Z4-forum.com

Last weekend I decided to upgrade the standard halogen lights on my Z4 Coupe to aftermarket HID Xenons.

After a lot of research looking into various kits and suppliers I decided to buy the following kit from HIDS Direct. I chose HIDs Direct as they're a well established supplier, they had good feedback in most of the forums, and they're kit was excellent value for money. At the time of writing this the kit cost me £69.99 (I actually bought the kit through their ebay shop where they had a dedicated Z4 listing and it worked out a few quid cheaper!). The reason for choosing this kit was that it had been installed by other forum members who had reported no errors or problems once installed.

http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/hid-conver ... p-453.html

The other reason for choosing this kit was that because it came with mid-slim ballasts, these could actually be hidden and mounted inside the headlight housing. This meant the cover on the back of the headlights didn't need to be drilled or modified, it kept all the wiring and electrical components inside the headlight housing.

This isn't a full blown how-to on how to convert your halogen headlights over to xenons, I wanted to share my tips and tricks on fitting this kit to help others.

Tip 1 - Disconnect the battery. When working on the vehicles electrics, it's always a good idea. I would also suggest that before you fit the new bulb and ballast into place, you connect them up to the vehicles wiring harness and check they work. I was unfortunate enough to have one faulty bulb upon checking. However once I contacted the supplier they sent me out a new pair free of charge straight away.

Tip 2 - Where to mount the ballast. Looking at the photo below, I've highlighted the area where the ballast can be mounted. The photo shows the rear of the nearside headlight with the cover removed. Highlighted with a red circle is where I mounted the ballast. I'll warn you now, it's not easy getting it into that gap, even harder once you've got sticky tape on the back of the ballast! I mounted my ballast using two number plate sticky pads.





Tip 3 - Remove the rubber grommet as it won't be needed, this also frees up the wires making it easier to mount. Doing this also allows you to pass the H7 clip over the wires.



Tip 4 - The kit should come with 2 new projector H7 mounting clips as shown below. I decided not to use these as they don't fit very well with the Z4's headlights. Instead the original clips can be used. Pass the wires and connectors from the new H7 Xenon bulb through the connector. It's a very tight fit, but with a bit of persuasion they will fit!





Hope this helps someone at some point!

Bezza

Hi!

I took a few photos of my recent upgrade as there isn't much on the subject of HID upgrades here and I hope it already adds to the stuff that is out there by other fellow contributors on this great forum.

Firstly, not going without saying, you need a lovely warm sunny day to do this, I had the misfortune of having to change a blown bulb in the rain and it caused condensation in the headlight which was a nightmare to dry out!

So.......

Allow yourself 2 hours for this job. (Including a 10 minute personal needs break.)

You will need:-

1 HID kit (ebay)
1m Adhesive velcro
Needle nose pliers
50p piece (for removing the wheelarch covers.)
Electrical tape
Amalgamting tape (ideally)
Latex gloves (for intricate bulb handling)
Vaseline (now starting to sound dodgy!)
Baby wipes (for cleaning the seals etc....)
Cable ties
Some form of easy removable adhesive.
Tea and patience!

I removed both rear covers and let the air circulate into the headlight assembly. I also took the seals right out and let them de-stress and sunbathe on a clean dry surface. (We all know what it feels like to sit in a cinema for 3 hours with numb bum syndrome.)

The seals do a fantastic job and letting them relax does rejuvenate them quite a bit.



The wiring loom all made up before placing into the headlight with adhesvive velcro on the ballasts. I also cut off the grommet as its not needed. I left the bulbs in the protective holders and took great care not to jolt them about on install.



The location for the ballast (drivers side). It fits perfectly. I put the furry velcro on both sides of the ballast box as I did not want rubbing on the parts when it is in position. The longer side of the ballast needs to sit on the wall. More surface area to stick eh!



Here is the ballast fitted (passenger side). I put a piece of electrical tape on the film that protects the adhesive so the ballast can be slid in, then the tape pulled to activate the glue. It saves it all getting snarled up as there is not much room to maneuvre. Especially with the wheel in the way!



The retaining clips are a pain, flimsy and ill fitting. I spent more time (and adding funds to the swear box) with needle nose pliers manipulating the ears to get a nice fit. The ears need to be pulled out and flattened to get a tight fit otherwise it keeps popping out.

It really is well worth the time practise fitting the clip to get it right. You wouldn't want the bulb coming out and have to mince around at the roadside to fix it all back (if it hadn't shorted on the housing). Once you are happy, you can fit the bulbs in!



The original bulb holder with the metal clip removed. After testing it worked I wasn't happy that the plugs just pushed in and there was a little of the plug still exposed that had a possibility it could touch something causing a fault or short, so I used self amalgamating tape the seal the wires nicely.



Here is the finished article (apologies for the slightly blurry shot). I am really particular about dressing cables (Hifi crank!) and I think it is importaint in the headlight too as it has moving parts so I cable tied them together and placed them away from the dipped beam so it has plenty of room for air and movement. I also made sure that the orginal bulb holder was close to hand in the event of a failure so you could temporary switch back to halogens in limp home mode.



Ready for re-installation. I thoroughly cleaned the seals, the cover and the housing lip as there was quite a bit of grit. It is well worth being OCD on this bit as the grit could compromise a tight seal on the light. I also vaselined the seal before putting it back in the housing so it gives a real watertight finish.



One last thing. The original halogen clips glued in with silicone sealant in each headlight. (For emergency use only!)

If I have missed anything out, you can give me a slap.

Takes a lot of time to prepare, write and shoot how-to's, thanks for this very good ste-by-step.

You are most welcome.

I remembered getting the kit and having a meltdown at the space needed to fit it all in as I really did not want to drill through the cover :/

I have the opposite problem, Had the car inspected to have it registered and it failed because I had HID lights on them. Can anyone point me in the right direction how to change them back into the standard ones?
Thanks a million

I didn't get any spare clips with my kit from HIDs Direct and my retaining clip is one piece without a slot. Grrr...

Wildfire, just cut a slit in it with pliers or a hack saw. Job done

Out of interest being new to zeds.... Do you get to the headlight housing through wheel arches or is it a bumper off job?

Through arches. There's an access panel

Kansta wrote:Through arches. There's an access panel

Cool thanks. Sounds much better than the French rubbish I'm used to!

Thanks for the write up. Is the aftermarket bulb H7 or D2S ?

Just about to do this job and had a read of this before I started. I would say that anyone else planning on doing this job, do not use vaseline on the seals, it will destroy the seals. Best to use silicone grease as it will preserve the seals.