The H4's come as a complete unit, either chrome or black. So yes, the thinner rim is the only way they come--it's just the way they were designed. And the optional paintable ring is a "cover" of sorts. Since I took the photo of my '84 I posted, I acquired a set of paintable rings--already in black--off of eBay. The Moss Green is already so dark the gloss black rings look just fine and finish it off nicely, through I'll paint them whenever I do some touch-up on the rest of the car.

But you can get paintable sugar scoop rings. Wider, just like you have now. In fact, if you look at the avatar in the original post, you'll notice the paintable sugar scoops. My 84 had body-colored rings--I think they did move from chrome to painted at some point, but I couldn't tell you when off the top of my head.

 

And (hopefully) to add more clarification to this post:

For an '84 Carrera (which is the subject of this thread), you can either go with an H4 insert (as mentioned above) that simply takes the place of the horrid sealed beam bulb while retaining the stock body color sugar scoop trim ring and plastic inset. These H4 inserts cost about $40 a piece ($80 total investment).

Also, you can get an entire H4 headlight assembly that requires the removal of the stock body color sugar scoop trim rings.

The first option I mentioned above allows for markedly improved headlight output without changing the car from it's stock appearance.

 

Thank you all. I can read all the books, but your first hand experience is the best.