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Thread: DIY: Cutoff shield modding on DEPO or ZKW headlights

  1. #1
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    DIY: Cutoff shield modding on DEPO or ZKW headlights

    Some of you that have DEPO or ZKW lights may not like the way the beam is directing light to the right. This feature, while nice really nice to have steals the look of the HID by eliminating that distinctive cut off line we see on most new cars. This thread will help guide you though removing that E spec cut off line.

    For this job you only need a few parts that are rather cheap. I picked up some ¼” brass at my local hobby store for about $1.00. You can get whatever metal you want… brass was all they had in stock for me. The strips are sold in 1 foot lengths and are rather thin. Don’t get metal that is too thick.



    I then went to Home Depot and picked up some epoxy rated at -30 degrees to 300 degrees. This is important, the glue has to withstand high heat temperatures or the heat from the light can melt it and cause major problems. The glue cost me $4.00.

    Once you have your supplies remove your headlights from your car.

    Remove the low beam access cover, remove the low beam bulb from the light and the ground wire (brown for DEPO) on the bulb housing.

    Look in the access area, the part that holds on the bulb also contains the cut off shield on it. Three screws hold on this piece of metal, carefully remove them and slide the cut off shield/bulb housing out of the light. This is what you should have.



    Examine the cut off shield and you will see that E code tick like in the picture

    Test fit your metal strip and cut a length just a bit longer then needed so that you will get a true, straight cut off line. Cut no more then 1mm on each side of the cut off shield. Note on picture. (or you can make it even, whatever you want). BE SURE YOU DON'T BEND THE METAL WHEN CUTTING IT. I used a dremel to cut the strip.



    Mix your epoxy on a very clean surface, like a plastic baggy. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT BOTH PARTS OF YOUR EPOXY ARE EQUAL. Mix it until you are confident that both parts have mixed evenly or 30 seconds.

    Lightly sand the side of the strip you are going to put glue on and the part of the cut off shield/bulb housing. Clean with alcohol.

    Lightly coat the entire area of the cut off shield with your epoxy (approx. 1/4" down), it is important that you get the E code tick; you don’t want light leaking out.

    Place your cut strip of metal on the shield and line it up with the existing cut off line. If some glue seeps out be sure you clean it or it will effect your cut off line.

    How straight your cut off line is glued on depends on what it will look like on the road so be sure you make it as straight as possible.

    Let your glue dry for about 2 hours or what the box recommends.

    Carefully reinstall the bulb housing and install the three screws. Tighten the screws evenly.

    Reinstall light.

    Hopefully you should have gone from….



    To



    Total cost for the project was about $5.00

    If you can solder to aluminum (because that's what the cut off shield is made of) I would recommend soldering.

    I hope this short write up will help others.

    Enjoy, Walid ~shoman24v
    Last edited by shoman24v; 04-08-2006 at 02:01 PM.
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  2. #2
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    Thanks for the write up, works perfect. I only spent 5 bucks or so for the glue too

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    looks good. thanks for the write up.

    Now is it the same case if you have a projector??

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    I am not sure why I would want to remove the cutoff? What is the advantage? It seems you lost some of the light output in the area you blocked off.

    Just curious. Other than that, nice writeup.
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  5. #5
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    You're not losing light or removing the cut off.... well your not getting light off to the right anymore.

    It give the car a much cleaner look. I like it, others may not, it's just a preference.
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  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by bonoz
    looks good. thanks for the write up.

    Now is it the same case if you have a projector??
    This is only for projector lights, DEPO or ZKWs.
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  7. #7
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    ^ oh okay of coarse.

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    The euro cut-off is a lot nicer. And there's a reason why it's there, to be able to see the stuff on the right without blinding the incoming traffic in the left.


    Quote Originally Posted by ClintonM3 View Post
    the Audi A4 is a tweaked, cosmetically enhanced, cross platform, put-together overnight VW.
    Quote Originally Posted by joeuser528e View Post
    Staggard setups are for cars that you park at show meets. They go well with 5 screens and 3 12"s.

  9. #9
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    Your not blinding anyone to the left with this mod. If you notice the before the cut off is still the same as what I modded. All the E code tick does is allow more light to go to the right, that's all. If anything you're blinding to the right since more light is going that way
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  10. #10
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    Keeping the Euro cutoff will allow your headlights to light up road signs/pedestrians/animals on the right side of the road.

    Nice job on the write-up, though.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by shoman24v
    Your not blinding anyone to the left with this mod. If you notice the before the cut off is still the same as what I modded. All the E code tick does is allow more light to go to the right, that's all. If anything you're blinding to the right since more light is going that way
    I didn't say that you're blinding anyone with this mod, I said that with the euro cut off you're able to see the stuff in the right without blinding anyone.

    You need the euro cut-off to be able to see in the right. As G. P. Burdell said, it allows your headlights to light up road signs/pedestrians/animals on the right side of the road.

    I'm mentioning this so poeople get to know the reason for the euro cut-off before they screw up their lighting pattern. We all know they know what they do in Europe, that's why we bought a german car, didn't we?


