HID Lens replacement - DIY

[Dannydyn]

nicely done! Glad to hear it worked out well for you!



There is way. I took mine off for the full black out. You just have to be very careful and separate ALL the plastic trim/shroud apart. It is basically held by a bunch of tabs and a few screws in places. Then you will be able to take out the LED strip (or what is just a round plastic tube).

Tip: Before you put everything together, make sure you power your headlight installed and see of you like the focus of the cutoff line. I had to refocus the lenses by using small washers in the projector that holds the lens to the main body. Since the lens has a slightly different shape, the focus is altered.

You definitely have bigger balls and more patience than me. I tried to take the different shroud pieces apart but decided to give up before I was going to break any of those tabs. I managed to undo the plastic ring that goes around the lens, and the side piece that sits above the amber reflector. I painted the rest of the shroud as is.

[vk_s4]

You definitely have more balls and patience than me. I tried to take the different shroud pieces apart but decided to give up before I was going to break any of those tabs. I managed to undo the plastic ring that goes around the lens, and the side piece that sits above the amber reflector. I painted the rest of the shroud as is.

This really helped separate the various components..

https://www.ecstuning.com/Search/Sit..._Kit/ES517779/

[bayonet14]

Whoa - I just read thru your DIY and I must say....just reading...had moments of anxiety kick in.

Great job and write up - now I need to buck up and get this done!

EDIT: forgot to ask about the new lens and if there is like a bi-focal line .... would it make sense to use witness marks on the assembly that holds the lens and assist on re-assembly to help w/focus?

[Jv218]

Just curious but has anyone upgraded the projectors and bulbs as well instead of just the clear lenses?

[theswoleguy]

Just curious but has anyone upgraded the projectors and bulbs as well instead of just the clear lenses?

The $/lumen isn't there plus the rewiring. Coupler people I talked to said beyond the clear lens and set of good bulbs the gain is very minimal and costly

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[Jv218]

The $/lumen isn't there plus the rewiring. Coupler people I talked to said beyond the clear lens and set of good bulbs the gain is very minimal and costly

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Ah, ok was always curious coming from the Jdm world people literally built new headlights


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[theswoleguy]

Ah, ok was always curious coming from the Jdm world people literally built new headlights


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Ha I bet. But converting from d3s is probably hard enough let alone damaging a new OEM headlights that are close to $800/ea if you fail. I got a retrofit for my 2005 f250 and the conversion with a new headlight (eagle eye replica) was right at $500 plus shipping. That's projector, shroud, 55w ballasts, headlights, bulbs.

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[Jv218]

Ha I bet. But converting from d3s is probably hard enough let alone damaging a new OEM headlights that are close to $800/ea if you fail. I got a retrofit for my 2005 f250 and the conversion with a new headlight (eagle eye replica) was right at $500 plus shipping. That's projector, shroud, 55w ballasts, headlights, bulbs.

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I do see some BMW guys play around with halo additions anyway. My 13 wrx had a custom set of morimoto d2s and clear lenses, completely blew the stock lighting out of the water. Sadly I'm not brave enough to try any conversion on my s4 lights


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[theswoleguy]

I do see some BMW guys play around with halo additions anyway. My 13 wrx had a custom set of morimoto d2s and clear lenses, completely blew the stock lighting out of the water. Sadly I'm not brave enough to try any conversion on my s4 lights


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Hell yea I have no before pictures but here's my retrofit on the excursion. Still adjusting the clocking of the projector.

Stock was like driving with candles in a wind storm.

I'm doing a clear lens swap on mine shortly.


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[Jv218]

Hell yea I have no before pictures but here's my retrofit on the excursion. Still adjusting the clocking of the projector.

Stock was like driving with candles in a wind storm.

I'm doing a clear lens swap on mine shortly.


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Looks really good man


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[theswoleguy]

Looks really good man


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Not my doing but thanks, I'm just leveling and clocking them correctly. Billion times better than drop in kits. Can't wait to have that cutoff on the s4.

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[MrFunk]

Awesome write up!
As I was planning on blacking out my side markers anyways I went ahead and bought these lenses... but upon further research it seems that for my car (B8) it is a very involved process with high risk of damage... shame it's not easier to get access to the lenses. Guess I'll be returning them.

