Hello friends! I am writing to have some guidance regarding the headlights of my Acura.

Well, I bought my RL 05 a year ago, I've been in love with it, it's Super Fast... Too Fast, Comfortable, I love it so much and in my opinion I feel that it has nothing to envy to a Mercedes Benz.

anyway! Everything is fine with the car except for one detail: THE HEADLIGHTS.

Well, it turns out that the low beams have very little light output, it is hardly noticeable and it is a fucking problem when driving at night on dark roads and in the city, however the high beams are excellent and illuminate wonderfully.

In order to correct the problem a little, what I have done is drive with the Low Beams, High Beams and fog lights all on and so far everything is calm, but the problem is that the high beams bother other drivers. And unfortunately I don't like driving with the high beams always active. That's why I want to just use the Low Beams, but the problem is that you can't see shit with them.

Note: I have HID in Low beams, Highbeams and Fog lights, all at 5000k 55w

I already asked some people and they told me to simply buy other headlights, but the problem is that I don't want to pay more than $500 for new headlights when the problem is only in the Low Beams, besides that those new headlights don't exist, I will only find them used and used they will not give me the security that the light looks like new.

With this present problem, I have been looking for different solutions and after so much searching I have some:

For a start! Yes or yes I will have to open the headlight, since I plan to install Angel Eyes on the headlights anyway.

1. When I open the headlight I want to see the Low Beams projector and disassemble it and see the chrome interior to see if they are burned or discolored, if they are in those conditions, I think that is where the problem would be, so I have an idea for that : and it is to see who in my country can do vacuum chrome plating and try to recondition them and, incidentally, buy a set of HIGH-PERFORMANCE CLEAR LENS UPGRADE 2.5 in: TSX-R and install them.

And in case the chrome of the projector is not burnt or discolored, then I would only change the Lenses

2. The other idea was to change the Low Beams projectors, after searching so much I fell in love with the Morimoto D2S 5.0 (First image), since I liked the light cut it has and the wide lighting it can give and more with my HID 5000k 55w . But it turns out that there is a problem and that is that after seeing photos on the internet of the support of the low beams with AFS and high Beams of the Acura RL 05 (Second image), I noticed that the original projectors have a tip metallic that is inserted into the AFS and that allows it to rotate. Apart from that I think that the morimotos are bigger and that I won't be able to use the AFS with them.

(First imagen):




(Second imagen):






Although looking for ideas it occurred to me to create a metal base with a metal tip just like the original one to be able to adapt the morimoto and be able to use the AFS, but so far I'm not very sure (if someone has already done this adaptation before, can you tell me if does everything work fine?).

3. I already mentioned in #2 that I was thinking of changing the low Beams projectors, but I wasn't sure with the Morimotos, in case I didn't choose Morimoto, I'm thinking of taking the original projectors and removing the part back: Internal reflector, light cut output sheet and adapt one of another projector that can be almost similar and create a base metallic to join the new back part: internal reflector and light cut output sheet, with the original front part: Lens and AFS.

4. And the one that I really don't like at all, is to buy other fucking headlights, but I suppose that if I decide this one I will have to fight for a good price and it will show me with photos and videos, the cutting and the output of the light to see if they meet my expectations.

Those are all my Options.

In case I decide on #3, do you know which projector I can use for this job? I'm looking for something that gives me this light output:

 

A lot of dangerous misconceptions here.

Your RL's headlight design works wonderfully exactly as-is, IF it's in OEM condition. Do NOT NOT NOT start plugging brighter-than-stock bulbs into it willy-nilly. You will only waste money and risk blinding other motortists by violating the design criteria of the lighting system.

This guy has a lot of (pardon the pun) illuminating advice, which you'll find at this link, his own website and elsewhere. I urge you to read him.
https://jalopnik.com/why-most-led-he...-ex-1843070472

Questions and suggestions:
•You don't show the plastic covers of your headlight enclosures. Are they clouded? Most RLs are at this age, and if not repaired, absolutely degrade lighting performance and throwing distance no matter what's mounted behind them.

