follow ft86club on our blog, twitter or facebook.
FT86CLUB
Ft86Club
Speed By Design
Register Garage Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Go Back   Toyota GR86, 86, FR-S and Subaru BRZ Forum & Owners Community - FT86CLUB > Technical Topics > Cosmetic Modification (Interior/Exterior/Lighting)

Cosmetic Modification (Interior/Exterior/Lighting) Discussions about cosmetic mods.


User Tag List

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 01-11-2020, 03:30 AM   #183
Irace86.2.0
Senior Member
 
Irace86.2.0's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Drives: Q5 + BRZ + M796
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Posts: 7,882
Thanks: 5,665
Thanked 5,802 Times in 3,297 Posts
Mentioned: 70 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quote:
Originally Posted by YamahaR86 View Post
Headlight adjustment is the #1 factor on why people complain about bright, blinding lights these days.
Retrofitting LEDs into projectors designed for halogens or HIDs is probably the biggest problem. A decade ago the problem was people retrofitting HIDs into reflector housings, which was horrendous. Now that more cars come with projectors, retrofitting HIDs into lights designed for halogens isn’t as bad, but it is still problematic. Using HIDs is less common than people retrofitting LEDs into projectors and reflector housings. LEDs are not as blinding as HIDs, and sometimes the LEDs are even less effective than halogens when used in a halogen reflector, but the light dispersal can still be problematic. The fact that more people are using LED fog lights as DRLs or secondary lights on public roads is also problematic; it is one thing for backroads, but another for 24/7 driving.

The second biggest problem is the fact that OEM lights are better on average than a decade ago. There are more cars with LED and HID headlights from the factory. These lights are often dialed in perfect from the factory, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t situations that cause them to be blinding. If a driver has accidentally left on their brights then HIDs are much worse. If a truck has a lift and pulls behind a sports car that is lowered then the truck will blind the driver of the sports car. Most new cars don’t have auto-leveling headlights like the ones in my wife’s Audi Q5; they always point at an angle down where mine often point up as I drive over the top of a hill or over humps and bumps in the road.

I agree that many people need to adjust their lights too like you suggest, but even that isn’t simple. Should the truck point their lights down at a greater angle than a lower car? Our cars are so low when lowered or slammed that our headlights will barely shine on anything when adjusted for a proper drop; pedestrians’ shins or cars’ rear bumpers will barely be illuminated. Should we stick to the rules or adjust them to a level that is effective to see traffic and pedestrians? I don’t know.
__________________
My Build | K24 Turbo Swap | *K24T BRZ SOLD*
Irace86.2.0 is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Irace86.2.0 For This Useful Post:
nos145 (05-12-2020), soundman98 (01-11-2020)
Old 06-05-2020, 09:09 PM   #184
Butterballz
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Drives: Black FRS
Location: California
Posts: 146
Thanks: 3
Thanked 27 Times in 19 Posts
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
I just installed these and my driver side light cutoff seems to angle down slightly to the right. The passenger side is perfectly straight. Not a big deal but it doesn't seem like there is much adjustment when installing the headlights so too lazy to take off the bumper to adjust. Anyone else has this issue?

Other than that, it's still daylight so I haven't check out the brightness of the light. Previously had led bulbs in the OEM halogen headlights but they don't seem much brighter.
Butterballz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-06-2020, 01:10 PM   #185
Irace86.2.0
Senior Member
 
Irace86.2.0's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Drives: Q5 + BRZ + M796
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Posts: 7,882
Thanks: 5,665
Thanked 5,802 Times in 3,297 Posts
Mentioned: 70 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Butterballz View Post
I just installed these and my driver side light cutoff seems to angle down slightly to the right. The passenger side is perfectly straight. Not a big deal but it doesn't seem like there is much adjustment when installing the headlights so too lazy to take off the bumper to adjust. Anyone else has this issue?

Other than that, it's still daylight so I haven't check out the brightness of the light. Previously had led bulbs in the OEM halogen headlights but they don't seem much brighter.
You shouldn’t have to take off the bumper to adjust headlights. There should be a plastic screw on the back or back/top of the headlights to level the lights. Then they should be able to be leveled to the horizon in the car or automatically, depending on your model year.
__________________
My Build | K24 Turbo Swap | *K24T BRZ SOLD*
Irace86.2.0 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-06-2020, 03:37 PM   #186
Vracer111
Senior Member
 
Vracer111's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Drives: '13 Nissan Frontier (4.0L 6spd 2WD)
Location: In the desert...
Posts: 1,645
Thanks: 179
Thanked 1,245 Times in 669 Posts
Mentioned: 21 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Garage
I put in the DiodeDynamic LS1 LED bulbs in my FR-S ... much better lighting than stock with clean cutoff and WAY better than the Diode Dynamics HID reflector housing kit currently in my Nissan Frontier. Currently in the process of prepping for a Morimoto M LED 2.0 (5500K) retrofit for the Nissan Frontier...just got in passenger light housing assembly, waiting on driver side to come in before starting. The MLED2 out performs the D2S HID projectors and lot less components to worry about, though it is an all in one internal unit... so if it fails you have to take apart the whole headlight assembly. Risk I'm willing to take for the performance and simplicity over HID projector.
__________________
Had a '13 FR-S Asphalt 6spd manual (bought new 5/25/12, sold 6/10/20) but needed to let her go... she will be missed.
Vracer111 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-06-2020, 11:17 PM   #187
Irace86.2.0
Senior Member
 
