Maybe this is a strange question, but I was just wondering which years of the S-Type have the auto adjusting headlamps? (Oddly enough I haven't done ANY night driving since I got my car because I still drive my old SC coupe at night). I'm interested in looking into HID Headlights and Fogs, so I was just wondering if this option was available. Can anyone help me with what I'm looking for?

 

2003 stype and up

 

yupp

 

I going to guess that you don't have the OEM HID's. If you did your S-type would be fitted with theHID projectors withauto leveling. So, you have two choices 1) you can try to buy some used 2003+ projector headlights(check ebay) 2) or buy an plug n play aftermarket hid kit.

Just remember one thing, if decide to go with an after market kit for your halogen based headlights you will produce alot of glare, which isn't a good thing. Since the foglights already utilize projectors, getting anplugn play after market should not be a problem.

 

So if I buy 03+ Projector Headlights, those come stock with auto adjusting HID's? I have an 03 S Type and mine didn't.[:@] I think I'd rather go this route and get the auto adjusting HID's than to get an aftermarket kit without auto adjust option + glare problem. Does anyone know about how much this will cost me? Jaguar website says it's a $675 optional upgrade, but I does anyone know if I can just show up at the place and buy the headlights separately for the same price?

 

Ebay is your best bet. As far as the self leveling, well it isn't all that. Half the time it aims the lights way to low.

You can get aftermarket hid kit with maybe a casper shield? You could also retro fit some projectors into existing headlights. You do have some options.

 

Yeah so far I've seen one passenger headlight on Ebay, and received a PM from someone with a driver's headlight. I've heard ups and downs about the setup, but I figured as long as I was spending the $$$ why not go out and get the factory setup?
I looked at an HID kit to get 4300 K headlights with 3000 K fogs (to keep the white headlight with yellow fog look). I suppose that going the stock route just offers me the ability to be lazy and not have to do any retrofitting.

 

I would say that its being lazy, but on a budget. As far as going with a 3000k for the fogs, I would against. The 3000k bulbs will color shift after about 100 hours and will turn greenish. If you get the hid kit for the headlights look inot getting casper shields, it reduces the glare give off by the hid's.

Someone on this board installed after market hid kit do a search to see if the like the outcome.

 

Thanks for the input, I wasn't aware of the color change for the fog's. Maybe I'll have to look into a different option. I really want to keep a stock feel while retaining the HID availability. The budget isn't so much of an issue to me, if it's more expensive to do it the right way. I'd rather do it once and get the look that I'm hoping for and simply have to wait to get it how I want it. I'm waiting to see if I got a $5000 scholarship next tuesday anyway, so if I get it, I'll have extra cash to spend on the car anyway.

I saw the person who did it, the outcome was nice, but I wanted to stick to the white headlights with yellow fogs as opposed to opting for blue headlights.

 

Update, I managed to find a company through ebay that can sell me the 03-06 Jaguar Xenon Headlights with bulbs, ballasts, harness. What else do I need to do in order to try to get this setup underway? I suppose the easiest thing would be to have it doen professionally, but I want to know just in case the FL Jaguar dealership won't do it (The VA dealership where I go to school, it's illegal to have HID's unless they come factory).

 

If you are going with an after market plug n play kit, I would highly recommend going with these guys. http://www.therpmstore.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=24&products_ id=38 The kit will come with everything that you will need for a direct plug n play. If you follow the instructions provided it should take about 1/2 hour ,or so,depending on how difficult it is getting access to the lights bulbs.
They are vendors on the Mazda forums. They sell high quality kits and you can get a complete kit with life time warranty for about $150. I actually purchased a kit my self from them.

If you want yellow fogs, you can always get some overlays as seen here
http://www.stickercity.com/store/home.php?cat=2180

 

momo,
Do you have any photos of how the kit looked on your car after the kit was installed? I've seen a ton of plug-and-play kits, and I've already done an HID conversion on my old car so I know how it's done. I only wanted to look into getting the stock replacement headlamps so as to have autoadjusting feature available. I'm kind of particular about how I want my Jag to be built up.

