I was at the dealer and got a rental from them, it was the '12 tl and I notice that when the head lights were on and shinned on a wall it made a crisp edge. With mine, 04 tl, the light beam is not as concentrated and just brightens up everything instead of being concentrated. It is hard to explain please let me know if you guys dont know what I am talking about but I am asking if there is a way to have the headlights on my '04 tl do this or do i need a certain bulb etc...

 

I believe that's why everyone upgrades their projector lenses to the KZW or whatever...

 

Do you know how much that costs and is there a DIY for it?

 

Here are some pictures, but it's not a DIY:

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-photograph-gallery-96/my-zkwr-install-772638/

 

I mean does this REALLY make a difference? I looked over that DIY and I really cant tell in the photos if there is a major difference.

 

I'd say if you are already taking apart your headlights for black housing or angel eyes, sure, maybe. But I wouldn't go through all that trouble just for this. This was one mod I passed on when I did my lights because the margin gained didn't seem worth it to me. But we def have some lighting freak on this board so more power to them...

 

come on guys, you guys just dont know how to appreciate the zkw lenses. i have the zkw-r from TRS and i love them. only $40 shipped and i did the labor myself. my cutoff is so crisp i will take on ANY stock 4G TL you bring at me and i guarantee my cutoff will be sharper and better than it. from what i've read, the 4g tl was a big downgrade in terms of projectors from the 3g.

 

^For the average man, what does a cleaner cutoff give him? Not much. At least not enough to warrant baking your headlights just for that purpose. My 2 cents...

 

you forget this forum isn't exactly the spot for "average men". mostly auto-obsessed men

 

There are some big lighting freaks out there. I'm not one of them, but I did open my lights just for this mod. I even did it to my wife's Subaru (retrofitted with Lexus projectors) because the light output on the ground had a notable increase.

As far as the cut off goes, there is no real gain. It looks way better from the cockpit. That sharp line bouncing around as you drive looks amazing to me. However, I think it is not a benefit to oncoming traffic. Without the stock "blurry" cutoff, oncoming cars are either below or above the cutoff. This usually results in more high beam flashes from oncoming traffic because they think you are flashing them (when really you just hit a bump). This has reduced over the years now that most halogen lights (even the reflector type) have cut off beans too, this effect is widespread. Not to mention the blue HIDs mounted in non HID housings causing a constant blue blinding. I think drivers are getting used to blinding lights from all cars.

Here are TRS's pics of before and after:

 

Does anyone sell TL headlights already retrofitted at a decent price?

 

JNC:

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-2004-2008-93/custom-headlights-jnc-part-iii-796033/

 

OK I see the Cutoff lines and yea they remind me of my old Bimmer. I bought a new pair of glass headlights with projectors and It did have this type of cutoff where when ur driving your lights kind of bounce around. But are the Replica Lenses just as good as the Real more expensive version? I was looking over JnCs Headlights and he mentioned he has replicas in stock because the real version are to expensive.

 

Authentic ZKW lenses require lens spacing to get sharpest cut off possible, where as the ZKW-R lenses requires lens spacing and or shield tweaking. There have been two or three variations of ZKW-R lenses over the years, some would get you a sharp cut off without any modification where as some require spacing etc to obtain the sharpest cut off.

When I do the lens swap I completely disassemble the projectors, wash everything, as the bowls usually have a cloudy residue on them due to years of usage, and then do all the necessary adjustments to obtain the desired cut off.

Real ZKWs can be had for $100 or so these days but they are tough to find, I havent seen a set for sale on ebay in a while.

Here is a video of my personal set up using OE ZKW lenses, ZKW-Rs would give you similar results as well, video show cut off sharpness and intensity with 85122+ bulbs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBjA6..._order&list=UL

 

JnC I might have to get at you to do my headlights soon. I just want to keep looking over the difference setups you have performed and see which one i like the most. Ill PM you when im ready. This way you could drop them Lenses in mines as well. Also thanks for the explanation