LexRX

lexcoupe, that is a picture of the new A4's headlight, not the S4. The S4 still uses the previous generation A4 body

lexcoupe

eh, i dont know much about audi's and the differences between the a's and the s's and the other kind, but anyways thats the light im talking about, i love all audi lights. thanks RX for the correction, sorry guys.

Kevin

SC300TURBO

iTrader: (2)

what exactly are the optics?...i dont know alot about HIDs except i love the look while driving with them and the way they look from afar........now if you could ...explain further..id really appreciate it....Jeff

lex400sc

Every automotive lighting system has light optics. The ones I took pictures of above are the optics installed in our cars by Lexus and are designed for the 9006/HB4 halogen standard. Optics is a term that describes everything related to light manipulation in the headlight. This includes the bowl reflector, the reflector shield, focal lens, and the design that they are used together in. They are respoinsible for cut off level, beam pattern, and focal point. Every car on the market has a slightly different to very different variation of optics design. If you rebased an H1 bulb to fit in a 9006 socket, the lighting would be affected.

But this effect pales in comparison to the differences encountered by HID optics. HID optics are designed around the gas-discharge capsule, which is a longer tubular bulb, and emits a different type of light both in intensity and pattern, and also emits it from a diferent position from halogens. Since HID bulbs are three times brighter than halogen, the beam pattern doesn't have to be as constrained and concentrated as they are. Halogen lights don't produce enough light to have a wide and far reaching expanse, therefore halogen optics focus the beam pattern much tighter ahead on the road. Fit an HID bulb in there and all the light is focused into a single point, when it is designed to be focused wider and deeper with a more evenly dispersed light head on. This causes an intense point of light, which causes glare similar to staring at the sun.

This difference is what causes poor lighting in most HID kits, because a kit conversion includes the rebased bulb and a ballast and no consideration for optics. But a lot of the glare caused in kitted cars is due to the fact that no one is releveling their headlights once the HIDs go in. I want to go full out OEM with optics designed specifically by lighting engineers for the D2S standard, but that entails a lot of work. Especially when I'm venturing out on the uncharted land of the SCx00.

Toog4me

i dont like the audi lights too much because theyre too purple... the best ones are the nice bright whites with a little tiny blue tint, sorta like the benzs

Manaray

Lex400SC - you THE man! Thanks for the great photos and dimensions. You have inspired me to look for "donor" HID optics. But we may NOT need to get "HID optics"...

A buddy of mine has a brand new 2003 GMC Yukon Denali. We just installed some Sylvania Silver Star 9006's tonight...(great headlights!) and I took notice of the optics (due to your posts!)

It has 9006 projector lamps with a SUPER DEFINED cut-off line...looks like my HIDs in terms of the cut-off...What I'm thinking is that we can use the optics of that projector with a 9006 HID kit...

He had some *****ty HID-ish lights in there and one of them blew up in the housing (No surprise! He was running a 100W bulb in a 65W system...now you guys understand why I say NOT to do this!)...so I might have a slightly "cloudy" donor unit to test...I have a set of Lexus factory HID's (from a GS430) so I can try mounting the HID bulb into the house just to project a beam...if I can get this done, I'll take pictures...

If the cut-off looks good, then the next step is to try to fit it into the SC's housing...I'm thinking if it "sorta fit", I can get an "adapter" made (out of fiberglass or metal...depending on what needs to be done)....

Who knows, we might have a reasonable HID system soon!

lex400sc

Cool info manaray! I've also heard that the 9006 projector has naturally good cut-off. I've never put it to the test though. Can anyone with an HID kit in their SC take pictures of it from 2-25 feet against a white wall, and a couple from 25 or more feet slightly elevated head on. In the dark with no flash. If they are good enough, I may just use a high quality kit instead. Then again the Audi/BMW look in an SC is very tempting


Audi TT lights in a VW Passat. Awesome!......

lex400sc

This is another good picture to take. Park your car adjacent to a white wall and take a pic of the line beamed onto it. If it is straight, sharp, and slow drops elevation, that's a plus!

lex400sc

Or a pic of the beam pattern is good too. Notice how the light beam is always below other cars' windshields. Excellent........

SC300TURBO

iTrader: (2)

Wow....i just learned alot............thank you very much for that lesson...those pics of the hids look very powerfull....i have been wanting HIDs for a while..im anxiously awaiting your results.....Jeff

lexcoupe

yah ive heard that you can just take a 9006 HID kit out of most any car that has HID's and make them fit into the Optic, it shouldnt be a problem. My friend is giving me some donor 9006 HID bulbs and ballasts and ill see how that all works out. But thanks for the excellent info there lex400sc!

Kevin

SC300T

I'm not sure I understand....
Don't they arlready make HID kits that are beam / pattern corrected for these projector lense type installs? I thought that the kits for the Supra and SC300 were pretty good and close to what comes from the factory.

That guy on Supraforums (Ranger498?) that sells them corrected for the Supra look awesome, IMO. Same kit would apply to the SC300. Have you guys had some bad luck with the HID kits?

SC300TURBO

iTrader: (2)

i dont know anything abouthtat supra kit...coulod you get more info on it?......what is modified?...cost?....type of bulbs and ballasts.....color of light?.....ect ect and pics of course....ou the man scott hows the Mrs. and that slow GS400 Jeff

SC300T

All's well up here---and the GS4 is still slow as ever!

lex400sc

Kits don't offer anything in the way of light control. All they are is a ballast and bulb to produce the light, a rebased bulb to fit the 9006 socket, and a relay harness for safety and longevity. If that guy Ranger498 played with the kit and base enough, and the optics were just right, he might get some good results. Do you have any pictures of his kits installed into a Supra? Or anyone with a kit for the SCx00 have pics? I know there are a lot of you out there. I'm curoius as to the results.