About Us

Since the introduction of High Intensity Discharge headlamps to the automotive marketplace in 1991, only a handful of high-end auto manufactures have embraced the technology due to higher OEM (Original Equipment Manufactured) costs compared to conventional halogen headlamps. Consumers commonly find HID headlamps only on expensive cars such as BMWs and Mercedes, which is truly a shame because of the advantages they offer over halogen lights. Not only do xenon headlamps help to appease our ever-growing energy concern with their high efficiency and longer life, but the technology also offers a brighter, wider, and more uniformly lit beam. This lends to an overall increase in safety and comfort while driving at night.

Like any automotive enthusiast, the owner of TRS, Matt found it hard to resist personalizing his own vehicle. After performing various performance enhancing modifications, he decided it was time to upgrade the standard headlights. Unfortunately, there was no factory option for HID lighting, nor were there any companies who produced unique-looking aftermarket assemblies for his particular application. Dissatisfied, Matt started researching alternatives to upgrade his headlights.

Searching the net, Matt came across a small forum with relatively few members known simply as "HIDforum.com." There were just a few people there who really had a grasp on what headlight retrofitting was all about, one of those members being the current owner of the HIDP forums. Eventually he gathered enough information to courageously crack open and retrofit the headlights on his own car. Once completed, he said "my hand-built headlights looked and performed identically to those on the expensive car that the parts originally came from, bringing the advantages of modern HID lighting technology to my not so high-end Dodge."

Years ago, there were no formal sources for retrofitting components. You would have to get a damaged headlight off of eBay or from a local salvage yard, extract all the parts from it yourself, and design and put together your own wire harness. There were no guarantees on the internal or working condition of these parts, and they were often either missing small crucial parts, or had so much extra wiring attached to their own harness that a NASA scientist would have a hard time figuring out where to start. If you wanted a clear lens swap or a set of bezels in pristine condition, well, forget about that- prices at the time were outrageous. At the time, if you wanted a set of OEM [plastic] projector bezels from a BMW E46; $200. A set of OEM ZKW clear lenses? That'll be another two hundred bucks. You haven't even purchased the core components for the retrofit yet. How about some Acura TL projectors? $300. Decent condition used OEM ballasts and Philips light bulbs: $200. This is no exaggeration, and you haven't even purchased a set of extra assembles, bought materials for your harness, or paid for the installation labor yet. Sky high prices made for a lucrative opportunity to commercialize the modification, but the real driver was to bringing retrofitting to the masses by a) significantly lowering prices, b) creating a single source for all required components, c) giving the learned knowledge back to other automotive enthusiasts. (Yes, if you're just starting to research a headlight retrofit project, we understand it can be confusing and that's why we're here to help)

And thus, The Retrofit Source was born in June of 2005. Originally specializing in unique and hard to find HID headlight retrofit components, we started out as a company who purchased and recycled slightly damaged headlight assemblies in bulk from salvage yards around the US. Every few weeks, a lot of fifty to one hundred used OEM headlight assemblies would be delivered on pallets, disassembled, the parts extracted, cleaned, tested and sold to be re-installed (retrofitted) into our customers headlights. Losing a major supplier and money on un-usable inventory, and irregular supply were all factors that proved it was time to consider an alternative source of supply at TRS. We would no longer continue to recycle used headlights, rather start selling a combination of new OEM components and our own aftermarket parts (that we outsourced the production of). It is estimated that during our few years recycling used OEM HID headlight housings, we disassembled around 5000 units. That would be about the equivalent of running an oven for one month straight.

With our first successful aftermarket introduction of the ZKW replica clear lens: we started to accomplish our mission. The price was cut in half compared to the OEM alternative, the performance was spot on, and the part was readily available. TRS moved forward to cooperating with our 3D designer, Sebastian and a plastic injection molding company overseas to produce our next successful aftermarket offering: the E46 replica bezel. Currently the price of this part is about 25% of what the OEM alternative (used to) cost, the chrome quality is better, and again, they're readily available. Our FX-R bi-xenon projector rocked the retrofitting world with its introduction, significant because it marked the first time a full retrofit kit could be composed entirely of aftermarket parts. To diversify our offerings, TRS also brings you new OEM parts from leading manufactures such as Matsushita Electric Works, Denso Corporation, and Philips Germany.

Over the years TRS, with the help of our customers, has been promoting the idea of HID headlight retrofitting with an enormously positive response. We featured articles in two popular automotive magazines: Eurotuner and Honda Tuning. The editors of the articles praised the results that they obtained with our help. As a result of the magazine articles and our other hard work, toward the end of the year we were urged to attend the annual Specialty Equipment Market Association show to hype the idea further. The SEMA show is not open to the public, only to those in the automotive industry.

Now celebrating the six year officially in business, it's hard to believe how much we've accomplished. The Retrofit Source Inc currently collaborates with several international suppliers, some of the most professional retrofitting shops here in the US, and has served thousands of individual customers worldwide including a prominent following in Canada, the UK and Australia. We have taken steps to introduce aftermarket alternatives to the most sought-after OEM headlight components, and will continue to do so in order to keep up with our client's dynamic wants and needs. The Retrofit Source offers the absolute best when it comes to HID headlight retrofitting. We will make every customer happy without exception to uphold the reputation that we've worked so hard to build. Our goal was, still is, and always will be to supply our clients with the most appropriate and highest performing parts for their application at the best price.

Whether you're just getting started by dealing with our excellent customer service or you're already comfortably cruising on that dark road at night, you'll be glad you dealt with The Retrofit Source.

The "TRS" crew has expanded, our crew consists of

• Matt: the owner, customer service
• Nate: customer service, buyer, inventory prep
• Sal: quality control, inventory inspection/prep
• Rob: Design
• Alex: Photography & web maintenance
• Sky: Programmer
• Susan: financing, budgeting
• Stacy: accounting
• Mike: optical engineer
• Sebastian: 3D designer

Some stats for 2009

• $4,715.18 worth of new packing materials from Uline
• Used 7.790 brand new Uline and boxes
• Used 5,200 feet of bubble wrap
• Used 480 Cubic Feet of new Packing Peanuts
• Used 7,920 feet of tape
• Individually helped 2994 customers retrofit their headlights or replace a burnt out OEM part.
• Received and answered approximately 22,080 emails

Have a fun look behind the scenes at The Retrofit Source. From the development of the numerous retrofitting specific products, to the procurement and preparation of brand new and used OEM equipment.

A collection of magazine articles using parts from The Retrofit Source to upgrade the headlights in featured vehicles. The write-ups provide "how to" information as well as pictures and comments on the functionality of our components.