked fine, it has the aluminum grey backing on it, I like them mounted behind the shroud cause when they do go out, I'll just unplug them and you will never know they were there.

 

I've had the CCFL halo's that I got used from a guy who ran his for about 2 years, I'm on 2 years now and not one issues. F the LED version. CCFL FTW!

 

Queues of 25. Thank you for your order!

Not a problem since you're a known TW member.

Even if they are the newest generation, they should not have any out. We ship approximately 25 pairs per day and honestly only replace perhaps 3-4 rings per month, so they have a very low failure rate!

 

CCFL are also a very fragile glass tube and the inverters on those drop like flies. We probably sold 200,000 pairs of them to date and were happy to switch to LEDs.

 

Ive had my inverters fail, no problems out of my xbs yet old set was 2 years old

 

This is true but every single person I've seen with LEDs have an LED fade out within the first year. I'd hate to have to take apart my headlights for one Led.

 

Except for me

 

No one ever posts up about not having any issues on a forum, just saying. It's always the negative.

 

I've had no issues with my high beams or the new harnesses if that matters

 

Here's a run down of what we're up to behind the scenes:

Further info and pics can be seen here: http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?57962-Official-TRS-2014-New-Products-Thread!


Sealed7 Headlights: Our first foray into the full headlight housing market, the Sealed7 is designed to be a universal replacement for all standard 7” Sealed beam headlights. With their modular design, customizing the look inside before resealing them is easy and the options are nearly endless. Based around our new Morimoto Mini D2S 3.0 “S7” specific projectors, they don’t leave much to be desired in the actual light output department either. Initial launch was delayed after we tore down our long term test set and found a few signs of plastic deformation around the hottest areas of the projector inside, and the finish on the lenses wasn’t perfect. We’ve reinforced the housings in a few key areas, changed the specification for the plastic used during the injection molding process, and stressed initial quality control and post manufacturing handling for the lens covers. Early versions have already been installed on everything from old BMW’s, to Jeep JK’s, to Atlanta-Native and friend of TRSZach- Rutledge Wood’s restored Plymouth. So far, nothing but love from their users, and we weren’t even happy with em enough to make it official yet!

Sealed6 Headlights: Following the in the development footsteps of the Sealed7, the Sealed6 is the 6x4 square version in this modular bi-xenon replacement headlight series. Like the Sealed7, these will be based on the new Morimoto Mini D2S 3.0 bi-xenons because of their hard-to-argue performance combined into a well-refined, compact design. Given that most lessons in developing housings like this have already been learned through the development of the Sealed7 over the better part of 2013 and early 2014, we don’t anticipate as long a lead-time to bring these to the market.

Initially started designing around the FX-R. The geometry was uh...not cutting it.

Morimoto XB35 and XB55 Ballasts: The current iteration of the 3Five and 5Five ballast is now over three years old. All generations considered (3Five, 3Five.1, 3Five SS, and 3Five DSP) there were approximately 108,000 total ballasts produced and distributed to date. Despite the somewhat sour taste that’s developed as their life cycle winds down to a close; All things considered we’re still proud of how well the 3Five and 5Five staked their claim as one of the best options in the world of aftermarket ballasts for a long time. However, new ballasts will be coming this summer, and they won’t be DSP 2.0’s. We were lucky enough to be able to consult with an ex-Denso engineer on the XB35/XB55 ballast project back in February during the early design consideration phase and while I won’t go as far as saying the new ballasts are going to eat Denso’s for dinner, I do feel wholly confident that they will be the best ballasts ever produced without a major automaker’s budget backing them. Some things you can expect to see are removable TE Connectivity high voltage outputs terminating in both D2S or AMP flavors, Extruded aluminum shells with integrated heat-sinks and an optimized IC layout with ceramic igniter shielding. Lesson Learned. There is obviously a strong focus on ignition stability and warm up speed just adequate enough to comply with ECE99 standards, reduction of EMI output, and Reducing AMP consumption on start up. Above all: reliability. Because there is no deadline to meet (unlike the DSP) – the XB series is much more thought out to begin with, and will be tested, tested, broken, tested, and tested some more before they’re mature enough to mass produce. Speaking of mass production, another item of importance here is automation. Sure the design and quality of ingredients that go into OEM ballasts is top notch, but one of the most important things that separates them from aftermarket units is automated production. Once the design has been settled, the PCB’s will be produced by a third party on a sterile automated line, not assembled by hand like every other ballast produced in southern China. There is very little variance in OEM quality; it doesn’t matter if the factory produces one, one hundred, or ten thousand units, they all end up the same. Start with a good design, use quality ingredients, and remove as much variability as possible from production.

