HID Lens replacement - DIY

[Kirk M]

Does anyone know or have a link to replacement "j codes" or Amber markers. Have a crack in mine so I need to replace it.


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http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...Corner-Markers

[red4life5]

Curious if this only applies to A4 is the lenses swap will work on A3/5/6 and so forth?


2010 A4 S-Line Prestige

[keithb12]

Thanks Dannydyn. I will be trying this soon. Just got my lenses and reflectors. I also got a remote controlq rgb led strip

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[SteveYem]

Alright, I'm about ready to nut-up and finally tear into my spare set of US-spec B8.5 headlights to swap in my ZKW-R lenses using this DIY. Side question: if/when the inside of the housing lenses (the clear plastic pieces) accumulate some dust/dirt during the process, what is the best method for cleaning them off before reassembly? I know I've tried it before with a microfiber rag (a brand new one) which left tiny scratch marks on the inside of the lens. Is there a specific type of fabric I should use, as well as any recommended cleaning solutions that would leave the surface streak-free?

[SteveYem]

One more set of questions before I dive head-first into this:
1) I saw some people earlier in this thread asking whether it is necessary to use a lens spacer kit (or washers) to space the ZKW-R lens for proper light beam focus. Can anyone comment on whether this is necessary?

2) Is there a known way to modify the cut-off shield so that the resulting beam pattern is more flat across the road, and not with the relatively large "step" that it has now?

[303 Spartan]

Alright, I'm about ready to nut-up and finally tear into my spare set of US-spec B8.5 headlights to swap in my ZKW-R lenses using this DIY. Side question: if/when the inside of the housing lenses (the clear plastic pieces) accumulate some dust/dirt during the process, what is the best method for cleaning them off before reassembly? I know I've tried it before with a microfiber rag (a brand new one) which left tiny scratch marks on the inside of the lens. Is there a specific type of fabric I should use, as well as any recommended cleaning solutions that would leave the surface streak-free?

I highly recommend that you avoid touching the inside of the housing lens with anything at all. In my experience, every housing lense I have encountered during past HID retrofits has had some form of UV protective coating on the inside of the lens, which is extremely easy to scratch and next to impossible to properly fix. Even a very light microfiber cloth can damage the coating.

The best thing you can do is, immediately after removing the lens, place the lens on a table with the inside of the lens facing down. Then place a rag/towel over the lens to prevent any dust from getting in there. Leave the lenses untouched until you are fully prepped to re-install, then keep the lenses face down until the moment you install them back onto the housing. The reality is, you are bound to get a few pieces of dust on the inside of the lens, no matter what you do. But it's not worth wrecking the UV coating to get rid of them.

[AvusPdx]

I have dust inside the lens due to this. I wish I had them covered up while working on them.
I've used alcohol swabs in the past, but at your own risk ofcourse.
I'll pop my head light open again to clean the inside, since the dust "halo" drives me crazy.

[sin5455]

i have a crack in my driver side lens on my 2012 A6. found an online site that sells a replacement lens, but man does this scare me to do on my own!

[NAR Mike]

I️ don’t mean to go off topic, but when you guys reattach the outer headlight cover back on the headlight do you reuse the sealant or apply new one?


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[audigsr]

One more set of questions before I dive head-first into this:
1) I saw some people earlier in this thread asking whether it is necessary to use a lens spacer kit (or washers) to space the ZKW-R lens for proper light beam focus. Can anyone comment on whether this is necessary?

2) Is there a known way to modify the cut-off shield so that the resulting beam pattern is more flat across the road, and not with the relatively large "step" that it has now?

I've only done this on my sti, but thinking about doing this down the road on the s4.

I used washers on each side of the top bolts strictly for color. Not sure if its different from the s4, but the more washers you add-the less sharp the cut off is. But the color becomes more pronounced, ie. more purple and blue. I believed I used 3 washers on each side and it was perfect.

I would keep the step shield, just because it helps with aiding to limit the glare to oncoming traffic. I actually like the step on my sti because it provide a more pronounced color cut off. But I'm sure you could retrofit a less steep step, but not sure how much work would be involved to get to fit though.

[303 Spartan]

I️ don’t mean to go off topic, but when you guys reattach the outer headlight cover back on the headlight do you reuse the sealant or apply new one?

