Photos of modified headlamp performance – amazing

[artsci]

Last night I shot nearly more than 100 photos of Evan Patak’s modified headlamps. See this thread for more information.

The brightness of light, the very sharp cutoff, the projection distance, the blue color at the edge of the cutoff angle make this modification exceptional.

A sample of the photos is provided below.

By way of background these are the modifications Evan made to mine:

· Lexus RX 350 Bi-X Projectors: Clear lens swap, tuned for sharpness, white demon eye.

· Morimoto xb55 (50w) Ballasts

· 6500k Morimoto bulbs.

· Finish of the black housing paint (gloss)

· Belly of the turn signal painted black.

· Front of the turn signal frosted.

The improvement in performance are nothing short of astounding, better I think than the new LED headlamps provides with new Model S’s and Model X’s.

As I don’t think the photos due them justice I’ll soon shoot a video of what I see when driving my Model S at night. And yes, they are aimed a bit high. Will fix that this evening.

If you’re willing to lay out the $ I think this is one of the best safety/performance mods you can make. And the black lamps are quite extraordinary – the gives the front of the car a how new look.

 

[AMPd]

That looks fantastic!

 

[Manny13z]

That's impressive.

 

[Cowby]

That's frickin sick! Oh how I hate u Rick! U make me follow your mods like a sad puppy dog! The piggy bank can't support this mod as badly as I want them!

 

[ICUDoc]

They look great- the way it should be!
Can you believe we can't have them in Australia as the output exceeds the ADRules re: headlights without washers!!!????

 

[artsci]

Thanks for the commnents. I re-aimed them last night. Evan sernt me the lastest video instructions which were different from the ones I used to do the initial settings. They were aimed about 8" too high. Amazing that no one flashed me.

 

[Cyclone]

@artsci, how would you rate the difficulty of installation? At the moment I love my S lights as they are better than all my prior vehicles, but my 4Runner had Xenon HIDs aftermarket bulbs (my year already had projector lenses) and it made a huge difference. I could see doing that to the S someday.

 

[artsci]

@artsci, how would you rate the difficulty of installation? At the moment I love my S lights as they are better than all my prior vehicles, but my 4Runner had Xenon HIDs aftermarket bulbs (my year already had projector lenses) and it made a huge difference. I could see doing that to the S someday.

I had the installation done by a local shop that I use frequently. Cost me $75. It's not that difficult but the bumper has to be removed which I don't like to do.

 

[FlatSix911]

Well done ... can you share the price of the modification?

 

[AmpedRealtor]

How much?

 

[jelloslug]

Wow, what a difference!

 

[artsci]

How much?

See this thread. I think Evan is charging about $1,700. I got a bit of a break for being one of the first. Of course, you need a spare set of headlamps. I bought a set on eBay for about $600. A new set can be purchased from Tesla for about $1,600 I think.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

How much to just black out my headlights? on my black car that will look sick!

 

[calisnow]

Of course, you need a spare set of headlamps.

Can't I just send him mine?

 

[Fusion]

$700 for parts and $1000 for his labor.

 

[artsci]

Can't I just send him mine?

Sure. You'll just have a car without headlamps for 2-3 weeks.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

... I don't need parts, I just want to black out the headlight housing... do you lose any water proofing?

 

[artsci]

... I don't need parts, I just want to black out the headlight housing... do you lose any water proofing?

No loss of waterproofing but I'm not sure Evan will be willing to just black out the housing. If you're going that far you might as well replace the Tesla projector and lamp.

 

[TroyGuy]

[Resolved, see post below]
Hi everyone. I just want to warn everyone regarding Evan Patek. I purchased my headlights from this guy and for some reason one of the HID lamps on the driver’s side went out within a few months. No problem these things happen, right? Much to my surprise this guy is totally unresponsive and seems to be two faced. This transaction was a total wake up call for me. I have 3 Teslas and as an enthusiast I feel victim thinking that all 3rd party Tesla vendors are good guys. I’m telling you right now, the headlights he provided is nice, but when something goes wrong, in my case within a few months or so, you can kiss goodbuy getting any sympathy from Evan, let alone a simple call back. Make no mistake, this guy is out to get your money and could care less about keeping you happy despite that you might be a Tesla enthusiast. The bad news for Evan is that I’m relentless in my demand for him to make good on his warranty to me even if it takes legal action to enforce my rights. What a big headache.

 

[TroyGuy]

Hi everyone. I just want to warn everyone regarding Evan Patek. I purchased my headlights from this guy and for some reason one of the HID lamps on the driver’s side went out within a few months. No problem these things happen, right? Much to my surprise this guy is totally unresponsive and seems to be two faced. This transaction was a total wake up call for me. I have 3 Teslas and as an enthusiast I feel victim thinking that all 3rd party Tesla vendors are good guys. I’m telling you right now, the headlights he provided is nice, but when something goes wrong, in my case within a few months or so, you can kiss goodbuy getting any sympathy from Evan, let alone a simple call back. Make no mistake, this guy is out to get your money and could care less about keeping you happy despite that you might be a Tesla enthusiast. The bad news for Evan is that I’m relentless in my demand for him to make good on his warranty to me even if it takes legal action to enforce my rights. What a big headache.

Well, it's been some time since my post and Evan Patek did call me back and made good on the headlights. Unfortunately, I can't delete my original post. I went to visit Evan and he is a nice guy. Although it took some time which I don't have, to get this resolved, he did come through. The headlights are amazing in the end.