HID Lights upgrade to my T5 Multivan (NOT 56K friendly)

[shogun2]

For those interested, here are some images showing the original T5 and new HID lights.

Old High Beam





New High Beam





The aftermarket HID kit was $350 plus installation. I didn't look around for less expensive kits.

Light output went from 800 lux measured at 7 metres to over 1600 lux.
Took a drive late last night, and the difference in the high beam is amazing. The penetration allows vision for a far greater distance, and the width of the beam allows you to see the road side far better than before.

[Ivo]

They are brilliant! I was thinking about fitting a nudge or light bar to fit some driving lights but would not bother after seeing your results.

Have you got any more details? Is possible to install yourself or does an auto electrician need to do it? Where is the light kit from?

[shogun2]

Hi Ivo,

I had the autoelectrician fit them for me, as I didn't want the hassle of fitting the ballasts. Comments from the tech suggests it was a pain to do, but only took them about two hours. Belair Road Auto electricial in Mitcham, SA supplied and fitted them: http://www.brae.com.au/

At your prompting I did a web search:

http://www.newcomdigi.com/cgi-bin/GInfo.dll?CGoodsIndex&wcid=newcomdigi&ckind=Hid%20Xenon%20Kit&csubkind=12v%2035w&col=3&row=5

The kit comes with all the install instructions.

I can't remember whether its a H1 or H7 that's the high beam.
I also got the low beams changed to Phillips Blue Vision, and the difference with these over the standard, when measured is approx a doubling of the light output from 360 lux to 700 lux.

The beauty of this is that it uses the existing reflectors, and I didn't have to fit a nudge bar. I was considering installing a set of Lightforce HID's, but $700+ for the nudge bar, and $1000 for the HID's swayed me to these.
All up price was about $660 including install and both low and high beam.

[Baytown]

That's a great post, and obviously the way to go. It's now on my list of things to do to my T5 Van.

Thanks for going to the effort to post this.

Ken.