[EHesh14]

Guys, this is where I bought the covers. Perfect fit

Audi A4 B8 Set Scheinwerfer Lampe Linse Abdeckung Brille 07-11 Jahr GENUINE http://r.ebay.com/CvRSgj

They are oem and were $330 plus some change shipped. Took about 3 weeks to arrive

[MrFunk]

Thanks for the info! I'll maybe give this a try after all

[MrFunk]

I started doing this project on mine and wow it's a bit daunting. EHesh14 was kind enough to send me some pics and a few pointers but there are so many pieces and everything seems so brittle that I'm sure I'd break something and was not sure which screws needed to be undone first etc.
If anyone has done this with a B8 and wants to post up a detailed DIY that would be awesome!

[AKPS4]

Does anyone have recommendations for type of paint to use to paint some pieces inside of the headlights? I'm considering this but also want to black out the heads like with some accent colors while everything is opened up.

Also, not completely clear on how to seal the headlights back up. Do you simply apply some head and follow with another bead of some butyl based sealant? Or other method?

[MrFunk]

Does anyone have recommendations for type of paint to use to paint some pieces inside of the headlights? I'm considering this but also want to black out the heads like with some accent colors while everything is opened up.

Also, not completely clear on how to seal the headlights back up. Do you simply apply some head and follow with another bead of some butyl based sealant? Or other method?

I'm just going to reheat the original sealant that's there and push it back together.
Good luck with the lense job - I gave up LOL - if it was one piece to remove it would not be so bad but seems like there are several you need to remove. Many of the screws are virtually impossible to get to so you have to pull on components to try and squeeze a screwdriver between them etc.



EDIT!

I ended up doing this project this eve. It was a PITA for sure... LOL. It took me probably 5-6 hours end to end.
I found a DIY for the B8 (sort of) - I followed this backwards. I have advanced lights so it was not exactly the same. Also the LED strip cover and the side marker carrier both would not come off independently so I had to reverse the order of some of the components...



New vs old lense:
The OEM lenses I have did not look anything like those of the OP. Perhaps it's because I have advanced lights? They did not have any dimples in them at all. OP's was covered in those dots/dimples. Mine were completely smooth. The new lenses were not much clearer than what was already in there either.

Removing the lense:
Once I got all the bits removed to get to the cage holding the lens - Again because i have advanced lights this is different - but I was not able to separate the aiming bracket from the cage (It was a mess of nuts and bolts and so many that seemed impossible to get to) so I ended up just removing the top two screws holding the cage to the aiming bracken and bending it down to get to the lenses. Worked fine.

Putting it all back together - was much easier, I just followed the above vid. I ended up with a couple screws left over - not sure where they go but everything seemed tight so I"m not worried.

Back on the car: Had to aim the lights again. Cut off is sharper but not drastically better. I was able to clean the inside of the headlight cover and black out my side corners so the lights look better and I think I have improved output probably due to the clean covers and slightly improved lenses.

Sorry I didn't take pics as I worked. This was just too frustrating a job to try and document. My bad...

[xuandatou]

I'm just going to reheat the original sealant that's there and push it back together.
Good luck with the lense job - I gave up LOL - if it was one piece to remove it would not be so bad but seems like there are several you need to remove. Many of the screws are virtually impossible to get to so you have to pull on components to try and squeeze a screwdriver between them etc.



EDIT!

I ended up doing this project this eve. It was a PITA for sure... LOL. It took me probably 5-6 hours end to end.
I found a DIY for the B8 (sort of) - I followed this backwards. I have advanced lights so it was not exactly the same. Also the LED strip cover and the side marker carrier both would not come off independently so I had to reverse the order of some of the components...



New vs old lense:
The OEM lenses I have did not look anything like those of the OP. Perhaps it's because I have advanced lights? They did not have any dimples in them at all. OP's was covered in those dots/dimples. Mine were completely smooth. The new lenses were not much clearer than what was already in there either.

Removing the lense:
Once I got all the bits removed to get to the cage holding the lens - Again because i have advanced lights this is different - but I was not able to separate the aiming bracket from the cage (It was a mess of nuts and bolts and so many that seemed impossible to get to) so I ended up just removing the top two screws holding the cage to the aiming bracken and bending it down to get to the lenses. Worked fine.

