momo

One of the first things that I noticed about the RX8 was the rather weak HID’s. My goal is to have brighter light output. This is what I came up with. I plan to either switch, depending which ever is easier, the entire projector or just the reflector glass.

My question is has anyone opened up or tried doing this before? Is there a DIY write up somewhere or will I be the first to do this?

By the way I have some Stanley projectors that are about the same size waiting for the 8. They should be in sometime this week. So, I don't have them in my grubby lil hands. I will post pics when they come in though...

RX4life

how are they "weak"



i think they are amazing.. just as bright as any other HID..how much more brighter car you go seriously???

i highly doubt that the prjector and reflector . will significantly improve light output...

sohcpunk

the rx8's projectors are fairly weak compared to the projectors of the s2000. I would highly recommend you try to retrofit the s2000 projectors on to the rx8. Its brighter and the beam cut off is sharper

momo

Maybe up North. I notice, at night on the road, other cars with OEM HID's outperform the 8's system. Like I said in another thread, I had an HID kit in our Miata. You want to talk about bright. When I was at the Mazda dealer last week, I did notice that the Miata has bigger/different projectors.




Wrong, I begg to differ. I've done research on our HID system and came to the conclusion that our reflector lens are the weak link. The 8 uses Philip HID's DS2 which is also OEM for Audi, BMW, and the S2k, there amazing on these cars. So, it boils down to the reflector lens.

Stanley projectors are very similar in size as the OEM 8's projectors, but the Stanley's have greater light output.



Thats sounds like a good idea. But I'm getting a hell of a deal on the Stanley projectors and they should be equivalent, or so I hope anyway. :D

RX4life

so what you are sayin is that the projectors are too small on the 8? in effect limiting the light that travels through it...

jnam27

It's not about size, it's about light transmit efficiency. The projector determines beam pattern as well as beam strength.

I am not sure about the reflector momo is saying. We don't have a reflector in our projectors. Maybe you meant the reflectors in our high beams .

Also our projectors are made by Stanley .

momo

What I’m saying is that not all projectors are made the same. It’s not only the size but also the shape of the lens. Some are have nonparbolic lens vs. parabolic lenses.


I meant the lens form the projectors.

Snap. I wonder if the have the same lens though?

RX4life

so a parabolic.. lens would concentrate more light through.. am i right... on the other hand a non parabolic.. is what we have on our cars??? which flattens/spreads the beam of light giving it a more "dull" or "weaker" look??

jnam27

Not only the shape of the lens, also thickness, material used for the lens and patterns engraved on the lens etc. all account for the beam pattern and strength. It's pretty complicated .

Momo, don't worry about Stanley. The projectors of S2000 is also from Stanley/Kioto (sp?) collaboration. . Just check it if what you got is the same projector of rx8 or not before you try .

I almost tried this retrofitting, but gave up after I found out about the auto leveling system in our car and the price of stock headlight ($800ish each ). Did't want to mess up.

Please make a DIY instruction if you're successful!!!
Good luck!