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Upgrade from halogen to HID?

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Motionblurrr

Member
I want to upgrade my stock headlights to Xenon lighting. What is the best/easiest way to do this?

You guys are awesome! Thanks in advance :)
 
I did this - I went and changed my car!!

Seriously though, unless you compromise with one of the nasty kits or manage to pick up the parts s/h cheaply, you are talking about a serious amount of money.
 
Z4coupebeaver said:
I did this - I went and changed my car!!

Seriously though, unless you compromise with one of the nasty kits or manage to pick up the parts s/h cheaply, you are talking about a serious amount of money.
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LOL at the car change!

I'm aware there are crap 'upgrades' out there, but the Bimmian one looks fairly reasonable.........so was just wondering. I've also seen the link to the thread on the TT forum, and apart from the appalling arrogance and rudeness of those guys in response to a reasonable question, the DoTs 'reasoning' looks decidedly flaky. Its either llegal or it isn't, and there doesn't seem to be any certainty whatsoever as to that.

As I understand it, the headlights are essentially the same as Xenon, in terms of reflector etc..??

Aternatively, anyone with halogens used NightBreakers?
 
*sigh*

I was afraid to hear that. I'm mad the previous owner cheaped out on a $700 option but what can you do :-/. Yeah, my nearest dealership has them for $1,000 per headlight but without ANY wires/bulbs/ballasts. :(

lacroupade said:
Spooky, I was just looking at the Bimmian kit and wondering if anyone here had fitted it....
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are you talking about "XenoFlo"? Yeah I was wondering the same because Bimmian apparently is well liked among the BMW community I think. Also, on Zpost people bought the $300 MTEC kit from eBay but I'm very hesistant on that one....
 
CJ10jeeper posted a thread recently from the DOT, one thing to be 100% legal would be to retrofit Headlamp Wash which IIRC is around £150 for parts.
 
Yeah, I went from a Lexus IS300 that had HID headlights to halogen. I miss those lights :(. I do a fair amount of night time driving so I wanted to see what I could do about that.

I'm assuming BMW would want near $5,000+ for HIDs including installation which is ridiculous
 
This one's been posted and discussed many times so a search will find all you need on it.

Frankly any aftermarket retrofit xenon is illegal in the UK - period. Will anyone ever stop you and question it - I seriously doubt it. As a minimum for a proper conversion you need xenon units, headlight washers and self levelling sensors on front and rear suspension. Also a new LCM that does not have the manual adjustment and reprogramme it. Serious money to do a proper job. Cheaper to trade cars - really....

Can you fit a xenon HID in a halogen unit - for sure but it won't focus correctly as the bulb is a different length so reflects in a different pattern. Will you notice it - probably not as you'll adjust the beam down a bit. Also note that xenon change dipped to main by raising a shutter to cut off the upper part of the beam. Halogen do this by chnging illuminated filament. The internal housing caters for the former. Some report water leaks and failing ballasts as they are not correctly fitted on the OEM underside of light carrier. Many will post it's worked fine, never failed and MOT, etc.

Compromise by many seems to end up as better bulbs which I cannot comment on as never used apart from on my daughters KA and I can tell no difference.

There you go - my input on it having built converted and modified several sets of halogen and xenon to Angel Eyes, for Z4's and with garage full of internal bits and spare lights to play with.
 
Thanks jeff and cj - much appreciated.....sounds a bit too painful for me, so the NBs it is. Got a set on order for the 4x4 already (£10/pair) so I'll see what they are like.

Thanks again guys.
 
Also thank you Jeff and cj! :). Like Lacroupade said, it seems to be a bit too much. I'd think it was more of just getting the Xenon version headlights and wire everything in since
BMW's love to prewire everything even if the person didn't choose the option :)

Let me know how those NightBreakers perform!! :). I currently have Sylvania Xtravisions and they're ok but definitely not the best bulb. I'm eyeing the Philips Xtreme-Power which are another halogen bulb on the level of the NBs!

Since it's winter and it's getting cold quick, I don't want to mess with a retrofit unless I get spare parts ;)
 
Update:

I adjusted my headlights by turning it 1.5 turns and the difference is pretty astounding. I kid you not--it looks as if the beam became more powerful since it's concentrated on a wider longer beam--instead of the very useless low and narrow setting it was in.

