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Old 12-05-2011, 08:53 PM   #76
cjeckert
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluefoton View Post
You get to the point where the headlamp is split into 2 after the oven. THe OEM projector is screwed into the headlamp assembly - unscrew the front 4 screws so that the projector is loose (but stuck in between the bracket and the reflector), and then unscrew the 4 back screws so as to disconnect the projector lens from the projector back-end.

You're then left with the OEM projector, in 2 pieces, rattling inside the headlamp housing. the lens part can be removed, and the reflector part of the projector can come through the back of the headlamp IF you clip (break) the cornes. This allows to totally remove the OEM projector WITHOUT touching the alignment screws.
Thats exactly how I did it. When i pulled the glass of it i spent a good hour looking at it and realized it was just small enough to do it. Hardly needed to adjust the aim once they were on the car.
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Old 12-05-2011, 10:59 PM   #77
Subie FA20
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So my adjustment was completely off... beams were aimed wrong directions and criss crossed. A ton of adjustments later, the light output is pretty darn good.
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Old 12-06-2011, 06:05 PM   #78
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Can I bake my headlamps to re-open them again, if I used additional silicone sealant? Or is it going to cause issues?
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Old 12-06-2011, 06:13 PM   #79
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Can I bake my headlamps to re-open them again, if I used additional silicone sealant? Or is it going to cause issues?
Should be fine. You basically doubled up what was initially used to seal the headlights.

I would not hesitate to do it.
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Old 12-06-2011, 11:16 PM   #80
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Thanks!
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Old 12-29-2011, 11:08 PM   #81
Subie FA20
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So i gotta reseal my passenger side headlight. It's moisturing like a SOB! Also gonna attempt to fix my rotation issue while i'm at it. Here's my dilemma with the plug and play kit...



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Old 12-30-2011, 12:04 AM   #82
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Meh, I gave up on fixing those bloody retrofits.

First my two brackets on L and R sides aren't screwed in the same way, which impacted the angle of the projector, so if my low beams are on the same level, stock high beams are not. My mistake I presume, but there is no way to know before reinstalling the headlights anyways.

Second, the hotspots weren't in the center, so I had to use tiewraps around the xenon bulb back, through a hole in the back twist-on cap, attached to a bolt - with a controlled tension pulling the bulbs, the hotspots are now where they should be. On the flip side, i have exactly the same rot. aligment issue as you do now.
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Old 12-30-2011, 07:57 AM   #83
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluefoton View Post
Meh, I gave up on fixing those bloody retrofits.

First my two brackets on L and R sides aren't screwed in the same way, which impacted the angle of the projector, so if my low beams are on the same level, stock high beams are not. My mistake I presume, but there is no way to know before reinstalling the headlights anyways.

Second, the hotspots weren't in the center, so I had to use tiewraps around the xenon bulb back, through a hole in the back twist-on cap, attached to a bolt - with a controlled tension pulling the bulbs, the hotspots are now where they should be. On the flip side, i have exactly the same rot. aligment issue as you do now.
I have been lazy about this, but has anyone else contacted TRS to discuss these issues? They seem fairly consistent and pervasive...
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Old 12-30-2011, 11:27 AM   #84
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Bracket alignment.. i don't think they can do anything, as the brackets are fairly thin, and one can screw hard enough to bend them. Hotspots - they acknowledged the issue, and that's it.

TRS also said that the HIDplanet snaphots of a D2S mini-morimoto beam pattern (with a perfectly centered hotspot) is from someone who tweaked the heck out of the projectors - not from their "stock" product. (pic below)

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Old 12-30-2011, 12:54 PM   #85
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluefoton View Post
Bracket alignment.. i don't think they can do anything, as the brackets are fairly thin, and one can screw hard enough to bend them. Hotspots - they acknowledged the issue, and that's it.

TRS also said that the HIDplanet snaphots of a D2S mini-morimoto beam pattern (with a perfectly centered hotspot) is from someone who tweaked the heck out of the projectors - not from their "stock" product. (pic below)

The hotspot in that image looks to be about 15-20% exposed, the vast majority of it is still hidden under the cutoff shield. Is that considered normal or just a D2S thing?
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Old 12-30-2011, 01:33 PM   #86
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It's a D2S thing. When I had the Mini D2S, I could set the bulb perfectly in the housing and it would still show hot spots.

