Just Bought My Altezza

[MrIncredible24]

I just bought my Altezza (or IS). I'm stationed here in Japan, in the US Army. I know there's a US Forum, but i just decided to come here. now, there are like 4 other Altezza's on base, but i'm the only private to own one. i want to get to separating myself for all those sargent's and captain's. the military pays me a little extra for what i do, and when i leave japan, in 3 years, i'm taking the altezza home with me. its RHD and a manual.

The first thing i want to do is the lights. there is a light specialist off base, who i'm sure isn't cheap. i was wondering how hard installing an HID kit actually is? it says "plug-and-play" but is it really that easy? I appreciate all help and any input as to what looks good and what not to do would be great. i'm new to the who Lexus game.

Thanks

[MeMo]

HI there and welcome to LOC, :D

yea they are mate, do what it say's, Plug & play :) think they trake about 25 to 30 min to fit and off you go :)

[TommyH]

Hello Mr & welcome to LOC, i just fitted mine on Friday, if i can do it in 30 mins, im sure you could do the same, as im not very mechaniclly minded. :D

[sparkystav]

Welcome mate, get some pics up.

Stav

[aztecbandit1]

Welcome to the club mate, :D

The HID's are an easy upgrade to do and make a lot of difference to the oem headlights when fitted :D

Now dont forget some pics of you tezza as we dont see too many over here :D

[Lexus2D]

[Dan_Harris]

You have no idea how insanely jealous I am :P, get some pics of it up

[ormi]

Hello Mr & welcome to LOC, i just fitted mine on Friday, if i can do it in 30 mins, im sure you could do the same, as im not very mechaniclly minded. :D

i work as a tec and mot tester for toyota i ordered the same set as tommy and had it fitted in out 15mins the worst bit is making the wires neat.... get some hid's they are amazin and you get kits from £50 on e-bay!!!!!

[reganlives]

which kit did u get mate?

[DJ Wozza]

Welcome to LOC :D

HID's are great, I have them on main beams too. Great up country lanes

[treborlex]

Hello & Welcome to the loc.

[spikes]

hi, welcome to loc :)

[MrIncredible24]

which kit did u get mate?

here's my main problem and concern. yes, i have an altezza, not an IS300. so i don't have day time running lights, which is great because i can run my foglights without my headlights. i also don't have HID's standard on my car, so i dont know what will happen when i plug a kit into it. i hear there i won't like have any damage to the car, but will i have a clear, straight beam or will it be scattered? i don't want to direct a super bright beam straight into someone's windshield, if i can help it. if you stick halogen headlights with HID bulbs? if i can get an answer, i'll probably buy this weekend. and then i already purchased the yellow PIAA foglights. i gotta figure out how to get those in too. advice on that one as well? with those two upgrades, i'll be both the lowest ranking person in my Battery, and have the nicest car.

i'll get some pix up soon. probably after the HID's.

[Steviewevie]

here's my main problem and concern. yes, i have an altezza, not an IS300. so i don't have day time running lights, which is great because i can run my foglights without my headlights. i also don't have HID's standard on my car, so i dont know what will happen when i plug a kit into it. i hear there i won't like have any damage to the car, but will i have a clear, straight beam or will it be scattered? i don't want to direct a super bright beam straight into someone's windshield, if i can help it. if you stick halogen headlights with HID bulbs? if i can get an answer, i'll probably buy this weekend. and then i already purchased the yellow PIAA foglights. i gotta figure out how to get those in too. advice on that one as well? with those two upgrades, i'll be both the lowest ranking person in my battery, and have the nicest car.

The beam should be fine. It won't be 100% perfect since the reflectors weren't designed for HIDs, but a lot of us have installed HIDs here in the UK and the car passes the annual MoT test (vehicle roadworthiness/safety) fine with them. It won't just be a narrow spotlight beam, it'll still use the reflectors. It might be that you need the beam adjusted slightly when you install them, or they might be fine as is. If you put your car a few yards away from and pointing straight at a wall (before you fit the HIDs) and note where the top of the beams come to, then you can check after you've installed your HIDs if the top of the new (much brighter) beams is in the same place, and if it's majorly out you can always try and adjust it yourself. Or get a garage to do it (often you can get that done for free over here).

Basically you should end up with a roughly similar spead of beam from before (because you're still using the same reflectors), just that it'll be much brighter. So if your headlights weren't aligned properly before (e.g. pointing upwards) then it'll be a big problem with the HIDs installed (e.g. a much brighter beam pointing upwards !).

Sorry I don't know what the PIAA foglights are, are those just regular bulbs ? I don't know if the foglight fittings on the Altezza are the same as the IS200.