1996 Q-45 exterior lighting upgrade.

[King Charles]

I want to do HID's for the headlights & driving/fog lights & LED's on the rear & side mirror turn signals. My question is what's the best & cost efficient because I have heard horror stories about melted sockets etc. Just got my Q saturday looking to get it right.

[elwesso]

HID's don't work so well in enclosures that were originally designed for standard filament bulbs.. You can do it, but it won't really gain you a ton. The "headlight inoperative" message will also plague you unless you're crafty and trick the system. I have silverstar ultra's in my car, and I think the headlights on the 1st gen Q are fantastic, so I've not been compelled to change anything!

Also LED's in turn signals will not work properly, they will blink fast like a bulb is out. I've also heard that the performance isn't as good because of the way the enclosures are designed.. An LED only outputs light as a direct beam, where a filament bulb is basically omni-directional.

I'm not shooting you down, but just know it's not going to be a "plug and go" situation.

[King Charles]

I'm talking about the signal lights on the side view mirrors like below.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2pcs-Red-14-SMD ... 3d&vxp=mtr