Irace86.2.0's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Drives: Q5 + BRZ + M796
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Posts: 7,882
Thanks: 5,665
Thanked 5,802 Times in 3,297 Posts
Mentioned: 70 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
I still think a HID will outperform a LED. I think there is a reason luxury and other cars have multiple LED projectors, and that is because it takes multiple projectors to match the intensity, distance and light dispersion pattern as a HID.

__________________
My Build | K24 Turbo Swap | *K24T BRZ SOLD*
Irace86.2.0 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-06-2020, 11:17 PM   #188
Grisha
Member
 
Grisha's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Drives: '13 FRS
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Posts: 20
Thanks: 0
Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Installed mine today! Happy with the quality, look and light output at night.
Attached Images
 
Grisha is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2020, 01:09 AM   #189
Vracer111
Senior Member
 
Vracer111's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Drives: '13 Nissan Frontier (4.0L 6spd 2WD)
Location: In the desert...
Posts: 1,645
Thanks: 179
Thanked 1,245 Times in 669 Posts
Mentioned: 21 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Garage
Quote:
Originally Posted by Irace86.2.0 View Post
I still think a HID will outperform a LED. I think there is a reason luxury and other cars have multiple LED projectors, and that is because it takes multiple projectors to match the intensity, distance and light dispersion pattern as a HID.

That's the original Morimoto M LED... the M LED 2.0 is on a different level, equal to or surpassing HID projection. LED technology has advanced quickly in the past few years.

__________________
Had a '13 FR-S Asphalt 6spd manual (bought new 5/25/12, sold 6/10/20) but needed to let her go... she will be missed.
Vracer111 is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Vracer111 For This Useful Post:
Irace86.2.0 (06-10-2020), T-Steve (06-22-2020)
Old 06-10-2020, 01:52 AM   #190
Irace86.2.0
Senior Member
 
Irace86.2.0's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Drives: Q5 + BRZ + M796
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Posts: 7,882
Thanks: 5,665
Thanked 5,802 Times in 3,297 Posts
Mentioned: 70 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vracer111 View Post
That's the original Morimoto M LED... the M LED 2.0 is on a different level, equal to or surpassing HID projection. LED technology has advanced quickly in the past few years.
I don't know if it is technology or configuration. Maybe that is the same thing. Manufactures were adding more LEDs, and the lumens were greater than HIDs, but without a proper projector, the light scatter was like when people were installing HID bulbs into reflector housings, and they were blinding everyone. Moreover, the scatter and poor focus made for poor performance, even if the bulbs were rated with high lumens. Even with new technology, if someone puts a LED bulb into a HID projector, it doesn't seem to work.

As you have demonstrated, a good LED bulb that is matched to a LED projector will perform well. I wonder how efficient the bulbs are; ie, what is the lumens of the naked bulb compared to a naked HID bulb and then how do they compare in a projector. I'm also curious how they look at 60ft, 80ft, 100ft, 150ft, 200ft, etc because there still seems to be a lot of dispersion. This seems functional to flood the area close up until you are shining into everyone's house windows and potentially oncoming traffic. This is where HID seems to have better focus, and I would like to compare these with some 4300k OSRAM or Phillips HID bulbs; see if a LED bulb would compete. It would be interesting to see.

As far as these headlights go, TRS has said that HIDs will outperform them. That doesn't mean they don't perform well though. They seem very solid.
__________________
My Build | K24 Turbo Swap | *K24T BRZ SOLD*
Irace86.2.0 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-22-2020, 12:08 AM   #191
Butterballz
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Drives: Black FRS
Location: California
Posts: 146
Thanks: 3
Thanked 27 Times in 19 Posts
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Butterballz View Post
I just installed these and my driver side light cutoff seems to angle down slightly to the right. The passenger side is perfectly straight. Not a big deal but it doesn't seem like there is much adjustment when installing the headlights so too lazy to take off the bumper to adjust. Anyone else has this issue?

