[chuckles01]

I've been following TRS and Lightwerkz on instagram and facebook for some time, and seeing all those beautiful output shots from their projector modifications made me really envious. I have a '14 F30 with the factory adaptive Xenons, but I've always wondered why the output just could not compare. A few months back, I switched the D1S OEM HID bulbs to Osram CBIs. While slightly brighter, the color was still quite warm and the cutoff fuzzy. A little bit of research later, I realized it's because the OEM projectors use fresnel lenses, which is designed to soften the output and cutoff. To change it, you'd have to swap out the fresnel lens for clear lens. All the research I've done has said that the F30 headlight housing is quite difficult to take apart, so for the longest time I just thought I'd never get it done. Plus, Lightwerkz, which has an awesome reputation, was too far for me to go there in person.

Finally, over the holidays I came across a local shop that specializes in BMW headlight customizations called BayOptiks. It seems like a rather new shop, but I liked that they worked quite a bit on BMW lights. Looking at their work, most of it is full customizations like changing the angel eyes, satin blackouts, carbon fiber brows, etc. but I didn't want all that. I literally just wanted a clear projector lens swap. I reached out and scheduled the work to be done around New Year's.

So, Jeff (owner of BayOptiks) had originally intended on using zkw-r lens. From all my research it seems like that's one of the popular lenses for BMW projectors. However, when he tried the zkw-r lenses, spacers were required to achieve the correct focal point. That wasn't an issue, and in fact created a really nice blue band at the cutoff. The issue was that with the added spacers, the OEM shroud would no longer fit over the projector. I could use the zkw-r lens with the spacers, but without the shroud - but I didn't really want that since if you looked closely you could see the missing shroud and it would seem incomplete. The other option was then to use a different clear lens with a focal point closer to the OEM fresnel lens. This turned out to be the q5-r lens. With this lens, spacers weren't necessary and the OEM shroud fit over the projectors no problem. The downside was much less of the bluish band at the cutoff. Now that I think about it, I do wonder if it was possible to use an aftermarket shroud and keep the zkw-r setup, but oh well.

I got my car back during the day, but that night as soon as I fired up the headlights... wow. I mean, wow. The cutoff is super sharp, there's a better hotspot, the color is whiter, and the beam pattern seems more evenly distributed. Whereas in the OEM pattern, the light kind of fades out at the edges of the beam, the sides get better light. Color flicker is still there, but very mildly and not anywhere near what it was with the zkw-r lenses. The clear lens swap really brought out the potential of the Osram CBIs. Although not a cheap mod, personally I've always wanted to do this and am glad I did.

The one downside I did notice was that when I popped the hood and inspected the headlight, I noticed that the reseal of the headlight could've been cleaner. There was quite a bit of sealant oozing out from where the headlight housing and headlight lens meet. In addition, maybe due to the heat used to open the headlight, small edges of some parts of the plastic has very slightly melted. None of it is visible from outside the car when the hood is down. I had never done any work related to my headlights before, so I don't know if this is fairly standard outcome for cracking open and resealing the headlight. Since it's not visible on a day to day basis, I haven't reached out to Jeff to check on this. But, as long as it holds up and doesn't leak, I'm ok.

Here are some pics. I don't have the best after photos, but I think it gives an idea. I've recently switched from CBIs to CBB but I'll post that review separately.

[jkwhar]

That looks awesome!!

I have a spare headlight that I took apart and have the lens sitting on my desk. I took some measurements and see what TRS had but the reason why I didn't pull the trigger was specifically because I wasn't sure which lens would be the perfect focal point. Your post just answered my question and will be a summer project. So thank you for your post!

[chuckles01]

Originally Posted by jkwhar

That looks awesome!!

I have a spare headlight that I took apart and have the lens sitting on my desk. I took some measurements and see what TRS had but the reason why I didn't pull the trigger was specifically because I wasn't sure which lens would be the perfect focal point. Your post just answered my question and will be a summer project. So thank you for your post!

Thanks! Glad this was helpful, I really love the output after the lens swap and I'm sure you will too. My guess is you could get a zkw-r lens to fit with spacers but you'd need to modify or get custom shrouds. The q5-r worked with the OEM shrouds though.

Goodluck and share photos when you have it done!

[jkwhar]

Originally Posted by chuckles01

Thanks! Glad this was helpful, I really love the output after the lens swap and I'm sure you will too. My guess is you could get a zkw-r lens to fit with spacers but you'd need to modify or get custom shrouds. The q5-r worked with the OEM shrouds though.

