HID Bulbs in Halogen Projectors. Bad Idea? Good Idea? Who even cares anymore?

First, let me apologize for two things:

1. As of two days ago, I no longer drive a Tacoma I got a new job and have a long commute so I needed something with better gas mileage.
2. The question I have is about my 2015 Camry, not a Tacoma. I would have gone to a Camry or Toyota forum, but they're just not as good as Tacoma World. I don't know if I can (or want to) give up TacomaWorld.

Anyway, on to my question...

My new Camry has halogen projectors. I know that I can put HID bulbs in the stock halogen projectors. My question is, should I?

I know that putting HID bulbs into a traditional, non-projector, headlight housing is bad news and that it essentially blinds everyone else. Does the same thing happen when you put an HID bulb in a halogen projector?

I've seen pictures and comments on the interwebs that show/say its okay to do because projectors have the cutoff line, which prevents blinding other drivers. Light output and distribution seems to be good as well. But I've also seen pictures and comments where people have done it and there's a semi-cutoff line with glare above this poor cutoff line and so-so light distribution. Does the quality of HID bulb have anything to do with these mixed results I'm seeing with these stock projectors?

I was on The Retrofit Source's website and I found a review where someone put HID bulbs into his 2015 Camry's stock halogen projectors. (Here, sixth review down) They said the cutoff was "laser-like" and it had "really uniform light distribution." So now I'm thinking either A) they're exaggerating and blinding other drivers; or B) Sweet! It works, I won't blind anyone, and I'll be able to see tiny bugs on the road at night!

Does anyone with experience with this type of thing have any input/answers for me?

If you've put HID bulbs in halogen projectors, it would be really nice if you could share some pictures of how it turned out. To get you started, here's a picture of my new Camry.

 

Sorry, no help from me but I'm curious to know as well seeing as the 2016's come with halogen projectors.

 

It's perfectly fine. In fact I would suggest it. The cutoff may not be as clean as I'm sure the lens isn't clear, but it'll be good. You won't be blinding anyone. Just don't get any funky colors. 6k at most.

 

Depending on if they have squirrel finders you can very well still blind people with HIDs in halogen projectors. They're somewhere between reflectors and a proper HID projector on the glare scale.

 

ROFL at telling them to 'not get any funky colors' and then promptly suggesting a 6000k. Keep it OEM looking man, get 4300k-4500k at the most. Even some manufacturer's 5000k will start to look blue which all the kiddos think looks dope fresh & fly but everyone else thinks they look like some kid who bought some Chinese HIDs. Don't be that Rob Lowe.

 

LOL

 

Good one!

 

Funny.. I would think the glare wouldn't be as bad actually. Seeing as using clear lenses like I have actually DOES blind people when on slopes. Whereas factory hid projectors are more subtle because of the lenses they use. I get flashed all the time when I'm on a sloping hill and the cutoff goes in their eyes. And it happens to me when I see people with retros. And 6k is not that bad. I see production vehicles with them all the time. I was talking about anything above such as 8k or 12k. Or even 15k. Output would be horrible.

The fact of the matter is will they be fine? Sure. Will they produce any glare? No one knows. If any at all, I'd say it'd be minimal. No way to tell until you try OP. But I'm betting with factory projectors versus aftermarket such as the spyder halogen w/ccfls for 2nd and up, it'll be just fine. Try it and post some output shots.


And thanks for the comments I'm sure the Op found that informative.

 

I agree with toendanger. He did state "6k at most" since anything past that becomes riceful and useless light output. Since none of the past and current Tacomas came with factory halogen projectors, we can't really speak from experience. Unless of course one of us has tried so in another vehicle.

If you're willing to try it, OP, please let us know and post some pics!

 

Thanks for the input guys. In theory, it seems like it should work out okay. I just didn't know if anyone here had tried it on another vehicle.

If I decide to do it I'll post pictures for sure, even though its not of a Tacoma.

