Halo porjection headlights
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From: Frederick, Maryland
Halo porjection headlights 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.
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.
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.
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From: Eastern MA
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
* 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
Thread Starter
11 Second Club
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From: Frederick, Maryland
Copy & Paste Moderator
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From: Eastern MA
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.)
Those do look like Sonar projectors though.
Here is what the black ones look like:
(Not my car.)
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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.
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From: Frederick, Maryland
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.
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.
Copy & Paste Moderator
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From: Eastern MA
They worked great for me. Just be aware that the low beam is an H1 bulb, and not the 9006 that is factory.
Teching In
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(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?
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?