Putting it all back together - was much easier, I just followed the above vid. I ended up with a couple screws left over - not sure where they go but everything seemed tight so I"m not worried.

Back on the car: Had to aim the lights again. Cut off is sharper but not drastically better. I was able to clean the inside of the headlight cover and black out my side corners so the lights look better and I think I have improved output probably due to the clean covers and slightly improved lenses.

Sorry I didn't take pics as I worked. This was just too frustrating a job to try and document. My bad...

Great job, dude !!!

[MrFunk]

I have a before and after vids in lieu of pics.
It's a noticeably sharper cut off.

OEM lens Example:


Clear lens Examples:

[EHesh14]

Nice job getting it done! My pictures were a bit of a mess, but I wish I saw that video before I did mine. Looks so easy compared to how it really is. I also had a few screws left, but I haven't run into any errors or problems with the headlights for the last 4 months..Knock on wood.

[Pyromatic177]

Which option did you choose on these lenses? Cause there's a few different selections.

[whiped]

Which option did you choose on these lenses? Cause there's a few different selections.

Its in the first post. 3"

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/co...1#.V9dIbforKxp

[Pyromatic177]

I'm referring to the "lense quality" option under that listed product.

[whiped]

I'm referring to the "lense quality" option under that listed product.

They are quality levels.

ZKW-R: No imperfections
ZKW-R Hella Specific: Minor imperfections. (If you're hella specific)
..
..

Just get the ZKW-R.

[kyducati]

does anyone know who makes the projector, bosch, hella??

[whiped]

Just wanted to bump this and say thank you again Danny.

I referenced this last weekend when I was doing mine.

Few notes:

• The chrome on the inside of the headlights comes off VERY easily.
• The notch on the lens holding assembly goes on the bottom when installed.
• Taping these off is a PITA because the chrome will come off when you remove the tape.
• I vinyl wrapped my amber deflectors and the edges are starting to peel up a little bit. If you do this too I would suggest getting a decal that has adhesive on the back or spraying some instead of relying on surface tension alone.
• Make sure to wipe everything down with a microfiber clothe prior to reassembly to avoid having fingerprints and dust inside your headlights

The DRLs are powered by two single LEDs the shine through the fiber optic like lines that make up the DRLs.

I believe it would be pretty easy to apply a film over the LEDs if you wanted to change the colors of the DRLs.

[EHesh14]

Looks sweet! And the chrome trim inside is like cheap nail polish

[whiped]

Looks sweet! And the chrome trim inside is like cheap nail polish

It flakes off easily, if you push your finger down on it and pull it up you will have little chrome bits stuck to the end.

Painters tape will peel entire sections off if you aren't careful...

I was going to keep the chrome and black everything else out. Once I got it open my hand was forced so everything got blacked out.

Just handling it shouldn't pull the chrome up but if you push on it there is a decent chance some will come off.

[MrFunk]

Hm, I didn't tape anything off and was handling the chrome with quite a bit of force and didn't have any flaking or peeling.

[whiped]

Hm, I didn't tape anything off and was handling the chrome with quite a bit of force and didn't have any flaking or peeling.

We did 4 cars yesterday and the chrome on all of them was flaky.

If you aren't painting it really shouldn't be an issue for the B8s, the two B7s had minor flaking from removing recessed screws but it wasn't visible once put back together.

[Brandon K.]

Tip: Before you put everything together, make sure you power your headlight installed and see of you like the focus of the cutoff line. I had to refocus the lenses by using small washers in the projector that holds the lens to the main body. Since the lens has a slightly different shape, the focus is altered.[/QUOTE]

Anybody know if the "Lens Spacer Kit" from The Retrofit Source is what would/should take the place of the small washers? I have a B8 and it would be nice to know if I need to refocus the lens before going through the trouble of temporarily mounting them to check after each adjustment. $5 extra is a small price to pay to not have to do trial and error with washers.


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[waxxonMTL]

have you guys had to re-aim the lens after the clear lens swap ? It seems like my light is all over the place now or it's because it's so much better now that it actually diffuse the light correctly, I don't know ! lol It look like it's 30% brigther now and maybe allowed the light output to be seen further on the edge where previously It would concentrate the beam in the center, now it's like the beam has spread A LOT.

