Kudos to Michelle and the crew at HIDeXtras. I took the plunge and ordered a set of 6000k lights to place on my wife's low beams...well, the low beams of her Jag.

WHAT A DEAL...$60 DELIVERED!!! They shipped quickly and within a matter of 3 days, the new lights arrived here in San Antonio. Speedy!

After a few days of waiting for the weather to clear and the sun to return...voile`, the project was completed. Both my wife and I were immediately impressed with the increased lighting...even though I had spent $50 for the Sylvania Ultra's and thought they were quite an improvement over the previous bulbs. Then, after a couple of late-night "test runs" and a couple of adjustments, WOW!!!

I can't believe the time and $$'s I've wasted over the last 5 years upgrading and purchasing "xenon halogen" bulbs for use in our Audi, BMW and Powerstroke.

Thanx Michelle and HIDeXtra for the great deal and the great service!!!

Next project, upgrading the Jag high beams, then the Powerstroke, then the BMW lights.

 

@ Crosbo

Thanks for the update. I've looked at HIDs before but was always worried that they'ed be too bright and or not focused properly and would either give me worse lighting or be dazzling people.

When you say you did some adjustments, what did you adjust ? headlamp aim or bulb position inside the headlamp or ??

Where did you mount the ballasts, etc ? A few pics would be great

 

yeah i saw this last night as well. I'm rather curious. I emailed their site and asked them what they recommend for our vehicles (ive a 98 XJ8) and the applications. I'm digging this set below. I will see what they figure with post a response.

http://www.hidextra.com/HID+Conversi...rsion+Kit.html

 

Just remember guys, if you have a halogen reflector lamp now, HIDs will be brighter, but the light isn't controlled and you'll get lots of angry oncoming drivers.

However, if you have projectors with the halogen bulbs, a swap is easy to do.

Strateloss (a member here) has some extensive experience converting the reflectors into an HID setup, by retrofitting projector housings into them. That's the best way to do it if you must.

 

Not to contradict what h2oboy has said, but our '99 VDP does not have projector headlights, but did have the nice cut-off that the german lights I have on my BMW has. I read in some other post, where someone had posted that our cars DO have the cut-off and therefore it is not an issue. Perhaps it is with some, but on our car the cut-off was rather obvious when lit against the garage door or neighbors fence.

I too was very concerned about blinding other motorists, because I get sick and tired of being blinded myself by other motorists with HID's, some with upgrades and some that are stock and poorly aimed. Fortunately, I finished the upgrade early evening and was able to clean up and have dinner while we waited for night to come. Once it was what I considered sufficiently dark (very dark), we drove on a 4-lane divided highway and none of the oncoming traffic flashed us. We then drove on 2-lane roads (all very dark and non-lit roads) and still nobody flashed us. I had started with a very "conservative" aim, and although the light was definitely brighter, I was still a little concerned about the deer in our area as I traveled down the road on a very wet, dark night.

Later that evening, I decided to adjust a little further, this time backing about 100 feet from the fence and adjusting the headlight aim for optimum reach and brightness, without the light "crossing over into" what I considered to be an oncoming car's windshield. Although the light was what I considered to be even more of a vast improvement, the true test in my mind would be visibility when traveling down the road and with oncoming traffic.

So off we went, first down the 4-lane divided highway (no concrete divider, only a center median) for about 10 miles, then back. Then down the narrow 2-lane roads for about 6 miles. This was late on a very dark, wet night (I don't know about you guys but I tend to be blinded by HIDs more when water is on the windshield) on roads without lighting...and none of the oncoming vehicles (cars both large and small, as well as pickups) flashed us...or ran off the road...or better yet, crossed the center lane and hit us!

Last evening we traveled about another 30 or so miles when we went to dinner, and again, no cars flashed us, swerved, ran off the road or crossed the line into us. I think I found the right recipe.

So my suggestion, turn your headlights on and shine them on the garage door, wall, whatever. If your lights have the definite cut-off zones, then proceed with what I believe to be one of the most cost-effective upgrades for safety (my wife struggles with her night vision...you can ask 3 deer). If your headlights do not have the definitive "cut-off", then purchase the brightest halogen/xenon bulbs you can find (plasmaglow perhaps) and stay stock, or do as h2oboy suggests and upgrade the headlights to projectors.

BTW, the hardest part of the upgrade was "modifying" the bulb holder for the xenon bulbs to fit. I did take some pictures and I will try to upload them later this evening.

Cheers!

 

Good point Crosbo, perhaps the VDP had the little cover/cutoff thing that you mention. I don't have any personal experience with those, so glad you could provide input on that.

how about a pic or two of the headlights on that garage...i'd like to see the cutoff.

 

Okay guys, I have about 15-16 photos of the project to post. What is the best way to do so?

 

What I didn't know when I ordered the HID's for our Jag, was that our Jag had what appears to be a bulb holder specific to Jaguar. Unfortunately, there is no wire holder on the headlight housing. After checking with HIDeXtra and several other resources, I determined my only option was to modify the Jag plug to accomodate the new HID bulbs and wires.

My first step was to cut the plug loose, remove the connectors then use a dremel tool to cut out the center of the plug to fit the ceramic HID bulb base. Because the nylon/plastic plug was pretty brittle, I proceeded very slowly and conservatively with the grind...at least on the first one. Once I was very close to having the cut just right for the bulb to fit, I switched to a grind stone smooth the cut and make the fit just right.