Below we have some initial renderings of the ballasts overall look. Some prototype work going into the updated D2S head, an image of the PCB undergoing EMI testing, and some other screen shots of the test reports that we actually just got back, which show just a small variety of the data that's being accounted for.

Updated AMP/D2S Adapters: Using the improved P32-D Connector from the new XB35 ballasts, these will end up as a higher end option for retrofitters who need AMP to D2S adapters for their conversions and are looking for something more dependable. The old D2S sockets are notorious for making imperfect contact with bulb bases or having poor tolerances, sometimes shearing off the locking tabs from the side of the bulbs or even the ground electrodes from inside the base. Though late designs of the Morimoto connectors still work better than most of the generic stuff thanks to their Denso-esque contacts, the biggest improvement is in the elasticity of the metal used to produce the contacts. With the old ones to be sure contact was made with every kind of bulb, the factory pre-set positions for the contacts had to be set “inwards” as far as possible and sometimes that ended up being too tight. With the update, we can still pre-set the contact position inwards, but it will flex more readily to accommodate varying bulb bases.

9006 Male/Female Test Light: conceived as a simple add-on for most any standard relay wire harness or headlight circuit to aid in trouble shooting situations. If 12V power is flowing through the test cord and the LED is illuminated yet the accessory on the other end is inoperable, you won’t have to remove it or swap sides to find out if the harness is causing the fault, or the component itself. Also an easy indicator to ensure power is getting where it needs to while running wire harnesses through an engine bay without necessarily having to connect the ballasts, etc. Cheap, effective, and looks cool under the hood.

Housing Caps: All of the currently available shapes & diameters, with a few additions and some with pre-existing holes molded in their rear-end in standard sizes for common connectors to pass-through while still keeping things water tight. Rubber quality and long-term durability will be improved. ‘Nuff said!

GT-R Clear Lens & Clarity: By the end of 2013 we had pretty much had it with our original lens manufacture. Consistently delivering new batches of clear lenses where 50% or more would be in such poor condition we had to either scrap or sell the OK ones as “value” versions. Reminder after reminder, new batches would come in and nothing would change – so we were forced to look for an alternative and contracted with a new manufacture to reproduce all of our lenses to the same specifications. During prototyping and even small volume production sampling everything came out perfectly. Crystal-like clarity, lack of inclusions, good surface condition. Approved! Then arrived the first official delivery of mass produced lenses and it seems as though the manufacture forgot all about the practice rounds and the samples that we approved. Sigh. We of course went back to them full of acceptance, and now have the lenses back into production the way they should have; like they always have, but with less scrap delivered to our shop in the first place. Also in production is a unique 2” lens developed especially for the Nissan GTR projector. For such a badass car, they really watered down the output from those projectors – so this will surely help GT-R owners fix that.

Below: the GT-R lens was originally developed for based on the needs for our friends at Switzer Performance in Ohio, well known for GT-R Modifications. Before & after shots of the beam pattern. To the far right, production samples of all clear lenses.

9012 HID Bulbs: Until late, our only offering for a 9012 bulb fitment was a modified 9006 bulb. The splines were close, but not exact. Now fixed and formally available, we offer the Morimoto 3Five bulbs in a true 9012 fitment in 4300K, 5000K, and 6000K. Problem solved.

