. The E-codes, albeit having fewer dimples, still have them too. I figured for $40 it was an absolute no brainer and it would allow me at the same time to take care of those stupid amber markers. 
The Retrofit Source ZKW-R 3” Clear Lenses for Audi S4 B8.5
The problem was, I couldn’t find instructions anywhere on how to take the headlights apart in order to get to the lens.
After searching endlessly, I contacted a couple of very nice guys here on Audizine who had taken their headlights apart, in hope to pick their brains. They were nice enough to share some bits and pieces off the top of their heads, as well as pointers on how to go about this project. I had no pictures, no visual cues, and no step-by-step instructions to follow. All I had were a few tips and suggestions.
Having to go through this project flying blindly, without a DIY as a reference was quite frustrating and daunting. So I figured the right thing to do would be to document the process to the best of my ability and offer this set of tips for anyone who is looking to disassemble his headlights. This DIY only pertains to the post facelift B8.5 headlights (2013-2016). I have no clue what the process is for the B8.
So… to save anyone else here the guessing, hassle, and anxiety I had to go through, I figured I’ll post this tutorial, with pictures I snapped along the way.
Now, before we dive into the process of performing this surgery on your car’s eyes, an obligatory....
DISCLAIMER: I am in no way shape or form responsible for any damage you may cause to your headlights! This process involves a lot of delicate parts, requires a tons of patience and discretion! I HIGHLY recommend you take a step back and take the time to consider whether you are really comfortable taking these very expensive headlights apart. You may follow this DIY at your own risk!
Also, if you have bulky hands or have the tendency to break things easily, this is NOT for you to try. One wrong step and you will be looking at buying brand new set of headlights.
Just to give you an idea of how involved this gets, this is what you can expect your 'operating table' to look like at the deepest part of this project. If this picture makes you uneasy, you may want to reconsider (there are plenty more parts, screws, clips, ballasts, bulbs, etc. outside of the frame, to the right):
Tip: Even though I’m providing you with visuals here, I HIGHLY recommend you snap pictures at every step you take along the way so you can backtrack your progress and have a point of reference in case you run into difficulty with putting parts back together.
With that out of the way, let’s go over the tools and parts you will need:
- T30 torx screwdriver
- T25 torx screwdriver
- T20 torx screwdriver
- Flathead screwdriver
- Heat gun and/or oven (I recommend using both in conjunction)
- Long nose pliers
- Box knife
- Matt black Plasti-Dip (optional) – if you use this opportunity to black out the amber markers
- Blue painter's tape (for masking)
- A few pairs of rubber gloves (to prevent finger prints). You will need more than one pair, trust me, they will rip
- KZW-R 3" Clear lenses (link above)
Headlights removal
Use a T30 screwdriver to remove the 4 screws holding the radiator cover:
Driver’s side headlight removal:
- Using a T30 screwdriver, remove the 3 screws circled in RED
- Remove the screw bracket (GREEN square)
- Loosen (DO NOT REMOVE) the two screws circles in BLUE
- Disconnect the harness (ORANGE square)
- Disconnect the drain hose (not picture), located at the lower part of the headlight (mine was already disconnected for some reason).
- Remove headlight
Passenger side headlight removal:
Note: If you have relatively small hands, you *may* be able to get away with removing the headlight without removing the airbox. I was able (just barely) to get it out, but had to remove the air scoop and loosen the airbox (though I did not have to remove it altogether). The following are steps for removing the headlight without removing the airbox:
- Remove the 2 yellow screws attaching the air scoop to the radiator frame.
- Remove the air scoop and set aside.
- Release the airbox by lifting it up and away from the anchor shown on the left side of the picture (YELLOW)
- Remove the 3 screws circled in RED
- Remove the screw bracket (GREEN square)
- Disconnect the harness (ORANGE square)
- Loosen (DO NOT REMOVE) the 2 screws circled in BLUE
- Disconnect drain hose (not pictured)
- Remove headlight
Opening the headlights
I will skip this process as there are plenty of links here on AudiZine, elsewhere on the web, and some videos on YouTube. Some people prefer the oven method, other prefer the heat gun. I used a combination of both. If you live in the hot area, I recommend driving the car for a little bit with the headlights on. The heat will give you a jumpstart.
- Remove HID ballast (3 screws + 2 harnesses) - make sure you remove the rubber ring as well
- Remove LED ballast (3 screws + 1 harness) - make sure you remove the rubber ring as well
- Remove headlight anchor attachment (2 screws)
- Remove HID Bulb cover
- Remove turn signal cover
- Remove HID bulb
- Remove turn signal bulb
- Remove rubber bumper strip - it's attached with a double-sided glue
- Remove drain attachment (1 screw)
Pop the headlight in the oven for 5 minutes at 200 degrees, then remove, and proceed to heat the sealant along the lines using a heat gun, working your way in sections.
Start prying the cover from the outer corner (amber marker side), and work your way inward towards the grille side of the headlight. Use a box knife to separate the cheesy-effect you'll get from the glue.
Once the headlight has been opened, if you choose to blackout your side marker, remove the 3 screws holding the marker bracket to the front lens. I tried removing the marker from the bracket but gave up after a few minutes when I realize I was on the brink of breaking the damn thing. I went on to mask the bracket using blue painter’s tape, and sprayed the marker with 4 coats of matt black Plasti-Dip.
Onto the lens swap....
