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    After market Xenons!!

    I want to put some xenons on my cayenne. Any suggestions on which one? 6000k or 8000k or 10000k?. Plus if anyone wants, I can get you good deals on them too.

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    Quote:
    PCS said:
    I want to put some xenons on my cayenne. Any suggestions on which one? 6000k or 8000k or 10000k?. Plus if anyone wants, I can get you good deals on them too.



    I hope you're not trying to sell something here on Rennteam. We're completely commercial free, if you hadn't noticed, and we want to keep it that way.

    As to aftermarket xenons, I can't imagine that would actually work. I know of one Cayenne owner that spent months trying to retrofit Porsche's own Cayenne xenon headlights. The last I heard he was still working on it. There's more to it than just plugging in a different bulb. The xenons should be self-leveling for one thing, a complexity that I don't think I want to trust to some aftermarket supplier.

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    Quote:
    GM Austin said:
    I know of one Cayenne owner that spent months trying to retrofit Porsche's own Cayenne xenon headlights. The last I heard he was still working on it.



    Hey Gary, has Toby still not given up his hobby?

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    Quote:
    Hey Gary, has Toby still not given up his hobby?






    I don't know, but I think I'm going to find out! SURELY that project got resolved, one way or the other. I'm going to look into it.

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    Hey man, no sorry im not trying to sell anything here. However I do want to get some H.I.D.'s. But I'm not sure b/c people say that the computer wont recognize the lights. What do you think?

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    Have you located HID lights of any kind that are making the claim they will even fit a Cayenne standard headlight housing? I just did a quick check and did not see any. It looks to me like you can change xenon bulbs to some other brand xenon bulb, but only if you already have a factory installed xenon headlight system to start with. You can't install xenon bulbs in a Cayenne standard headlight housing. There's a lot more to the xenon headlights than just the bulb. There's also, for example, the aiming or self-leveling function, and on the Cayenne there's also the cornering light function.

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    Quote:
    GM Austin said:
    Have you located HID lights of any kind that are making the claim they will even fit a Cayenne standard headlight housing? I just did a quick check and did not see any.



    Maybe the "after-market xenons" he has in mind have to be shipped in from Dade County, Florida.

    (See recent thread on one of ths sportscar boards re thefts of xenon units from P-cars in FL ).

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    Quote:
    fritz said:
    Quote:
    GM Austin said:
    Have you located HID lights of any kind that are making the claim they will even fit a Cayenne standard headlight housing? I just did a quick check and did not see any.



    Maybe the "after-market xenons" he has in mind have to be shipped in from Dade County, Florida.

    (See recent thread on one of ths sportscar boards re thefts of xenon units from P-cars in FL ).





    Yes, that could be. But still, retrofitting them to a Cayenne that initially came with standard headlights is definitely not a project for the faint of heart.

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    the xenons im talking about his the whole kit, not just the bulbs

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    So, is there a kit that claims to work on the Cayenne?

    BTW, I just checked the websites of Performance Products and Pelican Parts. Neither one had xenon kits for the Cayenne.

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    Quote:
    Matt C said:
    Quote:
    GM Austin said:
    I know of one Cayenne owner that spent months trying to retrofit Porsche's own Cayenne xenon headlights. The last I heard he was still working on it.



    Hey Gary, has Toby still not given up his hobby?



    OK, just heard from Toby. No, he was not successful in that project. He worked hard on it, but in the end, it's just too big of a project on the Cayenne. The Boxster and 911's have Xenon units that are basically self contained, so the Litronic Xenon assemblies can be added without too much difficulty, as long as you have the money. Pelican Parts shows a kit for the 996 runs over $3k.

    For the Cayenne though, the Xenon's are not self contained. Various needed components are scattered about the vehicle. Plus, the existing wiring harness for the standard headlights is incompatible with the Xenon's and needs extensive modification. The documentation on how you might do these modifications is nonexistent. A switch from standard headlights to Xenon would seem to be, for all practical purposes, impossible.

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    Cayenne using HID D1S system, you can get up to 6000k on the current market by Osram, this bulb direct replace the existing one in your Cayenne without any mod.. I've done myself in 20 min.. Check out the site below:
    http://www.suvlights.com/product_info.php?products_id=70

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    Quote:
    xxixixx said:
    Cayenne using HID D1S system, you can get up to 6000k on the current market by Osram, this bulb direct replace the existing one in your Cayenne without any mod.. I've done myself in 20 min.. Check out the site below:
    http://www.suvlights.com/product_info.php?products_id=70



    So you have done this yourself on your Cayenne? Is that correct? How long has the new bulb been in? Any overheating problems? Any error messages? Have you had it in to the Porsche dealer for service since you installed them?

    Do you have any problems with the alignment of the headlight? I know the factory system has continous active headlight alignment that's designed to prevent blinding oncoming drivers, no matter how the vehicle is loaded. How have you dealt with that? Given the much more intense light of the xenon, is there a way to do this, avoid blinding oncoming drivers, without active alignment?

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    Well i can't comment on the exact spec of a KN , but if its a H7 halogen then a simple HID upgrade kit should work. I installed one on a 986 Boxster and then used the same kit when i upgraded to a 987S ($330 total on two vehicles ). I've covered about 12k miles in both vehicles with the units fitted. They bulbs run at 35W which is less than the H7 55W standard halogen and have not seen any heat disortion on either car. The performance upgrade on the 987S is better than it was on the older Boxster, purely because the newer car has the projector style lens unit within the headlight assembly and produces a more focussed beam to start with.