H16/5202 Input: Until late, our only offering for an H16 or 5202-harness fitment was a modified H1/H3 Male Pin setup. Not waterproof nor locked in any way, it was a poor way to trigger anything from the H16 Female end. Now formally available, we offer the Morimoto HD relay harness with a true H16 Male adapter for the input. Problem Solved.

White on White XB Halos & Strips: The white-faced version of the XB LED Angel Eyes officially launched last month on March 1st. Everybody who has used them loves them and the lack of the old yellow phosphorous coating. Without compromising the Kelvin or intensity, the halos look much more neutral when un-lit. With significant improvements in their drivers and chip reliability preceding the change to the white face, it’s safe to say the product has now matured into its final state. Expect the newer XB LED strips to get the same white-face treatment by mid summer. As far as new “shapes” – it’s safe to say you’ll see a square XB Halo for use on the X Lens D2S 3.0 shrouds, as well as some vehicle specific versions popping up like for the new F150 trucks.

X.DRL 5 and X.DRL 1: The X.DRL 5 is a small evolution of the current X.DRL – with no technical changes involved, it will only replace the silver bezels that surround the lenses with black anodized ones instead, making them more neutral. We’ve sold a ton of these over the last couple years with next to no trouble, so there’s no need to fix anything unbroken here. The X.DRL-1 is a single projector-style DRL, housed in a fully machined aluminum housing, anodized black, and powered with a high power 10W COB LED. Bright is an understatement. The beam pattern won’t have much definition though due to the lack of reflector optics or shielding inside, so they’re best saved for auxiliary or decorative lighting purposes only.

Koito Glue Rope: the OCI Butyl rubber glue is one of our top selling products. Loved by many as a low cost insurance policy against moisture intrusion after opening up headlights – some find it a bit too soft. For those guys, we will start extruding the harder OEM Koito glue bricks into ropes similar to the OCI stuff. Such a simple way to put an otherwise pain in the ass but nice quality product to use, we think!

XB LED T10 Bulbs & Full Lineup: Based on 3W Chip on Board LED panels, the XB LED T10 bulbs will feature compatibility with canbus circuits, a 5000K pure white light output, and plenty of uniformly lit ambient light from both sides. Their specially produced COB’s were designed for use solely in the XB LED lineup and will make their way into other size bulbs by late summer.
Click image for larger version.

LED2S: We started the LED2S Project in 2013 and after refining the design over five times, we finally nailed what we believe to be the best possible layout for a surface mounted LED bulb. With the help of forum veteran and LED nut Upashi, we explored a variety of unique design concepts before settling. Though we'll never claim it's light output to surpass the performance of a true 35w D2S HID bulb, the estimated 2300 lumens will still easily outshine a halogen setup and the distribution of light is close enough to its radially illuminated siblings to the point where only the most discerning of us headlight nerds would know the difference. The bulb features a specially designed aluminum body with a large heat sink on the tail end and six under-driven CREE XML chips to keep the heat down. The “optical” design will eventually be carried over to fitments for H7, H11, and 9006.
Click image for larger version.

X.POD Mounting Options: Mounting off-road lights inside of high beam reflectors is nothing new, especially to the truck owning crowd. Mounting sexy looking X.POD’s inside of headlight reflectors with a threaded mounting shaft similar to the one found on the Morimoto Mini projectors sure seems attractive though! With either one or two pods producing up to an estimated 2000 lumens – as an easy to install LED high beam retrofit they’ll produce plenty of instantly available light and look good while doing so. Since the bigger bars don’t produce as much light output as their counterparts, we feel the flexibility, serviceability, looks, and geometry of the smaller POD’s will really end up being the most popular models in this lineup.
Click image for larger version.