H1 projectors are light years (no pun intended) ahead of the D2S.
Plus, you can color mod the H1s to feed your inner ricer.
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Old 12-31-2011, 02:53 PM   #87
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Yeah, I recall you were ferociously vouching for the H1 version Went for D2s half cause it sounded more OEM, half cause of the photo above. Little did I know I'd need to drill holes and use tiewraps to get even remotely close to that output
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Old 01-01-2012, 02:01 PM   #88
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Seems like there are alot of issues with this kit. Ready to order my kit for my 2.5i, is it worth it?
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Old 01-01-2012, 02:03 PM   #89
Subie FA20
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Yes and no. If i had to do it again, i'd pay to get a real retro done with good quality projectors. Light output is good for a plug and play cheap kit but it's not "oh em gee" amazing.
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Old 01-01-2012, 07:26 PM   #90
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For the price, I'm happy. Besides, any mod which is just plug and play without ANY tweaking just leaves an empty feeling, IMHO
Go with the H1s maybe though, as rising fumes suggests....
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Old 01-02-2012, 09:40 AM   #91
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Originally Posted by whis9 View Post
Seems like there are alot of issues with this kit. Ready to order my kit for my 2.5i, is it worth it?
It is NOT a simple plug-and-play install, in the basic sense.

While a kit like the DDM kit is easier to install (and with a little work, gives equal perceived results, IMO), the TRS kit is a more "proper" upgrade.

That said, you have to be prepared to do the following:

Remove bumper cover
Remove headlights
"Bake" the headlights apart
Install the retrofit hardware
Install the relay harness (I don't know how people find this difficult, but people are constantly asking how to do it. It is STUPID simple.
Tap into OEM wiring (particularly for the bi-xenon part of the upgrade, which is the real benefit to the TRS kit)
Spend SIGNIFICANT time aiming this kit to get it right

On top of that, you have time to re-install (physically) all of the OEM hardware.

With a "real" retrofit, you have to be willing to put in the time needed to get the projectors properly oriented. With the TRS retroquik kit, you get close right out of the box, but you still need to tweak it. In a retrofit without the TRS brackets, you might have a significant amout of time invested in even the rough orientation of the projectors.

My setup is fine now. I actually had (have, technically) it up for sale, but when it did not sell at first, I spent more time aiming it, hooking up the bixenon, reaiming, rereaiming...you get the point. Now I have the aim about 95% where I want it (still need to horizontal shift my passenger light by about 5*) and the bixenon function is really awesome.

All that being said, while I love the bixenon illumination, I rarely had to use high beams with my old (properly-aimed) DDM PnP kit. With the TRS kit, I am always switching them on.

You have to decide where the time and money investment is worth the upgrade. Coming from OEM halogen, it is a huge upgrade. From a properly-aimed PnP kit, it may not be much of an upgrade.
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Old 01-02-2012, 02:36 PM   #92
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Having just finished this retrofit over the weekend, I think this is a very accurate description of what's involved.

Quote:
Originally Posted by phenryiv1 View Post
Tap into OEM wiring (particularly for the bi-xenon part of the upgrade, which is the real benefit to the TRS kit)
Spend SIGNIFICANT time aiming this kit to get it right
The kit I received for my 2009 WRX came with a y-splitter for the OEM high beam, so there was no wire cutting, soldering, crimping, etc. needed. Two minor hitches: first, the high beam bulb had a pin that didn't fit into the groove on the male end of the splitter, so I had to file/melt the groove down. Second, the black/red wiring was reversed on the splitter. No big deal since the solenoid ignores polarity, but something to note for the high beam when doing the install.

I spent about 2 hours getting the aiming right on my kit after the install. Much of that time was getting to the left/right aiming bolts with the headlights reinstalled on the car. I had to take off the air dam on the passenger side and move the washer fluid fill nozzle on the driver side to do it. I also learned that there's aim and then there's aim. You can move the projector housings via the aiming bolts, but the way the bulbs sit in the projector affect the direction of the center hotspot and shape of the cutoff. The biggest potential aiming issue IMO is rotational alignment. It's hard to know if you got it wrong with the lights off the car, and once they're back on, you'll have to go through the entire process of removal, baking, etc. to try to fix it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by phenryiv1 View Post
All that being said, while I love the bixenon illumination, I rarely had to use high beams with my old (properly-aimed) DDM PnP kit. With the TRS kit, I am always switching them on.
This is interesting. The TRS kit is a massive, massive improvement over stock halogens. The beam covers the entire width of a 4-lane freeway and the cutoff is sharp and clearly visible, noticeably bisecting street signs and markers as the car bobs up and down while driving.

