Hi guys, this is my first post. I searched for this answer and found lots of great info, but no pictures describing what they were saying.

I am very in to "HID cutoffs" and headlight retrofits. I am very hopeful about buying a low mile 2008 Red S2000 here in the next couple weeks, and I have been hearing that the AP1 S2000's have a much better cutoff than the AP2s.

I would love to see some pictures of, say, a 2001 and 2005 HID cutoff just to compare the two out of curiosity.

On a side note, I can't wait to join the community and have found some great information on this site.

 

What do you mean by "cutoff"?

 

He is talking about how high the headlight beam goes.
I actually adjusted my MY2000 lights when I got it. It was causing people to flash their high beams at me. Other owners did the same as this was a common annoyance. Xenon headlights weren't very common back in 2000,2001.

 

So what makes one cutoff "better" than another?

 

depending on the setup of the hid projector and bulb you can get different amounts of color in the cutoff line, the line where the light actually stops. drive up to a wall and you will see a kind of Z shape where the light beam is. If you space the bulb farther forward in the projector, you can get like a thicker purple band between the 'white' light of the headlight and where the light doesnt shine.

http://blog.onexhid.com/wp-content/u...ine-step-6.jpg

 

what the OP is talking about is the lens itself. The 00-01 lenses aren't frosted like the newer models. Frosted = less sharp line = less "sudden flash" to other drivers. The non-frosty lens cutoffs just look better though.

 

Thanks, that was helpful.

 

You're close...the term for the 06+ projector lenses you are looking for is "Fresnel". This means there are ridges built into the lens itself if you look at it closely. This makes the cutoff less sharp than the clear lenses. The cutoff is slightly more colorful and definitely sharper on the clear lens S2K projectors but the Fresnel style have amazing output too and are still very close to the clear lens style. You can't get much better than the s2000 headlights in terms of output no matter what year you have.

I built a retrofit on my old WRX using clear lens AP1 projectors. Here's a picture of what the cutoff looked like:



I can try to snap a picture of my 07's cutoff this weekend if you want, or someone on here can post a picture of their AP2 cutoff for reference.

 

^I stand corrected. I always assumed it was just a frosted finish on the glass itself. Didn't think Honda would take the time to make a different mold just for the next batch...

 

Both types of lenses are technically clear, the Fresnel style just has the little ripples built into the lens itself to soften the cutoff. The cutoff on the clear lens projectors has much more "flicker" because of how sharp the cutoff is, which makes it look like a car is flashing their lights when you see it coming at you on the road from a distance. This was a big complaint when HID projector headlights really started showing up on the road and a lot of car makers eventually started switching over to the Fresnel style lenses just like Honda did with the S2000.

Theretrofitsource.com sells some awesome clear lenses for those who are looking for a sharper more colorful cutoff.