Mine came w/ the wire ring spacers, I didn't like the lack of support they provided. I was worried that they might get off kilter after I get the lights all buttoned back up so I just use a thicker cardboard spacer, I wish I would have went a bit thicker as I only have a small hint of blue and my cutoff isn't a sharp as Click Clack, still 10x better than the Fresnal lenses though

 

What makes the cutoff sharper - further away or closer to the source of light? Did you not get an equivalent cutoff because you made your own spacer out of thicker cardboard?

I definitely enjoy the nice sharp cutoff and I'd like it as refined as possible.

I also reached out to TRS to verify I received premium lenses versus the value lenses you warned me about. That is something I completely forgot to look into when I purchased.

 

So far, I've split my order between Diode Dynamics and TRS. Connoisseurr, how do you plan on wiring this up? So far, I've got a DRL relay from Lite minder, 4x 70mm ccfl rings, a bunch of weatherproof connectors, automotive wire, and amber LED strips from DiodeDynamics. I went to TRS, and ordered the TSX-R lenses w/spacer tuning kit, a pair of shrouds, and some butyl glue to button everything back up.

Plan:
Open the headlights and niteshade the amber reflectors. Sink the amber LED strip into the amber strip (cut to size), and wire it to a switch that will sit in the battery compartment.
Put one set of angel eyes onto the OEM shroud, and put the new shroud (cut to fit) from TRS inside the city light reflector. Use the shroud as a mounting point for the second angel eye. I'll have to use glue or something to hold the shroud in place. Wire all four angel eyes to the lite minder DRL relay and have it turn off when the main beams are on.

Does anyone have any advice on the cleanest, most secure way to mount things like angel eyes and shrouds inside your headlight? I don't know how hot it gets in there, and I'd hate to have to open it back up because something got shaken loose.

I am pretty sure the city light will be obstructed at least a little bit from the new shroud, but the angel eyes should more than make up for the loss of functionality.

 

As far as the cutoff, I didn't have the time to mount the light up and compare various spacer thickness, the metal rings were a bit less than 1/8" thick but over 1/16", if you want me to measure them I can do it tonight. I think that would probably be optimum (the metal ring spacing), probably get diminished returns going any thicker. I'm about 1/16" and more spacing gives sharper cutoff and more blue edge flicker to a point, just not sure what that point would be
I'm sure even the value lens would be a huge upgrade from the crappy OEM lens and I doubt the flaws are anything significant.

 

I'm pretty electronic savvy, so I made a simple relay harness that will supply power to each LED ring upon ignition. I have yet to test constant power for the wires on the headlight harness plug, but if one wire has constant +12v, I will use that for power on each side. if none exists, I will run power from the nearest constant +12v source. The relay switch will be based upon whichever point I tap for ignition power. Essentially the DRLs will only come on when the car is ON or RUNNING.

Measurement won't be necessary - I was just wondering if you knew how spacing effected the cutoff and output through the clear lens. Nothing back from TRS as of yet, but I have plenty of time to figure this out.

ClickClackSmack - did you use the o-ring spacer provided with the lens or something else? And/or did you purchase the optional "Spacer Tuning Kit" (whatever that is) from TRS along with your STI-R lenses?

 

Hmm couple months ago, I did the exact same thing that you did, swap sti-r lenses, blacked out housing, but after i put mine back on and being an idiot and not test the output my beam is a lot brighter and clearer with the lens but the cut off isn't so great...
I only put one of those paper spacers that came with the sti-r lenses and those seem to be so thin! From what I've read you put cardboard around 1/16 to 1/8th of an in thick? how did you do that?
So the problem that I am having is that you know how regular cutoff beam tend to have a two step? mine seems to have four steps total... take a look at the pictures on my thread... lol anyway I will probably open it back up again and take a look and see what i can do.
But yours looks great man! I'm so jealous haha.

link to my thread about weird cutoff beam pattern: https://www.myg37.com/forums/g37-sed...-off-beam.html

 

Nice, the CBI bulbs & clear lenses are a great upgrade

 

Almost ready for headlight surgery!

 

Jealous ! I wanna get mine done so bad !!! but still trying to contain myself, because if I'm gonna get it done , I'm gonna get it all done at once which is get them painted and everything all together !

 

Cannot WAIT to see how your lights turn out

This is the only way to get it all done - I plan to spend about 3-4 days on the entire process. I'll have a friend helping me out throughout the first day getting things done. Headlight disassembly, removing all sealant (while it's still warm), painting housings, installing STI-R lenses, mounting LED ring, drilling shrouds - all of that I plan to do the first day. Testing of the lenses and reassembly on the second.

I plan to seal them up the second day and let them set for a day or two. I like to give at least 36 hours before reinstallation just to ensure the seal is 100% dry, weatherproof and reliable.

 

Anthony, what's the Liquid Nails for? Or are you just prepared for anything

 

Connor, if you have the time to take some pics throughout the process, that would be an awesome DIY, there's not a single STiR lens swap DIY and would be a good opportunity if you want to take it on.
Look forward to the results!

 

I've got some ambitious plans. My city lights are in in the reflector dish that is closer to the centerline of the car, my fogs are down below in the bumper. I have some shrouds from TRS that I plan on cutting to fit and installing *inside* the reflector of the city lights. I'll use that shroud as a mounting point for an angel eye. The liquid nails is to attach the angel eye to the new shroud, I've also got some picture hanging wire just to make sure it doesn't move around. I also plan on using it to attach the false-shroud into the reflector dish. I wanted a clear silicone ahesive that dries clear and is high temp resistant.

The regular shroud holding my stock lens (to be swapped out with a TSX-R lens sitting in the white boxes) will be another mounting point for an angel eye. Eventually, I'll have QUAD ANGEL EYES, which is the holy grail of my headlight mod.

I'll take pics and post up a DIY once I figure out what works.

If this works out, I'll lose a little bit of the effectiveness of my city lights, but they should still shine through and provide some illumination anyways through the false-shrouds.

 

I wish my car wasnt DD so I could take my time doing it but 3-4 days at this point seems way too long for my time restrained capabilities and taking headlights apart for the first time especially on my G isnt something I wanna experiment myself on so I will have someone do that privately of course for a charge , but yet nothing compared to a professional shop who would charge at least triple the amount and thats too much for a headlight mod if you ask me considering I only want to get them painted and lenses swapped , wanted Iron-Man LED DRLs but opted out of this option incase one of the LEDs burns out every once in a while I dont wanna have to deal with taking headlights apart again and again over and over again.

Nonetheless I cant wait to get mine done , so jealous ! Seeing this thread and being subscribed to it doesnt make it any easier or less tempting !

 

Just wanted to echo that I'm in the process of getting everything together to mod my headlights. Will be blacking out the housing, gunmetal for the shrouds, adding led orb rings, and swapping to sti-r lenses.

I didn't think to black out the reflector with niteshades but I might be opting to do that now! My original thought was to cut a slit and run a white led strip for functionality, but wasn't sure if this was legal. Probably more legal than a complete black out of the reflector though.

Can you guys confirm what size (mm) the ring should be around the low beam projector shroud should be? I'm also really curious about "converting" the city light shroud to fit another set of halos, I'd love to see pics of this! But for now, I'm content with just a pair of halos.

One last question, I wanted to run my led rings to 3-way switch that can turn on upon ignition (DRLs), always on (just the halos), or completely off. Does anyone have insight on the wire setup to do that?

Subscribed, can't wait to see some pics.