Does it really not "throw" as far as other kits? I don't have anything to compare it to, but against the stock halogens, I'd say they throw farther, but the massive increase in brightness and sharpness of the cutoff makes the end of the beam much more abrupt. I have no idea what a TSX/S2K beam looks like in comparison.

All in all, I'd say it was well worth the 8-10 hours spent on the retrofit, and I'd do it again if given the chance.

As to the harness, it's dead simple once you figure it out, but you get it as a massive octopus tangle of 5-6 10ft arms with no labeling (unless you search online), no instructions, no attachment hardware and no description of why you need it or what it does. Separate connections for power and signal make it difficult to intuitively figure out why some cables are needed, and for those of us who don't work on our cars often, we're kind of left wondering whether it'll spark and explode if we hook up the battery terminals in the wrong order, or where we can safely route the wires under the hood without having them get melted by some hot component or caught up in a fan or crushed by the hood etc. A simple instruction sheet would have helped out quite a bit.

Last edited by Dartholomew; 01-02-2012 at 02:43 PM.
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Old 01-02-2012, 05:18 PM   #93
Subie FA20
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I didn't utilize the bi-xenon... my luck one day i'll use it, it'll crap on me and my headlights will be stuck in the high-beam position (just saying... my luck sucks! lol) soo i just use OEM halogens as highs.
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Old 01-02-2012, 07:11 PM   #94
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I back what Dartholomew said 100%. Very well summed up. I approached this with NO prior retrofitting skills (or baking for that matter.. I'm yet to do my first muffin), and while it was long, I didnt screw anything up or break anything. It did take me the whole weekend though, so stack on food, beer and tools if it's your only car.

Illumination - good point about the width. Halogen lights tend to have a very significant frontal hotspot which gives the illusion of a distant reach. These HIds dont reach further, and they don't illuminate much more at that particular spot in front. However, the overall illumination is a MASSIVE improvement over halogens, especially to the distant far right side. Personally, this is what I need for deers or in a forest - not a laser spot in front.

Aiming: it is a total biatch. To get the hotspots where they should be, the position of the bulb with respect to the projector has to be changed. I used a spacer, made out of a little piece of wire, put on the top right bulb support "pillar".Additionally, I didn't screw the retaining ring very tight, and I wrapped a tie-wrap around the back og th bulb, which I pulled out of the headlight, and attached to a screw. Very ghetto - but one should keep in mind that even without doing any of it, the results are far from bad. The hotspots are not that massively brighter than the rest of the beam. I'll email TRS asking if they can figure and sell a spacer ring which would improve the hotspot issue.

High beam illumination: simply fabulous. With the bixenons and HIR halogen high beams, it's a flood of uniform, far reaching light.
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Old 01-03-2012, 12:18 PM   #95
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Originally Posted by SNE2040 View Post
I didn't utilize the bi-xenon... my luck one day i'll use it, it'll crap on me and my headlights will be stuck in the high-beam position (just saying... my luck sucks! lol) soo i just use OEM halogens as highs.
If that happens, just unplug the wire from the solenoid to close the shutter.

I would say that I get more benefit from the bixenon aspect of the retrofit than from the actual low beam portion.
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Old 01-03-2012, 02:27 PM   #96
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I use the bi-xenon function all of the time...night mountain runs...
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Old 01-03-2012, 05:27 PM   #97
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I use the bi-xenon function all of the time...night mountain runs...
When i get hella's and OEM fogs this spring i'll do it. Don't wanna keep ripping the bumper off.
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Old 01-06-2012, 11:17 AM   #98
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I emailed TRS asking if the H1 projectors would work with the Retro quick system. Since they are already making brackets for the DS2 projectors I don't see why they couldn't offer ones for the H1 projectors. Does anyone know if the bolt patterns are similar? Still investigating an HID retrofit, but for know I'll stick with my modded H9 bulbs.
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Old 01-06-2012, 12:04 PM   #99
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They do offer the option of a H1 based retroquick.
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Old 02-27-2012, 01:24 PM   #100
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This may be a stupid question, but I am looking in to getting this kit for my 09 WRX and I was just curious, how does it work with your daytime running lights? Do they stay the same and only your high and low beams are HID?
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