Defintely use some new butyl sealant. If there is not enough sealant to properly seal the lens all the way around then you risk continued condensation build up inside the headlight lens.

Reference post #77 in this thread, I went into some more details on it.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...1#post12635224

[SteveYem]

Well, yesterday I was able to swap a ZKW-R clear lens into one of my headlight assemblies using this DIY. I am very grateful to @Dannydyn for taking the time to write it out for our benefit. The good news is, I got through the entire process without causing any damage that I am aware of. Here is the final product before putting the housing lens cover on:




The bad news is, here is how the resulting light pattern looks. The clear lens retrofit is on the left OEM e-code is on the right:


So, there is a shadowy/dark spot, a good deal of orange/yellow/brown color at the cutoff, and really no clear definition of the cut-off line. I have two variables at play: 1) When I had the projector taken apart, I used a small file to carefully file down the 'point' that is on the small secondary plate/shield that is tacked onto the front of the cutoff shield. From researching around on HIDPlanet I believe this secondary plate/shield is known as the RV Shield, and it is used to diffuse the light and soften the cutoff transition (i.e. to prevent that laser-sharp cutoff line that Acura/Honda lights have). So possibly I messed something up there.
And 2) As Dannydyn mentioned in his DIY, the KW-R lens does not fit all the way into the holder like the stock lens does. I was able to get it reasonably even (not perfect, but close) but the end result is that the ZKW-R lens still sits closer to the projector bowl/bulb than the stock bulb did. I am thinking I need to add washers where the screws connect the lens holder bracket to the projector to push the lens back out farther from the bulb and regain the focal length of the original projector.

Luckily, I have a spare, unmodified headlight assembly that I can steal parts from. If necessary, I will take the cutoff shield assembly from the spare headlight and put it in this one.
In the meantime, if anyone has advise on how to get the beam focused with sharp cutoff line, and how to get some blue coloration at the cutoff instead of this yellow/brown that I have, I would be very appreciative!

[SteveYem]

Update: After another long day spent working on the headlights, I think I made some progress. Following up my earlier post above, I ended up using two(2) stainless steel #6 flat washers between the lens holder bracket and the projector bowl to push the lens out away from the bulb and bowl. I think this helped hone in the focal point to get a cleaner cutoff line:

Here is how the ZKW-R lens fits in the holder. You can see the edge of the lens not sitting all the way down into the holder, as Dannydyn mentioned in his DIY:


Here are the two(2) #6 washers between the lens holder and the projector bowl (I used two washers at all four screws per projector):


This is the 'RV shield' I mentioned in my last post. It is mounted to the outside of the cutoff shield and has a little point on it that sticks slightly above the cutoff shield. I believe it serves to diffuse the light a the cutoff (i.e. make it less sharp):


On my driver side headlight I bent the RV shield forward, out of the light beam, to get a sharper cutoff. I left the passenger side RV shield in place. Here is a pic of the driver side:



Here is the final product - for now! Again, the driver side (left) has the RV shield bent out of the way, the other side has the RV shield intact and in place. The bulbs are Philips XTreme Vision Gen.1:

From about 4 feet:


From about 20 feet:




My current feeling is that I prefer the passenger side, with the RV shield intact. There is blue color in the cut-off but it is a bit more focused than the driver side. I'm thinking next weekend I'll swap my spare headlight''s cutoff shield into this projector. In the meantime, I am enjoying the super sharp cutoff line and crisp blue color band at the top of the beam pattern.

[audigsr]

Looks great SteveYem. How long would you say this would take to do?

[SteveYem]

Looks great SteveYem. How long would you say this would take to do?

Thanks! Well, all-in this weekend I spent probably 12 hours working on this. BUT, there was a lot of trial and error to get the light output right which included totally re-doing the driver side (that's when I went back in and bent the RV shield out of the way), as well as a run to the hardware store to buy the #6 flat washers and then iterating through different combinations of washers between the lens holder bracket and the projector bowl (which is tedious) and plugging the partially assembled headlight into the car to test the light output - then rinse, repeat.
EDIT - I should mention, this ~12 hours also included swapping out the side marker reflectors which was arguably the most tedious part of the project. Somehow I got away with not breaking anything, but those pieces sure are brittle!

