Clear Lens Swap Tuning + Output Comparison - Lexus RX350 / STi-R

[Lightwerkz Global Inc.]

[Pklemm]

Hot damn look at that difference. That folks is why you clear lens swap


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HK45]

it has its positives and negatives

[TRSMatt]

damn daniel! back at it again with the clean beams I see!

[mdufficy]

Wow night and day difference

[Mostafa United]

it has its positives and negatives

negatives ?

[HK45]

negatives ?

Haha

[Mostafa United]

Haha

Really, what are the negative points of clear lens swap on these rx350 projectors ?

[HK45]

Sharp cutoffs can be rather distracting and there is very little light above the cutoff which makes it hard to see street signs and such.

[Nuvolari]

Really, what are the negative points of clear lens swap on these rx350 projectors ?

To add to what HK said the sharp transition from very bright to dark causes eye strain and makes it more difficult to see past the cutoff. In addition the fresnel lens blurs the beam pattern and makes the light under the cutoff more even and equally dispersed vs the clear lens which enhances the light and dark areas within the beam. Fresnel lenses also blurr the actual cutoff line making them appear straighter vs clear lenses which make the different heights of the cutoff more noticeable.

[Pklemm]

To add to what HK said the sharp transition from very bright to dark causes eye strain and makes it more difficult to see past the cutoff. In addition the fresnel lens blurs the beam pattern and makes the light under the cutoff more even and equally dispersed vs the clear lens which enhances the light and dark areas within the beam. Fresnel lenses also blurr the actual cutoff line making them appear straighter vs clear lenses which make the different heights of the cutoff more noticeable.

This is something I wanted to mention as I was thinking about the most recent IIHS test of the electric cars. Cars were getting poor rating for the headlights due to glare. They (IIHS) measured glare down the road at 3 feet 7 inches off the ground. Now wouldn't a clear lens solve this issue. Shaper cutoff causing less glare. The IIHS mentioned a number of times how some cars had good headlight but the glare made them poor. Seems like IIHS is hinting for a more controlled cutoff. The lux reading they measure for glare was I think 5 lux so not a ton of light but enough for their sensors to detect it and fail the headlight.

Quote from the IIHS

"A vehicle with excessive glare on any of the approaches can't earn a rating above marginal"

[ak_cowboy]

I wonder how far down the road that glare measurement was. The 2" drop at 25ft rule doesn't work well comparing a Civic to a F150 at 25 feet.

[Nuvolari]

This is something I wanted to mention as I was thinking about the most recent IIHS test of the electric cars. Cars were getting poor rating for the headlights due to glare. They (IIHS) measured glare down the road at 3 feet 7 inches off the ground. Now wouldn't a clear lens solve this issue. Shaper cutoff causing less glare. The IIHS mentioned a number of times how some cars had good headlight but the glare made them poor. Seems like IIHS is hinting for a more controlled cutoff. The lux reading they measure for glare was I think 5 lux so not a ton of light but enough for their sensors to detect it and fail the headlight.

Quote from the IIHS

"A vehicle with excessive glare on any of the approaches can't earn a rating above marginal"

This is hard to answer because I don't really know what they mean by glare and how they determine it. Yes, a clear lens will definitely define the cutoff better and reduce light above a certain level. But once the car squats and nose dives the cutoff will rise and fall making it seem like the headlights are high-beaming since the transition from light to dark is so abrupt. This can be percieved as a form or glare. So can the colorful cutoff produced by using a clear lens. Some drivers don't like light shows while driving.
These things are effectively reduced with a blurred lens making the transitions more gradual and reducing color at the cutoff and adding more yellow instead of blue/purple to make it less noticeable. The yellow cutoff mixes well with the light emitted from the projector.

[Pklemm]

This is hard to answer because I don't really know what they mean by glare and how they determine it. Yes, a clear lens will definitely define the cutoff better and reduce light above a certain level. But once the car squats and nose dives the cutoff will rise and fall making it seem like the headlights are high-beaming since the transition from light to dark is so abrupt. This can be percieved as a form or glare. So can the colorful cutoff produced by using a clear lens. Some drivers don't like light shows while driving.
These things are effectively reduced with a blurred lens making the transitions more gradual and reducing color at the cutoff and adding more yellow instead of blue/purple to make it less noticeable. The yellow cutoff mixes well with the light emitted from the projector.

Well as far as I understand it the IIHS test the cars on a flat surface while driving. You can imagine the headlight bounce would be minimal just normal slight variations on normal flat roads. I'd also assume that 3 feet 7 inches has to be an average height location of a side mirror and that's where the sensors are set up. On all the testing videos I've seen that the IIHS has done they've made a big deal about the glare from the headlight and if a car had significant glare they would only at best be given a marginal rating (rating levels; Good, Acceptable, Marginal, Poor). Now I understand there are other aspects that go into a headlight glaring (more importantly how they are aimed from factory). I'm sure we've all stood in front of our retrofits at certain length away and dipped our heads down to the cutoff line to see the color flicker. As we notice whether our eyes are 1 inches above the cutoff or 3 feet above the cutoff it virtually has the same effect on our eyes (or on oncoming traffic).

Basically what I am getting at is, would the negative effects of a clear lens for a driver have a bigger positive effects for oncoming drivers? (This is going off of the IIHS scrutinization of glare). I'd also like to see what they would say about a RX350 clear lens swap/ tuning retrofit. How would that stack up in their testing? Especially since the sharp cutoff wouldn't come into play on their test instruments (as far as the effects on the drivers eyes with a sharp cutoff)

[Pklemm]

I'm going to start a new thread. I highjacked this lol