Headlight options

[Matt1280]

What’s the options with swapping the headlights on my 06 250? 

Is it possible to fit some oem later model headlights with the drl’s, don’t really want to go after market. 

[scudney]

The wiring for those with drl's will be slightly different as you can use them as parking lights as well,otherwise shouldn't be too hard to fit,however getting hold of a pair/set might be more challenging and won't be cheap either,hoping this helps 🤔

[Matt1280]

33 minutes ago, scudney said:

The wiring for those with drl's will be slightly different as you can use them as parking lights as well,otherwise shouldn't be too hard to fit,however getting hold of a pair/set might be more challenging and won't be cheap either,hoping this helps 🤔

Thanks for the reply, I’ve seen some for £200 but wasn’t sure how easy it difficult it would be to fit them, is the wiring and plugs all the same? 

[normski2]

You need to read the write up made by Ahmed24. He did exactly this.

He also changed the front of his 2nd Gen IS 250 to a 3rd Gen IS 250.....remarkable bit of work. Then there is all his wrapping skills.

The guy is a legend.

https://is-250.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2019-04-09T19%3A32%3A00%2B01%3A00&max-results=6#PageNo=2

 

[Matt1280]

1 hour ago, normski2 said:

You need to read the write up made by Ahmed24. He did exactly this.

He also changed the front of his 2nd Gen IS 250 to a 3rd Gen IS 250.....remarkable bit of work. Then there is all his wrapping skills.

The guy is a legend.

https://is-250.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2019-04-09T19%3A32%3A00%2B01%3A00&max-results=6#PageNo=2

 

Thanks so much for that! I’ve been looking for something like this!!! I really wouldn’t mind doing the front end swap.

[Guest bigbullhead]

Thinking of getting this for my is250 2006

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232509222499

[scudney]

Really Matt,out of curiosity,where have you seen them for £200

[Matt1280]

27 minutes ago, scudney said:

Really Matt,out of curiosity,where have you seen them for £200

They’re from a breaker near me, I went in and just asked out of curiosity, thinking he’d want stupid money but only wanted £100 per light, he only wants £80 for the front bumper but I’m guessing that wouldn’t fit without a lot of work?

[scudney]

Are you getting the headlights then?what year car is the bumper and headlights off?

[ahmed24]

4 hours ago, normski2 said:

You need to read the write up made by Ahmed24. He did exactly this.

He also changed the front of his 2nd Gen IS 250 to a 3rd Gen IS 250.....remarkable bit of work. Then there is all his wrapping skills.

The guy is a legend.

https://is-250.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2019-04-09T19%3A32%3A00%2B01%3A00&max-results=6#PageNo=2

 

Thank you @normski2 for your kind words as always. I've done quite a few more recent mods that i will be posting about soon. I'm also very close to retrofitting the 3IS LFA Style F Sport instrument cluster on my 2006 IS.

@Matt1280 that guide of mine basically shows you how to wire the the OEM LED headlights to work exactly as it should from factory. It's a simple relay job. If you buy the OEM headlights, you need to make sure the extra piece of wiring loom that connects to the LED socket on the PCB comes with it otherwise it's not too expensive to buy I think. This is how I originally wired mine in 2013 and worked perfectly fine. But in October 2019 I completely changed the wiring because after installing my rear VLAND tail-lights I wanted the front LED and rear VLAND tail-lights to go on when you unlock or approach the car. More details about that here: https://is-250.blogspot.com/2020/01/vland-tail-lights-drl-activation-on.html But for your case the link posted by @normski2 will be just fine.  Oh and another thing, if I remember correctly, the black plastic bracket under the headlight has to be changed if you swap out the headlights. This is because the LED headlight wiring needs a little slot. You could probably get away with just cutting the oriignal black bracket and creating the groove required. I just swapped out the black plastic trim.

Another option that others may suggest is the VLAND front headlights. I personally love the VLAND rear tail-lights. But i'm not too sure about the front. Firslty, because they don't really have proper projector lens. Secondly, the light output is worse than OEM headlights. And thirdly because the VLAND headlights LED swoosh is only designed with one fixed constant current driver meaning it only powers up the LED at a fixed brightness. VLAND front lights do not dim which is technically an MOT failure. VLAND Headlights just require constant ignition switched power going to the LED. This means anyone wanting to be MOT compliant then has to install a relay to make sure the LED swoosh lights turn off when main lights are on. This kind of defeats the purpose of the nice looking headlights in my opionion. Hence why I stuck to OEM LED front lights and went with VLAND tail-lights

[ahmed24]

4 minutes ago, Matt1280 said:

he only wants £80 for the front bumper but I’m guessing that wouldn’t fit without a lot of work?

Bumper will fit, you will just need new black brackets under the headlight as mentioned in my previous post but that's mainly for the headlight. Ofcourse you will need the grille and everything to go with the bumper as the old grille and stuff will not transfer to facelift bumper

[Matt1280]

6 minutes ago, ahmed24 said:

Bumper will fit, you will just need new black brackets under the headlight as mentioned in my previous post but that's mainly for the headlight. Ofcourse you will need the grille and everything to go with the bumper as the old grille and stuff will not transfer to facelift bumper

Can you buy the black brackets or could I make some out of something? Is there anything else that would have to be swapped or made to fit? 

[Matt1280]

12 minutes ago, scudney said:

Are you getting the headlights then?what year car is the bumper and headlights off?

I think i’ll Get them, just not sure about all the wiring, I’m not bad at doing stuff myself but not done much electrical work. 

Theyre off a  2012

[ahmed24]

23 minutes ago, Matt1280 said:

Can you buy the black brackets or could I make some out of something? Is there anything else that would have to be swapped or made to fit? 

Yes you can buy it but if you are buying second hand headlights, try and get the breakers to throw them in. They are attached to under the headlights itself. Same with the small wire that connects to the LED connector on the PCB. the breaker should leave that on the headlights. See pic below, oh ignore the two connectors that i'm holding in the picture you wont get those with it. That's my own custom connector to allow me to make it plug and play Bascally I took the original connector and converted to a connector that I had available to make it plug and play with the relay.

 

£200 for a pair is a bargain. 

Regards the bumper, just make sure you have the upper grille, lower grille and fog lights etc because they are different.

I swapped to the 2012 F Sport bumper to at the same time when I did the headlight. Link here: https://is-250.blogspot.com/2013/08/vinyl-wrap-colour-change-and-2012-f.html But in 2015 I made my own 3IS front bumper.