headlight lens w/o fluting (ribs)

[doogie howser]

do they exist? i'd like a flat lens for my US and euro ellipsoids.

[nando]

there were some on ebay for a while

[E30_fiend]

Yeah they sell them on eBay they are called cystal clear lenses. They look hiduous but whatever floats your boat.


E30_Fiend

[doogie howser]

Yeah they sell them on eBay they are called cystal clear lenses. They look hiduous but whatever floats your boat.


E30_Fiend

don't worry, there's a reason and it's more functional than aesthetic. the ribs disperse the light in a way so that it goes in directions other than just to the ground in front of you. you may have the most focused projector but putting this lens in front of it will still scatter the light in a way that i don't want it to. it's OK to have the ribs when you're using halogen but it's not that great when you have HID output getting scattered. i've already checked how different it would be w/o the lens and w/ the lens. the difference is not great, but it is noticeable. w/ the lens off, the cutoff from my US ellips were much sharper than w/ the lens. once i put the lens in front of it, there was a noticeable scattering of light. i understand that it helps to scatter the light to make it easier to see street signs and such, but it'll annoy driver's in front of me as well.

[///M42 sport]

lets see some pics. yeah I saw some on ebay.

[doogie howser]

lets see some pics. yeah I saw some on ebay.

will do, as soon as i find the replacement lenses i want. if you notice, on most current cars w/ xenon projectors, they have a clear lens, no flutes.

i can't find them on ebay. i searched for "bmw lens" under the headlight category.

[BrewCity11]

you can have pretty much any glass lens ground smooth so you don't have to switch them out, unless the flutes are on the inside of course.

find someone local who does glass poilshing/refinishing.

[NC325iC]

have you seen your headlights up close brew?.. unless the flutes are on the inside...

i dont think you will get any noticeable difference in light output from such a trivial thing, the projector lens is so close to the protective glass lens that the scattering from the flutes is negligable

[tjts1]

I noticed the exact same thing when I removed the lenses off a my new $15 ellipsoids. The cut off becomes much sharper with less light scatter above horizontal. I have some unfluted lenses here I'm going to try to use. I'll post some comparison pics soon.

[tjts1]

I did a quick and dirty comparison tonight with a E32 9006 bulb DOT projector I picked up at the JY for $10.

The victim


Removed the lens


The original Hella lens had very fine fluting in the middle to help disperse light upward to illuminate overhead lights. This is the the main difference between a DOT projector and E-code projector.


I temporarily fitted a clear lens from a 5.75" Autopal free form reflector.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/5-3-4-4000-H5006-H4-HID-EURO-DIAMOND-HEADLIGHTS-SET_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742Q2em153Q2el1262QQcategoryZ33710QQihZ013QQitemZ230132376970QQtcZphoto

For comparison, I connected a short pigtail to the battery in my trunk using the same 9006 bulb and projector while swapping lenses.

Original Hella DOT fluted lens.


Clear Autopal lens.


The headlight is about 2 feet from the target and camera is at a similar distance. To the naked eye the difference is dramatic. Not only is the glare above the cut off completely gone with the clear lens but the light below the line is brighter. I'm sure some of the difference is due to the old pitted lens but the fluting was put there to to comply with the DOT over head sign rule. I think with 9005 or HID bulbs the difference would be even more dramatic.

cheers
Justin

[bmw325csi]

light output looks good but the light itself looks weird. Maybe if they were smoked.

[tjts1]

No, the projector was completely stock except for the lens swap. Its the distance from the target that makes the pattern look weird and you get the rainbow effect around the cut off. The step in the cut off becomes more defined as you increase the distance from the projector to the target. Here the distance was just 2 feet in order to take the picture work in my trunk.

[NC325iC]

hes saying the the actual unit looks strange with the clear lens, and maybe it would look better if it were smoked

[tjts1]

hes saying the the actual unit looks strange with the clear lens, and maybe it would look better if it were smoked

Doh. I must be tired.

[bmw325csi]

:giggle: