Yanki01

plenty of retrofitters have switched over to 55W digital ballast for it being brighter. i havent yet, i might but not right now? my ballast were around $130 i think? All Lexus and Toyota models use them. You can find plenty of new/used OEM HID ballast, projectors, shrouds, and bulbs on HIDPlanet.com/forums. If you go with digital ballast, use OEM D2S bulbs. the D2S is the size needed to fit the s2k projector. You can get a D2S adapter on ebay or from Ceasar, he sells them. i preferr Philips 85122+ (4300K). they dont need to be brand new, because the bulbs will be around $100 brand new. just find a matching set with low hours, they color shift to a hint of blue as they get older, should be no more that $35-40 for a pair.

jamarr911

Now will using the 55w ballasts cause the bulbs to color shift faster? Because I'm pretty sure there is no such thing as a 55w HID bulb.

Yanki01

IIRC, they color shift by hours, not wattage? But I'm not 100% sure. Nothing to worry about though. Get which ever ballast u want, as long as you have a d2s adapter if it's not oem.

purpled_out_tC

i was going to suggest the same thing. do it the way you really want to the first time, so you don't end up putting in more work/money into doing how you really wanted to do it from the jump.

OP where are you located?

and chico, I was going to throw your name out there since he already has two sets of headlights.

jamarr911

Well this actually wont be the first time sadly...itll be the first retrofit but if I hadnt wasted money on ebay projectors, and now these 08's (which actually werent a waste of money) I probably would have had the s2k retrofit by now. I didnt have the money for a retrofit back then either. So since I'm already going to be spending a pretty penny for this project no matter which way I go, I might as well get the best. I've seen some pics of the tsx retrofits and wasnt at all impressed by the cutoff. I didnt like how it flared up on the sides. Even the 08 cutoff doesnt do that if you adjust it properly. I just want my car to stand out from other tC's as well as other cars period.

Yanki01

i actually purchased a set of 2008 tC headlights and was going to retrofit those. after getting some feedback, i decided to use the 05-07 headlights and use the shroud method. nothing beats a custom set of headlights looking at you. there's nothing custom about the 08-10 headlights, it will look like a stock projector. they wont be able to see the custom work. 05-07 retroed FTW!

jamarr911

Yea thats why I decided to buy the 05-07 lights for the retrofit as well. Im not a fan of how the lenses sit in the 08's I dont like how they sit so far back behind that ugly shroud and then you have like that inch or 2 of space between the shroud and lense. I definitely love the custom retrofit look. Plus no shrouds look better than the e46 shrouds in my opinion

Yanki01

i love em, i went with the E46 replicas due to going through 3 sets of the real ones and the chrome comming off soo easy. these are feel better built.

jamarr911

WHAT?!?!? The chrome comes off?? Arent they supposed to be the same thing that are on bmw projectors?? How the hell would the chrome come off?? That sounds weird....and I found a link on the internet of a guy who actually did a s2k retrofit on a 06 tc.

http://www.geocities.com/jvxdriver/tC_s2000_retro.htm

It looks like the hardest part is just cutting of those huge original mounting brackets and making your own. I dont have a dremel cutting tool and idk how much one costs. But looking at this link really starts to make me think maybe I could do this retro myself.

Yanki01

yea thats a good DIY right there. the chrome comes off as you keep touching it. they are the same ones as the BMW's have. they are very delicate which is why i went with the replicas. from looking at my pic, you really cant notice they're replica's unless looking for the "XENON" printed on the side of the shroud.

Iceman04503

iTrader: (1)

Thats the same website i'm using to do my retrofit. A dremel tool isn't that expensive. I think you can find one at walmart for like 20-40 dollars.

jamarr911

Ok sweet. So lets say I dont want to add anything like LEDs or CCFL halos or anything. Is everything basically plug n play? Is the only thing electrical related needed is the relay harness and the d2s adapter??

Iceman04503

iTrader: (1)

I believe so. You might lose your DRL if you cut a big hole in your housing.

jamarr911

We dont have DRLs....do we....?? I thought we just had parking lights. Is that what you mean?

Yanki01

no DRL, only parking lights

jamarr911

Yea I thought so. I think I've made up my mind of what Im going to do though. Ill probably just save up a quick $400 to put down for the deposit and then by the time they get my retrofit done ill have the other $400 because the waiting list on lightwerkz right now is like 6 1/2 weeks I think, so thats 3 paychecks. I should be able 2 do that. I'd def feel alot better if I could do it myself and be able to say "yea i did that" but hey...I dont have the time or patience for it

Yanki01

sounds good, keep us posted.

chicotunner07

^yo yanki, did you use OEM lights or did you go with TYCs?

i remember you asking around a while back, and now i see them on ebay for about 100 a piece!

im going to do myself another retro and would like a fresh pair of lights to work on!

10gxiong

i say go for the retrofit because it's going to look a lot cleaner. you probably won't get pulled over for them compared to those people who have and HID conversion without a retrofit that have light scattering all over the place making it look like they have their highbeams on.

mowmow

Go with retrofit. If you diy and end up making a mess, it will cost more to redo your work from a retrofitter. You can check out my old retrofit from Littodevil, it's the one and only machine mount, fully adjustable centered just like the OE unlike some of the ones you see out there glued on, off center, etc. The full write up link is on my signature, you can see the details that went in to make sure things work right the way they do.

In case you are wondering what I had, FX bixeon projectors and Audi Valeo projectors
with 4 CCFL halos and custom eye lid superflux led turn signal