milocoon

The reason I ask is due to an article on the internet, heres part of it. More at http://faqlight.carpassion.info/hl-hid-kits.htm HID kits for use in halogen headlamp systems: Are HID kits "Plug and Play" as advertising says? Experience has shown that upgrading a light system correct is NOT plug and play as every single HID kit pusher wants you to belive. There are one good reason to ask seller at least 10 questions before purchasing any kit: $500! Who are the producers of HID kits? US Manufacturers has decreased dramatically after DOT (Department of Transportation) started asking for samples summer 2003. Its obvious that any headlamp upgraded with a HID kit would not comply to original lamp specifications, and would therefor be considered illegal. Manufacturering and/or selling HID kits in the US risks civil penalties and obligations to return full purchase price to evry buyer of sold HID kits. Kits are genrally made in everything from basements to half professional facilities. Its a small world: Suvlights is in the CA, US. They do sell HID kits any more, but they have quite a few parts for doing all kinds of headlight upgrades, even connectors in loose weight. Phoenix Micro-Lite Inc. (US) has disappeared from the web, but was early HID pioneers in the US. They are just mentioned for historical reasons. Hid Kits is in TX, USA. Unlike all others, they make their own ballast. Evryone who tries doing that will get a lot of complains. Making ballasts for HID is not for amatures. It took Philips years to get develop a design that would last at least 10 years. Autolamps are in the UK. They use Philips ballasts and bulbs only. Questions have been raised since 2004 if their kits has been put togther in Taiwan. Some skimping on relay quality has been found. HANA, makes Vision kits, are in Korea. K2 Kits (10 out of 100 bulbs has been reported defective. After having quality issues with self made ballast and Osram ballast, Matshushita was tried for a while with execellent quality. Appearantly, they are now back a new version of their own ballast.) is a derivative product of Vision. SIJ in Taiwan. Bulbs have been spotted with SIJ label. SIJ is made by the company Mycarr Auto Acessories Co Ltd., which rebases even Philips HID bulbs. Xenon Werks is in Asia. Owned by MTC Lighting (Malaysia) SB. MTC Lighting also owns and operate the US based Hidforless. There has been quality issues with some hidforless kits. PIAA are in Japan. They started up with light bulbs only. They have never been big on HID kits for headlamps. They are more known for their overpriced auxially lights. Wonder if they are going away from ligthing? Other automotive accessories like winshield wipers and storage boxes are now visible on their website. BellOfHID are in Japan. Ther ballasts are made by Panasonic. Catz HID kits are basically relabled BellOfHID kits. Xenon Depot is in Thornhill, ON, Canada. They seem to continue selling HID kits regardless of US regulatory changes in summer 2003. Mtec-GmbH is in Frankfurt, Germany. They cooperate with Autolamps-online.com. They make the "Xenall" kit that are distrubuted around europe and Australia. They also sell highly effcient FF-lamps for LeMans cars. This must not be confused by the Japanese comapy Maruta Technology (also shorted MTEC) Hanabi (unknown manufacturing contry - probably Japan. Hanabi means fireworks!) seems to have quality problems with ballast. Who sells HID kit? During mid 90s not many offered HID kits. At its peak, around 2002/2003, kits were sold in any automtive store. The amount is too big and varies to much to be able to mention them all here. They are sold throug all kinds of channels, through speedshops to ebay.com. Quality does not seem to be connected to how kits are produced. Very few, if any of hid kit companies are OEM suppliers of automotive lighting. Serious OEM suppliers do not sell non street legal hid bulb kits. They make street legal complete hid headlights (Examples: Hella/Sylvania). The volume of the HID kit marked are low. Margins are not as high as when kits was introduced during late 90s, when retail price could be as high as 1500 usd. Even thou price have come down quite a bit, do not