Oh, also - when I was disassembling the second headlight I did NOT take Dannydyn's advice of unplugging the side marker LED harness before pulling the LED DRL shroud out of the housing. BIG MISTAKE. When those LED light tubes come free, that shroud wants to come out (because you are tugging on it), and it was enough force/speed to break the 'female' plug for the side marker right off of the little circuit board that it is soldered to. I had to take a detour and solder the plug back onto the board which, amazingly, actually worked as the side marker lights lit up and did not throw any error codes after the repair.....but trust me, unless you are an expert at soldering - which I am not! - you don't want to end up in this situation.

If I were to do this again and/or give anyone advice going into it, I would suggest:
* Buy some #6 stainless steel flat washers in advance. You will likely need at least 16 of them.
* As a first shot, install (2) #6 washers between the lens holder and the projector bowl at each connecting screw location (4 per projector).
* Buy a D3S ballast and power supply that you can use on the bench. Then as you are iterating through various lens spacing options with the washers, and/or experimenting with the cutoff shield and RV shield to hone in on the desired light output, you can do it all with the projector on the bench and not have to reinstall it into the housing, then put the housing in the car so you can use the power supply for the entire headlight assembly. I spent a lot of time with those iterations.
* Leave the RV shield intact and unmodified. You can always go back in later and bend it out of the way if you want to, but once you mess with it that's it.


Based on the above, if I were to tackle this project again knowing what I do now, I would guess 6-8 hours for the pair of headlights assuming no major hiccups.

[tsitalon1]

So my background involves replacing OEM projectors with FX-R projectors in a previous EVO that I owned.

Was simply changing the lens on the S4 worth it in the end, or would we be much better suited replacing the oem projectors?

[SteveYem]

So my background involves replacing OEM projectors with FX-R projectors in a previous EVO that I owned.

Was simply changing the lens on the S4 worth it in the end, or would we be much better suited replacing the oem projectors?

Personally, I would have much rather swapped in complete replacement projectors, due to the ZKW-R lens not seating properly into the lens holder and having to "hack" the projector assembly back together using those washers to space the lens. There was only trial and error and diminishing time/patience involved in my choice to use two washers so I have no idea if the light output is optimized, whereas a complete projector assembly is (presumably) engineered and tested to be right. That being said, I didn't even think to check with any vendors to see if a complete drop-in projector was available for the B8.5 housing with D3S bulbs. If it is, then I would strongly consider swapping in the entire projector.
Let me say this - the hard part is getting the assembly taken apart down to the point of accessing the projector. Swapping the projector itself would be relatively easy, AND you would not have to dick around with trying to fit the relatively larger lens evenly in the holder (then question yourself while trying to fall asleep later that night on whether you got it "just right" or "good enough").

[tsitalon1]

Personally, I would have much rather swapped in complete replacement projectors, due to the ZKW-R lens not seating properly into the lens holder and having to "hack" the projector assembly back together using those washers to space the lens. There was only trial and error and diminishing time/patience involved in my choice to use two washers so I have no idea if the light output is optimized, whereas a complete projector assembly is (presumably) engineered and tested to be right. That being said, I didn't even think to check with any vendors to see if a complete drop-in projector was available for the B8.5 housing with D3S bulbs. If it is, then I would strongly consider swapping in the entire projector.
Let me say this - the hard part is getting the assembly taken apart down to the point of accessing the projector. Swapping the projector itself would be relatively easy, AND you would not have to dick around with trying to fit the relatively larger lens evenly in the holder (then question yourself while trying to fall asleep later that night on whether you got it "just right" or "good enough").

Understood, interested to see you opinion on whether or not all the work was worth it (in regards to real life light output) or if we should simply use aftermarket projectors (FX-R being my favorite), although they are quite large..

[SteveYem]

Understood, interested to see you opinion on whether or not all the work was worth it (in regards to real life light output) or if we should simply use aftermarket projectors (FX-R being my favorite), although they are quite large..

I would suggest going to The Retrofit Source to see if they have any projectors that fit the B8 and/or B8.5 headlights.

I've only driven with the new lights for a few minutes last night and it was sort of rainy/foggy, so I don't feel I was able to get a great feel for the final product. I can say for sure that the cutoff line on the sides is notably sharper than with the stock lenses, and my baseline for 'stock' is a set of OEM Ecodes whose lenses are mostly clear except for ~10 small dimples right around the center. Hopefully tonight I will be able to get in a better review.

