ZKW-R Swap Woes... :C

So I just finished my ZKW-R lens swap, and man was that a doozey.
First off, the lenses ARE bigger than OEM. I specifically called and talked to TRS (TheRetrofitSource) to ask if this problem has been looked into and he said that he's never heard of them being too big but that you have to order a notched set for them to fit. I ordered the notched set and to my surprise, the are still about 1mm bigger in diameter than OEM.

I will say that everything went fairly smoothly right up until it came to get the assembly off of the auto leveling arm. On my first try I snapped the plastic housing holding the motor and bent the adjusting rod pretty substantially. But, I got it all straight and epoxied back together. On my second try, I broke the clip holding the arm to the assembly itself. More epoxy and more down time. So moral of this story so far is to be extremely careful when popping the adjustment arm off of that little white clip. In all the DIY's, it merely says to just pry up and off it will pop. I say neigh to this... Haha. And in case you do break something like I did, don't bother calling the dealership. In order for you to buy this tiny piece of plastic to fix it, you must buy the entire auto adjusting arm ($117.00) and the wont be bothered by separating the two for you. I did, in fact get it all put back together and everything installed. But, that just brings me to my next woe...

Below is a picture of the finished product. You'll notice that my driver's side light has a beautiful blue cutoff up top and a gorgeous light below. While my passenger side is sharp, but with no color. Save for maybe a hint of purple. And I'm using Khoalty 6000k bulbs. They seem to put out plenty of light for the 25 dollar price tag, I installed a brand new pair of bulbs when doing this swap so it is not color difference or anything of that nature. I have 2 sets of these brand new 6000k's and tried them all to be sure. I also did this test with the lenses off as my passenger side lens is significantly cloudier than my driver's side.

So my question is... Is this fixable. Can I adjust the screw on the back of the passenger side projector housing outward in order to achieve a more blue line across the top? Or will I have to adjust the driver's side to match the passenger. Currently both screws are taken all the way in because I wanted to have a baseline comparison before I started adjusting. I've already bent both RV shields slightly. Just enough to get them out of the way, and they are bent nearly identically. I want to know if this is possible before I pull them out and start fiddling with them again. I also wanted to share a bit of caution with you all so you don't make the same mistakes I did. I had to drive to work and back today with no lights :C
So ghetto...

I'm starting to think that due to the size of the lenses being incorrect, the passenger side lens is seated more flat where as my driver side lens is at a slight angle.
I vaguely remember looking at the lens while installing from the bottom of the lens seat and noticing that the bottom part of the lens was sitting about 1mm further away from the bottom then the top was. Shoot...
I really don't want to take these things back apart and risk breaking them again.
How much color is achieved by moving tightening or loosening the adjustment screw.
Do I need to just washer mod one lens to match the other?

28 views and no responses huh?

Where's jake? He's the lighting master.

I know, right?
I was hoping he'd chime in

He will once he sees this. Don't worry.

i have ZKW clear lenses as well and you can adjust that screw to get more blue in the cut off usually the closer to the bulb the sheild is the more blue above, if that doesnt work try slightly bending the shield different ways to get it the way you want it. it takes a little fiddling to get it perfect, painting the shield black will also get you more color too.

My OEM lenses look very similar to that. Passenger side seems to angle slightly upward as it extends to the right.

watch my vid




you need spacers

If you're having inconsistencies you might want to try with quality bulbs first. I wouldn't wish those bulbs on my worst enemy. The $100 for a new OEM set is well worth the money.

Yeah Jake I watched your video and believe that it was the cause of some of my breakage. The part where you say, "just keep at it and eventually it will go". Lol. It went, but it snapped. Haha
I'm not blaming you really.
And mango, you're totally right, I just used these bulbs because I knew there would be a lot of jostling around and opening and closing and adjusting and I don't want to pull out and reinsert nice bulbs over and over.
I think I will actually go with the new Osram 5000k bulbs as I think they are sexy and with my tax return I don't mind the 185 dollar price tag.

On another note, I believe that I will have to use 2 washers on the bottom side of my lens cradle on the passenger side. Sound about right?

Got it all buttoned up and it's gorgeous.


Nice Blue cutoff all the way down. Passenger side stil suffers some from a terrible pitted and green hued lens. That will remedied hopefully by the end of the month. It's my girlfriend's birthday next week and I usually drop some serious money on her. So I have to take a break from modding :C lol
Anyway. Here is the final front end look after a nice wash and wax. (Excuse the hood not being latched and the mismatched corners !!!)
I'm really happy with the way the headlight trim turned out after being painted to match the car.
I suggest people start color matching as opposed to just silver or black. Just to see what it would look like on say an Alpine White car.


And here is a nice example of the blue flicker above cutoff line for each side. Again some of it is lost in the passenger side.

Very nice. There you go

Originally Posted by Solidjake

Very nice. There you go

Thanks man. Your video actually helped me a ton and I watched it literally over and over again before doing this, then had it playing while I opened my first light. So kudos to you for making it. I will say that when popping that white clip off the adjustment arm, if you wedge your flat head in between and turn it to open the clip up while pushing forward, there is MUCH less chance of breakage.