I just finished installing ZKWr lenses and Philips 85122+ HID bulbs in my headlights. Right away the cut off is razor blade sharp. Even sharpers than TSXs. Its bright too, I used to have to run the fogs to fill in the dimness of my 5 year old Osrams. But now I can barely tell if I have the fogs on or off. One thing that sucks is I had a headlight replaced a couple years ago because of fogging. So one of my headlights is like ________/-------- and the other is _________l--------- I didn't notice it until I put in the ZKWr lenses. I had to re aim them because they are so freaking bright.

The color, is just what I wanted, Bright white.

Thank you JNC for your recommendation.

 

pics??

 

Nice I think I am gonna get some ZKWr lenses. I wish I could get those 85122+ bulbs but I want the 6000k color.

 

Nice..get some pics asap, a cutoff line would be sick.

 

Can you post pics? Did you leave the foreground limiter in the projector?

I just did the same exact mod, and I'm impressed! The only thing that irks me is the dead spot created by the foreground limiter, but they say that cutting it reduces intensity. I guess I'll get used to it!

 

Glade you like them as much as I love mine . The cut off difference means that one of your headlight had been replaced in the past since the step style cut off was only produced int 04 and some 05 headlights. All the replacement headlights for 04-05 models that were produced later had the slope style cut off.

I was afraid that you might not like the bulbs as they certainly are bright but are yellow as well compared to colorshifted old OEM bulbs.

 

The foreground limiter is not there to reduce output but is to refrain projectors to cause glare within the headlight. If you position your seat you can barely notice lack of output in front of the car at night.

Also, cutting it does reduce light intensity.

 

 

These are old pictures but it should give you an idea. One TL step cut off projector with real ZKW lens, the lens isnt spaced properly thats why you see the cut being a bit blurry.


Projector with the ZKW lens and use 85122+ bulb



Stock projector with stock lens and used 85122+ bulb

 

Holy moly that's crazy!
You can see the beam cut-off when it's not against a wall!

 

I posted the following pictures in another thread as well, they are from a fellow member on HIDplanet. TL projectors have the foreground limiter removed, I am trying to show how the output looks when the lenses are properly spaced. Very very slight hint of color at the cut off, just enough though for intense flicker effect.

 

^^^damn those ones look bright as heck

 

Yeah I never noticed the step vs slope until I put in these lenses. Its much more pronounced.

As far as the color. I wanted a nice bright white beam on the ground than the blue that blends in with a dark road.

The 85122 doesn't not have the intensity like the 85122+ does.

 

Just to give you an idea on how bright they are I pulled behind a Lincoln MKS with factory HIDs, my headlight were much brighter it ended up causing a shadow of their car right in front of them.

 

^^DAYM that is RIDICULOUS cut-off!!

 

Wow..that IS bright. It's like you have the high beams on all the time.

 

Damn I really wish I had JNC pop in a set of ZKWr lenses for me now so I could get a set of these bulbs to try out.

 

So if one was to be running 6000K or higher bubs, would the zkw be worth while in term of cuttoff or would it have a diminished effect?

 

Not sure how "worth it" it would be, but I figure every little bit helps. Especially when running 6000k you are sacrificing brightness for color. It will definately have a diminished effect, you are talking about 2400 lumens for the 6000k Philips Ultinons versus 3400 lumens on those 4300k 85122+ bulbs.

 

Quick Pics. Also note that these pics don't do the headlights justice.


Streets were a little wet.

 

^^ Looks good, you need to raise the driver side a bit

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Went out to take pictures and had a bulb burn out. Thats what I get, they were used bulbs.

I'm trying to contact The Retrofit source.com and see if I can drive up there and pick up 2 new 85122+ tomorrow.

 

That sucks, if I were you I'd return them both to get a full refund and buy a pair of brand new 85122+ bulbs for $80 through ebay.

There are a few reasons why you dont want used bulbs.

1. A pair of used bulbs almost always have different hours on each bulb.
2. Although 85122+ dont colorshift but over time the color does tend to whiten just a little bit so its best to buy new bulbs and put equal number of hours on both bulbs.
3. Different bulbs to make a pair means that both bulbs came from different production batches.
4. Your experience itself, notice how only one bulb blew. I dont know the exact cause but first thing that comes to mind is the different number of hours on each bulb.
5. If you like the used 85122+ then wait till you buy and use a brand new pair .
6. Used bulbs almost always come from damaged headlights, headlights have been in accident i.e. had damage to them, now this damage could be water etc as well and if you know HID bulbs you should also know that how bulbs and moisture/water dont go together.

