HID Headlight Projector Upgrade?

[G.T.]

I am looking to upgrade the factory HID headlights by replacing the projectors.

Does anyone know which projectors drop in or can be adapted to fit without major surgery? I tried a search and only saw one member say he fitted Evo X - R projectors in passing, no mention how involved it was.

I like the OEM look so aftermarket headlights are not an option.

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[Sparky1337]

I’ve been thinking about the D3S form factor LED bulb from Precision LED.

It’s a drop in upgrade, but technically not road legal.

https://precisionled.com/kepler-series-d3s-hid-to-led-conversion-kit

The Porsche folk like them:

https://www.macanforum.com/threads/...-led-bulb-conversion-diy-with-santirx.187404/

 

[G.T.]

I’ve been thinking about the D3S form factor LED bulb from Precision LED.

It’s a drop in upgrade, but technically not road legal.

https://precisionled.com/kepler-series-d3s-hid-to-led-conversion-kit

The Porsche folk like them:

https://www.macanforum.com/threads/...-led-bulb-conversion-diy-with-santirx.187404/

Thanks for the product and review links!

I am a bit leery of LED light bulbs in projectors not designed for them, in my experience they dont work out well. But will look into these.

 

[TreeFiddyAre]

New to the S550 platform so I apologize for the ignorance, but I would love to upgrade the lighting in my GT350r to 6k or so but it has to be bright, so the posted conversion HID to LED is what I would need?

 

[offroadkarter]

@G.T. I looked into this a while ago but didn't see any drop in replacements. Truth be told 99% of people on this site aren't going to speak the lingo when it comes to retrofitting.

IIRC (and I could be wrong, I looked this up a long time ago) the projectors in the 15-17 housings are basically RX350 projectors. I was going to look into a clear lens swap and possibly some shield tweaks. I always found the high beam to be a little lacking, no idea if this projector could handle 50W ballasts.

I’ve been thinking about the D3S form factor LED bulb from Precision LED.

It’s a drop in upgrade, but technically not road legal.

https://precisionled.com/kepler-series-d3s-hid-to-led-conversion-kit

The Porsche folk like them:

https://www.macanforum.com/threads/...-led-bulb-conversion-diy-with-santirx.187404/

This isn't an upgrade

New to the S550 platform so I apologize for the ignorance, but I would love to upgrade the lighting in my GT350r to 6k or so but it has to be bright, so the posted conversion HID to LED is what I would need?

going to "6K" is going to make it dimmer, not brighter. The higher up the kelvin scale you climb, the less light output you have.

If your goal is actually more light output, look into the offerings here, the Osram 66340 Night Breakers are 4200k, the Philips 42403 XV2's are 4800k. If you want a little more white without going crazy up the kelvin scale, the Philips 42403 WHV2's are 5000k.

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/h...sram,Philips/custitem_cat_facet_bulb_size/D3S

 

[Sparky1337]

@G.T. I looked into this a while ago but didn't see any drop in replacements. Truth be told 99% of people on this site aren't going to speak the lingo when it comes to retrofitting.

IIRC (and I could be wrong, I looked this up a long time ago) the projectors in the 15-17 housings are basically RX350 projectors. I was going to look into a clear lens swap and possibly some shield tweaks. I always found the high beam to be a little lacking, no idea if this projector could handle 50W ballasts.





This isn't an upgrade



going to "6K" is going to make it dimmer, not brighter. The higher up the kelvin scale you climb, the less light output you have.

If your goal is actually more light output, look into the offerings here, the Osram 66340 Night Breakers are 4200k, the Philips 42403 XV2's are 4800k. If you want a little more white without going crazy up the kelvin scale, the Philips 42403 WHV2's are 5000k.

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/h...sram,Philips/custitem_cat_facet_bulb_size/D3S

Is there anything in particular you can point out as to why it isn’t an upgrade?

 

[G.T.]

New to the S550 platform so I apologize for the ignorance, but I would love to upgrade the lighting in my GT350r to 6k or so but it has to be bright, so the posted conversion HID to LED is what I would need?

This is one way, or get a D3S bulb in that color temp.

Is there anything in particular you can point out as to why it isn’t an upgrade?

What he is saying is that the LED capsule does not throw out light in the same direction as the bulb the projector was originally designed for, hence it will perform poorly (less light output out front/glare/both).

I did look at the review links and the beamshots could be better IMO, the hotspot with the LED bulb seemed significantly smaller than with the Osram HID bulb it was compared with.

 

[G.T.]

@G.T. I looked into this a while ago but didn't see any drop in replacements. Truth be told 99% of people on this site aren't going to speak the lingo when it comes to retrofitting.

IIRC (and I could be wrong, I looked this up a long time ago) the projectors in the 15-17 housings are basically RX350 projectors. I was going to look into a clear lens swap and possibly some shield tweaks. I always found the high beam to be a little lacking, no idea if this projector could handle 50W ballasts.

