I asked around for Philips & Osram but unfortunately, neither of them was available in the market.

BHPian ramnaresh_2000 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Initially, my night driving was very limited. Never had any reason to upgrade the headlights. These days my night driving on highways has increased and hence I had to upgrade the headlights. We all know how poor the headlight throw of pre-facelift Compass is. The warranty also ended, so went ahead with HIDs.

Visited Car Sonics shop located at Minister Road, Hyderabad. Watched a lot of their YouTube videos and decided to check them out. As it was Saturday, they had a crazy amount of vehicles. The overall experience was underwhelming.

As soon as I reached the location, I was approached by a person who asked me about my requirements. He gave a quotation of just 1 model i.e. Aozoom HIDs. As it was an unknown brand, I asked for Phillips or Osram. He said that they are not in stock anywhere in Hyderabad. I had also asked in a few other shops and got the same response a few days back.

They were pretty busy as it was Saturday, and almost 10 vehicles were undergoing work. Went ahead with installation with zero bargaining. He claimed this is the best price in Hyderabad. The installation was done in a shabby way. One headlight got scratches which really pissed me off, and I gave the installer a piece of my mind, so he was careful on the other headlight.

They gave me a bill (which didn't have GST or stamp on it) and a warranty card was given with a stamp and signature. I wanted to pay with Credit Card, but they insisted on GPay or cash. I decided not to pay via GPay and insisted on Credit Card payment only. No extra charges on card payments, which is good.

Let the pictures do the talking.

Installation started, he tried installing directly but failed. He then removed the clips and then removed headlights.

HIDs. The quality was good at first glance.

Ballast, sold separately.

HID installed inside the headlight

Scratches on the left headlight

Testing at night. I was unable to find a street without streetlights. Headlights off.

Headlights turned on and booting up.

After 2 seconds, HIDs come into action in full glory

• Brand: Aozoom
• Warranty: 2 years replacement
• Cost: 14,500 with installation

LED for fog lamps is recommended, but they gave an exorbitant quotation of 9k to 12k based on the brand. I politely declined, and then they said let's install cheaper quality ones for 6k. Refused again firmly this time.

Overall, happy with the throw. I kept an eye on battery voltage for 30 minutes and did not notice any drop. Need to test on highways at night. I would give the final verdict after a few highway drives. As of now, apart from scratches, happy with the overall performance.

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I discussed with Pratham and opted for IPH LED fog projectors. Advantages are easy to install, VFM pricing, lower operating temperature, and consistent output. Drawbacks are high beam won't be as good as HID and full projector has to be replaced if anything goes bad. It's a fully built LED projector

BHPian Dr.Naren recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I was using HID projectors from Xenon Planet since last 5 years. They called it Mini Super V2 which was a decent projector. I had faced couple of issues with the setup and had to visit the installer multiple times to rectify. Not going into details, it's all documented in my Baleno ownership thread.

I had driven to Mumbai for some work and also got an opportunity to meet couple of S-Cross 1.6 owners. Few of them were running HID projectors which were installed by fellow S-Cross 1.6 owner named Pratham. He is into retrofits since the last 2 years and his work has received good feedback.

XP projectors in my Baleno had good brightness for first 2 years and it gradually decreased. After 5 years it was pathetic. Reason ? Read on...

I discussed with Pratham and opted for IPH LED fog projectors. Advantages are easy to install, VFM pricing, lower operating temperature, and consistent output. Drawbacks are high beam won't be as good as HID and full projector has to be replaced if anything goes bad. It's a fully built LED projector.

Few pics:

Pre installation check:

Low beam:

High beam:

The setup is not plug and play as the OE fog connector wouldn't fit into this fog projector. It should be possible to make it fully plug and play by sourcing suitable connectors. I am not exactly sure what was done, but the installer did tell me that the OE connector is retained and I can plug it with OE fog lamps if required (reversible). The high beam wire of the fog projector was tapped into the headlight coupler. We had not planned this installation in advance, it was a sudden plan. If not, they could have sourced the suitable connectors for the Baleno. I am very bad with wiring and electricals, sorry if I am wrong.

Fog projectors were easy and flush fit in the Baleno. It hardly took 30 minutes for the installation:

Output:

This is the low beam of fog projectors. Headlights aren't on. Cut off is good and it won't glare or blind the oncoming traffic.

I was impressed with the product. Output was also good. But the story doesn't end here.

Continue reading on Dr.Naren's Maruti Baleno lights upgrade for BHPian comments, insights and more information.