Xenon conversion kit - advice please!

High flier · Post by **High flier** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 8:19 pm

Hi all,

I'm pretty new to the forum, having bought a Z4C in June. And I love it

. There's a few things that I want to do , including converting the awful headlights to Xenon.
I'm looking at HID's direct, and car-mod-shop kits.

Is there any difference in the quality of the kits. And also, are they just plug and play, or is there more to it than that?

Thanks in advance!

James.

Yorkie Z · Post by **Yorkie Z** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 8:51 pm

Wouldn't bother the Xenons are just as crap mate. Save your money for something else

aquazi · Post by **aquazi** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 9:02 pm

No experience with aftermarket xenons on the z4 as my has factory xenons but they do make a massive difference to driving especially at night so wouldnt say they were a waste.

Bit of a grey area with legality without self levelling... But aside from that .... Others have got slim kits from hid-direct so they fit inside the headlight units.

I fitted some £25 ebay jobbies to my wifes old fiesta.. Worked fine for 3 years.

Sent from my iPhone 5s using Tapatalk

danmiddle2 · Post by **danmiddle2** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 9:03 pm

Yorkie Z wrote:Wouldn't bother the Xenons are just as crap mate. Save your money for something else

+1 - tried a conversion kit from hids4u in my old Saab 9-3 and another one in my Calibra - ended up reverting to halogens... aftermarket kits are not really very good in my experience.

Scooba_Steve · Post by **Scooba_Steve** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 9:03 pm

I would have to disagree. The halogens are not very good (to put it kindly) and I found it difficult to drive at night on unlit roads at any speed above 40mph. Fitted a kit from HIDs Direct and couldn't be happier, significant difference to the amount of light on the road. Sharp cut-off and no glare either. Fitting was a bit fiddly but not a major headache.

Photo link as can't seem to embed off Onedrive...

Stark · Post by **Stark** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 9:08 pm

I had a Xenon conversion kit fitted to my SLK and tbh they are brighter than any other Xenon I have seen, even my RRS.....They are so white you would not believe. Brighter than my LED running lights underneath.

Kit was £300 and £200 to fit....but worth every penny

High flier · Post by **High flier** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 9:13 pm

Thanks for the advice guys,

Mine does have the self levelling, and headlight washers, so there shouldn't be any issue legally.

Oakleyextreme · Post by **Oakleyextreme** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 9:17 pm

aquazi wrote:No experience with aftermarket xenons on the z4 as my has factory xenons but they do make a massive difference to driving especially at night so wouldnt say they were a waste.

Bit of a grey area with legality without self levelling... But aside from that .... Others have got slim kits from hid-direct so they fit inside the headlight units.

I fitted some £25 ebay jobbies to my wifes old fiesta.. Worked fine for 3 years.

Sent from my iPhone 5s using Tapatalk

agree with the legality with self levelling. Also I think the car you fitting the xenons on should have headlight washers.

Oakleyextreme · Post by **Oakleyextreme** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 9:18 pm

High flier wrote:Thanks for the advice guys,

Mine does have the self levelling, and headlight washers, so there shouldn't be any issue legally.

You text before I finished lol.

High flier · Post by **High flier** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 9:31 pm

Oakleyextreme wrote:
High flier wrote:Thanks for the advice guys,

Mine does have the self levelling, and headlight washers, so there shouldn't be any issue legally.
You text before I finished lol.

Haha, I thought I'd best add that, as I agree that without self levelling and washers, its not a good idea to fit them!

aquazi · Post by **aquazi** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 9:45 pm

High flier wrote:
Oakleyextreme wrote:
High flier wrote:Thanks for the advice guys,

Mine does have the self levelling, and headlight washers, so there shouldn't be any issue legally.
You text before I finished lol.
Haha, I thought I'd best add that, as I agree that without self levelling and washers, its not a good idea to fit them!

If you car has halogens then they wont have self levelling - they do have reset initially... But no suspension sensors... Washers are standard on the coupe though.

Wouldnt worry too much about it as lots of users have them though.

Sent from my iPhone 5s using Tapatalk

Wildfire · Post by **Wildfire** » Thu Oct 30, 2014 11:35 am

What Aquazi said about the self leveling. The motor sound you get on start up is the adjustment stepper motors.

Just as a word of warning, I have used HID's on my TVR, Lotus Elise with great success. I fitted a kit to the Z4C recently (took about 6 months to get around to doing it). They worked great. I went for 6000k, but wish I'd gone for a lower rating to retain some of the OEM look.

However, after about 3 weeks of use the driver's one went on the motorway, about 10:30 at night. I pulled over to have a look. gave the light a tap but nothing. As I had a few tools, I got a torch out to whip the cover off and when I got near the wheel arch, I could smell electrical burning. I quickly pulled out the HID unit and found one of the CANBUS units mishapen and melted, and far too hot to touch. The unit was also making a very loud clicking sound when on. That went straight in the boot.

Needless to say the other one came out the next day. Very disappointed and had I not pulled over (in 5 minutes) this could have cause damage or worse a fire! I contacted the seller, but had nothing back.

Odd as I've done over 20k with the ones in my TVR over 7 years with no problems at all and they were only £9!

cossied · Post by **cossied** » Sat Nov 01, 2014 12:35 am

I don't understand, why are my halogens moving up and down if they are not self levelling ?

Nelly Welly · Post by **Nelly Welly** » Sat Nov 01, 2014 12:47 am

The going up and down are the alignment motors. They adjust the beam height when the knob is operated on the light panel. The self adjusters are linked to a chassis sensor that adjusts the height of the beam in relation to the attitude of the body. This is a legal requirement to prevent dazzling oncoming drivers with the high intensity beams generated by the discharge lamps.

If you have a light adjusting knob by your light switch you don't have self levelling just manual adjustment.

cossied · Post by **cossied** » Sat Nov 01, 2014 1:00 am

Nelly Welly wrote:The going up and down are the alignment motors. They adjust the beam height when the knob is operated on the light panel. The self adjusters are linked to a chassis sensor that adjusts the height of the beam in relation to the attitude of the body. This is a legal requirement to prevent dazzling oncoming drivers with the high intensity beams generated by the discharge lamps.

If you have a light adjusting knob by your light switch you don't have self levelling just manual adjustment.

Thanks for explaining, I will look for the adj knob never noticed it before.

Z4-forum.com

Z4-forum.com