Lightronics or Retrofit

[DarthVaderSeats]

Hi my name is Fred and I am a new member here.
I am getting a PPI done Monday at my local independent Porsche mechanic on a 1997 Arctic Silver Metallic Porsche Boxster. I found it while in search for a BMW E46 330i. It happened to be at a local dealership and the price seemed right so I started my research. The dealership, who has a good reputation in town, said they performed over $1000 in maintenance and said it would be no problem that I do a PPI with my mechanic. The dealer said he had no doubt the PPI would show the car needs very little so I am pretty confident that I will purchase this car by Tuesday.

So I am currently thinking ahead and as if I own the car already

Lighting. The lights it has now are the stock halogen with amber and this will be ok for a while, but I need modern HID lights for all the night driving I do.

If anyone on here has Lightronics lights, can you post some pics of how the cutoff pattern looks. These lights are pretty expensive, are they $2000 for a set? I haven't found a source where they are cheaper. Also, from what I understand is that they actually don't auto-level unless you have the oem version?

My other thought is to do a retrofit. I am sure most of you know about theretrofitsource.com. I wonder if anyone on this forum does retrofits for people? I personally have never tried. I like the idea of having a super nice cutoff, and extra wide range of visibility at night. I imagine doing a retrofit would be a cheaper solution and possibly a better one because I assume Lightronics have outdated projectors.

Ok I would like to hear responses from owners of Lightronics or owners who have retrofitted lights. Thank you.

[JFP in PA]

We have done quite a few retrofits. While the OEM lits are pricey, they are very good lights with a pronouced cutoff to prevent on coming glare issues (ticket bait in some states, annual inspection failure item in others).

Points to consider:

-As mentioned, aftermarket kits (without properly lensed projectors) cause intense glare and can be rejected a state inspection time.
-Only factory installed lits have auto leveling, which is nearly impossible to retrofit, and is only mandated in certain EU countries. That said, the retrofit OEM kit contains a control module that allows the lights to swing up and fill in the high beams when they are selected, which really does a lot for night driving.
-A lot of the third party aftermarket HID kits are total crap (poorly designed, lousy instructions, cheap components that cannot be easily sourced for repair purposes, some of these kits cause no end of electrical issues, etc.). Due to these issues, we consider these kits as "deduct items" when doing a PPI on a used car for a customer.

[thom4782]

The most important question to get answered is whether the Intermediate Shaft Bearing (IMS) was replaced. If so, when was this done (miles ago) and was the new bearing the LN Engineering designed bearing. If the IMS fails, you'll be looking at $$$ to replace the engine.

The OEM litronics are really expensive. Most likely you would need to have other parts added have them auto level, i.e., angle sensors in the front and back, and calibrated afterward by a Porsche dealer. And that assumes the wiring for the angle sensors is already in place.

Hope this helps