Remove the screw circled in BLUE. This will release the top bracket sitting right on top of the turn signal. The opposing side of this bracket is anchored on the opposite side to the turn signal plastic cover with a tab. Be careful not to break it. Then proceed to unscrew the 2 RED screws:
Proceed to the bottom of the headlight, and remove the screws circled in RED (There are 2 more screws to the left that I forgot to snap a picture of):
Unplug the LED side marker harness:
Now comes the most frightening part - detaching the shroud from the base. Just to double check me, make sure you have loosened all the aforementioned screws, and there are no other visible screws that are holding the shroud attached to the housing. At this point, the shroud should have some leeway, kind of jiggle, but still intact and attached to the housing. CAREFULLY, start pulling the shroud outwards, towards yourself, rocking the shroud lightly left and right. Essentially you are trying to unsnap it. It is being held in place by the two ends of the LED bar, attached in their electrical sockets. You need to unsnap it. As you wiggle it back and forth, it should eventually snap out and you should have successful separation.
Below, circled in RED is one of the two ends of the LED bar after it had been detached from its socket in the housing:
Removing the lens
The lens is strapped inside a 4-prong bracket that is attached to a mount connected to the auto-leveling motor bracket (screw marked in RED X 4). In order to get to the lens, you will need to first remove the lens bracket from the mount (screw marked in BLUE X 4):
From a bit closer:
Start from the back of the housing, through the reflector's back-end (where you would insert the bulb), and remove the 4 mount screws circled in BLUE (there are two more to the left, hidden by harness) to release the mount from the auto-leveling contraption (black plastic bracket):
Once the mount is off the auto-leveling contraption (Black plastic bracket), proceed to remove the lens bracket from the mount by removing the 4 screws in RED (only top 2 are pictured below. there are 2 bottom ones to remove as well):
Bottom 2 screws marked in RED, as well as the high-beam shutter circled in GREEN. Note: once you undo the lens bracket from the mount, the high-beam shutter will get undone as well.
Let's stop here and review what we're looking at:
Yellow - LED bar sockets (yes, those that cause you the anxiety as you were trying to free the shroud from the housing)
Purple - Auto-leveling gears
Orange - Side marker LED harness
Green - High-beam shutter
Blue - Main mount, holes and screw positions
Red - Lens mount holes. Note: When putting everything together the lens mount 'overlays' on top of the high-beam shutter. There are two protruding pins on each side that should be lined up through the shutter's and the lens' bracket holes (see in the forthcoming pictures)
Bottom of the picture shows the lens mount freed up
Lens swap
Flip the mount upside down, and using a pair of long-nose pliers, push the 5 teeth circled in RED, back and outward to release the lens. Then proceed to remove the metal pressure ring holding the lens in place. Note the notch in the lens (circled in BLUE). When installing the new lens, make sure that the notch lines up with the notch in the bracket:
Disassembled:
Lens comparison: Stock on the bottom, ZKW-R on top:
Install the ZKW-R lens in the bracket. Again, remember to line up the notch with the one in the bracket. The ZKW-R lens lip is a tad thicker, so expect to spend a couple of minutes messing around with it, trying to level it off in the bracket's socket as the fit will be tight. Replace the pressure ring, and use the pliers to push the 5 teeth back to their anchoring position:
Assembly
Start working your way backwards.... start with attaching the lens mount onto the bracket. As I mentioned above, the lens bracket overlays on top of the high-beam shutter. It is imperative that the two line up with the pins that are protruding (immediately to the right of the screw circled in RED) from the main bracket. Failure to line up the shutter and lens bracket properly onto the main mount, will result in the shutter's inability to open up fully, or worse, become detached altogether.
Another angle showing how the two line up:
Circled in YELLOW is the pin that lines the lens bracket up, while the one circled in GREEN, lines up the high-beam shutter. Once two are properly lined up, insert the mounting screw (RED) through the two brackets and proceed to PARTIALLY tighten it up. Do not tighten as you will need leeway when lining up the opposing side:
From there, proceed with the rest of the assembly process in reverse order:
- Attach the top two screws to the mount.
- Attach the 4 screws to the mount that attaches onto the auto-leveling motor bracket.
- Tighten all 8 screws (4 on lens bracket, and 4 on main mount).
- Reconnect the side marker LED harness.
- Line up the shroud so the two ends of the LED bar are positioned against their respective sockets (shown above), and firmly but carefully push the shroud in until the LED bar ends click into their respective sockets.
- Proceed with attaching the shroud mounting screws.
- Attach the black plastic bracket sitting on top of the turn signal (1 screw and a snap-on, on the opposing side).
- Attach the corner reflector bracket using 3 screws if you removed it in the beginning to blacken them out.
- Before proceeding to reseal the headlight : I recommend attaching the ballasts and bulbs, and test the whole thing on the car. Just lay it on top of the engine bay, connect the harness, and make sure nothing got screwed up. Everything should work as before. Make sure to test the high-beam to verify that the shutter opens and closes properly.
- Proceed to reseal the headlight: REMOVE THE BALASTS AND BULBS, close the housing and put in the oven for a few minutes, then follow with the heat gun. Reconnect all the clips while pressing everything into place as hard as you can.
- Reconnect the ballasts, reinstall the bulbs, replace the rubber covers over the bulbs openings, attach the drain hose, the rubber corner-bumper, and mounting bracket.
- Reinstall the headlight in the car (don't forget to reconnect the drain hoses)
- Replace radiator cover
YOU'RE DONE!
Now take your car outside in the dark and turn on your headlights!
Congrats! You now have better light beam than e-codes at a fraction of the cost! 
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Originally Posted by theswoleguy
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