Yeah, I couldnt find much in the way of info on projectors for this platform!

Curiously its the opposite for the F150, lots more info out there for that.

Thanks for the tip on the RX350 projectors, will look into it. I havent ever seen it mentioned in context with Mustangs though. Once or twice I've seen EvoX-R, which I've also seen mentioned to drop into 11-13 F150's and S197's.

Someone on here did a clear lens swap with a DIY and links to what he used, one of the things I am looking into if I cant find a drop-in projector.

Yes our stock projectors can handle 50w...at least for a while lol! Dunno if it will last but I doubt it will personally.

EDIT: @offroadkarter here is the clear lens swap DIY thread: https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/headlight-mods.120498/

 

[TreeFiddyAre]

@G.T. I looked into this a while ago but didn't see any drop in replacements. Truth be told 99% of people on this site aren't going to speak the lingo when it comes to retrofitting.

IIRC (and I could be wrong, I looked this up a long time ago) the projectors in the 15-17 housings are basically RX350 projectors. I was going to look into a clear lens swap and possibly some shield tweaks. I always found the high beam to be a little lacking, no idea if this projector could handle 50W ballasts.





This isn't an upgrade



going to "6K" is going to make it dimmer, not brighter. The higher up the kelvin scale you climb, the less light output you have.

If your goal is actually more light output, look into the offerings here, the Osram 66340 Night Breakers are 4200k, the Philips 42403 XV2's are 4800k. If you want a little more white without going crazy up the kelvin scale, the Philips 42403 WHV2's are 5000k.

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/h...sram,Philips/custitem_cat_facet_bulb_size/D3S

I totally understand that 6k isn't actually brighter than what's in there and 4800K is basically sunlight ..I've played with all sorts of lights in my toys over the years..even done a Green HID in my endurance bike which was actually pretty good over the 4hr race . Long story short If I was able to retrofit a 6k LED into the stock housing that emits a "cooler" light spectrum while equating the OEM light projection amount then I'm all in. But if I have to hack up the housing or the harness then that's a hard NO from me.

 

[offroadkarter]

Yeah, I couldnt find much in the way of info on projectors for this platform!

Curiously its the opposite for the F150, lots more info out there for that.

Thanks for the tip on the RX350 projectors, will look into it. I havent ever seen it mentioned in context with Mustangs though. Once or twice I've seen EvoX-R, which I've also seen mentioned to drop into 11-13 F150's and S197's.

Someone on here did a clear lens swap with a DIY and links to what he used, one of the things I am looking into if I cant find a drop-in projector.

Yes our stock projectors can handle 50w...at least for a while lol! Dunno if it will last but I doubt it will personally.

EDIT: @offroadkarter here is the clear lens swap DIY thread: https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/headlight-mods.120498/

Thanks for that link, I hadn't seen that thread before. I'll do some digging and see if I can find where I came up with the info on the factory projectors being essentially RX350's.

 

[offroadkarter]

@G.T. here ya go, if these posts are to be believed, the OEM projectors are RX350 based.


https://www.hidplanet.com/forum/gen...enon-projectors-which-model-years#post1411531

https://www.hidplanet.com/forum/gen...aa/1432612-oem-hid-led-projectors-master-list

That would explain why the STi-R lens is the right lens for these cars.

 

[G.T.]

@G.T. here ya go, if these posts are to be believed, the OEM projectors are RX350 based.


https://www.hidplanet.com/forum/gen...enon-projectors-which-model-years#post1411531

https://www.hidplanet.com/forum/gen...aa/1432612-oem-hid-led-projectors-master-list

That would explain why the STi-R lens is the right lens for these cars.

Thanks for the link and info!

 

[G.T.]

@offroadkarter , would you be able to confirm its an RX350 if you saw the projector? IIRC there are nice shots of the projector body in the thread I linked.

 

[offroadkarter]

@offroadkarter , would you be able to confirm its an RX350 if you saw the projector? IIRC there are nice shots of the projector body in the thread I linked.

I've never held one in my hand (I've worked with the E55, countless Morimoto MH1's, FX-R 1.1's and MD2S') but comparing the bolt pattern on the bowl to the conversion brackets Lightwerkz sells to mate G5 projectors to RX350 housings, I'd say it's a match

https://lightwerkz.net/collections/retrofit-brackets/products/rx350-to-g5

 

[G.T.]

I've never held one in my hand (I've worked with the E55, countless Morimoto MH1's, FX-R 1.1's and MD2S') but comparing the bolt pattern on the bowl to the conversion brackets Lightwerkz sells to mate G5 projectors to RX350 housings, I'd say it's a match

https://lightwerkz.net/collections/retrofit-brackets/products/rx350-to-g5

Thanks again! Its more steps closer to confirming this once and for all!

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