DIY: The Retrofit Source (TRS) Retro-Quick System - Burnt ZKW Bowls - Projector Retrofit doityourself

[rguti153]

That blows cause I know the fxr r really good , n I was surprise to hear u didn't like them , but I was thinking they were the fxr projectors .

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[az3579]

That blows cause I know the fxr r really good , n I was surprise to hear u didn't like them , but I was thinking they were the fxr projectors .

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I don't think he has FX-R's...

My FX-R v1.0's are a bit better than the M3 AL projectors I had before. They appear to me to have a sharper cutoff and they have a much wider beam pattern, which I really like. FX-R's are phenomenal, especially if you get the latest and greatest version (3).

[anandoc]

+1

I have the FX-R 3.0s and I have not seen a sharper cut-off in another car. I believe the bulbs that I have are the 11 year old original ones which came with the car. I can only imagine how much better the light output would be if I put in new Osram CBIs.

[terraphantm]

Don't get me wrong, the cutoff is ridiculously sharp on these (almost too sharp honestly), and the beam width is probably a bit better than the ALs. And the highbeams are spectacular. But the low beams seem lackluster. The ALs feel better for high speed driving to me.

[jakksfor20]

Don't get me wrong, the cutoff is ridiculously sharp on these (almost too sharp honestly), and the beam width is probably a bit better than the ALs. And the highbeams are spectacular. But the low beams seem lackluster. The ALs feel better for high speed driving to me.

That is the problem my wife has with ours. She likes driving my car(323ci) better at night because she says the beam is scattered more and there is not a sharp cut off. I'm half tempted to trade ours for a set of AL's or just pick up a set.


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[terraphantm]

That is the problem my wife has with ours. She likes driving my car(323ci) better at night because she says the beam is scattered more and there is not a sharp cut off. I'm half tempted to trade ours for a set of AL's or just pick up a set.


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Yeah that's probably what I'm going to do. Hell, since my M3 is going to be parked for the winter, maybe I'll just steal the ALs out of that for now.

Another thought I had was using the Hella "E55" projectors rather than the EvoX-Rs. They appear to be dimensionally identical to me, but since they're OEM projectors, they might work better. My dad's E60 has the D1S variants of the E55 projectors, and they seem to be nicer for actual driving (even if the EvoX-Rs photograph better)

[egiles14]

I just wanted to say a big 'Thank you' to Tom and others who have greatly contributed to this thread. I spent most of the day installing the projector retrofit kit from The Retrofit Source, as well as clearing up the cloudy headlight lenses using Meguiar's Perfect Clarity 2-step kit. This write-up was much appreciated, as TRS doesn't provide any instructions. The light output using the factory xenon bulbs is excellent, and literally a night and day difference from the burned ZKW projector bowls.

[theothersawyer]

I will be doing this one pretty soon!

[swchang]

I wasn't sure if I should post in this thread or start my own. Apologies if I chose incorrectly.

I recently brought my car to a well-regarded indy shop in my area. The shop owner, who seems to know what he's doing, said he could not install the retrofit kit that people here are recommending. I bought this (https://www.theretrofitsource.com/co...l#.V6UIdvkrKM9) and even gave him the link to this thread. Regardless, he said he had a few problems:

1) He could slide the silver plastic covering (not sure of the proper name) over the projector, but it wouldn't latch on or fasten anywhere. It would just slide back off.
2) He said the entire assembly was too long.
3) The wiring pins were incorrect.
4) He said to make things fit he would have had to do a substantial amount of Dremeling.

He thinks I got the wrong parts. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

[terraphantm]

1) He could slide the silver plastic covering (not sure of the proper name) over the projector, but it wouldn't latch on or fasten anywhere. It would just slide back off.
2) He said the entire assembly was too long.
3) The wiring pins were incorrect.
4) He said to make things fit he would have had to do a substantial amount of Dremeling.

He thinks I got the wrong parts. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

1) Yeah they don't latch on. I just pressed mine on really hard and they're holding so far. Otherwise they can be glued on
2) The assembly is longer but still fits
3) The wires are for the bixenon shutter. Just cut and splice them into the stock connection. Polarity doesn't matter.
4) A fair bit of dremeling is required.