[tsitalon1]

I would suggest going to The Retrofit Source to see if they have any projectors that fit the B8 and/or B8.5 headlights.

I've only driven with the new lights for a few minutes last night and it was sort of rainy/foggy, so I don't feel I was able to get a great feel for the final product. I can say for sure that the cutoff line on the sides is notably sharper than with the stock lenses, and my baseline for 'stock' is a set of OEM Ecodes whose lenses are mostly clear except for ~10 small dimples right around the center. Hopefully tonight I will be able to get in a better review.

Yeah I checked their site, nothing that is a drop in.

I've gutted headlight assemblies before (the EVO I mentioned) so I'm not too scared to try, but was hoping the clear lenses makes the lights more usable :(

[SteveYem]

Yeah I checked their site, nothing that is a drop in.

I've gutted headlight assemblies before (the EVO I mentioned) so I'm not too scared to try, but was hoping the clear lenses makes the lights more usable :(

I will post back here after I drive around a bit tonight. What I noticed on my drive out to lunch was that I would get two sets of reflections off the back of some cars in front of me - the lower reflect, directly in line with the lights, showed the two bulbs in crisp, white color. The second reflection, on the car's trunk above the first reflection, showed the bulbs in an indigo/blue color. I'll try to catch a photo the next time I'm stuck in traffic and notice it happening. I don't know what to make of it - maybe my lens spacing still isn't correct?

[SteveYem]

I've driven around a few nights now with the modified headlights and thought I would share my observations, in no particular order:

* The low beam cutoff is nice and crisp except for a small spot in the passenger side beam, where I left the RV shield unmodified. The RV shield is the secondary plate mounted on the outboard side of the cutoff shield (away from the bulb), and it has a small nub that sticks up above the cutoff shield edge. Projected out into the light beam (i.e. upside down), this creates a dip in the light pattern at the cutoff line. I'm not sure what the function of this is, other than to prevent having a perfectly straight cutoff line. Meanwhile, the driver side light, which is the one where I bent the RV shield down out of the light path, has a nice sharp cutoff line with the small step in the beam pattern from the cutoff shield.

* I am using Philips Xtreme Vision gen.1 bulbs. When I was using them in my Ecode headlights, there was a lot of usable light on the road but the color at the cutoff, and in general, was very yellow. Additionally, I could see two focused 'beams' of light amidst the total light output which was frankly distracting while driving. With the new modified headlights, I do not see those focused beams any more but I still get a lot of useful light on the road.

* For some reason I feel that the roadside illumination of the unmodified Ecodes was slightly better than the modified headlights, but I'm not sure why that would be the case. More specifically, I'm noticing it on the driver side. I'm I'm feeling motivated, I may swap the Ecode back in on the driver side and see if it's really better.

* The blue/indigo/iridescent reflections off white road signs is awesome.

* I'm not sure whether the two washers I installed between the lens holder legs and the projector bowl were totally necessary, based on my very limited experience with and knowledge of optics - however, my goal was to try to maintain the same distance from bowl/bulb to back of the lens as the factory setup, and since the ZKW-R clear lens did not sit all the way forward in the lens holder, the washers serve to shim the lens back out to get close to the OEM spacing.


I also want to add a couple of things to Dannydyn's awesome DIY, things that I learned throughout the process that could be helpful to anyone planning to do it:

* This may be common knowledge, but I learned that the cutoff shield position is adjustable, and it is accessible (although a bit tedious) with the headlights installed on the car! Looking into the access opening for the D3S bulb, the cutoff shield adjustment screw is in the right side flange of the projector bowl as indicated in the photo below. Screwing it in pushes the shield farther from the bowl/bulb which seems to blur the cutoff line and shift the color from blue/indigo to yellow/orange/brown. Backing it all the way out allows the shield to rest back on the projector bowl, i.e. as close as it can get to the bowl/bulb, and sharpens up the cutoff line as well as shifts the cutoff color band toward blue/indigo. From the factory I believe mine were set somewhere in the middle of the range.




