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Affordable Projector Headlights
- Thread starter Chris_uk
- Start date
BigBlueDart
Member
- :
- 2012 Mazda2 Touring MT
Too late for me. I've already sprung for a driver side UK projector headlight. In time I'll get the other and then retrofit both of them, probably very much like Font.
I was literally placing the order for these when I saw Joe's group buy tune thread come up. That will put these on the back burner for a few months - maybe (>.<). At the current euro conversion rates, when I put them in my cart and added shipping, the headlights came to a total of $355.00 USD (265.00€) which is a totally reasonable price for a set of headlights with a projector upgrade - and from a German make, so the quality should be there.
Suddueth13
Member
- :
- 2011 Mazda 2 Sport, 1987 Mazda RX-7 Turbo II
You could retrofit your headlights with real bixenon projectors for cheaper. Output will be better than these with a PnP kit.
Very True. Unfortunately, I don't have the car downtime, child-free workspace, or oven big enough to do it. Buying a manufactured solution is what I need. I love these types of projects and would really like to do a retrofit, but I'd need a donor set to start from and to get them for cheap before I could consider that route.
I see in your sig "Full LED replacement". Are you working on an LED retrofit? My other nerd-dream project would be to retrofit my headlights with those JW Speaker LED retrofit units. Only thing really keeping me back is it adds up to about twice the cost of an HID retrofit at the moment.
I see in your sig "Full LED replacement". Are you working on an LED retrofit? My other nerd-dream project would be to retrofit my headlights with those JW Speaker LED retrofit units. Only thing really keeping me back is it adds up to about twice the cost of an HID retrofit at the moment.
You could retrofit your headlights with real bixenon projectors for cheaper. Output will be better than these with a PnP kit.
Suddueth13
Member
- :
- 2011 Mazda 2 Sport, 1987 Mazda RX-7 Turbo II
My little girl was 2 1/2 at the time I did mine, it's definitely possible. It can be done in a few hours so no prolonged down time of the car is needed. My oven wasn't big enough either so I used a heat gun. It takes a little longer but works just as well. I'm coming up with a new method currently for opening up large headlamps.
No LED forward lighting retrofit. That is still way too expensive and the results aren't as stellar as they need to be. I actually don't have that car anymore but I was working on converting everything except for the forward lighting to LED. I now have a 1996 Ford Thunderbird that I'm doing the same to. The only things that aren't LED as of right now are the HVAC controls, vanity mirrors, glove box, trunk light, third brake light, and front turn signals. Everything else is LED. Hopefully sometime this year it will get a retrofit as well.
No LED forward lighting retrofit. That is still way too expensive and the results aren't as stellar as they need to be. I actually don't have that car anymore but I was working on converting everything except for the forward lighting to LED. I now have a 1996 Ford Thunderbird that I'm doing the same to. The only things that aren't LED as of right now are the HVAC controls, vanity mirrors, glove box, trunk light, third brake light, and front turn signals. Everything else is LED. Hopefully sometime this year it will get a retrofit as well.
Suddueth,
Have you looked at all at how Toyota is doing the Corolla LED setup? It's the first one that I've seen that's a single lens projector configuration... I'm really curious about that.
Have you looked at all at how Toyota is doing the Corolla LED setup? It's the first one that I've seen that's a single lens projector configuration... I'm really curious about that.
My little girl was 2 1/2 at the time I did mine, it's definitely possible. It can be done in a few hours so no prolonged down time of the car is needed. My oven wasn't big enough either so I used a heat gun. It takes a little longer but works just as well. I'm coming up with a new method currently for opening up large headlamps.
No LED forward lighting retrofit. That is still way too expensive and the results aren't as stellar as they need to be. I actually don't have that car anymore but I was working on converting everything except for the forward lighting to LED. I now have a 1996 Ford Thunderbird that I'm doing the same to. The only things that aren't LED as of right now are the HVAC controls, vanity mirrors, glove box, trunk light, third brake light, and front turn signals. Everything else is LED. Hopefully sometime this year it will get a retrofit as well.
Suddueth13
Member
- :
- 2011 Mazda 2 Sport, 1987 Mazda RX-7 Turbo II
I have, but the output isn't on par with xenon systems. The LED lighting system is driven differently than halogen or xenon so it's trickier to manage that way. This having space to mount the drive module and massive heat sink for it. At this point, it isn't worth the hassle
Update: My FK headlights arrived today(the ones at the open to this thread)! Opened the box, everything seems to have arrived in excellent condition, and the quality on the lights seems excellent. We are having complete crap weather here in the NW, it's supposed to be raining for at LEAST the next 10 days. I don't have any covered or indoor space to work on the car, so these probably won't be getting installed for a while. I will unbox them and shoot some photos in the next few days though. In case you are interested in ordering a set yourself, here is a basic picture of cost and time involved: I pre-ordered from FK in mid January, the headlights shipped February 2nd and were delivered on Feb 17th, but I wasn't here, so I picked them up today. The headlights themselves were about $338.00 and the shipping was exactly $50.00 USD after conversion from Euro, so the lights plus shipping came in right at $388.00 USD.
BigBlueDart
Member
- :
- 2012 Mazda2 Touring MT
Just for the sake of comparison, I got a set of JDM projector headlights (used) from Japan and my total final cost including shipping was about $450.
Btw, am I correct to assume that the projector is halogen, not HID?
Btw, am I correct to assume that the projector is halogen, not HID?
Yes, definitely. These projectors are set up p-n-p to receive stock bulbs, so they are indeed halogen. You can obviously easily swap in an HID kit, which I may do at some point. They are also set up for us left hand drivers, which is nice. Additionally, these have LED drls built-in, which was another selling point for me. I'll follow up with more details once I have some time and space to get them out of the boxes, and hopefully onto the car.
Price-wise, when I first looked at ordering the headlights back in August/September, the total including shipping was coming to about $355.00. The Euro started climbing once January hit, so I put in my order before it got too high. It has only gone up a few tenths since then, but it had climbed enough to add $30.00 to the price!
Price-wise, when I first looked at ordering the headlights back in August/September, the total including shipping was coming to about $355.00. The Euro started climbing once January hit, so I put in my order before it got too high. It has only gone up a few tenths since then, but it had climbed enough to add $30.00 to the price!
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ChasinCheckerz
Member
- :
- 2014 Mazda2 Touring 5-speed
Update: My FK headlights arrived today(the ones at the open to this thread)! Opened the box, everything seems to have arrived in excellent condition, and the quality on the lights seems excellent. We are having complete crap weather here in the NW, it's supposed to be raining for at LEAST the next 10 days. I don't have any covered or indoor space to work on the car, so these probably won't be getting installed for a while. I will unbox them and shoot some photos in the next few days though. In case you are interested in ordering a set yourself, here is a basic picture of cost and time involved: I pre-ordered from FK in mid January, the headlights shipped February 2nd and were delivered on Feb 17th, but I wasn't here, so I picked them up today. The headlights themselves were about $338.00 and the shipping was exactly $50.00 USD after conversion from Euro, so the lights plus shipping came in right at $388.00 USD.
Can you post pictures of them on? (preferably when it's dark outside) I have been looking at these for a bit but can't find pictures of them installed and on. Also, are (or were, I guess) they pretty plug-and-play (for someone who knows very little about headlights)?
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Check out my Silver Build thread. The last page has many pics with a detailed write up. If you're left with any questions, feel free to ask! Unfortunately no successful night photos yet. Everything I've taken has been blurry. Need to get out at night with a tripod. Hard to remember to bring it though...
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