expect a HID kit to get as low as filament bulbs. The manufacturing for HID systems will always be considerably more complex. What is the best HID kit? To be general, there is no answer to this question. Different outcome for same application: All halogen housings are different, even if they use the same bulb type. Some housings require shielding, some dont. Some require custom shield. Some housings simlply cannot be retrofitted with HID Application variance: A kit for lets say H1 from a certain kit manufacturer is excellent, but a 9006 kit can be really bad. Production and quality variances: Even if you have bought the excact same kit 6 months ago doesnt mean you will get the same parts nor quality if ordered today. Some kits are hand made, some are partially hand made, some are totally automatically made. The best thing to do is to talk to other people that has recently bought HID kit and has the same car as you. Be patient, ask about all the 13 qualities mentioned below. Do not rush into any group buys or auctions on ebay. Hang out on the Philips board, sign up on a car specific list like brickboard.com (Volvo), shotimes.com (Ford SHO) or torontoaccords.com (Honda Accord). Dont gamble away $500 on a HID kit as so many car enthusiasts have done. How do I recognice that a HID kit is worth buying? The base of the bulb is either custom molded in high temp plastic or rebased using high temp epoxy (not available in your local HW store!) using materials like stainless steel or aluminum. Has high quality harness with the following specs: 105C degree rated insulation, 12-14AWG wire, relays fed from battery/alternator. 2 versions available, with or without shield - even for 9005/9006 and H7, not only H4. Full instruction describing install process, where to (not) mount ballast, troubleshoting guide, including overview over experiences with the most popular cars. Original bulb clip will still fit. HID bulb does not occupy more space than an halogen bulb. Purchase option for HID bulb return wire facing up or down. Select: For projector based only: facing down. Reflector headlights only: you should try both directions for best results or follow sellers recommandation. Money back guarantee within 14 days or more - even if the bulb has been tried into a housing and has received no scrathes. Splash proof ballast and connectors How do I recognice that a HID kit is NOT worth buying? Seller claims 200W light output. Light output is measured in lumens, not watt. Halogen base glued onto a modified D2* bulb with low temprature (corner HW store) epoxy. Lack of, too thin, or too low temprature rated, wireing harness. Lack of relays, or incorrect wiring of relays. No glare shield on the bulb. (A must for reflector based headlamps) Vague or no instructions. Lack of warning that stock clip might not fit. Lack of warning that stock rear headlight cover does not fit due to lack of space. Lack of information about how much deeper the HID bulb is compared to Halogen. Lack of purchase option for HID bulb return wire facing up or down. Projector units only: if return wire faces up, it will create a bad shadow on the ground. Reflector headlights only: you should try both directions for best results. Lack of return policy. Insufficient water protection of ballast and connectors. Description on how to approach problem areas described above is described by on this site. Does Philips make HID conversion kit? No, anyone trying to sell you a kit made by Philips USA is is a scam. Philips International has a world wide reputation to take of and will never make something that can be unsafe or illegal. Bulb and ballast might be made by Philips, but Philips will only be a 3rd party supplier of parts to the person or company that puts the kit together. As you can see in the "How do I recognice that a HID kit is worth buying?" section, there are more parts and ingenuety going into a high quality conversion kit. In early 2000's there were PHilips HID kits offered in Asia. Asia has a lot less laws and restrictions in the automtive sector than North America/Europe. Does Hella make HID conversion kit? No - for the same reason as above. See what Hella has to say about illegal retrofit kit.