* There is a critical screw that holds the DRL LED shroud to the headlight housing that I could not find in Danny's writeup, and is somewhat hidden on the headlight assembly. I have indicated its position in the photo below, although you can't see it because it's behind that silver top part of the shroud. The screw holds that top corner of the shroud to the housing, but also holds the LED fixture for that end of the LED bar in place. In order to access that screw I had to use a long torx bit to reach in, while carefully bending the shroud down to get clearance for turning the bit. The tricky part is that removing this screw not only frees the shroud which you are trying to remove, but it also partially frees the LED fixture into which that end of the LED bar is secured. So, when I was doing the nerve-wracking part of wiggling the shroud back and forth to unplug the LED bar ends from their sockets, there wasn't a lot of hold-back resistance on that end because the LED fixture itself was also wiggling around. I don't know if that makes any sense, but once you get to that part you'll see what I mean.




* It has been mentioned before but I will mention it again - the chrome plating inside the headlights is VERY DELICATE. I barely touched it throughout the process and still managed to get a few very miniscule scratches. When doing this job, wear nitrile gloves and I would suggest changing them periodically - at a minimum, if you are wearing gloves during the housing separation process when the butyl sealant is heated up, it is likely that some will end up on the gloves and then could end up somewhere on the silver or chrome parts of the shroud. The more you have to clean it up, the more opportunities there are for creating blemishes.

* Speaking of clean up - I used a fresh microfiber towel and Meguiars Quik Detailer (the stuff in the maroon bottle) to GENTLY wipe down the chrome areas to remove any smudges or lint before reassembling the headlights. I have seen some people mention using rubbing alcohol for cleanup but I would warn against it, because when I used it to clean the chrome parts on the inside of my B8 S4 headlights a few years ago it easily stripped some of the chrome coating right off. IMO, the Meguiars quik detailer is mild enough and has enough lubricity to do the trick without leaving behind any residue and without damaging the chrome coating. Make sure your microfiber is fresh, soft and free of any grit!

* I used one of those glass-specific type of microfiber rags to thoroughly buff both sides of the clear lenses before installing, then again after they were seated in the lens holders, and then one final pass on the outside of the lens before reassembling the housings. Maybe this was overkill, but I didn't want to find out the hard way whether small specs of dust on the lens would project into big shadowy floaters in my headlight pattern (although I don't think they would).

* It would be ideal to have a set of magnetic Torx bits to do this job. Some of the screw locations are hard to reach and recovering dropped screws would not be impossible, but would certainly be irritating.

* Having a workbench power supply for the D3S 35W ballast would have been awesome for iterating through the different combinations of washers for lens spacing. I spent a lot of time installing washers (which was tedious), fitting the projectors back into the housings, and fitting the housings back into the car so that I could plug in the headlight wire harness to power them. I searched a little bit after the fact but could not find a readily available packaged bench-top power supply. I wrote to The Retrofit Source to see if they sell anything like that (e.g. whatever they are using in their bulb demo bench testing videos) but I have not heard back yet. I would have gladly paid $100 for something that would have saved me a lot of time and aggravation.

[SteveYem]

Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse here, but I thought of something else.....and please note that I am not intending to be critical, just trying to help anyone who takes on this project!: Dannydyn's DIY procedure states that it is necessary to unplug the side marker LED harness before removing the LED shroud from the housing, and that is absolutely correct - however, the photo included in the DIY post is NOT the side marker LED harness. The harness shown in the DIY is the one shown in the below photo, which I did unplug because I saw the photo in the DIY and followed suit, but that wire does not connect from the housing to the LED shroud and therefor does not need to be unplugged.

With that being said, the sidemarker LED harness, which I regrettably did not photograph, does in fact need to be disconnected before removing the LED shroud from the housing. The reason being, at the moment when the ends of the LED bar pop free of their respective sockets you'll be tugging on the LED shroud with a decent amount of force, and it will be enough to rip the sidemarker "female" plug right off of its circuit board. Ask me how I know...

Anyway, the plug that is shown in the DIY is shown unplugged in the photo below, and the arrow indicates where it connects. This can stay plugged in when removing the LED shroud.




EDIT - And one more piece of advice: after you retrofit the clear lens and reinstall the projector and BEFORE you snap the LED shroud back into place, don't forget to snap the black decorative shroud back onto the lens holder. The shroud I am talking about is shown top dead center in the photo above. In all of my elation of having retrofitted the lens without damaging anything and my fervor to get the headlight put back together, I almost forgot to put this shroud back on. Forget to do it and you'll have to go through removing the LED shroud again, or worse, back the headlights back open and do the whole thing over again.

