Yeah the lens swap makes the cutoff sharper but the output is still not as good as other projectors. I wouldn't put the swap on my priority either.

 

Side entry bulb whaaaaat?! Well that's dumb. Looks like I may be doin a retrofit. This is my daily, light output is worse than my factory E46 projectors in my M3, and those are literal **** lol.

 

If you change the bulbs, do the ballasts have to be replaced too?

 

Yup best bulbs in the business. When I had HID, that's all I'd use. Definitely vouch for them. They're so cheap now. Back in the day they were $350 a pair. (if you could find them)

 

Maybe a set of these bulbs and some pure white fogs, wondering if these are a gimmick or if they actually work...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/311667615899

If the clear lens merely sharpens the cutoff then it's not worth dismantling the headlights. I'd opt for a full retro before I went to that trouble.

 

Honestly the lens swap will make just as big of a difference (if not more than) changing out the bulbs

On my GS I had the D4S CBI's and the STi-R clear lens swap done and the output was so much better than stock. Well worth it.

For the side-entry style projectors, you would need to use the TSX-R lenses:

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/co...lear-lens.html

 

Can anyone confirm the lens size for the ISF? I wanted to order these bulbs as well as the lens and the LED fogs but didn't want to grab the wrong ones. Site calls out for STI-R.

Either way I missed the damn Black Friday deal for TRS, fack. Had a loaded shopping cart would have been a sweet deal at 25% off.

 

IS projectors are 3 " IIRC

 

These bulbs are nice and were tempting but I'm sticking with Phillips Ultinon 6000k. Hopefully I don't regret not opting for these.

 

I see your going for a lens upgrade?? Nice! Can't wait to see pics with the lens upgrade......

 

I'll be sure to post pics of the before and after. See how badly we have to disassemble our headlights to get them out ha.

 

with this said I will do a lense swap and tune the projector and slap in the cbis. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

it's not too bad. I think the more tedious part is the tuning of the projectors.

 

How many shims did you end up using?

 

I haven't done it yet. But it will take time using different material for different thicknesses to get the best output from these poorly designed projectors.