Creating a cutoff w/o projectors?

[-ND4SPD-]

First of all, nothing beats a set of retro projector housing if you're looking for the best lighting performance for your HID's.

Just as Stage 3 may be the better turbo option... not everyone can afford. This opens the door for other modified turbo options such as the SST, E1, etc...

So I was looking at the way the TL projector creat it's beautiful z" style cutoff & was suprised by how simplistic it was? I has already thought about doing the same thing on some stock headlight housings. (notice the "cover' is on the bottom. That's because the convex shape of the projector lense "flips" the light pattern as it passes through thus cutting off the top portion of the beam.... not the bottom as it may initially seem)



So why not block the light in a silimal way on the stock housing? Some people alread kinda do this with eyelids. It could be something solid like vinyl but you could use something like a commercial/ industrial window tint. They have some that are designed to be transparent from one side & be super reflective from the other... kind of like a 2 way mirror.



You could also place a sheet of clear acrylic inside & place the tint on the back side to block the light. Again you'd be able to see through but light couldn't pass through outwards. I'm not sure how the reflector is set-up angle wise so the lower or upper portion may need to be covered. Not sure which until I get to play with the actual beam some.



Finally you could always paint half of the reflector (not sure if it would need to be the bottom or top) so the light doesn't stray. You could also try & find some sort clear/ translucent paint that absorbs light or diffuse the intensity of the beam. You could maybe even sand the crome a bit so it's not as reflective? You get the idea.



Ok... thought, idea's, feedback, flames

[haknslash]

Yoour not going to get a sharp "Z" cutoff if that is what your trying to acheive. The reflector housing is still going to scatter light. Maybe up close to a wall at 5 ft you might see something but as distance increases, the reflector is going to spread the beam exponentionally.

What you should do if you don't go with a retro and insist on HID, is create a casper sheild. Many people who have kits have been using casper sheidls for years as a means to counter most of the severe glare issues. However its not going to improve your output at all. HID kits in these cars scatter light all over the place and create hot spots in the beam pattern. Casper sheidl is only going to cointrol the bottom portion of the reflector to minimize glare above the beam cutoff. A member here recently made one for his car Whoever said you couldnt obtain a good cutoff w/ aftermarket HID?

[evo77]

I've given some brief thought on a easier and less expensive way for a retro without going to projectors. The idea would be to find a D2R equipped vehicle that utilizes a similar sized reflector housing as the Dodge Neon and bascially swap the reflectors with some minor trimming of course. This would allow light dispersion to be near perfect without glare. Now we all know that projectors are better performing but at least this would serve as a much better alternative than a plug n play kit. I remember driving in front of a vehicle that I could have SWORN was a Neon. It had HID's and I kept thinking man there is absoutely NO glare. They looked great. Needless to say that car was actually a IS300.

The sad reality to this thought is that the chances of finding a D2R reflector housing that is even remotely close to the dimensions of the Neon would probably be slim to none, although I don't totally rule it out. You would have to gather a complete list of all OEM vehicles since the beginning of the HID era that utilized D2R burners. Then narrow down the list to ones that appear to have reflector housing similar in size to the Neon. The rest is up to you.

[-ND4SPD-]

HAK- Maybe I should clarify. I know you're not going to get a nice clean cutoff doing this That's why I prefaced my post the way I did. I did see that casper shield post previously but didn't like the results & I believe that performance-wise one of these idea's can create a better beam pattern. At least something that's better than just slapping in & P&P HID kit & blinding the world.

This sparked me to lay sleepless in bed a few nights. Once my brain gets going on an idea... it's hard to stop the madness I've seen a few SUV's & Mercedes alter the glass on the upper portion of a few headlights in much of the same whay I'm assuming to help with the same problem.

EVO- I've thought about the same thing you are. It's not fair that they have aftermarket projector for a chevy suburban but we can't get them for a neon? At least without spending $1000 & retro fitting

Here's an example of a mercedes headlight I've thought about canabalizing

[neonelite10]

To answer one of your questions, the lower part of the Neon (and all other reflector housings with one bulb for high/lows) is for the high beams, and the upper is for the lows.

