Sakebomb Garage HID Headlight Install/Review
05-28-10, 06:58 PM
#1
Sakebomb Garage HID Headlight Install/Review
Just wanted to share my experience in the 3rd gen section. Haven't seen any reviews around here yet.
Why did I get these?
Cuz they look awesome (clear headlights yo) and I want HIDs. Yo. No seriously, FD lights are the crappiest stock lights I've seen. I drove alone on La Honda one night last year and it was literally one of the worst drives of my life. I couldn't see anything beyond a few feet in front of me and nothing to my left or right. MANY corners were just completely blind corners that I had to take at 10 mph. Even my FC has better lights. So the search began for a solution. I needed projector HIDs, but I also love popups. I looked far and wide for projector HIDs that fit in the popups, and this was by far the most elegant, economical solution.
Are they hard to install?
So Heath and I spent an afternoon hacking away at my FD installing these things. I don't have step by step install pictures but basically it goes something like this:
1. Take off your headlight covers and trim
2. Take out your old headlights
3. Run the harness across the front of the car. I hid the wire along the front bar.
4. Cut a part of the headlight bucket off to make room for the larger housing
5. Install the bulb in the housing.
6. Plug everything in, aim it, and you're good to go
Sounds easy right? Well mostly it is. There are a few things that had us scratching our heads.
1. The ballast wire is rather short and there's this black box thing too, so we tried to mount the ballast and the black box in the headlight bucket. Didn't work for us. You can try it though. If you're gonna do this, make sure you figure out which parts move and which parts don't. We hit a bunch of stuff putting it in there.
2. The ballast has this annoying black box that gets in the way of things. The headlight kept getting caught on things until we zip tied it down.
3. It was quite a squeeze to get the wires and harness through some parts of the car.
Results
I can SEE at night now. I tested it extensively during my drive to and from Thunderhill. This setup puts out more light in a wider area than some OEM projector HID setups out there. The coverage is wide enough to illuminate a 4-5 lanes of a highway. The light output and quality is better than my friend's RX-8 R3 and maybe equal to the Acura TL projectors (those are amazing if you haven't seen them). And the high-beam, as described by my RX8 friend in front of me, was "Dude you're blinding me." I know what I'm gonna do when there's some tailgating, high-beaming idiot behind me next time.
The cutoff from these lights is also incredibly sharp, so it will take some getting used to especially if you have stiff suspension. For the first few nights I was driving along and watching the cutoff line on cars and walls moving around. Kind of hypnotic. I did the same thing when I was in my friend's TL.
Conclusion
Performance, 10/10. I really doubt you can get lighting that's any better than this for an FD (especially at this price point).
Installation, 7/10. You definitely need a dremel and you do have to use your brain to figure out where to mount things around the car.
Aesthetics, 9/10. Obviously this is personal preference but I think they look great.
Build Quality, 10/10. I gotta hand it to the guy. Heath has done an amazing job with these. No wonder 20 some lights take months to turn around.
Pictures: (btw the lights look yellow in the pix for some reason. They're not. They're actually just a neutral white color)
I still have to take some night pix. Maybe tonight.
Why did I get these?
Cuz they look awesome (clear headlights yo) and I want HIDs. Yo. No seriously, FD lights are the crappiest stock lights I've seen. I drove alone on La Honda one night last year and it was literally one of the worst drives of my life. I couldn't see anything beyond a few feet in front of me and nothing to my left or right. MANY corners were just completely blind corners that I had to take at 10 mph. Even my FC has better lights. So the search began for a solution. I needed projector HIDs, but I also love popups. I looked far and wide for projector HIDs that fit in the popups, and this was by far the most elegant, economical solution.
Are they hard to install?
So Heath and I spent an afternoon hacking away at my FD installing these things. I don't have step by step install pictures but basically it goes something like this:
1. Take off your headlight covers and trim
2. Take out your old headlights
3. Run the harness across the front of the car. I hid the wire along the front bar.
4. Cut a part of the headlight bucket off to make room for the larger housing
5. Install the bulb in the housing.
6. Plug everything in, aim it, and you're good to go
Sounds easy right? Well mostly it is. There are a few things that had us scratching our heads.
1. The ballast wire is rather short and there's this black box thing too, so we tried to mount the ballast and the black box in the headlight bucket. Didn't work for us. You can try it though. If you're gonna do this, make sure you figure out which parts move and which parts don't. We hit a bunch of stuff putting it in there.
