josh2002-ws6

iTrader: (98)

I just picked up a stock 2000 SS. I am looking to put a set of smoked or black halo projection headlights on the car with a set of LED tail lights also. The car is black. Looking for recommendations for brands. Thank you.

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

Best would be BLS projector headlights but they aren't cheap.

Sonars are the second best, though they usually are not sold under their own name.

No LED tail lights I've seen for these cars look all that great.

josh2002-ws6

iTrader: (98)

Yeah I can't seem to find any good looking LED tail lights. I saw some halo projectors made by Spyder. Are they any good?

Blackbirdws6

iTrader: (7)

BLS would be the way to go for a stock appearing headlight with a good, quality bi-xenon projector. They do have different options depending on what you are looking for.

VIP1

Regarding the ebay projector headlights...
* Avoid the ones that use H3 bulbs
* The ones that use H1 bulbs are passable, but not the best option

I forget which ones are the Spyder ones. Are they the R8-style ones? The R8-style ones had a problem where the projectors were crooked which ended up in a bad beam pattern.

The Sonar projectors use Halogen H1 bulbs and are passable. Some on here have used them with HIDs.

Best option would be the BLS headlights or modify your own set with Morimoto Mini-H1 projectors (which is basically what BLS does but with some custom work thrown in) or an OEM HID projector.

The Morimoto Mini-H1 projectors can be bought in a kit from The Retrofit Source. Although they use H1-based bulb, they are aftermarket HID projectors designed to use an H1 HID kit. Unlike the other ebay projectors which are designed around a Halogen H1 bulb.

Also, check out the Lighting FAQ for more info on Projectors and Headlight options.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/appearanc...hting-faq.html

josh2002-ws6

iTrader: (98)

These are the ones I am talking about. http://6litereaterdesigns.com/store/...roducts_id=478

VIP1

Avoid smoked lenses. It just reduces output. Instead, get the ones that are black instead of chrome.

Those do look like Sonar projectors though.

Here is what the black ones look like:


(Not my car.)

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

Yeah the Spyders are the Sonars. As I said they are usually sold as a rebrand.

Sail Hatan

one of the reasons I want an ls1 camaro. the headlight choices are amazing. along with grill options and spoiler options. lol. oh well.

z28camaross2

iTrader: (1)

how are the sonar's with hids? i currently have my head lights whistler'd and love how it looks but i feel like my hids are a bit blinding to other drivers, so i want some reasonably price projectors until my car is no longer my DD because i like the normal whistler look over all others. i kind of like bls kit but dont wanna pay that price for something temporary.

djfury05

iTrader: (30)

I just retrofitted my headlights with the Morimoto H1 complete kit for $250 total.

josh2002-ws6

iTrader: (98)

I think I am gonna get the Spyder black or smoked ones. How much is the smoked lens going to reduce the output of light? Like I said my car is black and I want to keep a darker theme going.

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

They're decent. I had them for a while on my old car.

VIP1

You'll notice the reduction in output.

bad_408_vert

iTrader: (6)

Retrofit your own set of projectors.
You can buy projectors and budget HID kit for price of the ebay headlights , but output will be much better.

josh2002-ws6

iTrader: (98)

I am gonna get the Spyder black ones from 6litereater.

USAFzombie

iTrader: (1)

Did you end up getting them? I just installed them on my car this weekend, but I did some modifying to make the HID kit I ordered work. I'll be doing a thread on that here shortly.

02_Camaro_Dave

How did the lights work? I want to get a set of the chrome ones so it still has a little bit of that "stock" look but don't want to really modify anything in order to have them work.

USAFzombie

iTrader: (1)

They worked great for me. Just be aware that the low beam is an H1 bulb, and not the 9006 that is factory.

SS BadaSS

(regarding the use of smoked lenses)

I obviously agree with this statement, but I'd like to revise the situation slightly and see if anyone has some input. I too really love the daytime look of smoked lenses with black backgrounds (I too have a black Camaro) and since my car isn't a daily driver I don't see that even a noticeable loss of brightness is going to make the vehicle unsafe. That being said, I'm will never impede any system's proper function (as long as I deem that system important) for the sake of appearances.

So here's my question, surely someone out there has done a smoked lens WITH an HID conversion. Using low beams as an example, your typical 55W OEM style bulb is going to output anywhere from 1300-1500 lumens. If you go high end with a super bright Phillips XtremePower or Osram NightBreaker Halogen bulb, you may be able to bump that up to 1700-1900 lumens. But any respectable 35W low beam HID setup (e.g. anything between 5000-7000K) will easily output 2600-3000 lumens and up to 3600 with the high end units.

So assuming the smoked lens doesn't block more than 33% of the total light output (and I would never believe it blocks that much) a run of the mill (3000 lumen) HID setup should still output more lumens with a smoked lens than even the best Halogen bulb (2000 lumens) using a clear lens with the only negative being the increase in complexity and cost. But at least I can have my cake and eat it too.

Can anyone vouch for this hypothesis personally?