I'm just curious what the difference between headlights for halogen vs headlights for HID model Prii. I have a 2004 Prius outfitted with stock HID headlights. Looking at some of these, but I don't think that they will fit? I'm really confused. Is it the headlight assembly it'self that won't fit due to the mounts on the headlight, or is the difference between halogen and HID headlights just the bulb? Thanks guys!
Yes you can swap the entire headlight assembly, it will fit. The body panels are mounting holes (3 of them) would be the limiting factors and they are all the same. Your ballasts will most likely no longer be able to be mounted under the assembly, but there is plenty of room to mount them elsewhere. But you will also need new bulbs on different bases to fit those projectors, your reflector HID bulbs with D2R or D4R bases will not fit.
The reflector bowls themselves are also different.. Which is why you will get less glare using an HID headlight versus the halogen headlight because the reflectors in the halogen are not made for HID bulbs. The physical shape of the headlight is identical.. Most aftermarket halogen headlights also do have an area on the bottom of the headlight to mount the ballast. Bottom line is that it will work but it will have more glare for oncoming traffic than an HID headlight.
Oh, I just understood what you meant. Are there ways to add that sharp cutoff that I've seen in other people's headlights?
Retrofitting projectors into the housing is the only way to get a clean cut off where there is no glare...HID or Halogen housing. Here is a bad example but an example of the difference in the two bowls just for kicks. You can see the right "HID" housing has additional reflectors to help minimize the glare, but it still has more glare than retrofits but definitely better than HID bulbs in a halogen housing. View attachment 112052
So you would say to retrofit my current headlights instead of putting money towards another headlight housing? The problem with mine (if you could call it one) is that my headlights don't have the middle strip of leds. I would love to have that stop as a DRL, but that means buying headlights that actually have it.
The 04-05 headlights are a slightly different setup than the 2006-09. If you are looking to retrofit real LEDs into that oem faux led area, newer model headlights would probably be best. A retrofit into either would still be needed for that clean headlight cutoff line.