[haknslash]

Quote: Originally Posted by -ND4SPD-

I've seen a few SUV's & Mercedes alter the glass on the upper portion of a few headlights in much of the same whay I'm assuming to help with the same problem.

Hmm, if your talking about like the way they did in those pics, then that really is just cosmetic turn signal area. They didn't block off the upper portion because of glare because there is a projector in there....which means those emit a beam that won't have glare.

Honestly your idea is novel and I know what your thinking about but the truth is no matter what you do to the stock halogen Neon reflector, its not going to improve your beam performance. Those reflectors are designed to control the lightwaves of a halogen bulb. If you painted the bottom of the reflector its just going to mess up the top portion of your beam, or worse, remove it completely because of the painted (now non-reflective) surface. Evo77 mentioned what a few people have done nin a few Honda Civics and that was retrofit in some D2R OEM HID reflectors like say from a 2003 Acura TL or a older Maxima, BMW, etc that came with OEM reflector based HID systems. Utilizing those specialty HID designed reflectors are going to give you quality HID perofrmance (for a reflector design) and also minimum glare, if at all. If you've ever looked closely at a OEM D2R HID reflector system while its operating, you'll notice the bottom portion of the reflector is either not lit or dimly lit. This is because of how the reflector is designed and so to not throw excessive light above the "cutoff" of the reflector beam. The reflector design is also made to evenly disperse HID light with minimum hot spots. Of course some OEM HID D2R reflector systems are better performing than others. Stay away from the dreaded Infiniti J30 and older Maxima ones if you do decide to retro in some OEM HID reflectors because frankly, I've driven in both of those systems and the output sucked for the most part. It was even sure and no glare issues but the beam was so short in terms of distance. The width wasn't that great as well. That is why projeectors will always be the better choice for retros. Sure they aremore expensive but you get soo much more for your money versus doing all the work just to fit in some HID reflectors. Just doesn't make sense to go thru all the hassle of trying to deal with a retro using a reflector when if you spend say maybe $100-200 more you could have tons better performance with a OEM HID projector. The biggest hurdle would be as Evo77 mentioned, finding a oem reflector that has similar or close dimensions to be able to fit in the housing, let alone line up close enough with the stock adjust so you could even adjust the thing....

My .02

Quote: Originally Posted by neonelite10

To answer one of your questions, the lower part of the Neon (and all other reflector housings with one bulb for high/lows) is for the high beams, and the upper is for the lows.

Honestly the lower portion of the reflector controls light in the upper section of the beam. The top visa versa. It doesn't matter if its high beam or low beam really.

[-ND4SPD-]

The lights I posted above were designs I've thought about trying to retro into a neon headlight. The shape is pretty similar.

I think we agree more than disagree. No matter what, this won't result in better performance than a projector.

Still there will be those who can't afford or choose not to do a retro. This may keep those people from blinding eveyone at the sacrafice of losing some lighting performance. As with almost all modifications, you give up something to make a gain elsewhere? Some might justify the loss in lighting performance to be safe. Some might see this reduced beam as still better then stock halogen?

I'm pretty set on doing a retro & I keep learning more so I can do it myself. I still might play with my spare headlights just for fun & see what happens... who knows. It's fun to throw out an idea & see what happens. Thanks for all the input!

[haknslash]

Even though the shape is similar, our interior of our headlight is actually pretty shallow and leaves little room despite the overall size and look of the headlight. The lens curvature is the biggest hurdle. You "could" fit in things like that if we didn't have sheetmetal structure behind our headlight. That way you could basically cut and gut out the rear of the headlight housing too allow the needed depth to bring in other headlight parts like in those pic.

I encourage you to try out your ideas. I always like palying with new ideas. But I have a feeling your just not going to get the results you would want. But have at it as I'ds be interested in seeing how it would turn out

As for people not being able to afford full on retros. I know. It's one of those mods that you really have to be dedicated to paying for when you want the best you can get. So I understand its out of reach for some people that otherwise would not be willing to spend that kind of money on lighting. To people like me, lighting is more important than go-fast parts or wheels, things like that, so its easy for me to justify saving up to get the best.