XB LED Fog Lights: Featuring an exceptionally wide, uniformly lit beam pattern that’s projected through an atypically shaped projector lens, the new XB LED fog lights will definitely be popular. With two different versions designed to be bolt-on in most 2007 and newer Subaru and Toyota vehicles, and mounting points that are simple enough to retrofit into almost any application, we feel confident these will become a must-have in addition to a headlight retrofit. With a fully sealed housing made of powdercoated cast aluminum and a tough polycarb lens, they signify our first offering for lighting that can just be mounted without a retrofit into a pre-existing housing. They even have aiming adjustments integrated for fine tuning once mounted. ETA is late May-Mid June.

JW Speaker Products: Though not our own product, we’ve been granted the apparently hard to come by honor of becoming an official distributor for JW Speaker LED Lighting products. Well known for their good looking, expensive, and overall attractive 8000 series LED based 7” Round and 4x6 headlights – JW Speaker is a well respected company that produces everything they sell here in the good ol US of A and we’re proud to be a part of that. Though we plan to only stock the 7” Rounds as an LED-based brother to the Sealed7, we would be glad to special order anything in their bountiful catalog for our customers.

Vent Patch Mesh: Moisture membranes! Everybody wants goretex patches, nobody can find ‘em. As a necessary ingredient to our Sealed7 headlight project, we’ve successfully sourced the material, added the 3M adhesive backing, and are now turning these little bastards out by the thousands. Cut those holes in ye’ headlights boys, cause its breathability time!
Click image for larger version.

S2K-R Projector: Started in 2009, we put tons of money into R&D and it's finally time for the unveil! People, this will in fact be the best projector ever created. Put down your LS430, toss your OEM S2K retro in the trash, throw your custom curved crap to the curb! Actually I'm just kidding, we threw this POS design away years ago. Just had to throw this in there, lol.... Damn you, project S2K-R! argggghhhhh!

RX350 AFS to Non AFS RetroQuik: Over the last year while working with forum member blochead1 on a variety of projects for TRS and retrofits for his own cars, I was asked to keep my eyes open for a set of the elusive non-AFS Lexus RX350 Bi-xenon projectors. Probably six months went by with nothing passing through our door, so we said F it we’ll design our own adapter plate to make the AFS 350 Bi-xenon fit the non AFS mounting points. With so many modern Toyota’s and even a few other manufactures utilizing the H11 halogen equivalent of this projector, yet very few vehicles higher up in the food chain using the non AFS bi-xenon projector – naturally there is a lot of untapped potential here. The bracket is currently in the works and progress can be viewed in his build thread here – once finalized we’ll offer it as an easy-mounting accessory with the RX350 AFS projectors.

New Shrouds: Improvements and new additions across the board here! The standard Mini Gatling Gun shrouds have a much nicer more evenly applied chrome finish and the mold is new for improved casting. To follow in the footsteps of the X-Lens success from the Mini D2S projectors, we will offer a Gatling style shroud that covers the round lens of the MH1 and gives it a square look (rendering below). We will also re-introduce the much more popular MicroGatling gun style shrouds for the Matchbox 2.0 projectors. For full size shrouds, expect to see the new G37C-R Shroud coming soon (below) as well as a square Panamera style shroud for the X-Lens Mini D2S 3.0 projectors. (dare I say, PanaSquara, haha)

Closeouts expansion: The closeouts section on the site has been a bigger hit than we could have ever imagined. In the last year or two we’ve slowed down our sourcing on OEM Headlights due to the sheer time it takes to break them all down, take apart the projectors, inspect them with fine tooth comb, only to scrap 30-50% of it for one reason or another. We will start buying more OEM parts again and continue offering them at “below market” pricing with a lack of guarantee. Though still to be determined, we may offer some aftermarket retro related parts that we don’t believe in, but are regularly bombarded with requests for - such as those stupid white/amber silicone switchback strips here too.

Improved Packaging: From everything Morimoto down to even the OEM parts we sell, we’ve spent some time considering the look, feel, and protection that goes into the products we ship out. Though we’re hardly ever criticized for poor packaging, there’s nothing wrong with some aesthetic and quality improvements in this department.