Other than that, it's still daylight so I haven't check out the brightness of the light. Previously had led bulbs in the OEM halogen headlights but they don't seem much brighter.
Got a chance to drive at night with these and I can't say I'm 100% satisfied with the light output. Can't say it's better than using LED bulbs in the stock halogens. There seem to be some hot spots and sharp beamlines on the road in front of my car instead of a somewhat diffused pattern. Maybe I need to raise them up a little bit but I can see the top of the beam on the bumper of the car in front of me when I'm 25 feet behind them so I don't think they are too low. Other than that, they look cool and I mostly got them to have the turn signals integrated so I can delete the OEM ones.
Butterballz is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to Butterballz For This Useful Post:
Irace86.2.0 (06-23-2020)
Old 06-23-2020, 11:32 PM   #192
pope
has a funny hat
 
Join Date: Feb 2020
Drives: 2014 BRZ Limited
Location: MI
Posts: 479
Thanks: 1,011
Thanked 613 Times in 271 Posts
Mentioned: 9 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
I just installed a set of these on the ‘14 BRZ I’m rebuilding and I am experiencing a weird side-effect if I plug in the DRL harness: the taillights turn on, the clock and dash lights turn off, and the ratio dims.

Is this a BRZ issue because of the oem headlight boomerangs or did a previous owner screw with the headlight wiring?
pope is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2020, 11:36 PM   #193
jeffs42885
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Drives:
Posts: 134
Thanks: 1
Thanked 14 Times in 13 Posts
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
My 2015 FRS RS 1.0 is in the bodyshop getting wrapped up, I'm having these installed instead of the factory HID projectors. Will post pics in a few day.s
jeffs42885 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-29-2020, 01:45 PM   #194
pope
has a funny hat
 
Join Date: Feb 2020
Drives: 2014 BRZ Limited
Location: MI
Posts: 479
Thanks: 1,011
Thanked 613 Times in 271 Posts
Mentioned: 9 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quote:
Originally Posted by shadow_772 View Post
I'll have to sort out an issue. I wired in an aux fuse box at the same time I did headlights. Everything works well with the exception of the dimming feature on the clock and radio. I'm either full bright or nothing on the clock and dim on the radio, then when headlights are on I'm in max dim on clock and radio... hmm
Quote:
Originally Posted by pope View Post
I just installed a set of these on the ‘14 BRZ I’m rebuilding and I am experiencing a weird side-effect if I plug in the DRL harness: the taillights turn on, the clock and dash lights turn off, and the ratio dims.

Is this a BRZ issue because of the oem headlight boomerangs or did a previous owner screw with the headlight wiring?
It doesn’t look like shadow_772 ever received an answer or posted one either, but I suspect we had the same issue.

BRZ owners that install Morimotos have three choices for the LED strip:

1. connect the headlight plug and leave the add-on plug disconnected. LED strip will be powered by the oem boomerang pin and be on as the parking light. Turn on with column switch.

2. de-pin the oem boomerang/parker pin and connect the add-on plug to the fuse box. Use an engine on fuse location to automagically power the LED strip whenever the engine is running.

3. plug-in both the add-on plug and headlight plug without de-pinning. engine on power will back feed from the add-on plug into the headlight harness through the boomerang pin. This causes weirdness and the possibility of long term negative side effects. Probably not recommended.
pope is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-13-2020, 01:25 PM   #195
camelflage
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Drives: pinto power
Location: Sterling, VA
Posts: 709
Thanks: 76
Thanked 192 Times in 136 Posts
Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grisha View Post
Installed mine today! Happy with the quality, look and light output at night.
question: where did you end up putting the add-a-fuse?
camelflage is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-15-2020, 10:44 PM   #196
pope
has a funny hat
 
Join Date: Feb 2020
Drives: 2014 BRZ Limited
Location: MI
Posts: 479
Thanks: 1,011
Thanked 613 Times in 271 Posts
Mentioned: 9 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Wink

Quote:
Originally Posted by camelflage View Post
question: where did you end up putting the add-a-fuse?
@camelflage I don't know which of the twins you have, but I have a BRZ and this is where I plugged in the add-a-fuse. This was an empty slot on my car. Bottom of picture is front of car.

To run the wire, I removed the side panel. Two catches at the top hold it in place, use a small screwdriver or pick to release them, then the panel slides up. The inner side of the panel has some ridges to grip the wire bundle. I used a razor knife to shave them down to make space for the add-a-fuse wire (would not fit otherwise). Routing the wire this way avoided notching the lid or box.
Attached Images
 
pope is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to pope For This Useful Post:
camelflage (08-18-2020)
 
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Spec-D Headlights & Morimoto D2S HID Kit FyeaFRS Cosmetic Modification (Interior/Exterior/Lighting) 9 03-10-2017 12:19 AM
6K H11 Morimoto HID Kit Zero90 Exterior Parts (Aero, Lighting, Etc.) 2 05-20-2014 12:49 PM
FS: FRS HID Retrofit Kid (Morimoto) Khyron686 Exterior Parts (Aero, Lighting, Etc.) 2 04-21-2014 10:08 PM
Stock FR-S Headlights & Tail Lights, Morimoto Elite HIDs, and OEM Mud Guards tbox Exterior Parts (Aero, Lighting, Etc.) 14 01-11-2014 02:18 PM
Help Morimoto HID kit Jacob G. Cosmetic Modification (Interior/Exterior/Lighting) 4 02-18-2013 02:03 AM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:51 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging v3.3.0 (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.

Garage vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.