Billet Grilles

Projector Headlights

Projector headlights? Angel eyes? Halos? Blue light? What do all these terms mean?

Let’s start with projector headlights. Projectors headlights originated in Germany about twenty years ago. It was technology taken from racing vehicles that were driven at night. Projector headlight technology started seeing the everyday roads on many upper-class vehicles such as the BMW and Mercedes Benz. These high-end auto manufacturers wanted to produce a headlight that would focus the light directly in front of the car instead of on the sides of the road and into the sky which standard OEM parabolic headlights do. This is called "scatter loss." It was important to have the maximum amount of light in front of the vehicle when traveling at speeds over 150 kilometers/hour. Shortly thereafter, Japan borrowed the projector headlight technology from Germany and used it on a few Lexus vehicles. Now, projector headlights are used on most new vehicles (foreign & domestic) built today including many trucks and SUV’s. Projector headlights are becoming more mainstream opposed to the previous parabolic headlights used in the 1980’s & 1990’s. Again, the purpose of the projector headlight is to focus 100% of the beam of light in front of the vehicle instead of the sides of the highway or in the trees or directly on the ground…in areas where lighting isn’t really necessary.

Projector headlights will take the place of your existing OEM headlights. BilletMyRide sells its projector headlights in complete sets (left & right side). And, the headlights come included with halogen bulbs and a wiring harness for a quick plug-n-play installation. You will be replacing the entire headlight assembly...not just the outer lenses. You will need to completely remove your OEM headlight housings in order to install the custom aftermarket projector headlights.

Many of the aftermarket projector headlights will not use the same OEM bulb that the vehicle they’re being installed on uses. For example, the 2002 Ford F150 uses a single 9007 halogen bulb from the factory; low & high beam. The aftermarket custom projector headlight uses an H3 low-beam bulb and a 9005 high-beam bulb. These bulbs are readily available from local auto parts stores if replacement is necessary. You may also purchase replacement bulbs from us. Just give us a call. Pleae note: there is no need to replace the entire housing if a bulb burns out. BilletMyRide also carries aftermarket xenon bulbs if you want to add a little color to your headlights. Or, if you really want to brighten up the road, HID kits are readily available.

Most custom projector headlights come in four flavors or colors. Two colors depend on the housing of the projector headlights. One housing color is chrome and the other color is black. Again, these colors are the housing itself and not the front lens. The front lens itself is a clear, top-quality plexiglass.

The other colors are specific to the individual projector lens. You can choose a clear projector or a blue (ion) projector. The clear projector is just that…a clear projector. The blue (ion) projector shows a purplish/blue tint during the day, but still produces a clear light at night. Many people like this effect, especially for show cars. As far as the quality of the light from each colored projector, there is little difference. But, the blue (ion) projector does give it a little spice. So, to add the four colors together…chrome housing/clear projector, chrome housing/blue projectors, black housing/clear projector, black housing/blue projector. The colors you choose are personal preference and completely up to the customer. Generally, the color of the car will determine the color of the headlights.

Most of the new generation of aftermarket projector headlights will now come with an amber side reflector. Back in May 2006, the DOT forced importers and distributors of projector headlights to ensure the headlights were DOT-compliant and street legal. But, give us a call. We may have a few non-amber headlights available.

Many of the aftermarket, custom projector headlights are one piece. That means, the OEM headlight and side (blinker) lenses will both be replaced by one projector headlight unit. Many custom aftermarket Honda projector headlights are a one-piece design and will take the place of the two piece headlight and side lens. NICE! And, there are quite a large number of replacement custom aftermarket projector headlights available for vehicles with OEM parabolic headlights. Check out or line of projector headlights to find the one that will fit on your vehicle!

Angel eyes? What’s an angel eye? The term angel eye again came from the BMW line of cars. Many of the modern BMW vehicles have an LED ring that circles the low and high beam lights. These LED rings are separate from the headlights themselves and really don’t provide much as far as lighting the road. However, they do look pretty sweet. Many of the custom aftermarket projector headlights come with either one or two angel eyes…depending on the size of the lens. Likewise, the term halo is referring to the same LED ring. Many aftermarket projector headlights come with dual halos (or angel eyes) depending on the size of the lens. These halos or angel eyes will require wiring to an alternate power source. Check out our installation of a set of 2002-2005 Ram projector headlights for our description of a projector headlight installation and halo wiring.

What’s that blue light I see on many BMW and Mercedes Benz vehicles these days? Is that a projector headlight? Well, the answer to that is no. Many of the late-model Benz & BMW cars and SUV’s do have projector headlights. However, the blue light you see is from an H.I.D. lighting system. H.I.D. is High Intensity Discharge and requires a different type of bulb, ignited by a ballast. These H.I.D. bulbs burn much brighter than a stock halogen bulb, cooler than a halogen bulb and requires much less energy to light. Instead of a filament producing the light, an H.I.D. bulb produces light by creating an arc that is generated between two electrodes. The effects are truly remarkable…three times higher luminance that closely resembles natural daylight. So, the quantity of light is far greater while consuming half the energy of stock halogen bulbs. BilletMyRide sells an aftermarket H.I.D. kit for many applications.

Many customers ask if they can use an H.I.D. kit with their projectors. The answer is yes, you can! However, purchase the projector headlights first, then purchase the H.I.D. kit afterwards. Or, purchase them together from us and we’ll make sure you get the correct H.I.D. kit for your aftermarket projector headlights. Do note, many projector headlights do not have the depth required by H.I.D. bulbs. Call us if you're not sure about this. We will verify your H.I.D. kit will work with the projector headlights you purchase from us.

Installation - what is required for installation? This is a very common question we receive. Some headlights are quite simple to install and some require removing the front end of your vehicle. For example, the GMC Sierra headlights are simple to remove and replace. However, the 2005+ Ford Mustang and the 2003-2007 Accord requires the front end of each vehicle be removed. It may take some work to install these projector headlights, but they're well worth the work.

H.I.D. Kits