[Akvdubn]

Just did this swap yesterday on a prefacelift B8. IDK if morimoto sightly changed the dimensions of the lens, but mine fit perfectly into the cradle. No need for spacing but I did have to adjust the cutoff shield at the end with the t15 torx screw to get a nice sharp cutoff. With the clear lens if the shield is sitting too close to the bulb (screw out) then the cutoff has multiple steps and is blurry. On the flip side if it's too far forward (screw in) then the cutoff gets hazy as light bleeds over the top of the cutoff. Just takes some playing. Also not that if you tune the shield in your garage and it's nice and sharp, it's probably going to look like ass at distance. I found I need to get about 50-75ft away to tune the shield properly and get a nice cutoff. Lastly, REAIM YO DAMN LIGHTS

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[Ornithology]

Thank you everyone for your input- detailed DIY and pictures!

[SteveYem]

Just did this swap yesterday on a prefacelift B8. IDK if morimoto sightly changed the dimensions of the lens, but mine fit perfectly into the cradle. No need for spacing but I did have to adjust the cutoff shield at the end with the t15 torx screw to get a nice sharp cutoff. With the clear lens if the shield is sitting too close to the bulb (screw out) then the cutoff has multiple steps and is blurry. On the flip side if it's too far forward (screw in) then the cutoff gets hazy as light bleeds over the top of the cutoff. Just takes some playing. Also not that if you tune the shield in your garage and it's nice and sharp, it's probably going to look like ass at distance. I found I need to get about 50-75ft away to tune the shield properly and get a nice cutoff. Lastly, REAIM YO DAMN LIGHTS

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Could you provide a link for the Morimoto lenses you bought? If they drop right in place in the holders and don't require spacing, I would consider buying a pair to re-do my headlights and see if the results are any better.

[Akvdubn]

Could you provide a link for the Morimoto lenses you bought? If they drop right in place in the holders and don't require spacing, I would consider buying a pair to re-do my headlights and see if the results are any better.

Here you go my dude.

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/co...ses/zkw-r.html

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[SteveYem]

Here you go my dude.

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/co...ses/zkw-r.html

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Great, thank you! That’s the same place I purchased mine a couple years ago, but I see that they have updated the description to state that they fit E46 style projectors as-is. I do not believe it stated that back when I bought my sets, so you are probably correct in thinking that Morimoto revised the design.

[Akvdubn]

Great, thank you! That’s the same place I purchased mine a couple years ago, but I see that they have updated the description to state that they fit E46 style projectors as-is. I do not believe it stated that back when I bought my sets, so you are probably correct in thinking that Morimoto revised the design.

Also note mine didn't have a "notch" in the lenses for orientation. I had to punch the notch on my lense holder in so the inner bore was smooth. I actually have a brand new set in a box right now that I could take a picture of if you'd like

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[audigsr]

Also note mine didn't have a "notch" in the lenses for orientation. I had to punch the notch on my lense holder in so the inner bore was smooth. I actually have a brand new set in a box right now that I could take a picture of if you'd like

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Man, with the updated lenses I might have to finally try to do this. Do you happen to have a picture of what you mean for the notch punch?

[SteveYem]

Also note mine didn't have a "notch" in the lenses for orientation. I had to punch the notch on my lense holder in so the inner bore was smooth. I actually have a brand new set in a box right now that I could take a picture of if you'd like

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Ah ok, so still not 100% drop-in. Bummer. I’d almost rather cut a notch into the aftermarket glass instead of modifying the lens holder.

[Ornithology]

Man, with the updated lenses I might have to finally try to do this. Do you happen to have a picture of what you mean for the notch punch?

Pics?