I definitely don't want to be that Rob Lowe so I'll stick with a normal color temp.


The only aftermarket headlight assemblies I can find are on eBay and they come from China, so I'm not doing that. I'd have a hard enough time justifying $760 for headlights that shipped from within the US. Furthermore, I don't even think the Camry pictured is a US Camry. And for the price, I bet I could retrofit my own headlights with parts from TRS. If you're curious, here are the lights on eBay.

 

This is very good info to know, thank you. I was on your website but you guys didn't have anything listed for a 2015 Camry. Any thoughts on which parts might work best if I decide to retrofit and want to maintain a stock look, or slightly cooler than stock look?

 

I'm willing to bet it uses the same projectors as most newer Toyotas, which is like a halogen version of the RX350 Non-AFS. You can then do either low beam or Bi-Xenon RX350 Non-AFS and it should be a direct swap. OEM looks, hell of a lot better performance.

 

I just bought a 2015 camry xse (looks identical to the one posted) and the stock headlights are bright as hell! Whats the advantage of an HID, and tearing into the new headlights? I would be afraid of messing that up, perhaps im ignorant to what an HID is, and i thought it was similar to what comes stock on these cars.

 

Part of the reason I want to do this is because with my Tacoma, I caught the mod bug and want to mod something. On this new car, there's not much to mod since it has all the features I added to my Tacoma, and more. I realize that's a sort of dumb reason though.

I would definitely put in HID bulbs if its just a simple bulb switch. If I have to tear into my headlights and replace some parts....maybe not.

There are actual benefits to HID lights that go beyond making me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Compared to halogen bulbs, HIDs:

• use less power
• create more light
• last longer

If you want to read more in-depth info, just google "halogens vs. HIDs" There's a ton of info out there, like this for example.

 

Interesting! I'm not allowed to, nor do I want to, put a wrench on the new Camry until the warrenty expires LOL!!

 

Haha. Yeah, there's that keeping me from wanting me to do it.

 

So you're saying I could do these non-afs and keep my stock high beams, or do these bi-xenon and ditch my stock high beams. Right? Or would the bi-xenons work at the same time as my stock high beams? I'm assuming the bi-xenons, while in high beam mode, are about the same as the stock high beams? Or are they brighter than the stock high beams? Thanks again for the info.



I kept looking around and actually found some definitive answers on what would happen if I put HIDs in my stock halogen projectors. I found someone that did what I was thinking of doing, plus a bunch of other lighting stuff, in a 2015 Camry. Here's a picture of how his beam pattern looks with HID bulbs inside a stock halogen projector.


Not too shabby right? However, those two rectangles on top of the cutoff line are the "squirrel finders" TRSAndrew mentioned a few posts up. Those rectangles are what is going to annoy other drivers. Not as bad as HIDs in a non-projector halogen housing, but they'll still get people.

So I think as soon as my wallet lets me, I'll go ahead with some TRS HID projectors and bulbs.

 

Not too shabby indeed! I'd be interested in seeing what the cutoff looks like from a distance. The rectangular area looks pretty dim. Doubt it'd be much of an issue. Did they elaborate on that where you found that pic?

Your best bet is still to do a proper retro. Are you gonna use your original housings? I'd imagine they're in pretty good shape..

 

And before anyone posts saying that looks horrible.. Compare that to these spyder halogen projectors with hids inserted

 

Yeah, there's a whole write up he did on all his lighting, inside and out. I didn't read all of it, but with the amount of time he probably spent doing all of it I'm surprised he didn't just replace the projectors. If TRS Andrew is right and those RX350 projectors are a direct replacement, it shouldn't be complicated at all. Well, in comparison to a complete retrofit.

The beam on those spyders you posted is horrible. I've always heard to stay away from aftermarket HID assemblies, but I didn't know they were THAT bad. Thanks for showing me that picture. Now I know I'll never go that route with any vehicle.