Headlight Upgrade?

[EJ-Fresno]

Have just been cruising Pelican but couldn't find them
Guess I've been too optimistic with the "early May" release date...

So we can use LEDs for fog lights, turn signals, tail lights.... anywhere but low beams?

[Nine8Six]

Originally Posted by EJ-Fresno

Have just been cruising Pelican but couldn't find them
Guess I've been too optimistic with the "early May" release date...

So we can use LEDs for fog lights, turn signals, tail lights.... anywhere but low beams?

Man I would have hate to be the last to find out :/ Thanks for not finding them avail lollll

LED... You can even have them in your dome light plastic thingy I bet you could have LEDs in all 3 (fogs high and low). That'd be interesting. Whatever you experiment with just put you hand on the lens and lookup for heat... let's say during a cool evening. If you can't feel any heat at all chances are you'll be okay. If there is any heat at all (during that same cool evening) then... based on luck really, could well be enough to damage a headlight. Really don't know mate

I've seen some pretty wicked LED kits at this end. Cheap! $69.99 as in those branded Super Power lolll It scares the hell out of me just to hook them up on my DC power supply here (+3amps I think). Makes humming noise and all..... hot stuff careful.

Sure needs proper judgment for those 9x6 headlights

[gtoger]

Yeah, I'm a n00b. Been through the multitude of posts and pages regarding headlights and my head is spinning. Just bought a 98 986, and the headlights are beyond ugly.

As I see it, our upgrade options are as follows:

#1: Buy entire assembly with LED turn signal/DRL from Jeff @ xtreme. Lights look fantastic, quality is questionable, return policy is horrible. I was about ready to pull the trigger on these until I read some unflattering commentary about the longevity of the lights and the service after the sale.

#2: Looks like there's another seller on Ebay called "Made In Taiwan" with the exact same assembly as Jeff sells. If it's the same product, it stands to reason the same potential for failure exists. But if getting any sort of after-sale support is difficult with Xtreme, I can imagine it's worse from Taiwan.

#3: Follow the "Porsche Headlight Retrofit [from CAD, prototyping to finish)" thread and maybe build my own. NOPE! I suck at that. Or have someone build that for me? I didn't see an obvious way to place an order. But the work and end product looks really trick.

#4: Wait for Pelican to release their kit.

To be clear, I'm an average guy with fair to mediocre craftsmanship skills. I'm looking for the best way to reliably update and upgrade the lights on my old Boxster that is as plug-&-play as possible. I want to lose the "fried egg" look and go to something that looks like it's from a current-gen car.

I'm more than a bit confused on what my options are in that regard. Admittedly, this is my first foray into the world of handsome German mid-engine roadsters. Can someone help me out?

[Ottacat]

When I bought my Boxster it wouldn't pass safety because of the burns / yellow marks in the halogens. As a n00b at the time as well I bought the LED style aftermarket lights. There are complete pieces of crap. They are so poorly made they don't latch properly. I found a video on YouTube of a guy putting some in his car and they had a hell of a time getting them latched. I couldn't get either latched and ended up taking them to a Porsche specialist. He got one latched but simply couldn't get the second one latched. He ended up putting the car up on the hoist and drilling a screw up from underneath into the assembly to hold it in place.

My advice is to wait until Pelican gets in Fred's kits and then either do them yourself or sweet talk particlewave into doing them for you (if he still is doing them).

[jpc763]

Originally Posted by gtoger

#3: Follow the "Porsche Headlight Retrofit [from CAD, prototyping to finish)" thread and maybe build my own. NOPE! I suck at that. Or have someone build that for me? I didn't see an obvious way to place an order. But the work and end product looks really trick.

#4: Wait for Pelican to release their kit.

Hey gtoger,

I too am in kind of the same boat as you but I have done much more reading. I was looking into this in October but decided to do my stereo upgrade first. Now the procedure is changed, but the product remains the same.

First, #4 is also #3. Nine8Six is the designer of the retro kit and he had them available on his website up until this month when Pelican is taking over. They want to have a top notch procedure written up before releasing the product to hundreds of us buyers. You can look at the products here The ultimate bi-xenon headlight retrofit kit for Sport & Super cars

particalwave was actually doing the headlight retrofit back in October. You would order from the above website shipping them to particlewave, remove your headlights and send them to particalwave who would replace the lights with the new ones and send them back. I do not know if he is still doing this now that pelican parts has taken over.

Hope this helps.

John