Regular lights to Xenon lights. Is it easy to change?? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

yellowboxster · 05-30-2008, 01:53 PM

Hey,

I have a 02 boxster with non xenon lights. Im thinking about purchasing the xenons from a newer boxster. Is it a plug and play application?

Thanks

Couper1 · 05-30-2008, 03:22 PM

They are plug and play, but you should install the optional module/wire harness. This will raise and lower your low beam when you flip your high beams on. It's pretty cool. Also, when you turn your lights on they raise to the up into position. I did this upgrade last year and really love it. To me it's worth the money. I bought from suncoast porsche in Florida. They had the best price I could find.
FYI, I didn't know this until after I Installed them, the high beam light is not litronic. So you'll still see the same old yellow light when they're on.

kurssat · 05-30-2008, 03:42 PM

I live in Oregon and I need as much light on the road as possible since it rains quite a bit. I went ahead and had my lights replaced with Litronics about a month ago and I agree that it is well worth the cost. Sunset Porsche in Oregon is where I bought the lights at a cost of $2322. If you want the clear triangles it will be another $52.

The wiring harness is well worth doing. The illumination of the road is much better when the headlights rotate their aim upwards when the high beam is turned on.
I also found out that the litronic lens move when you turn the ignition key even without the lights on. I was starting the car with the lights turned off. My dad was standing at the front of the car and mentioned it to me. He was pretty impressed.

Anyway,
Have fun

djomlas · 05-30-2008, 05:32 PM

i found xenons useless, so i sold them
used the $ as part of the bike payment eheh

unless u live in non-lit area, and do a lot of night driving, u dont really need them

blinkwatt · 05-30-2008, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djomlas

i found xenons useless, so i sold them
used the $ as part of the bike payment eheh

unless u live in non-lit area, and do a lot of night driving, u dont really need them

I agree somewhat with Dj on his comment. By no means are the Litronics worth their $2.5k price tag.

I have Litronics on one car and clear halogens with a xenon kit on another in my garage.

While the projector on the Litronics look cool I honestly don't think the lighting is much better then the halogen headlight equipped with Sylvania Silverstar headlights(the halogen assemblies aren't that bad on these cars)...BUT my xenon kit on the other hand is BRIGHT. The light pattern sometimes is everywhere it shouldn't be. You know when big trucks pull up behind you and it's shining directly in your mirror? It's kinda like that. Trigem2k knows what I'm talking about it,I almost blinded him when I was traveling behind him once.

Jeph · 05-30-2008, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yellowboxster

I have a 02 boxster with non xenon lights. Im thinking about purchasing the xenons from a newer boxster. Is it a plug and play application?

Yes they are plug and play.

The optional wiring harness thing is only worth considering if you do much driving with your brights (their purpose is to fill the gap between low beams and brights) or if you just like the look of the lights moving.

My normal night driving, be it the Boxster or my daily driver, consists of about .0921% driving time with brights. So my question to you is, how often do you drive with your brights on? That should be your determining factor on whether or not you should add the module. Know this: it's not like the existing brights do a poor job of illuminating.

And I can assure you that anyone that calls Litronics ineffective or just as good as halogens absolutely did not have them properly calibrated (AND possibly properly aligned). And I presume those people didn't have the harness/module for brights.

Whether or not it is worth the price tag is the subjective call of the buyer. I, for one, am crazy about optics. I'm also crazy for having lights that are worth more than my daily driver. But it's a label I'm willing to wear and a price I'm willing to pay.

Go for it!

Ofishbein · 05-30-2008, 07:12 PM

I found the best compromise to be the Litronic retrofits (the only thing missing is the upward movement of the main light when brights are activated). I got mine from Design911.co.uk for $1,250 plus shipping. Shipping to the US is another $150 or so.

Not the best pic but it's the only one I have with the lights.

Couper1 · 06-01-2008, 06:41 AM

WHAT?? $2300 for litronics?? As I mentioned below, I bought them from Suncoast Porsche in Florida. I only paid $1400 WITH the wiring harness and corner lenz's. make sure you shop around but contact them as well.
The harness was was easy to install but took 2 hrs because I took my time. I guess if you live in a city or urban area that's well lit the lights won't make a difference. I'm in upstate NY with lots of dark back roads so I fully enjoy them.

blinkwatt · 06-01-2008, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Couper1

WHAT?? $2300 for litronics?? As I mentioned below, I bought them from Suncoast Porsche in Florida. I only paid $1400 WITH the wiring harness and corner lenz's. make sure you shop around but contact them as well.
The harness was was easy to install but took 2 hrs because I took my time. I guess if you live in a city or urban area that's well lit the lights won't make a difference. I'm in upstate NY with lots of dark back roads so I fully enjoy them.

Prices went up a bunch a year or so ago.

http://e-partssales.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=P&Product_Code=00004490041&Category_Code=986lights

Couper1 · 06-01-2008, 10:53 AM

Holy crap! You're right. I just checked Suncoast Porsche's web site. Litronics are $2400 a set. I bought mine from there at the end of last summer for $1495. damn!

Cloudsurfer · 06-01-2008, 02:16 PM

A couple years ago there were many of us buying the lights aftermarket, and the bigger dealers were buying them in bulk and passing on the savings to us. Now that fewer of us are buying them, no one is stocking them in bulk, hence the price increase.

As to the effectiveness of a properly aimed set of xenons, it is a night and day (sorry to be cliche) improvement over the halogens. Unless you really drive at night a lot with the brights, the module is only nice to have for the cool factor.

I won't own a car without xenons anymore, but maybe thats just me.

Patrick

Jeph · 06-01-2008, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmwm750

I won't own a car without xenons anymore, but maybe thats just me.

Ain't that the truth... Xenon all the way (Or LEDs when they become more commonplace).

yellowboxster · 06-01-2008, 07:54 PM

Thanks alot guys for the comments. Im for sure getting a set of xenons. But you guys really need to check out ebay for some OEM porsche parts. The suncoast porsche website, their prices are pretty high. Im looking at a set of 03 xenons on ebay and im sure ill get them under 600. (i hope)

Ofishbein · 06-02-2008, 04:32 AM

From what I've seen, used litronics tend to go for about $1,000 on ebay.