•This car's headlights are not a lifetime design. They gradually dim over their life, and they eventually need replacement. New OEM-spec headlights will be far brighter than old OEM ones.

•Don't buy from the giant online merchant; they do nothing to police counterfeit Chinese knockoffs, including those packaged in the genuine bulb brand's own box. Buy from an Acura dealer's site or from Rock Auto.

•When you replace the bulbs, also replace the ballasts; they wear out too.

Hope this helps you. Now go out there and don't blind and kill people.

 

Would like to add that the RL has adaptive headlights so take that into consideration before replacing projectors. Also if you find the output low then start by putting Osram cbi d2s and then aim the lights a little higher based on allowed legal limit in your region.

 

Good advice about the adaptive headlights feature. Hate to be a scold, but beyond that, I'd say the same things to you as to OP. Replacing the carefully engineered and excellent OEM headlight design on this car with brighter lights AND higher aim is a recipe for a train wreck. Or more literally, a blinded oncoming driver and an ensuing car wreck.

 

like i said follow your local ministry standard for maximum legal height of headlights and you should be fine, that is the reason mkat manufacturers have height adjustment option. Many here have done this without issues, also i have seen much more blinding headlights from factory in recent years specially the reflector style led headlights. Also switching out factory d2s to osram cbi is the best upgrade you can do to factory headlights, as many here has done that. That is all i would recommend as far as "modifications" are concerned. At the end of the day noone cannot stop people, they will do whatever they please.

 

This is incorrect - the low beam HID lights on the RL are very good - something is wrong with yours. They should be extremely bright if they're working properly.

Have you tried replacing the bulbs and/or the ballast drivers ?

 

Thank you all for the comments.

After reading and seeing each of the comments here and taken into account. My result is that now: my 4 options would be reduced to only 1 option.

"change headlights"

It really wasn't something that I was very excited about at first, but after thinking about it, it really makes me a little lazy to have to adapt another projector such as the Morimoto to my RL. Therefore, I would rule out options #2 and #3.

In addition, after reading several comments and doing an exhaustive search on the internet, I realized something good and that is that the original RL projectors are too good as many say, to such an extent that their lighting is as good as a more modern car and like the other Morimoto projectors.

Here an example:



Here a photo:



These are the original Acura RL 05 06 07 Projectors but with crystal clear lenses like the: TSX-R.

I am seriously impressed by the amount of light in fact. It has a good cutoff and great light output.

You can't even tell the difference with the Morimoto d2s 5.0:


They are practically almost the same, if they are really the original Projectors of the RL, I suppose that the money for some new headlights would be worth it if that is the result.

But first I'm going to make sure that my old headlights have salvation, i'm going to open the headlights and check the internal reflector of the projectors. if the reflector is burnt or discolored then yes i would buy other headlights, but if they are not then i would just buy the TSX-R lens and install it, i guess that would solve the problem.

And if I end up buying other headlights, I guess I'll have to buy them on ebay, since Rockauto doesn't have the headlights available and if they did, I don't even want to imagine the price. If I get them I would put a TSX-R lens on them and that's it.

I will also take the opportunity to put some Angel eyes.

 

Try 4300K lamps - 5000K is too blue for the human eye.

I've made the same mistake...

 

Another thing about extremely blue lights: The human eye sees bluish light as "brighter" than the red spectrum, with the result that it causes more night blindness -- exactly what doesn't make you safer. This is allegedly the reason BMW has always used orange gauge lighting, starting back when they really were Driving Machines.

 

Realize I'm gonna sound like an @$$hole here, but why not buy aftermarket housings and throw in Sylvania LEDs? Yeah, they're a bit bright but they also clean up the look of the car...did this for both my S10 and F150, and the only reason I haven't done so for my Acura is because I don't know yet about the fact that the lights turn with steering on the stock version. Not sure it's even necessary with the LEDs to be honest.