BTW I'll also update this thread to show how to differentiate between used and new bulbs as many ebay sellers try to scam people by telling them that they are buying new unused bulbs but in truth they are buying used bulbs.

 

I think my problem is more..I replaced the headlamp with my old osram and nothing happened. This sucks, could it be the ignitor or the control assembly?

 

this don't look right.....i know it's not aimed properly, but you have two different shields?

 

^ See post 6 above.

 

Oopss...i only read the first half of that post....

 

The the osram doesnt work either? You could have a bad ballast and/or ignitor. The ignitor usually doesnt go bad and it usually is the ballast.

To help you find a replacement, if you have an o4-05 TL then the ballast/ignitor from the following models is the same as the 04-05 ballast/ignitor

02-03 TL
04-05 TSX
04-05 Honda S2000

I think I saw someone selling a pair of 02-03 TL ballasts in the BST section a couple of days ago.

 

BTW I took a few pictures of mine as well . I couldnt, for the life of me, find a big white wall for decent output shot all over town yesterday, pictures were taken around dawn time that is why you see a lot of ambient light.

Each picture is followed by link to hi-res version
Low ISO to show color (the wall is 100+ yards away)


http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/8065/dscn0016ww4.jpg

ISO at 200 I believe to show intensity



http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/4640/dscn0017wp4.jpg

 

A couple of old ones

 

Hey JnC can you update the thread with how to differentiate between new and used Philips 85122+? Thinking about getting a new pair, but want to be sure they're new, not used.

 

I was about to say y is 1 light brighter then the other lol.

 

I dont have an old 85122+ with me so had to dig out a few old pictures to show the difference.

Usually the salt deposits are the same in new and old bulbs so you cant really tell by looking at that if a bulb is new or old. There however a very easy way to tell if a bulb is used or new.

Look at the picture below of a new bulb and notice the outer rim of the bulb, pointed out with the white arrow.

In case of a new bulb the rim is all of one color



In case of used bulbs the inner part of the lip is exposed to light when the bulb is in the projector, over time that inner part turns matte black.

In the following pictures you'll see two used 85122+ bulbs, the arrows point out the area that has turned from black to matte black.





Almost all used philips bulbs show this characteristics.

 

Amazed, you really know your stuff. I think I might try this out with the cdm headlights.

 

if i was to just by the bulbs and re-place them with my old pair will they still be that bright with out the zkwr lenses if not where can you get a pair of those lenses and how much??

 

Thanks for the info JnC. You truly are a HID encyclopedia.

 

I've always been wondering this. Does the stock fresnel lens have a thicker color band than the ZKW's? I've noticed from a distance that stock TL's have a nice "purpleish" color to them. I've had a pair of real ZKW lenses in my last TL retrofit but never got to see my lights from a distance. So what I'm asking is, will I have a nice blue/purple look from a distance like the stock? I'm debating if I should buy another set of ZKW's.

 

You can buy them from ebay, or www.theretrofitsource.com. They run about $60+ shipping I believe.

 

Jnc, from the different forum threads, people have stated that the 85122+ emit a "yellower" light, but from the picture above of your TL from the front, those lights look blueish white. Is that because of your headlight setup?

 

They are rated at 4250k from factory and unlike regular 85122 (not to be confused with 85122+) and Osram 66404 (stock TL D2S bulbs) the 85122+ dont colorshift.

Stock Osrams are almost the same color when they are new i.e. 4300k but after they colorshift the output diminishes in lumens and the color increases close to 5000k.

I personally love the color 85122+ since I can see way better at night compared to stock Osrams or any other HID bulb.

Color also depends on the projector that is being used.

Here is my quad projector set up that I use to have in my 02 TL-S, AP1 clear lensed S2ks as auxilary low beams along with 04 DOT Step TLs. S2ks are AP1 so they have clear lenses from factory where as the TLs are paired with real ZKWs.


Both projectors have new 85122+ bulbs, notice color difference

TL



S2k



TL



S2k



TL



S2k



TL



S2K