And that's with just regular halogen's in--I already put in an order for Philips Xtreme-Power which should be arriving within a week. :)
 
Motionblurrr said:
Update:

I adjusted my headlights by turning it 1.5 turns and the difference is pretty astounding. I kid you not--it looks as if the beam became more powerful since it's concentrated on a wider longer beam--instead of the very useless low and narrow setting it was in.

And that's with just regular halogen's in--I already put in an order for Philips Xtreme-Power which should be arriving within a week. :)
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Just an illusion as the lens and beam are a fixed unit that as you tilt it up and down it moves as one inside the headlight. Of course they will iluminate the road much better as the beam is shining further forward rather than to the ground which will also allow it to spread more.

You just need to ensure they are not so high now as to dazzle.
 
Thanks cj ;). I checked the height of the beam with a friend and he drove the car past me on a one way road and there's no dazzle :)

I rather tweak with what I've got and get the best halogen bulbs than shoving a Chinese HID kit inside and calling it a day. Hopefully this upcoming winter to spring I'd have enough money saved up to retrofit OEM Xenon headlamps and everything else
 
Motionblurrr said:
Thanks cj ;). I checked the height of the beam with a friend and he drove the car past me on a one way road and there's no dazzle :)

I rather tweak with what I've got and get the best halogen bulbs than shoving a Chinese HID kit inside and calling it a day. Hopefully this upcoming winter to spring I'd have enough money saved up to retrofit OEM Xenon headlamps and everything else
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Good strategy - make the best of what you have.

As an interesting thought is the xenons are so bight that I end up on dipped wherever there are steet signs as the reflection is so great they dazzle you as the driver. :)
 
Update: I bought and received all of my retrofit parts that I need.

E55 Bi-Xenon projectors, OEM philips D2S bulbs, OEM ignitors and ballasts and wiring connectors. The only thing I don't have are the suspension sensors but I don't plan on doing that since I doubt it would make that much of a difference and it's a pain to install correctly.

I got everything for less than $400. Now the challenge is removing the existing halogen projector and sliding in the Bi-Xenons.

The ONLY thing I'm nervous about is the mounting and installation of the ballasts since they're OEM. The bottom is the place where they are mounted but there isn't a hole for the ballast wires to go through but that can be fabricated with some work.
 
Motionblurrr said:
Update: I bought and received all of my retrofit parts that I need.

E55 Bi-Xenon projectors, OEM philips D2S bulbs, OEM ignitors and ballasts and wiring connectors. The only thing I don't have are the suspension sensors but I don't plan on doing that since I doubt it would make that much of a difference and it's a pain to install correctly.

I got everything for less than $400. Now the challenge is removing the existing halogen projector and sliding in the Bi-Xenons.

The ONLY thing I'm nervous about is the mounting and installation of the ballasts since they're OEM. The bottom is the place where they are mounted but there isn't a hole for the ballast wires to go through but that can be fabricated with some work.
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What about the LCM as you need to replace this also, and I think the suspension bits would be needed to get the lights level.
 
Yep - as SR notes you need a new LCM or if lucky a clever indy that can reprogramme the old one.

With the new LCM the suspension sensors are an integral part and should be fitted. Real dangerous to other drivers without, but you won't be the first to go that route...

Worth doing the job properly for the extra few $$'s
 
Could I fit the sensors/adjusters at a later time? I plan on doing this before Winter time comes and it's too cold to tinker around with it. Especially since now it gets dark outside at 5PM here (USA) so I need good night time visibility :D

I didn't buy actual OEM bixenon headlamp UNITS....I bought the parts. I plan on switching out the intervals (ie: halogen projectors for bi-xenons) while keeping the outershell the same. Someone has done the same on this forum. He switched the halogen projectors for bi-xenons on the inside and used aftermarket ballasts with a D2S adapter to fool the LCM that it's still halogen an not Xenon.

Very smart I might add, but I want OEM reliability and so I'm using OEM ignitors, ballasts and bulbs. I've come to know that aftermarket ballasts take about a minute to warm up to a normal temperature color compared to OEM ballasts taking about 10 seconds. I could easily just go to a BMW dealership and have them program my exisiting unit to think it had Xenons correct?

My other question CJ, is that the ballasts themselves on bixenon headlamp units mount on the underside of the headlamp. On the halogen unit however--there's a place to put the ballast but where it plugs in is just a blank spot. Could I dremel a hole and push in the ballasts for a tight fit since it does have that red rubber gromet?

Someone also has explained that the current "halogen" harness can easily handle a xenon application since it's the exact same wiring? BMWs tend to have everything prewired--option or not
 
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