i am trying to do a projector retro on a different car, and the front lens of the headlight has ridges on the inside to diffuse the light, i think. does the screw up the beam pattern of the projector? i know the 5th gen retros look good because the front lens is completely clear. i think the 4th gen headlights have ridges as well. if anyone has done a projector retro here, did you have to use different front glass, or is it ok with oem headlight?

 

you could always sand paper away the ridges..... i did that to my old camry. no projectors just cleared them out. Light looked a little brighter but not too much.

 

i think cefiros are used whenever someone go to projectors. IIRC

 

i don't think ANYONE has ever done a projector retrofit with cefiros. maybe one or two people, i forget. the oem 4th gen headlight does NOT have those ridges, it is clear. if you tell me what car you're working on i might be able to tell you if the ridges would cause a problem.

 

I retroffited hid projectors into my wifes 92 Accord, the lenses are clear glass but really thick with few lines across as well; it destroyed the straight sharp cuttoff and slightly blue color I had on projectors prior to retrofit.
In a few days will do my 99 Maxima which headlight lenses are clear plastic and output will be way better.
Just try the projectors by only holding the headlight lenses in front of them and see if affects output; if gets bad like mines and you want it perfect then buy 100% clear after market plastic headlights.

 

For the maxima, 97-99 headlights work best on a 4th gen retro, there are only 3 lines going across the front that don't really effect output from what I've seen. but for example the 95-96 headlight has a cross hatch pattern that will distort a cutoff pretty easy. Sometimes there maybe an after market light for the vehicle you want to work on that has a clearer lens than stock and you may have to go with that. I haven't had to do the sanding cause I only mess with 97-99 maxima headlights, but I think it'll work on plastic lens only.

 

There are a few cefiro projector retrofits out there, but mainly they are done in the 97-99 housings. If its a plastic lens, you can sand away those parts, but if its glass you are kinda SOL from what I recall.

What kind of car is the retro for?

 

HomerMac has done the retro on cefiros.

 

its on a 99 camry. the ridges are both vertical and horizontal, they create small rectangles and rhomubuses on the inside. i was thinking of sanding them off, and using a dremel to polish, but that may take too much time and effort. another idea i had, was to cut out a circle where the projector lens is, and glue, or silicone thick clear plastic.
i am mainly conserned with ridges ruining the crisp cutoff of the projector. i am using accura mdx projecors.

 

alright, i was wrong about the cefiros. if you look on this page you can see how much clearer the 97-99 are form the 95-96. much more suitable for the desired results from projectors and other headlight upgrades.

 

sure we have retroed cefiros

 

i stand corrected, i've never seen yours before. they look great, btw.

 

If anyone is intrested, I got bixenons for sale that are perfect for retrofit.

 

^^^^ what are you asking for them?
pm sent

 

lol. do you guys have any bad experience with the lines in the front lens and projectors? any1 try this, and have bad output because of this?

 

My friend just did a retro on his 97+ headlights and no problems with beam pattern.

 

my friend and fellow DNE member MEANBEAN tryed to to do a projector on his fog lights I was told he gave up because of the lines in our fogs ill try to get him to reply to this thread.

 

The lense for the 4th Gen Camry ('99) is flutted. This lense type will indeed decrease light output. It is not recommended for the novice but the lense is able to be cleared through the sanding process since it is made from plastic. I will not go into in detail of this process but let me just say that it is a pain in the a$$ and takes considerable time to complete. I have already completed clear lense and dual projector retro on a 4th Gen Camry for someone and probably will never attempt to do the clear lense retro again due to the time involved. As for your suggestion for cutting out a circle in the headlight and replacing it with plastic, I would not recommend this. While it should be functional (light output should be corrected), it will look like a$$. Given the choice, I would stick with the flutted lense instead. If you are still going to go ahead with this method, I would recommend that you use lexan for its clarity. Good luck on your retro.