Retrofitted vs Stock headlights

[retrosmiths]

Notes:

• Only one projector was used in the pic
• Having too much foreground light is not good as your eyes tend to focus on the lighted area (nearer your car) rather than the road up ahead.
• Unless you mod your squirrel finders, HIDs on the stock projectors will have too much light above the cutoff line.
• Personal thought: if you're gonna retrofit, go with the big-boy projectors such as the TL's and FX-R's. Otherwise, just bend your squirrel finders down.

[whoster]

Bending the squirrel finders looks just fine....

nice.

[raul]

Your pictures taken with a potato don't capture the real difference.

[retrosmiths]

Originally Posted by raul

Your pictures taken with a potato don't capture the real difference.

You do it, then.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[SnapOv3st3r]

Is there a DIY on the squirrel finder mod?

[speedrye]

I've got my stock projectors apart on my work bench right now, I'll take some pictures tonight to show you what you're supposed to bend down.

To the OP: Good information, though I prefer the 6.0 over the 5.0. I'm going with the RX330s since they're easy to retro and have one of the best low beams once modified. Without some better pictures, you'll probably never convince people around here that a true retrofit is a better way to go. Most would rather spend thousands on a body kit than $400-$500 on proper lighting.

[raul]

Originally Posted by retrosmiths

You do it, then.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Can't do the squirrel finder mod since I've had my headlights retrofitted for over a year now, but here's a pretty clear cutoff pic. Squirrel finders don't have this level of definition, resulting in more glare. This pic is after a fresh install, so they weren't aligned yet. The barely visible blue glare you see above is actually the switchback turn signals.

[speedrye]

To bend the squirrel finders, you need to remove your bulb. Look inside the light, this is what you should see:


The squirrel finder is the large metal tab that sticks out towards you in the picture below:


The squirrel finder allows light to be reflected off the bottom reflector and out the hole on the front. You'll see the hole on the front in this picture:


The light escaping from this hole is the primary reason why PnP HIDs blind people. They still won't be as good as a retrofit, but you won't blind as many people. All you need to do is stick your finger in the bulb hole and bend the metal squirrel finder tab down as far as you can. Stick the bulb back in and you will no longer be blinding as many people.

[retrosmiths]

^ That, or if you opened your lights to paint the chrome assembly, you can just stick a wad of epoxy stick under it to cover the hole. Something like this would work:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Weld-8267-S-SteelStik-Epoxy-Putty/dp/B000786GLM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1393979300&sr=8-2&keywords=epoxy+stick"]Amazon.com: JB Weld 8267-S SteelStik Epoxy Putty Stick: Automotive[/ame]

[Poodles]

Really wish you had taken the pictures projecting on a nice flat and wide wall... Would have showed off the width better.


Not to mention a camera with locked settings to show the difference (because as it looks to the average person, the stock is better....which isn't true at all)