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[03redgti]

So I did this on my b8.5 and managed to break both of my led tubes separating them from their sockets..either I am too rough or they are extremely fragile. It literally just looks like a plastic piece of clear tubing ..does anyone know if I can just order those or do I need whole new shrouds..thanks in advance

[Turbocoop]

FYI- I bought these ZKW-R lenses and did NOT have to use any spacers or modify the housings. https://www.lightwerkz.net/index.php...lear-lens.html

So I did this on my b8.5 and managed to break both of my led tubes separating them from their sockets..either I am too rough or they are extremely fragile. It literally just looks like a plastic piece of clear tubing ..does anyone know if I can just order those or do I need whole new shrouds..thanks in advance

That sucks, I was very nervous removing mine but somehow got them out without breaking... you really have to yank on em. Where did they break? If I were you Id get some clear 5 min epoxy and try to glue them back together before or after reinstalling- youll never find replacement LED "tubes", your other best bete would be to buy some damaged B8.5 lights.

[SteveYem]

So I did this on my b8.5 and managed to break both of my led tubes separating them from their sockets..either I am too rough or they are extremely fragile. It literally just looks like a plastic piece of clear tubing ..does anyone know if I can just order those or do I need whole new shrouds..thanks in advance

When I removed one of mine I thought a pice of the Upper LED tube had broken off, but it turned out that the tube had just been pulled out from the shroud a little bit. I’m not describing this well, but basically where the two LED strips meet I ended up with a gap and thought it was due to one of the strips breaking. All I had to do was carefully feed the tube back into the shroud to meet back up with the lower LED tube. Anyway, not sure whether this could be your issue, or if you can confirm that the tubes are actually broken.

[03redgti]

When I removed one of mine I thought a pice of the Upper LED tube had broken off, but it turned out that the tube had just been pulled out from the shroud a little bit. I’m not describing this well, but basically where the two LED strips meet I ended up with a gap and thought it was due to one of the strips breaking. All I had to do was carefully feed the tube back into the shroud to meet back up with the lower LED tube. Anyway, not sure whether this could be your issue, or if you can confirm that the tubes are actually broken.

So you are saying the tubes are two pieces?

[ModItNow]

When I removed one of mine I thought a pice of the Upper LED tube had broken off, but it turned out that the tube had just been pulled out from the shroud a little bit. I’m not describing this well, but basically where the two LED strips meet I ended up with a gap and thought it was due to one of the strips breaking. All I had to do was carefully feed the tube back into the shroud to meet back up with the lower LED tube. Anyway, not sure whether this could be your issue, or if you can confirm that the tubes are actually broken.

I hear what your saying.
Also when you realize where they release from you feel better about pulling on them. There are little tabs at the end of the tube. You should be pulling from the ends where their held in from. Here is a picture of each end (sorry for the shitty pics) one end you have the tabs and the other looks cut off 20190426_064959.jpeg20190426_065013.jpeg

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[SteveYem]

So you are saying the tubes are two pieces?

Sort of - to clarify, each headlight has two separate DRL tubes - an upper and a lower tube - which fit together very closely where the overall DRL tube assembly comes to a "point" (toward the center of the car). When I removed the shroud from one of my headlights, the upper tube was stuck so tightly into the LED socket that the tube was held back a bit as I yanked the shroud out, resulting in what I thought at first was a chunk of the DRL tube having broken off a the front end where it comes to the "point" with the lower tube, but it was actually that the tube had slid back/out of the shroud by about an inch. I was able to very carefully (yet somewhat forcibly) feed the DRL tube back into the shroud all the way up into the "point" where it meets the lower tube.

[03redgti]

Sort of - to clarify, each headlight has two separate DRL tubes - an upper and a lower tube - which fit together very closely where the overall DRL tube assembly comes to a "point" (toward the center of the car). When I removed the shroud from one of my headlights, the upper tube was stuck so tightly into the LED socket that the tube was held back a bit as I yanked the shroud out, resulting in what I thought at first was a chunk of the DRL tube having broken off a the front end where it comes to the "point" with the lower tube, but it was actually that the tube had slid back/out of the shroud by about an inch. I was able to very carefully (yet somewhat forcibly) feed the DRL tube back into the shroud all the way up into the "point" where it meets the lower tube.

Ah okay..yeah mine broke off further up towards the top right of the headlight. About a 3" piece..

[LionKing]

Quick question. To anyone who is lowered. Have you had any issues with the height of the light beam? I've aligned mine with a headlight machine (I work at a shop) and it just seems low. Wondering if I have to do this by eye... And also, adjusting the cutoff, how far away would you recommend? I've got a nice sharp cutoff but I've been adjusting per a wall about 15 feet away

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