ImagioX1

Sup guys. Im ImagioX1 from Hidplanet.com and want to show you a mod I did to the TL projectors. Reposted from HIDplanet.

We here at HIDplanet are all about getting maximum performance out of our headlights. The TL projectors are know to have one of the greatest high beams of all bixenon projectors. Today I made a quick tutorial on how to modify your already awesome TL projectors to have a much wider high beam than stock! Yeah MUCH wider. Nearly reaching the edges of the lowbeam. Its very easy and doesnt take much time at all. The edges of the modified highbeam are not as bright as the exposed portion but is still very good at lighting up the sides of the road close to you very well. Its good that the sides of the high beam are not as bright as the center too because that keeps the close range light from blinding you and sacrificing you long range distance vision.

First thing you want to do is disassemble your TL projectors and put the parts in a safe place. Keep the foreground limiter plate out as thats what we'll be working with first.


At the bottom of the limiter plate we will find two little "wings" on either side of the plate( marked with a yellow star in the image below). These are the high beam width limiters. We want to remove these little wings by cutting them off on the lines marked with red in the image below.


Once cut your limiter should look like this.


Installing the limiter back on the projector we see that there are now two large gaps for light to escape beneath the shield.


Light escaping


So what we want to do is block that light. I found it easiest to drill a hole in the OEM shield so that we can mount a custom shield unto the bottom of it to block that light.


Cut a piece of aluminum flashing the same length as the OEM shield and bend it to fit the curve of the oem shield. Drill a whole in the center and mount it to the OEM shield as shown below.




The finished product. As we can see the gaps are now closed. We want to test the solenoid movement and make sure that our custom shield does not impede movement in any kind of way and that the solenoid is able to pull the shield fully into the lower position.


IF everything is moving smoothly with no binding then you are ready to tune the projectors for maximum color and enjoy!

Highbeam



Stock 3rd Gen projectors high beam


Modded high beam


Clear lens and modified shield.


Another modded high beam view.

rossv1

No pics or they aren't working

ImagioX1

So is there some kind of restriction on new comers where they cant add pic to their thread or edit post?

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

interesting idea, but I wish the low beam cutoff wouldnt be messed up like that afterwards. Modifying cutoff shields is always tricky to keep the cutoff straight.

ImagioX1

If the images in the first post would just work you would see that the mod doesn't affect the shield at all. I for one have always hated the fact that the TL projects bow downwards and so while I had them open I decided to make them bow upwards slightly. A lot of oem projectors bow upwards on the sides because it helps light up the shoulders of the road better so I think it's an improvement. Either way all it takes is a simple shield tweak and they will be back straight or bow downwards once again.

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

well I guess I'd have to wait until those pics are working so I can see for myself

vietxquangstah

iTrader: (7)

Very awesome of you to come to this forum and share your knowledge on how to make the TL high beams more wide.

With that being said I don't have the wits to do any headlight modifications and that's why I turn to our vendors.

Honestly I stopped reading everything after "First thing you want to do is disassemble your TL projectors" lol

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

this might be worthwhile for someone who has their headlights open for something else alrdy but other than that i think there will be very few ppl who want to open their headlights just for this

one thing to keep in mind, that with mods like this, you have to sacrifice something. Light cant magically appear from the sides without giving up light elsewhere. If you look closely in the center, the center is less intense after the widening of the high beams. It's also not as high as before(just a bit). It's a tradeoff, and I guess its just up to preference. For those who drive in lots of curvy roads, the wider high beam may be worth it. But if not, a more focused and higher high beam(stock) may be better off.

ImagioX1

I'll create another thread tomorrow with the proper pictures when I get a chance. For some reason I can't edit any of my post to add pictures that show how this works. It doesn't sacrifice any light though because of how it works. The pictures may make the center look dimmer but it's not. The factory foreground limiter limits a good portion of the light coming from the bulbs. It is light that is produced bit is just blocked. This mod just unblocks some of that hidden light. Anyway I'll show get the pictures up to show how it works.

ImagioX1

I posted another thread about this and never could get the pics working so I decided to give it another try.

The TL projectors are known to have one of the greatest high beams of all bixenon projectors. Today I made a quick tutorial on how to modify your already awesome TL projectors to have a much wider high beam than stock! Yeah MUCH wider. Nearly reaching the edges of the lowbeam. Its very easy and doesnt take much time at all. The edges of the modified highbeam are not as bright as the exposed portion but is still very good at lighting up the sides of the road close to you very well. Its good that the sides of the high beam are not as bright as the center too because that keeps the close range light from blinding you and sacrificing you long range distance vision.

