HID Projector Retrofit

[knigthfal]

Any update? Looking to replace my reflectors as well.

Update: I bought the Acme D1S projectors from theretrofitsource. After speaking with their tech support, they aren't going to be amazing like a $200-$300+ projector, but in looking at youtube videos, they look quite good so I decided to take a risk and spend the $30 on them They're great because you can re-use the existing bulbs and ballasts, and since I'm under warranty I felt better knowing that it would be impossible to tell that I swapped anything since the project sits in between the front and rear housing of the headlight.

I'll do a before and after, and I'll take enough photos to do a walkthrough in case the results end up being great and people want to do a similar upgrade. I'm budgeting 8 hours for the project, hopefully I'm overestimating but we'll see!

 

[Needkw]

I hope your install went well!
I am extremely happy with mine. I tried $250 bulbs on one Tesla - hoped it will help, no miracle happened.
I did retrofit in the past and wasn’t afraid to do it again, I have a great technical support, my friend owns a company who does like 20 headlights/day and after he shared anything and everything related to this specific headlight - I did it. Can’t be happier!
Uploaded pictures kinda show improvement, however they were done with regular phone on regular settings, best I could.

 

[knigthfal]

Can you please tell more about this?
What projectors did you use, was it just a direct swap?
Any images of the process? Much appreciated with all info you can share

 

[cucubits]

I hope your install went well!
I am extremely happy with mine. I tried $250 bulbs on one Tesla - hoped it will help, no miracle happened.
I did retrofit in the past and wasn’t afraid to do it again, I have a great technical support, my friend owns a company who does like 20 headlights/day and after he shared anything and everything related to this specific headlight - I did it. Can’t be happier!
Uploaded pictures kinda show improvement, however they were done with regular phone on regular settings, best I could.

Looks great. I wish this could be done with the facelift S too. I can't believe how utterly bad the "new" LED headlights are.

 

[Needkw]

Can you please tell more about this?
What projectors did you use, was it just a direct swap?
Any images of the process? Much appreciated with all info you can share

There is no direct bolt in options. I wasted good amount of time and money to get where I am at with these and considering that Evan was charging $2600 for the same work - I would rather don’t post a DIY but instead make/sell them at $1000 to recover my investment. I will also have few interesting versions of single strip DRL with turn lights installed in a week or so.

 

[EV-Fixme]

Looks great. I wish this could be done with the facelift S too. I can't believe how utterly bad the "new" LED headlights are.

You should be able to swap out the led into facelift car.... However you need a service center to help you do the configuration change.

 

[r1200gs4ok]

I could be mistaken, but from everything I've read and heard, I believe that it is still generally accepted that HIDs produce more light than LEDs, especially in a retrofit installation. A mid-end to top-end HID would be preferred over an OEM LED. Again, I'm not an expert- it's just what I've been reading.

you wont get a lot of throw with LEDs....HIDs are much, much better than LEDs....I have some info from someone who is rather knowledgeable. I will post when I get back from trip

 

[cucubits]

you wont get a lot of throw with LEDs....HIDs are much, much better than LEDs....I have some info from someone who is rather knowledgeable. I will post when I get back from trip

+1 on this one. I see it daily. The HIDs on my wife's VW are much much brighter than the LEDs on my facelift S. Also way cleaner beam pattern and cutoff. No comparison.

 

[zoltarp]

I agree with the OP, the HID setup on this car is shameful. I just purchased my 2013 MS a month ago and love it. The only bad so far are the headlights, even when I pass older cars on the highway their halogens cast a shadow over my pathetic lights. I was noticing the almost imperceptible light my car cast on the bumper of the car in front of me last night and how every car we passed outshone my direct light indirectly. This is even after I replaced my D3S bulbs, I am desperate to find a better solution as I drive the dark Virginia backroads daily on my commute.