A Retro Project for Greg - Red Eye

I am not surprised at the issues, i had the most of the same issues when i received my lights from Muy Grande > sorry to hear about that man. I hope your light issues get resolved.

 

He gave me a full refund, so I'm not upset. I'm gonna send him the lights back so he can take them apart and figure out what happened.

 

Just to keep you guys in the loop. I contacted Cesear from Lightwerks (they make some really nice Headlights) and ordered some of the Kioto Butyl Sealer. Apparently this stuff is better than the 3M stuff and at this point probably better than the OME Gray stuff I used on Gregs headlights. Based on Cesear's posting over on "The HID Planet" they also experienced "Condensation" and this stuff has fixed that problem. Apparently some other members have used this stuff also to great success.

Like I told Greg, I'm on a mission to fix these and will make them my personal set once I'm done with them.

As for you Bob, if I do have success with this new sealer my offer still stands......I'll redo your set. Don't think I haven't forgotten, it really bugs me that you experienced the condensation issue.

I will be posting up a thread to help all the DIY people out there.......

 

Awesome, Looking forward to hearing about the sealer. That stuff looks like a pain to put on though...

 

For anybody debating between mini d2s and mini h1's...go mini h1's for sure. I too went with mini d2s after being convinced by Matt at TRS, regret it everyday lol. Put mini h1's in my gf's corolla and they blow mine away.
Regardless of that, Nice retro man came out clean. I like the look of those apollo shrouds a lot.

 

Hey I would like some advice. Im looking to buy a retro kit. Im getting hte Bo xenon Fx-r stage III kit but they only come with D2S no mini H1 available as an option.

Im a little confused. Are you saying the FX-R kit is good or bad?
Is color good or bad?
Is FX-R kit with D2S better than Mini H1 or not?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

Mini h1 is a projector, as is the mini d2s. They get the names from their bulb type, mini h1 accepting a h1 bulb. And mini d2s accepting a d2s bulb. D2s is the most common bulb type for projectors. The FX-R is hands down better than the Mini projectors, but will require cutting and aligning. Whereas the mini projectors will fit into the existing hole and will be held on via a lock ring in back, and will have an alignment plate to make alignment dummy proof. If you do go the mini route, def go mini h1. If you want a little bit of a challenge and more performance, go FX-R's.

 

Well a little update on the Sealer that I bought from Lightwerks. First off this sealer is hard to work with....you get a brick of that stuff and have to warm it up to massage into a long piece that will fit in the gap of the headlight. Anyway, I did a complete job on Saturday and I have the lights installed on my truck. Now I'm just waiting for rain.

I refined my methods as I just applied the sealer over the existing sealer and I changed up my install by heating and reheating the sealer while having the main clamp in place. I hope this works.

 

So last night it rained all night and into early this morning. I went out checked out the new pair of lights I made using the Lightwerks grey sealer and no foggin. Then I said what the Hell need to know if they will fog up when the lights are on and driving around town so I drove around town at 2 am during a light rain got home and guess what no foggin. It was late and I figured my eyes were playing tricks on me so I went to bed woke up went outside and check my lights again. They were wet from the rain......but guess what no foggin........so I am going to prematurely call them a "Success" at this point until we get a down pour.

I'm pumped because think I finally have figured this one out.

 

Hmmm. Interesting.

 

Yes I know......I refined my steps and added more steps but basically I think the end result is the fact that there is more glue/sealer in the track where the rear housing and front lens meet.

I'm hoping to knock out your old set. I have some plans for those....

 

thanks muy grande for keeping this thread up-to-date. i have followed it since the beginning( as this particular set caught my eye) as i have many lighting posts. i am about to post a thread titled----"WTF?---HAVE RETROFITTED HEADLIGHTS NOT BEEN PERFECTED?" as i have read CONTINUOUSLY about issues with this particular mod. even some of TRS's recommended, so-called "professional" retrofitters have endured problems i'm certainly no expert in the field but would enjoy having a set, but am understandably leery. good luck, sir, and again keep us up to date

 

Yeah, honestly some sets that I made were hit or miss (meaning that at the time I did the water test, I had no issues but then if the buyer drove around with them in a down pour and/or rain BAM foggin would show up).......I have constantly been on here and The HID Planet and have talked to professional Retrofitters and the guys over at TRS to try and figure this puzzle out.

I think that the guys over at Lightwerks have probably the best stuff out there you can find as far as sealer goes. It's a PIA to mess with because it comes in a freaking block and you have to heat it up and massage it into form but so far it has worked. I think I maybe able to pull it off with some of the 3M Rubber sealer but that gives of a chemical reaction when heated and sometimes will cause a film to develop inside the front lens and thats not good.

I plan on making a thread just dedicated to the sealing process I used......with lots of pics.

 

yes, have to agree, Caesar @lightwerkz seems to have the best rep for retrofits, though even they have had some issues i've read about on other forums, though LESS than any other retrofitter i've read about. even high-end retrofitters have had issues and often they have not performed retro's for TACOMA'S alas................perhaps there is something about toyota's oem fixture that doesn't lend itself to being pried apart and retrofitted with sometimes extreme, foreign tinkering............

 

Happy to Report that this was the cause of a bad harness. I noticed that the tip of Negative cable going to the Battery was holding on for life.....couldn't really tell because of the shrink tubing that was holding it in place. Anyways, I tried a brand spanking new Wire Harness I bought from TRS and it worked on 2 sets of lights (the ones I have on my truck) and the ones Greg had so many issues with. The only issue I have at the moment with the high beams is sometimes one shield will stay stuck meaning that when you turn off the high beams one side stays up. You have to turn on the high beams on and off and it works. This seems to happen intermittently.

Adjustment screws seem fine.......adjust made on both screws a little bit on each side.

Haven't opened them yet but plan to in the next few days.......I have the sealer from Lightwerks.......not sure what direction I'm going with these. I have some Gattling Guns with Halos I been wanting to do or I was thinking of just painting the Red Apollo Shrouds Black. I will probably repaint the inner surround because it touched the inside of the lens and rubbed off a little on some places. Either way, I'll keep you guys posted.

So far we have had rain, freezing temps here in Dallas and my other headlights have not had any issues with foggin.

 

Glad to see the harness was the problem.
As far as the adjustment screws, I find it odd that they work now, cause like I said, the passenger side one was fine, but the drivers side one did not. BOTH of the adjustment screws adjusted the headlights up and down instead of one of them adjusting it left and right.

 

Yeah, it's easier to adjust when they are off.....I used a small ratchet and could tell the bowl was moving....on both.

 

despite their unpopularity here, i'm still a fan of halo's. wish there were more tacoma's here that had 'em. i understand they're not terribly bright, but some seemingly reputable companies still commonly offer them. check the thread i posted, with the white toyota tundra crewmax, for some awesome looking halo's (though no one responded) http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/lighting/203773-anyone-familiar-company.html

 

I will be watching for this! Could really help a lot of people out!

 

yeah, I used a ratchet too.