    I don't know the configuration of the rear of the KN headlight unit, on the 986 units i had to mount the ballast units externally on the rear of the headlight unit (still plenty of room in the wing area), but on the 987 Porsche provide an empty space in the rear cover of the headlight unit which so happens to be perfect to store the ballast boxes - see pic below..






    Apologies if this is total gibberish to you all, but if its a H7 bulb you should be able to do this easily. Of course you don't get the self levlleing or washer system, but you can put the std bulb back in for inspections or such like.

    As for which K value to opt for, from the options you give then 6000 is slightly blueish (typical xenon colour). 8000K and above will be a definite blue > purple tinge and will look very aftermarket.

    The K value is a Kelvin temperature measurement of the gas inside the bulb unit and does not indicate any level of illumination. In fact Lumens (light) drops off slightly with K values above 4400. My HIDs are 6000K, which seem to be very close in colour to those of litronics

    I don't have any comparison pics on the 987 with the projector lens, but here are some for my earlier 986 Boxster..

    STd 55W H7 halogen..


    HID installed - 35W, 6000K

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    Thanks percymon!

    Great information and great photos too!

    What about the aiming/leveling function though and the performance with the new HID bulb? Obviously it has a different color temperature, as your photo shows, but tell us about the performance. How has the illumination improved with the new bulb? And what about the effect on oncoming drivers. Do you have any information on that?

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    Well firstly I should perhaps point out I've never had a car with factory xenon lights - I'd always been sceptical about their extra performance versus their cost, and for the mileage I travel per annum on dark unlit roads I could never justify the outlay. What I did do for many years of BMWs and Mercedes was change the factory halogen bulbs (always H7 55W Philips or Osram units) for PIAA Extreme White versions. These always gave me a slight improvement in light output, with a much whiter light that was more effective at lighting the area ahead - I used two sets (typically $140 per set in 6 years so they lasted pretty well, and still have the second set in the garage)

    Back to HID units then...

    Well if I thought the PIAAs were an improvement I was in for a real shock with the HIDs. I can't quantify the increase but they were a HUGE improvement on the older 986 Boxster. Significantly more light output, especially immediately ahead of the front bumper and at the end of the headlight range. A lot of companies will claim increased beam range and all sorts of other boasts - what you have to remember is the beam pattern and the range are set by the headlight glass and reflector and the alignment of the headlight unit; you will NOT gain and extra 50 metres of vision. What you DO gain is additional light at the end of the headlight range which improves your vision at distance. Road signs almost fluoresce which is a bit strange at first.

    When Porsche relaunched the Boxster in 987 guise, they included the projector beam type lens in the standard headlight unit. This brought an improvement over the old style 'reflector and glass pattern' of the 986 model, to the point where I felt it not necessary to re-install the HIDs. However havuign isntalled the HID kit the differences is greater with this headlight lens, quite unbelievable


    Downsides ??

    Headlight realignment ? - I haven't touched either car, just changed the bulb units and reinserted the headlight units

    Blinding other drivers ? - the headlight beam alignment is the same so they are pointing away from oncoming drivers as they have to be by law. I have never had any other driver flash me, whether I've been following or approaching other cars

    Lack of self levelling ? - the Boxster doesn't even have a manual headlight tilt switch on the dashboard ! - I guess the weight of the fuel tank in the front keeps the car pretty level. Heavy or bulky luggage has to be split between the front and rear trunks which helps to keep the car pretty level also . The limited suspension travel and firm springing probably also help to reduce front end lift during acceleration . My experience of observing factory xenon units in BMWs and Audis accelerating suggests that even self levelling units cannot fully cope with the change in vehicle angle. However, this may be an issue for Cayenne owners with the greater suspension travel and softer springs . At least you have the tilt switch so if you know you have a heavy load in the rear you can compensate for it

    Main beam - this still relies on the additional main beam halogen unit - mine is now a 65W H9 bulb, as opposed to the H7 55W of earlier cars. Either way the use of main beam is a strange thing - all that lovely bluey white light from the HIDs is overlaid by an orange glow in the centre from the high beam; still effective but strange none the less. It makes you realise how different the HIDs really are compared to the standard bulb technology. I think litronics use the normal HID low beam bulb, but a motorised reflector alters the beam alignment.

    I'll try to get some pictures of the 987 units late tonight, although I'm not sure how much success I'll have with the pictures given the very hot sunny weather we are having in Britain at present. Whatever happened to the usual cold damp British summer .


    Whilst doing my research I found the following websites quite useful...

    http://www.xenonvalot.com/tuotteet_eng.html

    http://www.hids4u.co.uk/default.asp - not the best website but their gallery has several cars with one halogen and one HID unit illuminated at the same time.

    And another a bit closer home for you guys 'over the pond' http://www.gohid.com/

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    Not really dark enough but you get the idea of the difference in colour against the sidelight bulb below..




    Re: After market Xenons!!

    Excellent writeup percymon! Thanks!

    I agree with your comments about HID or xenon lighting. The difference is dramatic. I have ordered it on the last three vehicles I have purchased. It only took me once to see that was a must-have option. Your comments about not seeing further but seeing much better is my experience as well. Coverage is the same but the intensity is much higher. I questioned about the aiming because I will occasionally get hit with a xenon beam straight on when going around curves or hills and it is pretty blinding, so I was curious if aiming was an issue for the aftermarket retrofit.

    Re: After market Xenons!!

    Happy to share my experience - good or bad

     
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