 

My S-type already has the OEM equipped withHID projector set up, however I plan on baking the headlights and opening them up. Once I open them up, I will either replace the lense for one that is clear and orswap out the projectors all together, depending on the out come. I plan on do this towards the end of the month when I get all my stuff in. I also plan onretrofitting full size projectors into the fog lights, with perhaps a yellow lense for the fogs. I"ll do a full write and snap plenty of pics.

Sorry for the off topic stuff, but it sounds to me like if you want the auto self leveling feature you will need to buy OEM headlights with the projectors? I mean if not have that feature is a deal breaker for you then go that route. Like I have said that feature to me is on the useless side only because it typically aims the lights too low, but that just my opinion.

 

Well not exactly; I guess the auto leveling feature would have just been a +1 because I'm trying to design my car as a VIP styled car. The feature would have just addded to the luxury feel. It looks like I might not be able to get that as an option though, so I may be looking into 4300 K H7's and then looking ito the yellow fogs. I'll be sure to take a look at your thread when you do your write up. My major mods will be done in the summer most likely.

When you bake the headlights, make sure you keep in mind, it's better to use a lower temp for a longer time than a higher temp for a shorter time. If you just barely heat it up, you can't melt it. [:'(]

 

Oh I've done this before but just not on the Jag, not yet anyway. Check out what I did with my Mazda RX8. I hope to have similar results, if not better with the Jag.

This is what it looked likeBEFORE I modded the cut off shield and swapped in a clear lense.



And this is what it looks likeAFTER the projector was modded. Huge difference huh...

 

Hey Momo, can you show us what you did and how you did it?

 

Yeah that would definitely be an interesting read. It looks great!

 

No problem. I had more pics but I deleted them, but I’ll post the remaining one’s that I do have. I will also do a write to explain whole the process. Keep in mind that the projector in the RX8 were very basic non additive, non bi-xenon, or self leveling. I'm sure that the Jaguar's will be a little challenging. Here it goes

1)Remove headlights form the car.2)Remove any screws, tabs, and clips that hold the headlight together.3)Remove the dust caps and any bulbs, that you can access.4)Set the rack on the second lowest setting; preheat your oven on Bake for 6 minutes at 250 degrees. 5)Wrap the headlights with foil paper.6)Once your oven is preheated insert headlights into the oven making sure that no part of the headlight is touching any part of the oven. 7) Remove the headlights from the oven after about 8 minutes and try to open them up. It helps if you can start off on one corner. The glue should be nice and pliable, if it isn’t return the headlights to the oven for another 6 minutes. Don’t try to jab anything sharp or even semi-sharp into the seem of the headlight or you will damage the plastic that encases the headlights. Once you have an opening work that are and it should open right up.8)After you have your headlights open, you can take the projectors apart and remove them from the headlights. With my particular projector it had four Phillips screws holding the projector in place. As you can see in the pics, I modified the shield and removed the fore ground limiter. Lastly, I replace the lense with on that was crystal clear.9)I then put the headlights back into the the oven for a few minutes, just to make sure that glue waspliable. I reassembled the headlights and replace all screw and clips that held the headlight together.


This what the projector looks like from the back.


This is the shield that allow/limits the light out put.






This what a fresnel lense looks like up close, notice the ripples andhow fuzzy/frostly the lense appear.

 

momo
How soon will you be doing the work on your S Type? I'd be interested in seeing the final product- I want to look into getting some work done to my headlights soon.

 

Well I had some time off, but I spent it in the hospital with my Motherasshe was gravely ill. The Dr didn't think that she was going to make it. She is much better now, but will require atleast another week in the hospital. Also the wify is leaving town tomorrow for 18 days, so I plan to start doing everything then. I haven't had a chance to check if all my supplies are in. Keep checking I as I plan to dowrite ups on everything I do and takeplentyof pics.