Goodluck and share photos when you have it done!

Hey! Quick question, do you remember how much spacers (mm if possible) are needed with the zkw-r lenes?

thanks!

[chuckles01]

Originally Posted by jkwhar

Hey! Quick question, do you remember how much spacers (mm if possible) are needed with the zkw-r lenes?

thanks!

Sorry I don't unfortunately. I had a shop do it for me and they ended up using Q5-r lenses instead since they couldn't get the zkw-r to work with the OEM shrouds.

[jkwhar]

Originally Posted by chuckles01

Sorry I don't unfortunately. I had a shop do it for me and they ended up using Q5-r lenses instead since they couldn't get the zkw-r to work with the OEM shrouds.

Got it. thanks for the quick reply! I was hoping to use the zkw's but if using the spacers doesnt allow the factory shroud to fit probably means its pushing it far enough. I guess i'll be going towards the Q5-r's! Btw, did they cut the headlight housing or did they tackle the permaseal?

[chuckles01]

Originally Posted by jkwhar

Got it. thanks for the quick reply! I was hoping to use the zkw's but if using the spacers doesnt allow the factory shroud to fit probably means its pushing it far enough. I guess i'll be going towards the Q5-r's! Btw, did they cut the headlight housing or did they tackle the permaseal?

Yeah, or you'd have to make or find custom shrouds that could fit over, which could be more hassle. The plus of the Q5-r lenses is that it fit with the shrouds, but the downside was that there wasn't as much of a color band as I had hoped for.

I believe they tackled the permaseal vs. just cutting the lens.

Goodluck on the project. Please post pics after! Would love to see the outcome.

[jkwhar]

Originally Posted by chuckles01

Yeah, or you'd have to make or find custom shrouds that could fit over, which could be more hassle. The plus of the Q5-r lenses is that it fit with the shrouds, but the downside was that there wasn't as much of a color band as I had hoped for.

I believe they tackled the permaseal vs. just cutting the lens.

Goodluck on the project. Please post pics after! Would love to see the outcome.

Awesome! thanks! If and when I tackle this, i might try bending the shield a bit to see if I can squeeze a little extra blue/purple at the cut off.

Thanks again! I'll post pics when I tackle this. The Permaseal has been the reason for actually doing it lol.

[Öperator]

Planning on sending my headlights to a local shop, to see if they can work the ZKW-R clear lens in. Also went with the CBB's. I've been hooked on clear lens swaps since my Mazda3 15+ years ago.

[chuckles01]

Originally Posted by Öperator

Planning on sending my headlights to a local shop, to see if they can work the ZKW-R clear lens in. Also went with the CBB's. I've been hooked on clear lens swaps since my Mazda3 15+ years ago.

👍post pics if you get it done. Really loving my cutoff and output after the lens swap.

[Öperator]

Originally Posted by chuckles01

👍post pics if you get it done. Really loving my cutoff and output after the lens swap.

Found this thread https://www.m5board.com/threads/high...output.606586/ and was hoping I could get the ballast boosted too (up to 55w). But the OP said I'd have to lose AFS, and retrofit in d2s bulbs. So I think I'm going to pass on that option.

[chuckles01]

Originally Posted by Öperator

Found this thread https://www.m5board.com/threads/high...output.606586/ and was hoping I could get the ballast boosted too (up to 55w). But the OP said I'd have to lose AFS, and retrofit in d2s bulbs. So I think I'm going to pass on that option.

Yeah, that sounds a bit involved. Also with boosted ballast, your light output color will seem warmer (more yellow). Eg a 4300k bulb will look more yellow than what 4300k normally looks like, etc.

[Öperator]

Originally Posted by chuckles01

Yeah, that sounds a bit involved. Also with boosted ballast, your light output color will seem warmer (more yellow). Eg a 4300k bulb will look more yellow than what 4300k normally looks like, etc.

Yeh, in my Tacoma I have a retrofit installed, with d2s CBB's, Morimoto 55w ballasts, and clear lenses installed. The output is a crisp white. Definitely wouldn't mind it if I was able to get the same output on the 328. But losing the AFS is a no go for me. The guy that does the modification said an upgraded projector can provide even better output than the advantages that AFS brings, but I'm just not willing to part with the system. I'll be packing up my extra headlights and sending them off today or tomorrow. The shop offered to do some paint work, but I kind of like the simplicity of the OEM style.