Clear lenses

[svxistentialist]

The finished lamp with clear lenses looks good, is professionally finished, and will very likely improve the amount of light output.

But it will do nothing for the quality of light output. The sets of prisms built into the original lens were designed to give the light from the lamp an even spread. The pure lamp/bulb combination will have hot spots and probably most of the light centred, very little spread. Over here, that would be illegal, as the light would not be focussed.

A small point in relation to discolouration of the plastic. Putting in higher output bulbs is very probably making this problem far worse for a lot of owners. The lamps were designed to cope [in Subaru terms anyway] with the amount of heat produced by the stock 55w bulbs. When and if the plastic dulls, putting in higher rated bulbs to increase the available light is subjecting the plastic front to higher temperatures than it was designed to cope with.

These lenses may originally have been coated with a clear anti-UV lacquer. It would not surprise me if the higher temperature is causing this coat to oxidise and bake to the outer plastic surface, causing a lot of the discolouration. Anyone finding their lights to be dull would be well advised to attend to the wiring upgrade on the earths, and get the voltage to the lights up to standard. Pay attention to upgrading the earth connection to each bulb also, particularly main beam.

Joe

[museumquality]

i did test the lamps before starting the clear lens project and the funny thing is, the spread/coverage was the same, just much brighter cleaner light. i tested the old against the new plastic covered lens, down my street, it all looked good, although i may adjust my low beams a little lower now,- high beams were great, when do you run these lights at anyone? - and the fogs seem to work much much better (which i thought were useless before). i think the prizims are there to aid in consideration to others in on coming traffic. perhaps there to soften the light. but what do i know?? it now seems to be as bright as,, and has the look of the new bmws. i will post jpgs with the lights switched on soon, i wish i would have snapped a comparison of the two.
i may attempt the re-wire job next, i do want to ride the vehicle with the lights on for a bit, i will watch the plastic, and if any reactions to the heat. so those of you who want to put me to work on this project, give me a test week or two with my new beta versions.