Got HID?

[xyntax]

Check this out:
http://lighting.mbz.org/tech/bulbs/Hid/HID.html

[impactX]

Solara's headlight housing wasn't designed for HID in the first place

[Peter]

some people have used hid conversion w/ solara though. i might have to agree w/ him saying that you can see better w/ regular halogen, cuz i've heard it from a couple other places also

[xyntax]

Yeah, my Silverstars are more than sufficient for my Solara. One time, I let my Dad drive it and when I saw it from an outside view, damn! It's so white and bright! It even had this blinding brightness when you're facing the car from 50 ft at a lower ground.

[Yanks0114]

That article was mainly directed towards the people that buy universal HID kits and just make them fit. I agree with some of his points, but anytime you change anything from stock, it will be different. The second you change your lightbulb, even to another halogen, it could be a little different. Most of the kits will fit right in the H4 spot, but yes, you do lose hi beam

[Jay]

Yeah, my Silverstars are more than sufficient for my Solara. One time, I let my Dad drive it and when I saw it from an outside view, damn! It's so white and bright! It even had this blinding brightness when you're facing the car from 50 ft at a lower ground.

I hope you know the difference between the real HID kit and the "fake" HID bulbs... You have the "fake" HID bulbs. Your Silverstars bulbs are "Halogen" bulbs, but with higher wattage. So please don't go around telling people you have HID...

As with my experience with retrofitting HID (came from IS300) kit, Solara headlight housing is not made for the simple replacement of the halogen bulb to HID kit... Beam reflection is all wrong, and therefore HID kit will perform worse than the regular halogen bulbs. Only way to get the best beam pattern is to retrofit the projectors (from Audi or BMW) into the headlight housing.

So DON'T buy HID kit for $300-$500, unless you are willing to play around with it to get the optimal beam pattern, or else you are going to blind the hell out of in coming cars.

I haven't got the projectors yet, but I've been playing around with the shields, angle, and depth of my HID bulbs, and certain combination gives me a good beam pattern. Unfortunately my HID doesn't perform as good as the cars that come with HID from the factory.

I don't agree with the guy saying HID will make everything black and white... It's not true. In fact HID reflects true colors from the road signs.

[krook]

so jay, are you sayin' that we might as well get an old HID out of lexus or beamer since we gotta play around with the beam pattern ANYWAY?? how much did you get yours for?

[Jay]

so jay, are you sayin' that we might as well get an old HID out of lexus or beamer since we gotta play around with the beam pattern ANYWAY?? how much did you get yours for?

Yeah, that's what I am saying. If you are a handy person, there is no need to buy the "kit". Just remember that you have to retrofit the bulb to fit H4 housing... It's pretty simple.
If you can cut out the whole reflectors (From IS300) or the projectors(from BMW), go for it! It would be harder to retrofit, but you will get a really good result!

I bought a pair of HID bulbs and Ballasts (you need this to ignite the HID bulbs) for $120 total from ebay.

[808Camry]

Jay How did you play around with the reflector? Did you open up your headlight housing?

[Jay]

No I played with the placement of the bulb, not the reflectors. It's virtually impossible to modify the reflectors...

[xyntax]

Well, I still think HID for my car would be too much. I dont need that much brightness. People have complained about my Silverstars, specially when I'm driving in a residential area. Traffic towards me tend to flash their highbeams coz they think I have highbeams on. Oh by the way, are the 02 headlights different from previous Solaras?

[NASTY]

Oh by the way, are the 02 headlights different from previous Solaras?

yeah, you guys have separate high/low beam bulbs, while ours our dual filament