2. The ballast has this annoying black box that gets in the way of things. The headlight kept getting caught on things until we zip tied it down.
3. It was quite a squeeze to get the wires and harness through some parts of the car.
Results
I can SEE at night now. I tested it extensively during my drive to and from Thunderhill. This setup puts out more light in a wider area than some OEM projector HID setups out there. The coverage is wide enough to illuminate a 4-5 lanes of a highway. The light output and quality is better than my friend's RX-8 R3 and maybe equal to the Acura TL projectors (those are amazing if you haven't seen them). And the high-beam, as described by my RX8 friend in front of me, was "Dude you're blinding me." I know what I'm gonna do when there's some tailgating, high-beaming idiot behind me next time.
The cutoff from these lights is also incredibly sharp, so it will take some getting used to especially if you have stiff suspension. For the first few nights I was driving along and watching the cutoff line on cars and walls moving around. Kind of hypnotic. I did the same thing when I was in my friend's TL.
Conclusion
Performance, 10/10. I really doubt you can get lighting that's any better than this for an FD (especially at this price point).
Installation, 7/10. You definitely need a dremel and you do have to use your brain to figure out where to mount things around the car.
Aesthetics, 9/10. Obviously this is personal preference but I think they look great.
Build Quality, 10/10. I gotta hand it to the guy. Heath has done an amazing job with these. No wonder 20 some lights take months to turn around.
Pictures: (btw the lights look yellow in the pix for some reason. They're not. They're actually just a neutral white color)
I still have to take some night pix. Maybe tonight.
05-28-10, 07:24 PM
#2
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Cool!! This was a good review! Very helpful. Personally, though, I really realy like Sakebomb's HID unit, but I don't like that it looks like it'll give the car an "eye" sorta look...I sorta prefer the original look. If there is a way to make it look that way and still have the same result, I would definitely get the unit.
Cheers!
Cheers!
05-28-10, 07:43 PM
#4
Cool!! This was a good review! Very helpful. Personally, though, I really realy like Sakebomb's HID unit, but I don't like that it looks like it'll give the car an "eye" sorta look...I sorta prefer the original look. If there is a way to make it look that way and still have the same result, I would definitely get the unit.
Cheers!
Cheers!
We could retrofit the stock headlight housings with the fluted lenses. We are taking some pictures of what the light output looks like with the stock lens in front of the projector and we will PM you the shots shortly. Nice review, it's good to hear some feedback on what people are having issues with
-Dan
05-29-10, 10:29 AM
#11
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At night time it really doesn't matter. I've said this 100 times; do you drive around in the daytime with your headlights up? We could retrofit the stock headlight housings with the fluted lenses. We are taking some pictures of what the light output looks like with the stock lens in front of the projector and we will PM you the shots shortly.
Nice review, it's good to hear some feedback on what people are having issues with
-Dan
We could retrofit the stock headlight housings with the fluted lenses. We are taking some pictures of what the light output looks like with the stock lens in front of the projector and we will PM you the shots shortly. Nice review, it's good to hear some feedback on what people are having issues with
-Dan
Does it make a big difference between the two? Stock vs Projector lenses?? Would it be too much to ask if you put a side-by-side picture for comparison?
I still really like these headlights though! I love the output that comes with it!
05-29-10, 04:38 PM
#12
DRIVE THE ROTARY SPORTS
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-Heath
05-30-10, 09:19 AM
#13
Original Gangster/Rotary!
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I have to say that out of all 276 mods on my FD, this has to be my absolute favorite when I consider the safety aspect, the ease of install, quality of components used, and the innovation behind it. Seriously transforms the car after dark, and addresses one of the glaring (no pun intended) oem shortcomings without ruining the aesthetics of the FD
05-30-10, 10:45 AM
#14
looking for 82-83 corolla
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ya i just installed mine and it does take a bit to get everything situated to not rub on everything else or pinch. for the little black box inline i ziptied it under the headlight bracket and the ballast is 3m taped to the outside i still need to ziptie adjust from the inline box to the light so it dosent rub but ill get a pic so ya can see what im talking about.
z
a real shame you wont be able to get em anymore from the sound of it.... with these reviews coming out now every FD guys gonna want em
z
a real shame you wont be able to get em anymore from the sound of it.... with these reviews coming out now every FD guys gonna want em
