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Tinted headlights

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Sgr74

Active member
Sunny Fife, Scotland
When I bought my car it had tinted headlights. I bought a headlight restoration kit because at first I thought they had been painted. It seems they were bought that way. They look fine but they are terrible at night. Vision is very poor bordering on dangerous. Can you upgrade the bulbs in these things, and if you can will it make much difference? I don't drive it much at night but would like to see when I do.
Any input would be appreciated .
 
I would talk to BMW about this initially, I have never personally heard of or seen any Zed with tinted headlights, any BMW even so far as I can remember.
Why would anyone want them anyway???
Are they stained inside with something maybe ??
 
No tinted headlights were ever made by BMW for E89s in any model in any country…

Stock the headlights are pretty good..so it’s not a bulb issue…
 
I didn’t think they were standard. They have bmw stickers on them. Made by Hella. I’m guessing they are the original lights then? Here is a picture of the stickers.
 

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Sgr74 said:
They look fine but they are terrible at night. Vision is very poor bordering on dangerous. Can you upgrade the bulbs in these things, and if you can will it make much difference?
Click to expand...
Mine are the same and I replaced the bulbs with Osram Night Breakers. These have turned out to be no better.

Will someone recommend better bulbs, please?
 
OP, if you’re taking the route of replacing the lens, there’s a bloke in North Carolina that does all sorts of cool upgrades to the headlight units. Obviously it requires posting it abroad and be without use of the E89 for 3-4 weeks.
 
Blimey they are tinted.

You can get replacement clear lens, done it once to both lamps, bit of a pain.
Good time though to replace halos inside with leds.
Now got to replace another lens as they have a coating that grazes.
 
Busterboo said:
Sgr74 said:
They look fine but they are terrible at night. Vision is very poor bordering on dangerous. Can you upgrade the bulbs in these things, and if you can will it make much difference?
Click to expand...
Mine are the same and I replaced the bulbs with Osram Night Breakers. These have turned out to be no better.

Will someone recommend better bulbs, please?
Click to expand...
Do you have same lens on your car?

Have only used Philips Xtreme vision bulbs, more than happy.
 
flybobbie said:
Do you have same lens on your car?
Have only used Philips Xtreme vision bulbs, more than happy.
Click to expand...
The lenses are originals, so I assume they're the same.
Although 14 years old now, they don't look particularly hazed or damaged and allow the Osram bulbs to throw what looks like a clear light. It's just not strong enough.
 
flybobbie said:
Busterboo said:
Sgr74 said:
They look fine but they are terrible at night. Vision is very poor bordering on dangerous. Can you upgrade the bulbs in these things, and if you can will it make much difference?
Click to expand...
Mine are the same and I replaced the bulbs with Osram Night Breakers. These have turned out to be no better.

Will someone recommend better bulbs, please?
Click to expand...
Do you have same lens on your car?

Have only used Philips Xtreme vision bulbs, more than happy.
Click to expand...

I tried the D1S Phillip bulbs in my 20i..they MAY be very fractionally better…certainly not an alleluia revelation..I don’t see much difference in D1S bulbs as compared to Halogens ..IMHO
 
matsmith749 said:
If you're not seeing much difference between d1s xenons & halogens, it's not the bulb technology that needs upgrading.
Click to expand...

Er I mis wrote it or you miss read it! :rofl: :tumbleweed:

WHat I said wasa..

I didn't see a large variation in perceived performance between various D1S..

I did see a lot of variations in halogens!!!
 
Main difference i found going from factory the beam pattern on main beam wasn't pointing at the sky. Driving home would light up the overhang of trees. Now it's down the road.

Of course i am talking HID xenon, not halogen.
 
The picture isn’t particularlyclear, but I had a problem with my lights. The eyeball lens of mine appeared to be misted - a bit like a cataract. I researched a place that would replace the lens element but couldn’t find anyone, so ended up buying two new Hella OEM headlights (good saving over the BMW parts price) and had them fitted. Headlights were perfect afterwards. Apparently the projector unit mirror that sits behind the bulb can become corroded over time and become much less reflective. The new lights and bulbs were night and day when fitted and then about 6 months ago on here, there was a post for a guy who can replace the lens and reflector. Will see if I can find it….
 
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