They charge too much to clean up faded housings and if they're crazed you aren't going to get them clean. Someone clear coated mine and it's cracked up like crazy.

Picture of my 98 F150 with the LEDs and aftermarket housings...they fill up more of the road, and take up 1/5th of the power of the stock halogens...those are Sylvania, which come with a six year warranty.

Get a warranty or you'll get screwed...china is full of cheap led manufacturers and disreputable companies. The fogs on the truck are Walmart cheapie cube LEDs...

 

I'm going to help with this thread:


OP is in the DR, sharing a car with his mom, and wants it to look cool.

I am curious how dark the tint is, which partnered with some tired HID bulbs is probably why he cant see.

A sensible person would polish the headlights and put new HIDs in like I just did to mine, a person in DR will throw a light bar on the car.

All that said, good luck making a complete disaster of those headlights my man and post a picture of the car so we can see what you are working with.

Oh and holler at my boy Papo if you ever head to playa

https://www.tiptopcatamaran.com/

 

Since we are being a$$holes here, nice job blinding everyone with that clapped out F150... even in that useless pic of the light output we get to experience the cascade of light that oncoming cars see thanks to putting LEDs in a halogen housing.

What an absolute useful comparison to the HID lowbeams in an RL.

 

hehehe forgive him

although... the truth must be admitted that using LED in a halogen headlight is a big mistake, since I saw the photo I could feel the blindness of the imaginary glare, if that f150 comes from the opposite direction while I'm driving, I could have an accident.

 

I completely agree, I've really started to hate those fucking light bars.

As I mentioned before, I have decided to change the headlights, but before I will disassemble the headlight, just to make sure that the internal reflector of the projector is not discolored or burned, in case it is not, then I would simply buy some TSX-R Lens, would polish the headlights and use liquid polymer vapor. But if in the end they are burned then I change the headlights.

here a photo of the RL:

 

Great looking car my man, I am telling you its the windshield tint thats messing you up.

I dont think you are going to solve it with any light solution, but I am 100% here for the journey.

A good way to measure how much light you have and the "spread" is to park it in front of a white wall or a garage door at night and take a picture of the light on the wall.
You can google this for examples. https://www.google.com/search?q=HID+...hrome&ie=UTF-8

That will help you baseline what you have and after each upgrade you can go to the same spot for a picture and compare

 

Black-painted windscreen and acrylic cataracts, c/w rice bulbs.

Less rice, more meat.

.

 

Hard to tell from the photo, but do your headlights have frosting on the plastic cover ? UV light from the sun slowly yellows and fogs the clear plastic over time. I've had great results with this kit - - have a read of the reviews for some awesome before and after photos !

 

Not trying to be rude but, that photo is a terrible light pattern - you're just making life really uncomfortable for everyone else on the road

Unfortunately for old-school reflector headlights like those, there's simply nothing you can do to make them "good" without hurting everyone else. Projector headlights are the only way you can seriously increase light output on an older car without causing massive glare.

 

man, I would recommend that you better not use LEDs with those headlights that are made for halogen bulbs, since apart from annoying other drivers, the LED bulbs in those headlights do not have a good distance range, so you would not be taking advantage of all the illumination of the light bulb. If you want you can look for comparative videos on YouTube and you will realize.

The lowest you can put on headlights like that is HID 4300K. But if you want, you can retrofit those headlights and install Morimotos 5.0 DS2 projectors or ones that can be well adapted to the input of your headlight bulb. In case your bulb is H4 type, you can look for some on ebay or anywhere. But I will tell you that the result would be Wonderful, The LED Bulb would be better used or you can also install HID, you would have a Clear cuttoff line and best of all you will not bother other drivers.

here is an example:

 

Indeed.

The only problem I had with my Prelude was that the projector headlights lost the levelling-function that comes on Euro-spec cars. So if the boot were fully-loaded, I'd dazzle people in the slow lane. Otherwise, almost OEM standard.

Since the RL already has projectors with motors, maintain them correctly, don't ditch them.