paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

Just have some questions for people with the zkw-r lens swap. i put the zkw-r lens on my TL and i really like the output, however the only thing is, when it gets past like 50 feet, the cutoff is pretty blurry. right around ~25 feet its sharp like a knife and color is great. Basically when I was pushing the cutoff shield back and forth, my wall was about 25 feet away so I did it so the cutoff is really good at 25 feet. should i have done it with a farther distance? or are the lenses just inherently like that?

nate_0022

iTrader: (2)

Some say 25' is good but I'd try for 100' just to be sure your cut off stays sharp wiTh longer Distances.

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

my only issue is that i dont have a place with 100' distance for me to do my lights. my backyard/garage area was perfect for 25' but 100' i will have to find somewhere else(which i cant do if my headlights are off the car)

however i do like the 25' sharpness for one reason. since 25' is still close enough for your eyes to see clearly, when i pull up to a wall to park, the cutoff looks amazing. however if the sharpness was only good at 100', people cant see clearly at that distance anyways.

nate_0022

iTrader: (2)

True, but the only thing I'd worry about is does the color loose it's intensity at the further distances? I like the bling factor of having a nice thick colorful cutoff for oncoming drivers to see, not just the color of my HID bulbs.

For example (not my car)


Are you taking the projector out of the holder or just leaving them inside the headlight when you do your testing?

JTS97Z28

iTrader: (4)

I have done a ZKW-R swap on two previous TL's of mine. A 07 base and a 07 Type S. I found that with the ZKW-R you actually have to fine tune them. With that I mean they have to be rotated and spaced!! Some people out there say you do not have to do this with the replicas but I am saying for 100% sure that I certainly did and I have experience with multiple sets on multiple cars. It took a lot of time to get perfect but what you have to do is rotate the lens until you get a consistant cutoff between the two sides (if simply put in place I found the left and right side were different in output). Then the spacer is what made the output sharper I used a cereal box ring that I cutout and it gave me a very nice super sharp cutoff even very far down the road.

So to sum it up simply putting in ZKW-R's without adjsting and fine tuning will yield you minimal improvements over stock. They need to be rotated and spaced to get the best results. This is from my experience atleast.

Hope this helps.
James

Mug

My output definitely improved however my cut off isn't as sharp on the passenger side. In fact, my passenger side is really bad. I tried a the spacer with no luck. Rotation did nothing for me. I even broke my lens holder tab on one side because I was removing the lenses so much. I didn't remove the projector and I didn't play with the shield. Was that my mistake?

nate_0022

iTrader: (2)

That may have been an issue. This past weekend I did mess around with the shield of a friends headlights I've done. Just to see if it's a shield issue, what you can do is point the projector at the wall from a good distance, and push the shield foreword a little by pushing wjere the shield comes down by the solenoid. Just do a little at a time just to see if you actually have to bend the shield.

JTS97Z28

iTrader: (4)

Well the problem is I think there are variations in the actual lens on these replica ones thats why people are getting different results on each side sometimes. I remember when I did mine I would rotate the lens as it sat on the holder and sure enough the cutoff and light would focus different as you went around. The replicas are obviously cheaper so there is going to be production variations and whatever, but like I said after all the tweaking I was able to get mine consistant between both sides and pretty sharp with nice color. I broke a tab as well though they are VERY tight to get snapped shut once the replicas are in place.

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

i leave it in the headlight.

that pic looks great, but hows the cutoff at, say 25'?

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

i might take out my headlights this weekend to try to adjust the cutoff shield a bit better. maybe i'll try to find a spot of around 50 feet cuz i think 100 ft might be too much. btw you know you guys dont need to open the headlight to adjust the shield because you can remove the bulb and stick a long screwdriver or something and push on the cutoff shield. some may think it sounds dangerous but as long as you be careful, it will work just fine.

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

can i get a vote of what people are using as the aiming distance? 25'? 50'? 100'? or something else?

nate_0022

iTrader: (2)

Yeah I know about the screwdriver through the bulb holder, I'd just be careful because it's going to be trial and error from lens roation, lens spacing, and shield bending. If you bend the shield to much you tend to get the bowing effect of the cutoff shield which means the side will start to slant downwards.

I've used distances from 15' (definitely wouldn't recommend but it's all I had to work with) the norm for me is in my driveway 25'-40'.

JTS97Z28

iTrader: (4)

I never noticed any differences in distance so I just used something really far away. For example the night I was doing my "fine tuning" of the lenses I used the peoples garage door across the street. Im not sure how far that is but I figured as long as it was focused that far that it would be perfect anywhere inbetween as well....and it was.

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

i just played with my cutoff shield last night...omg the difference is amazing....it stays sharp as far as i can see into the distance. from about 0-5 feet its pretty blurry, 5-10 feet its about average cutoff, then from 10 feet and on it just gets better and better. muwahahahahahaha!

JTS97Z28

iTrader: (4)

Dman sweet son! Hey just curious can you give us details on exactly what you did to the cutoff to achieve that? Like which way did you push it and how much..I know it would be hard to say that since its trial and error but atleats some description would be nice.

Thanks,
james

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

it really only is trial and error. push the cutoff shield back and forth with VERY slight increments at a time. when i say slight i really mean it, even 1 mm can affect the cutoff a lot. keep trying until you get desired results.