From burnt lens to Bi Xenon (low & high beam) projector HID

Can we do a vote on best replacement? Did not see many first hand commenst in search. Sorry if it's been done. Most importanatly, dont want to upgrade to anything that burns hotter / might cause any damage. Below is a copy paste from Mike F's site. Assume all the silverstar's are the sylvania brand. Want good light but also like to burn as low temp as pssoible.... Any advice is great.

Low beam / High beam and Fog lamps H7 (do not exceeed 55 watts)

H7ST Silverstar High Performance Lighting: The Whiter and Brighter Halogen
H7XV XtraVision Halogen Upgrade: Up to 20% Brighter
H7CB Cool Blue Halogen Upgrade: White Hot; Super Cool; 100% Street Legal
H7LL Long Life Halogen: Lasts two and a half times longer
H7SU SilverStar Ultra: The brightest and whitest light. Up to 50% brighter, up to 40% more downroad visibility and up to 50% more sideroad visibility.

I use the SIlverstar and I still have the burn spots on my headlight lenses - I wonder if the Porsche OE bulbs burn cooler? My '98 has 176,000 miles on it, so pretty high use.

The burned headlight issue seems to be pretty common - I wonder if there is a bulb that prevents it. Would certainly be of benefit to others if we knew.

1998 986 Turbo-Look Cab
172,000 Miles
Dilithium Crystal Supercharger

... halogen bulbs will create high heat and will eventually burn the lens.
I installed Xenon bulbs on mine (HID) and the temperature is way cooler.
Look at the temperature readings here: [www.pedrosgarage.com]
You also get much better illumination and color temperature of light.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

from the heat. This on my 02 Boxster (now with over 239K miles) and a lot of night time driving.

After a long time, after a lot of use, discoloration is going to occur. I don't think it matters which headlight bulb one uses.

I had one headlight replaced after my car was hit (from behind and the impact shoved my car into the vehicle just ahead) and the difference between the two headlights is rather striking. The lack of discoloration the new(er) headlight has compared to the other side and original headlight and the difference in the amount of light it emits. But at around $750 (or more) to replace, I'm going to stick with the discolored and original headlight as long as I can.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

Yes the cost of replacement is so high that I just live with it (2000 S 175K miles w/ standard halogen).

I found it odd that OEM lamps would burn and crack the lenses but they did. Still perform fine I guess.

one of the halogen lights finally burned out so I decided to investigate the options. It seems like most of the posts you read about yellowed/burned inside lens just replace them with new units at about 2k (halogen) or 4k for OEM HIDs. My son and his friends think nothing of taking apart their import car's headlights and do all kinds of retro fits with LEDs and HIDs. I know, I don't want my Porsche to look like the kid's rice burner either. But some of the work I saw was really good. I thought what do I have to lose the lens is already burnt so I went for it and it looks really good! I will finish it (with his help) on Friday and post some before and after pictures.

BTW if you have a 986 or 996 with halogen lights that is not yellowed/burnt yet look into Pedro's HID kit before it's too late and your inter lens is ruined.

Porsche's with factory HIDs are all equipped with headlight washers. I presume because the bulbs don't burn hot enough to burn off accumulated ice, snow, slush. And the fluid in the washers helps?

So no worry most years in FL about putting aftermarket HIDs in standard lenses without washers. But what about the rest of the country?

So, am I correct in thinking that doing the xenon conversion will reduce my heat and prevent burning / yellowing of the interior lens? AND the yellowing we are talking about is not just exposure to the sun / elements? I have a 1999 garage queen with 32k miles but would be interested if the oem bulbs are burning the inside of the lens and how I can prevent. My car looks good today but my oem low beam bulbs just went.

Yellowing from the sun affects the outside cover and can generally be buffed out. The inside lens yellowing is from the heat generated by the Halogen lights. When I pulled off the inside lens they were blistered and cracked from the heat over time.

but not required anymore on HID lights (original adapted from Europe). Yes hid lights run cooler but still warm enough to melt snow ice. My 997 has washers but 2 of my other cars have HID lights and neither have washers. One is OEM, the other an aftermarket set up (projector lenses fwiw). Both are driven in winter/heavy snow/ice and have never had any issues. So, nanny state govt interference and mandates proven wrong once again...

drivers various areas require the higher outpout headlights to have washers.

I don't know if this is true of all cars, even of all Porsches, but for instance my Turbo's (Xenon) headlight washers come on automatically if I use the windshield washers N number of times. And I can manually trigger the headlight washers using the wiper control stalk and pushing it forward.

My experience is the snow/ice doesn't build up on the headlight covers but the headlight covers get kind of funky from the road spray that hits them and then dries leaving behind the dirt residue that over time can affect the light pattern or reduce the amount of light allowed through.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

addresses variations in vehicle loading which affects the headlight's aim.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

Reducing glare/scatter IS the main function of auto level. Changing the aim accomplishes this accordingly. Washers can assist but as I'm sure you know, most (maybe all) US vehicles w/ HIDs have auto level while few have washers (if it's even available...). Thus, the greatest scatter/glare concerns are addressed by auto-level.

That's a really clean look. Now, before STAF is looking, you'd better get those side markers changed over to clears.

You'll find that the Bi Xenons will make a real difference the first time you're on the highway at night.

In keeping with Pedro's theme of the day, positive stories. I hope my DIY project shows those afflicted with burnt lens that there is hope. STAF, ah ah no thats just reflection from the sun, yeah that's it

because government wienie thought it would be a safety feature or maybe had an interest in headlight washer company

From what I was told by my dealer in 99 when I spec'd my car; "the litronics require you to order the headlight washer option because they are like film projectors, if you get a bug squished on the headlight, you will get a dark spot in the headlight range." To me, it sounds like Porsche was just trying to drive up the price of options by tying them together as "required". I went with halogens and later upgraded to factory lits from Suncoast and have had no problems whatsoever. I just recently put an HID kit in my '11 Subaru Legacy and they work great, but it does take longer to melt snow/ice.
HID kits should never be added to a car without projector beam headlights, unless the reflector housing was specifically designed to house an HID, usually only found in older cadillacs, or lexus. If you add them to a reflector unit, you will get TONS of glare to oncoming traffic, or those in front of you. There are ways to retrofit projectors into a reflector housing, but it takes lots of work, cutting, melting, and headlight dis-assembly. Since Porsche headlights use one bulb for high and low beam, you would need to find bi-xenon projectors, and these are hard to find, and get expensive. Better off just looking for a factory kit if you want it done right.
If you have a newer car with the projector beam halogens, you can add an HID kit, but you will still get some glare as the projector lens was not desgned for an HID bulb. HID projector are designed to give a definitive cut-off line in the beam pattern. If you point the headlights at a wall, you will have light below the line, and none above, this keeps the glare out of others eyes. In a car with halogen projectors with HID kits, you will have that line, but it will not be as precise, and this gives some glare to other drivers, but no where near the amount a reflector housing will produce, with no cut-off line.

Steve
Guards Red 1999
I'm not a race car driver, but I play one in 2nd and 3rd gear