Litronics - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

DerrickCaracter · 01-05-2011, 04:31 AM

How much do you value them? I think headlights go a long way in improving the "newness" of your car, but is it worth the extra 1-2k$?

jmatta · 01-05-2011, 05:03 AM

I purchased 996 headlights and deambered them five or so years ago. Cost was far less than litronics and greatly improved the look of the Box.

ekam · 01-05-2011, 05:09 AM

I wasn't intended to find a box with them, didn't care at one point. But ended up finding a car that has them.

Auto-leveling is nice (they calibrate by tilting up and down when you first turn the car key). Not sure if I'd spend $2k for them without that feature.

I played with bulbs from "blue xenon" stuff, to the beginning of HID retrofit kits (when they were $500) to HIR bulbs. Still can't beat HID + projectors.

DerrickCaracter · 01-05-2011, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmatta

I purchased 996 headlights and deambered them five or so years ago. Cost was far less than litronics and greatly improved the look of the Box.

so you're saying 996 lights fit on a boxster?

Burg Boxster · 01-05-2011, 07:24 AM

yes, until 2002MY when the 996 switched over to "fried egg" style lights

Perfectlap · 01-05-2011, 07:26 AM

This was my experience. My Boxster S came with the pumpkins. In 2004 I managed to find a non-Litronic set without the pumpkins. Damage: $700 (I think). Then a group buy with Brandywine Porsche offered them for $1,400 saving you a couple hundred. I thought $1400 was nuts to begin with for a couple of big flash lights but I went along anyway. They came in these HUGE boxes that were big enough to fit a Pershing Missile in. A year later I sold non-Litronic clears for exactly what I paid. I installed the Litronics as soon as they arrived with the special tool that comes in the trunk bundle in about 10 minutes. Turn the key an the old light pop right out. Nice engineering there by zee Germans. In went the new and I have to tell you it was pretty neat how much brighter they were. But once I got on the road at night where I drive mostly in urban areas...not that tremedous. Other much less expensive cars have more lumens. Maybe because there is only one Litronic bulb per side and the fog light is just halogen auto parts store Philips bulb. On country roads at night they were an improvement over those halogen birthday candles. I'm glad I purchased when I did because the Euro's rise against the dollar hadn't yet occurred and they are obviously much more expensive today. But as far as bang for the buck, I'd rate it the worst mod on value of all the mods I've done. I'd sooner put that $1,400 towards the IMS upgrade, better wheels, GT3 seats, GT3 bumper or a hard top.

DerrickCaracter · 01-05-2011, 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

This was my experience. My Boxster S came with the pumpkins. In 2004 I managed to find a non-Litronic set without the pumpkins. Damage: $700 (I think). Then a group buy with Brandywine Porsche offered them for $1,400 saving you a couple hundred. I thought $1400 was nuts to begin with for a couple of big flash lights but I went along anyway. They came in these HUGE boxes that were big enough to fit a Pershing Missile in. A year later I sold non-Litronic clears for exactly what I paid. I installed the Litronics as soon as they arrived with the special tool that comes in the trunk bundle in about 10 minutes. Turn the key an the old light pop right out. Nice engineering there by zee Germans. In went the new and I have to tell you it was pretty neat how much brighter they were. But once I got on the road at night where I drive mostly in urban areas...not that tremedous. Other much less expensive cars have more lumens. Maybe because there is only one Litronic bulb per side and the fog light is just halogen auto parts store Philips bulb. On country roads at night they were an improvement over those halogen birthday candles. I'm glad I purchased when I did because the Euro's rise against the dollar hadn't yet occurred and they are obviously much more expensive today. But as far as bang for the buck, I'd rate it the worst mod on value of all the mods I've done. I'd sooner put that $1,400 towards the IMS upgrade, better wheels, GT3 seats, GT3 bumper or a hard top.

so what do you suggest to get rid of the "pumpkins"? (which i assume is the orange turn signals)

I honestly hate the orange, it makes it look old

DerrickCaracter · 01-05-2011, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burg Boxster

yes, until 2002MY when the 996 switched over to "fried egg" style lights

my boxster is a 2000, will they fit?

Burg Boxster · 01-05-2011, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DerrickCaracter

my boxster is a 2000, will they fit?

Yes - 996 lights thru 2001MY will fit any 986 Boxster (1997MY to 2004MY). The 996 headlight design changed w/ the refresh for 2002MY...

jmatta · 01-05-2011, 09:13 AM

That's true...the 986 and 996 were basically the exact same front end (other than bumper cover) from the doors forward up until 2002.