Hi CJ, my motor is standard but I might switch if the price is right ? Check my profile and give me a price to change I particularly like the Orange Diablo Color of your "Monster" Can you give me a Comprehensive List of Non - Standard Features that I need to declare to an Insurance Company ? Thanks Mike

The speed pulse is converted from km to mph by some electronics. This is what Chris Wilson is referring to. It involves cutting into the wiring loom and then routing the new pulse to the odometer, speedo, power steering, cruise control and active spoiler ECU`s if your car is a GZ. A "Shoddy" conversion at a SVA centre will often give those funny warning lights you have referred to. It could be a dry solder joint or a badly crimped connector or a faulty convertor module.

Approx £36.50 for a set of Rear Toyota Pads.

Mr T can get them in 2 days normally.

Do I need to have a 4 post ramp to gain access to fit these or is it a viable DIY job ? Thanks Milocoon PS Nobody has asked me why I`m called Milocoon, I`ve a male Maine Coon cat called Milo and he is a very large cat and SOFT as kleenex.

Mine did this yesterday, I had fitted a new head unit on Saturday so I had disconnected the battery. It was below freezing when I started the car, I stopped for petrol after about half an hour later in a warmer place and it was fine when I fired her up. I wondered whether the light doubled up as an ice warning sensor ?

Do the Kappa 6 x 9 replace the rear speakers in the rear side of the car ? Do the JL replace the front door and dashpanel tweeters ? Is this straight forward or do I have to modify door panels etc ? Why did you buy a 60 Watt amp when the alpine head unit could have easily powered the JL ? Thanks

Now I`m pointed in the right direction, the guy who sold me the car said he did the filter from above but his hands were smaller than my "plates of meat". I shall have a go next weekend if its dry, this is a great place to ask questions. Boot Rubbers, I changed mine on the chassis about 8 days ago and I was disappointed that it didn`t appear to make a huge difference, I slammed the boot shut again on Saturday and went for a test run with new rear pads and the ratttle has gone, Chris Wilson posted that they needed to settle and he was right. On another subject I have just received a set of Imitation Supra Mats from "picturetaker" off of Ebay which cost me £19.99 plus £7.85 P+P and they are very good for the money. I had some Muz matz for my former car (S2000GT) from Oz but they were nicer quality but 3 times the price. I was happy buying from picturetaker as his feedback was excellent, he said to allow 10 working days and they arrived tonight after 6 working days.

Hi All, well I managed the rear disc pad change yesterday and thought I`d have a go at an oil and filter change next. My TT has a tray covering the bottom of the engine bay. I can work safely on my driveway and have 2 axle stands to put under each sill or under the front member jacking point plus the cars standard jack to raise each side of the car. Do I need to remove the tray to get to the drain plug ? Do I remove the oil filter from above the bonnet (looks very tricky ) or from underneath the car ? Any advice on this task please ? I did a search but didn`t find any answers.

Weii I removed the plastic trim in the boot well to get access to this but this only offers a very small amount of adjustment as one hole in the bracket is round and the other is oval so as to allow a little bit of sideways and less up and down. I checked in the hatch and the two mounts are round so no adjustment at all on the top piece. When the boot is shut you can`t feel any play in the latch so it could be my worn pivots on the hatch dampers. I`ll have a go at the subframe bolts next as well in case they`re loose.

Hadyn, are the Lexus GS300 part numbers the same as these ? Front J-Spec Pads 04465-14081 Rear J-Spec Pads 04466-30030 Do I need new anti-rattle shims, caliper pins and caliper springs or can I reuse the old items ? Do you have the part numbers for the above items ? Thanks

Hi Pete, yes the tailgate stays up fine by itself, its a little bit of an effort to raise it fully, probally not helped me squirting silicone in the pivot points. On smooth roads very little in the way of rattles but on potholed or concrete roads the rattles return. I`ll try the boot latch today, it looks like 4 plastic plugs have to come out of the boot trim to get access to screws securing the trim which covers the latch.

I did my J-spec TT today, I cut all the old rubber off the Chassis Rubbers which were well cracked and used a heat source to loosen the blue jap loctite and with a T wrench from a socket driver set got 3 screws out first time and the fourth needed more heat. My boot is harder to shut now but it does shut and I`ve still got a rattle, its quieter but on rough roads a bit annoying. I also propped up the hatch and removed the tailgate struts from the tailgate (2 x 10mm Headed bolts), there was silicon applied to all 4 pivots and some wear was evident so I resiliconed the pivots with new silicone but I`ve still got a rattle. I`ll try and adjust the boot catch next but your picture showing the chassis rubber appears to be exactly the same as my J-Spec for position. I also tried WD40 on the boot seal rubber in case that was the noise source. Price from Toyota World Patchway, Bristol for 2 CUSHION/DOOR T 67293-14051 was £2.77 each and 4 x SCREW T90159-50116 was £0.61 each. Including VAT a Grand Total of £9.38 and I ordered Wednesday and they arrived Friday. A trader on this forum quoted me £10 for just the 2 CUSHION/DOOR T 67293-14051 so members be careful as prices vary. Has anybody changed the Tailgate Struts ends and cured the rattle ?

Aerotop is quite rare especially in TT, hope you sell soon. 20 mpg makes no sense at all so why am I smiling after driving the beast. Yep its like a drug addiction, Supra is bad for our health (and wealth) go out and buy a Diesel TDi Peugeot/Renault/VW etc and be f*****g boring !