    Quote Originally Posted by ClintonM3 View Post
    the Audi A4 is a tweaked, cosmetically enhanced, cross platform, put-together overnight VW.
    Quote Originally Posted by joeuser528e View Post
    Staggard setups are for cars that you park at show meets. They go well with 5 screens and 3 12"s.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by shoman24v
    Some of you that have DEPO or ZKW lights may not like the way the beam is directing light to the right. This feature, while nice really nice to have steals the look of the HID by eliminating that distinctive cut off line we see on most new cars.
    One more thing - my MINI Cooper has factory HID, and the headlights also have a ZKW-like cutoff. Not all car manufacturers incorporate a flat cutoff into their HID lights.

    The Hella CELIS HID headlights I had on my 328i had a similar cutoff line that was a little more stepped than the ZKWs/DEPOs - in other words, it looked like this: ___/---

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by G. P. Burdell
    One more thing - my MINI Cooper has factory HID, and the headlights also have the Euro cutoff.

    The Hella CELIS HID headlights I had on my 328i had a similar cutoff line that was a little more stepped than the ZKWs/DEPOs - in other words, it looked like this: ___/---
    Yeah, every car with HIDs I paid attention to had the euro cut-off. BTW, I'm in the euro market.


    Quote Originally Posted by ClintonM3 View Post
    the Audi A4 is a tweaked, cosmetically enhanced, cross platform, put-together overnight VW.
    Quote Originally Posted by joeuser528e View Post
    Staggard setups are for cars that you park at show meets. They go well with 5 screens and 3 12"s.

  14. #14
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    Nobody actually makes a flat cut off line. The "step" may be not as tall, but it's still there. Look at the TL, s2000, etc. cut off lines, none of them are totally flat. You want to have that step so that your headlights will be able to light up the road signs (just like it was stated earlier in the thread)

  15. #15
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    I didn't completly prefrer the euro cut off. While I did like how it lit up signs, I like it better now that it's completely flat. It's all just a personal preference. It looks much cleaner.

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  16. #16
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    shoman24v, you found a simple, inexpensive solution to a perceived problem and implemented it effectively. Good work there.

    However, my safety and my passengers' safety are far more important to me than a clean look. Aesthetics should have no bearing on the operation of an essential piece of safety equipment.

    Readers who do a lot of night driving, especially in areas where pedestrians, cyclists, or stray animals roam, should think twice about doing this modification. If you reduce the amount of light your headlights cast on the right side of the road, you will also reduce your ability to see people, animals, and things that might cross your path.

  17. #17
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    I understand the ramifactions of my mod, but consider how the road looks if you have stock lights.
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  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by G. P. Burdell
    shoman24v, you found a simple, inexpensive solution to a perceived problem and implemented it effectively. Good work there.

    However, my safety and my passengers' safety are far more important to me than a clean look. Aesthetics should have no bearing on the operation of an essential piece of safety equipment.

    Readers who do a lot of night driving, especially in areas where pedestrians, cyclists, or stray animals roam, should think twice about doing this modification. If you reduce the amount of light your headlights cast on the right side of the road, you will also reduce your ability to see people, animals, and things that might cross your path.
    You can always just mod the drivers side headlight and leave the passenger side with the uptick. It's just hideous having two upticks.

  19. #19
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    I could see wanting to do this if you are running an HID kit in an E code housing which was originally designed for halogen. That intense light through the E code uptick will blind traffic / peds to the right ... you don't need as much of an up tick with the increased light output for sign illumination. Maybe something between a flat line and the original up tick would be ideal. Since it's a custom process readers can decide for themselves what is best for their situation.
    David M.
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  20. #20
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    Yeah, the tick on these lights are rather harsh, just reducing them would make a difference.
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  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by shoman24v
    I understand the ramifactions of my mod, but consider how the road looks if you have stock lights.
    haha beat me to it.... i was about to say you have HID, who cares about loosing some light, you'll still see 10x more of everything than with stock lights
    -Ivan

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    wow looks really good...i have yet to install my Depo/Prolumen/Predator setup and thus haven't yet decided if I like the right sided uptick or not.

    I can see the advantage of both setups - better road side visibility (deer are an issue here), but blind traffic in the lane to your right vs being able to aim the lights a little higher without blinding anyone. Remember guys, one of the complaints about retrofitting H1 HID bulbs into our housings is this uptick, at least from the snobbing OE projector retrofit guys We still won't get quite as wide of a beam pattern as they do, although yours is certainly very impressive.

    regarding the discussion of what cutoff/uptick OEM HIDs use - we really can make any cutoff we like here, depending how you cut your piece of metal. If I decide to do this, maybe a compromise with a ~50% reduced cutoff would be ideal. Or maybe just the driver's side.

    props to shoman24v for the DIY and pics. I'd heard of this before, but never seen the pics, or realized just how easy it is to get access to the shield.

    1998 BMW///M3/4/5

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    lookks good. i workin on a benz projector retro. i might take this into consideration. maybe for the drivers side only tho

    mike

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    I've seen pics of the real E code cut off and it looks nothing like what the DEPOs have.

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  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by shoman24v
    I've seen pics of the real E code cut off and it looks nothing like what the DEPOs have.

    pics ftw?

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