Details on the retrofit?
Are those mini H1, mini D2S or FXR?
What shroud is that?
What brand of aftermarket market headlight did you go with?
Which installer did you go with?
What temp bulbs?
Phillips or aftermarket bulbs?
Morimoto or OEM ballasts?
I have everything pilled up for a FXR retrofit but haven't sent it to the installer yet. Glad to see someone else is taking the time to do it correctly.
Hopefully this gives you a few details..
Bi-Xenon Morimoto Mini D2S Stage III Kit
Projectors: D2S 3.0 Bi-xenon (O Lens/LHD)
Compatible Ballasts: 55W: Morimoto XB55 Computer
Ballast Igniters: Morimoto XB Igniter (D2S)
HID bulbs: D2S XB 4500K-6500K
Shroud Style: Up to you (but I think the Apollo 2.0 Flat would look good here)
Harness: MotoControl Bi-xenon (9003/H4)
LED Halos: Up to you-
Headlight Sealant: Recommended (Gray or Black)
With everything you need for both headlights, the kit comes out to $315 shipped.
Projectors: Relative to other projector options we sell; The Morimoto Mini's offer the best mix of performance and ease of install. With modern optics and their standard clear lens, their light output is comparable or better than most OEM projectors. The projectors have a threaded shaft on the back that will fit through the existing hole in the back of your headlight reflector (where the light bulb comes through now) and clamps on with the included hardware. You may need to buzz off a little bit of material from hole in the reflector to install the projector – but that’s about it as far as modification goes. The "O" lens option will be for a round shaped lens whereas the "X" lens option will be for a square shape.
Ballasts: you’ve got two options – the XB35 is a 35-watt ballast, which is the most efficient, longest lasting option. 35w is industry standard in all cars that come stock with HID headlights. The XB55 is a higher output 50-watt ballast and although it will make about 15-20% more light, they’re a bit more power hungry, run a little hotter, and are only warrantied for 3 years instead of 5. We generally don’t suggest the XB55 for smaller housings or fog lights. Since the XB ballasts came out in November of 2014, we’ve sold over 100,000 of them and they have a super low failure rate of just about .04% - which is awesome.
Igniters: these are a standard option that all kits need, so you can just leave that as-is.
Bulbs: the only decision is on the Kelvin rating, which is basically just the color of the light output. 4500K bulbs produce a warm white color, that’s what all vehicles with factory HIDs use. 5500K is the most popular option since it’s a pure white color, offers the best mix of actual intensity and neutral color. 6500K bulbs are still mostly white, but have a very slight tinge of blue. Morimoto HID bulbs are standard equipment because they offer the best bang for buck in terms of reliability and precision. There are a handful of OEM bulb options as well which certainly aren’t a bad choice if you don’t mind spending more on them. Back to Kelvins, we have a helpful visual comparison online here.
Shrouds:basically just recommend picking shrouds based on preference and the geometry of your housings.
Harness: This will make sure the new projector system will be plug n play and work properly off the stock headlight wiring. No cutting/splicing required.
Headlight Sealant is recommended to help ensure you don’t get any moisture inside the light after re-sealing. Halos are just for looks, that’s totally up to you.
Doing a projector retrofit is easily the best way to improve the performance and modernize the look of your headlights. While it’s not a super easy mod, it’s not rocket science either and if you’ve got some common sense, a dremel tool, and a free day on the weekend; you should be able to knock it out. You can probably even see a handful of installs previous TRS customers have posted with our parts with a quick Google search.
I just used my own headlight to have the projectors retrofitted. All in all., I truly enjoyed my new retrofitted projectors. Only thing I would change, I should have gone with 5500K bulbs.