Hi guys,

I've searched around and tried to find the answer to this unsuccessfully. The closest I got was this thread here...

https://my350z.com/forum/exterior-an...djustment.html

I also tried to google a picture to show visually what I'm talking about but failed in that respect also. That said please excuse my crude drawing below.

It has always been my understanding that the way the headlights project out on to the road was a result of the projector themselves with minor allignment allowed if necessary. Therefore the way American (or LHD) cars illuminate the road would not be compatible with Australian or UK vehicles (RHD drive) vehicles.

As you can see below the LHD vehicles righ-hand-side (RHS) headlight projects further to illuminate the side of road and the LHS does not to avoid blinding on-coming traffic. The opposite occurs for RHD vehicles.



However, recently someone has tried to explain to me that it is not the projector which does this but how the headlights are adjusted (ie: manually). Does anyone know anymore about how the 350Z headlights work in regards to this. In short, are headlights compatible between regions and adjusted manually or region-specific given the projectors themselves (and how they project) are different?

Discussion should be on the 06+ bi-xenon headlights but this would be relevant for all variants of the headlight.

 

They are not compatible. ie: you can't use US lights in Aus.

The projectors it self are different between the two countries. It has nothing to do with how the lights are adjusted.

 

Are you able to elaborate a little more Silver?

 

The projectors used have a component called a shield inside them which is what gives the cutoff or the light projection on the street.

The us one has a the following shape:

\_

The aus and uk ones have the following shape:

_/

The light adjustment only makes the two headlights act like one unit to illuminate the road.

The adjustment also allows the lights to be adjusted so they don't blind any on coming traffic and to make sure the foot path is lit when you are driving along so you can see pedestrians.

The lights which don't have projectors have this feature designed into there reflectors, which gives the appropriate cutoff for the country.

 

Hi Steve,

Silver is absolutely right!

I ordered a set on Projector headlights from the USA that i am yet to install.

However to my amazement, they are manufactured in Japan and therefore seem to be compatible with us.

I have taken a picture of the said shield on the RHS headlight, see attached.

 

here's the left hand side shield to.

 

i can only speak on what i have done with my lights, but i dont really care for the fact the drivers side is lower than the passenger side. so i went ahead and adjusted my drivers side up and i still get the same results as before i started. so my guess is that it has soemthing to do with the way the projector is mounted in the housing.

OP goodl uck in your findings

 

Thanks for your replies - very much appreciated.

Ian, your pictures seem to confirm that you have aus spec lights. However this might be because you have taken the picture from the other side and therefore are mirroring the impact.

Silver - so from what your saying this shield is what causes the light to display in red in my drawing? And therefore it is not driven from the manual adjustment?

Is my understanding correct?

 

The aiming adjustment in no way will affect the the direction of the step in the cutoff. All RHD cars should have a step that goes up to the left, like this:


---------\_________

Where LHD cars like in the states has a step that goes up to the right:


____________/-----------------



This is my cars headlamps:



You could modify the shield by using some aluminum tape or thin sheet of aluminum. Just make it slightly above the stock cutoff location and reverse the step. Then you would have to raise your headlights aim slightly because you are cutting off a slight bit extra light because of the higher shield. Or you could take out the stock shield, if possible... i've never tore open a set of 2006+ headlamps so I don't know what projector they are using or how it works.

I used some aluminum tape to modify the cutoff shield in my previous car. The shield cause a flare of light to go up on the side that I didn't like, so I removed it... look at the following pics to see what I mean:


Stock cutoff shield design, causes flare of light on right side.



Modified shield...



Results:





Look at this guys website... he does all kinds of cool mods to projectors to get desired light output and cutoff.
http://theeshadow.com/carmod/JVXdriv...comparison.htm

 

Yeah, The aiming has nothing to with it. It's the shields it self that determines the pattern.

Also, the pictures above of the shields are these from a EBay set of lights? or OEM set?

 

the ones gregom posted are from a hyundai and the others look to be oem

 

Yeah the shield mod I posted was on my previous car, a Hyundai Tiburon. But the principle is the same here, you can modify the shield to get the cutoff you want.

 

Thanks for replies. I clearly understand why these are now different between regions. I always thought it was due to the projector but can see exactly why now.

For my next project it is therefore important I source RHD headlights.

Thanks again.

 

Hi Steve,

I think if you sourced a set from the USA and aimed the projecters a little lower than stock spec that it would compensate?

Anyways, i'll let you know how i go after i have mine installed.

 

^ you could do that... but it won't compensate enough. You would have to aim them down a lot and the stock adjustment range is not that wide.

Also, by aiming them down you are reducing the distance the projectors illuminate the road.

 

Ian, I'd be very interested to see how the US specs ones go but will be keeping my eyes out for RHS ones.

 

If your brave enough to tear the plastic lens off the headlight you could probably flip the shield or slightly mod it, or even make your own. Or you could just sell these and buy another set. Maybe you can find someone interested in a trade...?

GL whatever you decide to do.

 

This thread is pretty informative

 

I have a 03 and I have swapped them for the new ones. I bit the bullet and bought a brand new set from Nissan, it was a bit of hit on the wallet. The RHD ones are not as common in the market place. The best place to look would be the UK site.


The shields can be flipped if they are not attached to the projector it self and they are not the curved type of shield (ie:like the ones above). You can modify the OEM shield using epoxy putty and forming a new cutoff. I tried this with a set of LHD TSX projectors on my last retrofit project. I takes a bit of time and effort to get it right.

 

I have not seen inside the 2006+ 350Z projectors, but since they are bixenon and the shield has to drop out of the way on high, so it might be detachable. Either way this is kind of a risky move if you don't already do this kind of stuff when you can just swap to the proper ones you need, assuming you can find them easily enough.