As you can see, the bulb holder does include a wire, but it is used to hold tension again the bulb to keep it mated to the headlight housing. The clips on both sides of the plug snap into place and hold the bulb and plug assembly to the headlight housing. At first I was concerned with how the new bulb should be aligned, with the wire on top of the bulb, or below. At first I pulled another stock bulb out to confirm the small tab on the existing bulb base was at the top. Then I felt the hole in the headlight housing and realized that the hole also had a notch at the top to correctly align the bulb. Problem solved, tab was to be located at the top.

 

Once the bulb was secured in the holder/plug, I determined that the opening at the back of the plug was rather large and would almost invite water or moisture to enter thru the rear of the plug. I wanted to seal it, but not to the point that I'd destroy the plug if I had to replace the bulb, so epoxy was out. I chose to cut and use a piece of gray foam pipe insulation. Turns out, it worked perfectly.

 

Next step, where to mount the ballasts. On the passenger side I chose to mount the ballast directly under the air filter intake tube from the fender wall. I first wiped it until I thought it was clean, then decided to actually use some cleaner before mounting the ballast using the 3M double-sided stick pads that came with the ballasts. On the drivers side, I found a nice horizontal mounting spot just to the left of the radiator opening. Although the passenger side mount isn't quite horizontal, I wanted to use as much of a horizontal position as possible so the weight of the ballast would rest upon the adhesive surface as much as possible.

After adding female connectors to the wires from which I had cut the plug, I then determined the polarity, hooked up the wires then turned on the lights to make sure they lit. Once the polarity was confirmed, I added shrink tubing over the connections and used a heat gun to shrink the tubing.

 

I moved the Sylvania Ultra bulbs I had placed in the low beams (thought they were pretty bright and pretty white) to the high beam locations, then fired up all the lights. Wow, what a difference. The halogens, as bright and white as they are supposed to be, don't even come close to comparing to the HID's. Next step, upgrading the high beams.

**One note, I did notice one problem. When leaving the headlight switch on Auto, the lights would light up when turning the key on (if dark enough), then would flicker when starting and then may or may not stay on. More than once we had one light on and the other off. I didn't wait very long to see if it would light again; I just turned the switch off then back to on and both would light. I called Michelle at HIDeXtra and explained what was happening and she has sent out the capacitors to be installed to solve the problem. Great price and great service, hard to find these days.

I'm including a few photos of the dremel tools I used to modify the bulb holder/plug. I didn't take pictures of the lights because well, we've all seen pictures of HID lights of all types. I will however take some photos of the beams and the cut-off's and post those next.

 

@ Crosbo

Great set of postings and insights, thanks.

Once I get home I'll have a look whether I have cut offs. Again, your reference pics will be a great help here.

If I do I think I'd be confident enough to go for it thanks to your help

 

heres the response I got.

Hi Adam

Your bulb types are below and pictures attached for color reference,

1998 JAGUAR XJ8

Low beam headlamp
H7
High beam headlamp
H7
Fog/Driving light
9006

2.) Then go to www.hidextra.com and choose the (BULB TYPE AND COLOR)

3.) Use Express checkout

4.) Input coupon code: fspecial-m to get $15 off the kit price

5.) IF you are purchasing more than one kit, please do SEPARATE transactions for EACH kit in order to get discount on all kits.

Thanks`

Michelle
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

HI Adam,

Also don't forget to request special capacitors for your jaguar. Thanks~

Michelle
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Im digging this kit since it fits our rides, but which to choose 9006 or H7?

http://www.hidextra.com/HID+Conversi...rsion+Kit.html

 

My suggestion would be to upgrade the headlights first (H7's). Other than looks, I'm not so sure of the value of the brighter lights for the fog lights. My plan is to leave the halogens in the fog lights.

 

very nice write up crosbo. What about the pics of the lights against a wall? I'd like to see a shot of the lights on with the brights, to see the color difference between the silverstars and the HIDS. perty please

 

If everything goes well this evening, i'll try to get those shots h2oboy. My neighbor who was also interested in the upgrade, also wants to take a ride this evening to see the lights. If my wife returns home in time this evening, I'll give him a ride and take some photos.

 

 

Here we go guys...first a photo of the new HID low beams on the garage showing the "cut-off" or somewhat of an odd pattern. I thought I had a photo of the beam pattern for the headlights from Germany that I have on my BMW for comparison, but I can't find it.

The second photo is of the new HID's shining down the road, and the last photo is of both the HID's and the halogens still in my high beams.

My 83 year old neighbor who is a car enthusiast and test driving a Jag to purchase, took the ride with me to take the photos. He not only loves the Jag, but absolutely loved the HID's and the light they provided.

The halogens must go.

 

thanks! Very respectable, cutoff is pretty good...not much stray light. A little bit, but not enough to get you flashed.

What color HID kit did you buy? Poll going on here.

for as often as we use our high beams, do you really want to change those too? Just askin

 

@ Crosbo

I looked at my cut off tonight and it looks the same as yours. Looks like this will defenitely go on the project list for the XJR.

Thanks again for doing the legwork.

I assume if I order from Michelle and mention "I need the capacitors for the Jaguar XJ8" she'll know what I'm on about ?

PS : I also have those strange square shapes in my beam pattern, so obviously your HIDs didn't change the pattern at all, kept it exactly the same "strange" as before :-)