DerrickCaracter · 01-05-2011, 10:43 AM

is ebay the only place i could probably find these?

Perfectlap · 01-05-2011, 05:29 PM

actually 986 headlights will fit any 996 Carrera from 1999-2001 because the 911 took them from the Boxster...and not the other way around. They are not 996 headlight but in fact Boxster lights. Ditto for the interior, the 993 Carrera was still being sold with the old interior in 1998 when Porsche told Carrera owners that they could get a preview of what their new Carrera's lights and interior would like by paying a visit to their neighbohr with the 1996 (in Europe) or 1997 Boxster.
The 1999 - 2004 Carrera is the Boxster prototype with a big butt, engine in the wrong place, and later on, with some front changes "the face lift" that came in 2002. I think mostly because the Carrera owners got mad that you couldn't tell if it was a Boxster or Carrera from the doors forward.

I believe even the the GT1 Le Mans Porsche used Boxster headlights. I noticed a photo in the race garage and it had the little triangles that 986 Boxster owners could swap from orange to grey. They took the fried egg headlights right out of the Boxster parts bin and went racing.

p.s.
swap out the corner triangles if the pumpkins bug you and maybe paint over the orange with a thin coat of grey paint or maybe some window tinting film. Others on this forum have tried both of these. I think the orange light will still shine through if you go with the film youll just need some kind clear tape to adhere the edges.. Black is better than orange I suppose. But I wouldn't drop $2K on litronics before doing a bunch of other mods that will make a far bigger improvement on both looks and performance. Try the salvage yards too. Maybe you can get one cheap but they have to be cheap because they obviously come with no guarantee.

timothy · 01-05-2011, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DerrickCaracter

is ebay the only place i could probably find these?

Watch the classifieds on the more popular Porsche forums. Posting a "wanted" ad may encourage someone who is on the fence about selling. I got a pair on 6speedonline for a very good price.

fatmike · 01-05-2011, 07:39 PM

I wouldn't pay to upgrade my headlights ... but I also wouldn't buy a car that didn't have litronics in the first place...

jaykay · 01-05-2011, 07:49 PM

Does anyone have a method of de-ambering litronics ....they have a small lense in there that is annoying. Yes, I searched an got no returns...

JTP · 01-06-2011, 03:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaykay

Does anyone have a method of de-ambering litronics ....they have a small lense in there that is annoying. Yes, I searched an got no returns...

Search for "amberectomy". It involves taking a hot soldering iron and melting the lens and removing it pieces.

Jake D · 01-06-2011, 08:46 AM

I scuffed all my lights up and then mixed up some clear coat and a little black paint (about 10-15% black in the clear) and then sprayed them all. It didnt get rid of the pumpkins, but it did make them a lot less noticable. In my opinion, it looked really good with the car being black. Only issue I have is that the lights are a little dimmer with the tint, and after several months of bugs and rocks or ? hitting them, they got chipped up and need to be redone. Overall though it makes them look a lot better. I've looked at other pics where people have painted everything black except the main light and the fog light. I am considering this when I redo them, but I don't want it to look cheap...

I also added another coat or 2 to the rear lights to really make them black. Probably too black but for me it made the car 100X better than the way the stock lights looked.

jaykay · 01-11-2011, 05:51 PM

ahhh yes amberectomy.....it seems I must learn the jargon

Quickurt · 01-12-2011, 11:28 AM

The 987 BiZenon headlights are far and away the best lights I've ever had.
They have HID for low and high beams, and don't "tilt up" the low beam for high.
On high beams, it's like daylight for 1/4 mile in front of the car.
I do believe, but don't know for sure, that both HID bulbs are on for brights.
I'm not standing in front of it to see, my clothes may catch fire!

BTW, my new Fit DD is the first car I've had, in about ten years, without HIDs.
I can't see crap on low beams.

Lordblood · 01-12-2011, 03:26 PM

My old Boxster had the pumpkin headlights, always hated the look but never noticed too big of a problem regarding visibility. Then my dad got a 2004 Merc S500 with bi-xenons and they were amazing, it was hard to go back to Halogens afterward. I picked up a 2001 Boxster S about 2 weeks ago and this one came with Litronics, and they certainly make a huge improvement on visibility, and personally how the car looks at night. I wish the brights weren't the low beams tilted up, but that's just nitpicking on my part.

Would I pay 2k to upgrade to Litronics? No way, there are so many mods that are more appealing.