INSTALL GUIDE: European headlight installation with LED headlight bulbs and LED running light wiring

[Chris G]

Looking good. I finally drove around a bit tonight with my halogens and can tell I'll want HIDs eventually. I haven't aimed them at all but hope to once I can get away from the house and find a wall and some room.

For now, everything works pretty well when coupled with the Luxeon LED fogs. Also note that the LED parking lights look AWESOME at night. [emoji41]

 

[nemesisfool]

I installed my HIDs and I'm in love. The way it lights up is exactly what I wanted. Definitely worth it and better than the XenonDepot LEDs I had in my stock headlights.

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[parapraxis24]

I still have the set where the one lamp's housing is out of whack. I was wondering if someone on here wanted to buy them and mod them and/or try to fix them. I'm sure they can be fixed. FordPartsUK never said they wanted them back. I assume they don't want to pay to ship them back.

If the other guys don't want em I'll take em off your hands.

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[fST]

I love these lights even without HIDs. Just having projectors is so much nicer. I'm not sure if I'll even swap out the bulbs or not. I didn't know if I'd really like the LED strip before purchasing but since installing them, I really like them too.

 

[Chris G]

[MENTION=2672]fST[/MENTION] are you running the halogens that came with the lights? I'm running those Philips Diamond Vision 5k halogens for a HID look (and they match my fogs and the LED strips) and they just don't seem bright at all. I expected them to be not HID-like but figured they wouldn't be more dim than stock.

I'll re-aim and adjust before I do anything, but so far I am leaning towards HIDs.

I guess I should close by saying that I absolutely LOVE the lights themselves. They look so amazing and having a real projector is epic.

 

[parapraxis24]

Proper adjustment makes a huge difference. When I first did my hid retrofit I wasn't very happy with the results. As it turned out that surface I used to adjust them wasn't level so they were aimed about 5-6" too high at 25ft. After lowering them, the results were fantastic.

 

[OffTheWall503]

I admit with halogens, these aren't spectacular. They are much better than stock, though!

And [MENTION=828]nemesisfool[/MENTION] - which HID bulbs are you using? Is the return wire at the 6 o'clock position?

 

[nemesisfool]

[MENTION=828]nemesisfool[/MENTION] - which HID bulbs are you using? Is the return wire at the 6 o'clock position?

I ended up buying the ones you linked from xenonsupply, with the return wire at 6 o'clock. The cutoff is almost exactly the same as with the stock halogen bulbs.

I still need to properly align them. I think my passenger side needs some horizontal adjustment.


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[Chris G]

I admit with halogens, these aren't spectacular. They are much better than stock, though!

And [MENTION=828]nemesisfool[/MENTION] - which HID bulbs are you using? Is the return wire at the 6 o'clock position?

Yeah. The definitely distribute the light much, much better. I don't feel like I'm driving a 1997 Sentra anymore when it comes to lighting up the road... [emoji1360]

 

[OffTheWall503]

I ended up buying the ones you linked from xenonsupply, with the return wire at 6 o'clock. The cutoff is almost exactly the same as with the stock halogen bulbs.

I still need to properly align them. I think my passenger side needs some horizontal adjustment.


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Awesome! Glad it's working out. Look on the previous page for a horizontal adjustment guide!

 

[OffTheWall503]

Proper adjustment makes a huge difference. When I first did my hid retrofit I wasn't very happy with the results. As it turned out that surface I used to adjust them wasn't level so they were aimed about 5-6" too high at 25ft. After lowering them, the results were fantastic.

I agree. Too high you feel you aren't getting any light, or useless high beams and too low you can't see far enough ahead. If you have a place where you can aim against a wall from roughly 25" away on a flat pavement, I highly recommend it. Parking garages work well if there aren't any walls in your area.

Also, I've found horizontal adjustment can be figured out by marking an X on the wall where the step for each beam starts from 25 feet away and then slowly back the car up 5 feet at a time and if the step shifts any direction, adjust in or out accordingly. I think after 15-20 feet past the 25 foot mark if the step is staying in the same place then you are aligned correctly. Be sure to be pointed straight and back up straight, of course. Horizontal adjustment is pretty esy though and you could even do it in your driveway if need be.

 

[parapraxis24]

There are actually dots on the lenses to use for proper adjustment. IIRC they're about 28-30" off the ground. The only tricky part for horizontal adjustment would be making sure the car is square with the wall.

 

[OffTheWall503]

The dot is for horizontal adjustment? I imagine you would measure directly from that dot to the wall and go from there? If so that is very useful info.

 

[parapraxis24]

From looking at it it appears to give you a spot dead center on the bulb/projector. Then you just need to transfer that to a wall

 

[OffTheWall503]

I have always wondered what that was for. So would the "middle" of the beam be where the bulb hot spot is? Where the cutoff step starts?

It sounds like it's for vertical adjustment then.

 

[fST]

[MENTION=2672]fST[/MENTION] are you running the halogens that came with the lights? I'm running those Philips Diamond Vision 5k halogens for a HID look (and they match my fogs and the LED strips) and they just don't seem bright at all. I expected them to be not HID-like but figured they wouldn't be more dim than stock.

I'll re-aim and adjust before I do anything, but so far I am leaning towards HIDs.

I guess I should close by saying that I absolutely LOVE the lights themselves. They look so amazing and having a real projector is epic.

Yep, just the halogens that came with the lights. I might swap out the bulbs to something brighter. I doubt I'll do an HID kit.

 

[Chris G]

Yep, just the halogens that came with the lights. I might swap out the bulbs to something brighter. I doubt I'll do an HID kit.

Have any pics of the projectors with the stock halogen bulbs in them? Curious as to what they look like compared to the setup I through in. I never even tried out the stock halogen bulbs.

 

[fST]

Have any pics of the projectors with the stock halogen bulbs in them? Curious as to what they look like compared to the setup I through in. I never even tried out the stock halogen bulbs.

Nah, I don't.

 

[mynameistaken]

Seriously want to thank everyone in this thread. I order my headlights last week Monday and received them the following monday. Everything was packaged nicely with nothing broken. Install was a breeze too. Just waiting on my HID kit to arrive [emoji1]

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I did not expect the euro headlights to look that good on a black FiST. Oh man, now I may have to add this mod to my list...

 

[nemesisfool]

I did not expect the euro headlights to look that good on a black FiST. Oh man, now I may have to add this mod to my list...

It looks really good, but it does clash with my bronze wheels however lol

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