[Dnovakovic04]

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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[ZP_S4]

Just curious but has anyone upgraded the projectors and bulbs as well instead of just the clear lenses?

Email Caesar @ Lightwerkz. He can do it for sure, although I'm not sure on the cost. There was a thread where a forum member swapped in FX-R projectors and the difference was dramatic.

The $/lumen isn't there plus the rewiring. Coupler people I talked to said beyond the clear lens and set of good bulbs the gain is very minimal and costly

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Respectfully I have to disagree. New bulbs and clear lens will certainly help but it will be a minor improvement compared to swapping out the projectors. The stock Valeo's just don't have the output capabilities that you can achieve with a Morimoto projector.

[S2Gilly]

Just bought my zkw-r lenses, got my amber markers on order too to get sent out to make some clear/tint/smoked usdm replicas (B8 A4/S4). Pm me if you're interested in a set. I should have more information on them in about a week. (Sending them to the manufacturer on Monday, then it's a matter of him making the molds).


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[S2Gilly]

Tip: Before you put everything together, make sure you power your headlight installed and see of you like the focus of the cutoff line. I had to refocus the lenses by using small washers in the projector that holds the lens to the main body. Since the lens has a slightly different shape, the focus is altered.

Anybody know if the "Lens Spacer Kit" from The Retrofit Source is what would/should take the place of the small washers? I have a B8 and it would be nice to know if I need to refocus the lens before going through the trouble of temporarily mounting them to check after each adjustment. $5 extra is a small price to pay to not have to do trial and error with washers.

I bought the spacer kit just I case (got it from lightwerkz tho). I'll let you know how it turns out in a few weeks lol


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[303 Spartan]

For those separating the headlight lens from the housing to upgrade the projector lens or blackout the side markers, I HIGHLY recommend picking up some Retrorubber Butyl Glue instead of re-using the OEM glue. Failing to do so can lead to headlight condensation build up and/or water damage later on, as your mileage increases and the headlights are exposed to varying weather conditions + car washes. Not worth the risk, in my opinion. Just spend the extra $ and do it right.

https://www.amazon.com/RetroRubber-G.../dp/B01N5PM29J

After applying the new glue just put the projector housing back in the oven for 5 minutes at 200-225 degrees then pop the lens back on.


Anyway, I came from a 2015 WRX with a Morimoto D2S 4.0 projector upgrade to this S4 and must say that the one and only thing I miss from the old car is that headlight output. I'm looking into a retrofit options for the S4 at the moment. Looking forward to a new project.

Pics of my 2015 WRX + Morimoto D2S 4.0 projector output, for reference:

[waxxonMTL]

thats a sharp cut out! ^^

I did the clear lens and theres a CLEAR amelioration to the light output, however it seems like the focus is not sharp. No where sharp as the pic below. Maybe it's because of the spacer thing spoken previously ?

[S2Gilly]

thats a sharp cut out! ^^

I did the clear lens and theres a CLEAR amelioration to the light output, however it seems like the focus is not sharp. No where sharp as the pic below. Maybe it's because of the spacer thing spoken previously ?

Did you modify the cutoff plate? (Bend or remove the rv tab)


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[S2Gilly]

For those separating the headlight lens from the housing to upgrade the projector lens or blackout the side markers, I HIGHLY recommend picking up some Retrorubber Butyl Glue instead of re-using the OEM glue. Failing to do so can lead to headlight condensation build up and/or water damage later on, as your mileage increases and the headlights are exposed to varying weather conditions + car washes. Not worth the risk, in my opinion. Just spend the extra $ and do it right.

https://www.amazon.com/RetroRubber-G.../dp/B01N5PM29J

After applying the new glue just put the projector housing back in the oven for 5 minutes at 200-225 degrees then pop the lens back on.


Anyway, I came from a 2015 WRX with a Morimoto D2S 4.0 projector upgrade to this S4 and must say that the one and only thing I miss from the old car is that headlight output. I'm looking into a retrofit options for the S4 at the moment. Looking forward to a new project.

Pics of my 2015 WRX + Morimoto D2S 4.0 projector output, for reference:

I miss my S2k’s projectors so much... so amazing.


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