First thing you want to do is disassemble your TL projectors and put the parts in a safe place. Keep the foreground limiter plate out as thats what we'll be working with first.


At the bottom of the limiter plate we will find two little "wings" on either side of the plate( marked with a yellow star in the image below). These are the high beam width limiters. We want to remove these little wings by cutting them off on the lines marked with red in the image below.



Once cut your limiter should look like this.


Installing the limiter back on the projector we see that there are now two large gaps for light to escape beneath the shield.


Light escaping


So what we want to do is block that light. I found it easiest to drill a hole in the OEM shield so that we can mount a custom shield unto the bottom of it to block that light.


Cut a piece of aluminum flashing the same length as the OEM shield and bend it to fit the curve of the oem shield. Drill a whole in the center and mount it to the OEM shield as shown below.






The finished product. As we can see the gaps are now closed. We want to test the solenoid movement and make sure that our custom shield does not impede movement in any kind of way and that the solenoid is able to pull the shield fully into the lower position.


IF everything is moving smoothly with no binding then you are ready to tune the projectors for maximum color and enjoy!

Highbeam
Before

After




While I was at it I decided to fix the bowing downwards the TL projectors are also known for. With a little bending of the shield we can actually get them to curve upwards on the edge so that the shoulders of the road are illuminated much more effectively.

Before

After( Nevermind the different style step in the center)

ImagioX1

Created another thread here with working pics!
https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g.../#post15269698




If you want to read the discussion on this at HIDplanet here is the link.
TL wide high beam mod




TL wide high beam mod

polobunny

So essentially you're "simply" removing a part on the front limiter and putting it on the shield that moves? It's so simple, it's stupid it hasn't been done before.

Why would you say they've limited the width of the projectors on the TL? Is the side glare really terrible/blinding?

ImagioX1

According to a lighting engineer at Hidplanet any amount of light close to your car will be detrimental to you long distance vision. Most high beams have a very narrow beam for this reason according to him. But with this mod the extra light that is exposed is not very bright in comparison to the hotspot. So even though it may affect you distance vision to some extent its not enough to be of significance and the light seems like it would help on twisty curvy roads.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

this mod will be beneficial to those who do mountain runs.

polobunny

Makes a lot of sense. I feel fine whenever I need to use the high beams, the beam pattern is very usable, but I wonder how much extra light would disturb my vision. I can see this being useful for people in more twisty curvy roads. Not so much for someone going through plains.

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

ah i see, makes more sense now. what do you use to glue the custom plate onto the cutoff shield?

ImagioX1

If you look at the pictures carefully you will see that I drilled a hole through the cutoff shield and mounted the custom plate onto with a small nut and bolt. I doubt any kind of glue would be able to sustain the extreme temperatures on the cutoff shield.

515kbpUA7

or country back roads

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

I've added your pictures to the first post, as requested.

nate_0022

iTrader: (2)

That bowing would drive me absolutely nuts. It seems like a great idea, but I just don't see it worth the hassle of opening up the headlights. I've never had any issues with my original high beams on country roads. I thought JVX did a comparison of light loss when messing with the shield limiters or it might also be hacknslash .

ImagioX1

There are a few OEM projectors( rx350 bixenon) that bow upwards on the sides from the factory. Those who have driven with them said that the bowing lights up the side of the roads very good. It not like youll be looking at wall shots everyday LOL!

guitarplayer16

iTrader: (8)

I trust a guy who frequents HID Planet.

The stuff you guys do over there blows my mind.

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

^^^ Agreed

robocam

Thanks for posting! Would an alternative to preventing stray light be to remove less of the high beam shield? How much would you say could be removed before stray light starts to come out?

I'm interested in increasing foreground illumination because I can see the lower cutoff when I'm driving, and it bugs me. How much of the foreground shield area should be removed (like 2mm or something), and should the material removal follow the existing curve exactly?

ImagioX1

You wont be able to remove much at all before stray light starts to come through.

Also the more foreground light you allow the more you will decrease your distance vision. But if the lower cutoff is bothering you it will require trial and error to figure out how much you will have to remove before the cutoff is close enough to the front of your car so that you cant see it. I dont have a TL so I cant tell you how much to remove.