featurecar50

I am interested in purchasing a 2011 or 2012 Mustang GT Convertible. Most of the ones that I am finding have the HID headlights. I like the looks of the old school round lights better than the HIDs. Is it a simple install to switch them out ? Any modifications ?

Thanks in advance

David Young

I'm sure you could find someone who would trade with you. I paid $525 extra for my HID headlights on my 2011.

CCTking

Ill trade you for a direct swap lol

FromZto5

most folks go the OTHER way, and upgrade their halogens to HID's. You want to go the other way?

....

I guess it could be done. Not sure on the harness/etc. and not sure if many folks have gone that way.

Earlsays

Drive around with HID - you won't want halogen after that.

Coyote5-0

featurecar50

Thanks for all of the replies. I understand that the HIDs are a better light in many ways. But I want the old school look. Is this a simple swap out ? Has anybody done this ?

Thanks

dave07

I would check out raxioms headlights. You can at least download the installation instructions and see how bad the install would be. I'm not sure about wiring thought. That's probably going to be the difficult part.

bones302

the connectors between halogen and HIDs are different and the wiring is different. You can do it, but you need to do your research and be comfortable with modifying electrical wiring. Drive or ride in a mustang with halogens ad you will likely not want them, though.

HizliBullet

im trying my head around why you would want to downgrade to candle light bulbs

CCTking

Could always swap everything out and then throw LED bulbs that latemodelrrstoration sells. 100 bucks for the bulbs and ballast as well as correct wiring.
Id have that done uesterday but i wanna get projector housings first

berzerk_1980

I totally get why the OP thinks the halogens look better. Moving the round part of the light to the inside kind of ruins the retro look. When they were optional and I was shopping I seriously considered not upgrading because of the look.

That being said, if you're going to drive it at night it seems crazy not to get the HIDs, at least in a practical sense.

det97

Please don't buy aftermarket halogen headlights. I did and it didn't work out well. The Ford ones were fixed with no adjustments.

CCTking

What do you mean by that last part?

Coyote5-0

wow, I have to agree, it does look pretty bad on the 10-12's for some reason.

FromZto5

Sorry man. I disagree. The 11-12 HIDs looks amazing It's like arguing Black is better Red!!! It's called opinion, no one's right and no one's wrong.

Except mine is right

Coyote5-0

Well I think maybe it was the grille on that black one that didn't help. I'm not a fan of those grilles in the first place.

Reminisce

You could always get the Halogen housing and then get the HID BULBS to fit the housing. If you do this, get the bulbs capped from a quality vendor like retro-solutions. Thats what I did for mine, I really like the large lenses of the 10-12 Headlight and foglights, and so I purchased an HID kit for the headlights with capped bulbs.

This would be the easiest and most logical route. So take your lenses and replace them with the Halogen lenses. Then get the HID bulbs that fit the halogen lenses since you already have HID ballasts.

WhiteBird00

That's a tremendous idea if you're one of those people who don't mind blinding other drivers. You can believe that internet myth that a capped bulb makes it okay to use an HID capsule in place of a halogen bulb in a reflector housing if you want but it's not true. The end cap doesn't have any effect on the light pattern, it just cuts down on the amount of light projected straight forward.

The headlight reflector has multiple facets that are designed to project a controlled light pattern based on the light source (the filament) of the halogen bulb being in a very specific position relative to the reflector surfaces. The problem with HID capsules in a halogen reflector is that the light source (the arc) is positioned incorrectly, is curved (because its own heat makes it rise in the middle) and is aligned along the axis of the capsule. The filament of a halogen bulb is straight and perpendicular to the bulb axis. The difference causes light scatter and glare regardless of whether the HID capsule has a cap or not. It's easy to see... just point the car towards a vertical flat surface like a garage door and look at the light pattern. It should be cut off horizontally without hot spots above or outside of the main pattern. With HID capsules you will see spikes of light angling upward at an angle as well as light scatter well above the main light pattern, like this:

VIP1

Doesn't matter if "capped" or not. HID kit in a Halogen Reflector designed for a dual filament bulb will glare and will be annoying to other drivers. You may disagree, that is your choice, but it doesn't change physics.

HID Kit in a dual-filament Halogen housing is even worse than a single-filament housing since it is even less likely that the HID arc will be even close to the correct position (in addition to the HID Arc being a different shape than a Halogen Filament, etc).

To clarify, dual filament vs single-filament refers to the filaments in the Halogen bulb (wire coil that lights up). Dual-Filament, one bulb with two filaments in it to provide high and low. Single filament is low only (or high only - either way, only one).

Don't confuse that with a bi-xenon or bi-halogen projector. Those still only have one-arc (HID) or one-filament (Halogen). A shield inside the projector drops out of the way to allow more light higher through the lens for high beam function.

Don't bother with any of the current drop-in LED replacements either. They are just as bad or worse (depending on design) regardless of the marketing. There are a couple prototypes out there that show some promise, but nothing currently on the market is satisfactory.