headlight modification (for performance)
 

Hey everyone,

So my car is still in storage for the winter but as I am prepping for warmer weather, I had a few questions.

My head lights on the 2006 s2000 are dim as heck.

1. Perform headlight restoration - I have done this a few times but after a few weeks it wears off and goes back to the haze. I am looking at buying opti coat lens to keep it from wearing away easily.

2. Do HID bulbs eventually dim after time? I have had the car since 2012 and I bet they are the original bulbs from the factory.

3. I know ap1 had clear lens that the retrofit community went after for awhile, would switching the lens make a difference? Are there any color modifications to do to the beam like in the retrofit world?

Thanks.

Try using a 2k clear coat after removing the haze.

From my experiences with headlight lens restoration on a couple different vehicles, it never lasts. Even paying a detailer to polish them up only lasted a year at most.

HID bulbs do dim and sort of "fade" after time. You can replace just the HID bulbs with some new OEM bulbs, or go with a more white 5500K or 6000K HID bulb for a little better light output.

From what it looks like, the S2000 headlight lens is pretty poor quality. It seems there are a lot that haze/fog/yellow from time in the sun. Mine have a ton of tiny cracks in the lenses. I'm in the middle of fitting new lenses off of some aftermarket headlight assemblies to my stock headlights. I'll share some pics after its all finished up if you care to see them.

That would be great. I know there was a thread floating around a while back about using aftermarket lens over the oem housings but wasnt sure about the fitment. Once your done, pictures would be very helpful

You can also drop the big bucks and get new oem headlights.

It would be great if some company made and sold just new lenses. I got lucky and got a super cheap pair of new Anzo aftermarket headlight assemblies off Amazon for $74. Snagged the last set of them, now the price went WAY up. But even if someone just made new lenses at like $150/pair, they would sell like crazy. It's not hard to change them at all.

This is the truth! Some folks did this for Audi B7 platform and we all were constantly buying.

1. I'd recommend sanding / polishing until it is clear, then applying a layer of clear coat on top of it so that it lasts.
2. Yes, HIDs do get dimmer
3. Lens swaps to clear lenses (instead of fresnel in 06+ S2000s) will result in a more intense beam below the cutoff and a more colorful cutoff. Fresnel lenses found in 06+ diffuse the light better above the cutoff, and you have a better, more usable beam for longer ranges. People like the do the clear lens swaps because going over uneven pavement + coilovers + short wheelbase of the S2000 results in the headlights flickering from white to blue to purple.

^^^^^ this guy should make some clear lenses to go with the clear diffusers :D

Completely agree. Not sure why many are persuaded by the lens replacement approach. A proper polish and clear coat would arguably take less time, money and last a while.