2 Years on and New LED Angel Eyes Bulbs

[Silverstar]

A couple of days ago it was exactly two years ago that I began my journey from southern Spain to London to buy a Z4. I must be mad but I decided to buy it from auction, as seen no warranty and then drive this car that I had barely known for a few days 1500 miles back to Spain! Take note all those thinking what a chore it is travelling two or three hours to view a car!

Anyway here she is on auction day, looking very tired. The previous owner had looked after it mechanically but cosmetically inside and out it looked a right mess. You can see from the photos below how the coral red seats actually look sort of blackish brownish in colour the beautiful red was hidden behind a mountain of dirt! You can also see all the micro scratches and swirl marks and the previous owner had some body repair done but to a fairly poor standard. The interior was so bad that I had to have the interior steamed clean before I could drive it back to Spain!

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Anyway a few months later the bodywork all sorted, couple of wheels refurbed and a full detail and some minor cosmetic tweaks and upgrades later and here she is, in all her glory:

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Have to say after two years and 11,000 miles I am totally chuffed with this car, each time I get in it's still a joy and a thrill to drive and the noise of that straight 6 never gets tiring and she still attracts lots of admiring glances! Add to that she has been totally reliable with only scheduled servicing and brakes pads and battery needing replacing. I can't think of any better car (in this category) at the same price point!

So now to celebrate the second anniversary I have decided to gift her some new angel eyes, well actually one of the the Osram Intense Blue bulbs I fitted two years ago blew! I have tried many LED bulbs in the past but they all sucked in that the outer rings barely lit up and is almost invisible hence why I used the Osram. However I remember a few months ago watching Youtube by Simple car guy where he showed some Novsight LED bulbs which actually seemed to work quite well so I decided to buy some and have to say I am really impressed. The outer ring lights up almost as well as the Osram and of course they are way brighter and much whiter! The only criticism would be that the outer ring is a slightly different colour to the inner ring but this is more to do with the design of the halo system from BMW rather than the bulbs.

Below you can see photos showing the Osram Intense Blue on the left and the Novsight LEDs on the right and another close up showing how well the outer ring lights up:

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Anyway here's to another two years and hopefully some performance mods along the way!

[Marcoose]

Noice!

Since moving to America, I became used to stories of flying one-way hundreds if not thousands of miles to go buy a car and drive it back. Actually, did 400 miles myself for the old E85. The E89 came to my door, though.

You couldn’t find an E89 locally? The steering on the wrong side for this long period would make me bonkers.

You should try a proper LFB pedal for your next mod. I know a bloke that did that.

[Pbondar]

Good write up

Are the new LEDs a good fit in their connectors? Several don’t fully locate and/or the heat sinks cause issues?

What wattage are they?

[Jembo]

Deffo not bonkers, sound like a regular forum member to me

Nice ride, great story, keep well

[Silverstar]

You couldn’t find an E89 locally? The steering on the wrong side for this long period would make me bonkers.

You should try a proper LFB pedal for your next mod. I know a bloke that did that.

Locally there are hardly any for sale and if one does come up they usually have very high miles and the spec and condition is very poor and the cheapest I have seen them for sale here is around double what I paid for mine with just 33k miles when I bought it and with good spec.

For that much of a price difference I choose to live with the wheel on the wrong side (for here anyway). It really doesn't bother me which side the wheel is on, in the past I have taken my RHD car touring throughout Europe and I bought my first LHD car from Germany which I used in the UK for a year before bringing it here to Spain. So I am quite used to switching sides.

Are the new LEDs a good fit in their connectors? Several don’t fully locate and/or the heat sinks cause issues?

What wattage are they?

These are very compact in size. Even so they are a bit bigger overall than the normal halogen bulbs so getting them into the headlamp requires a bit of manoeuvring to get them into the hole of the headlamp but once in they seat really well and are easy to locate. I know the ones I tried ¡n the past were really difficult to get them fully seated, no problem with these. The manufacturer claims they are 30W each. Here is the Amazon link, you can see more about them:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1

Deffo not bonkers, sound like a regular forum member to me

Nice ride, great story, keep well

Many thanks

[Marcoose]

Locally there are hardly any for sale and if one does come up they usually have very high miles and the spec and condition is very poor and the cheapest I have seen them for sale here is around double what I paid for mine with just 33k miles when I bought it and with good spec.

Whoa. No bueno. How’s the used market in D and CH? Folk there used to take good care of their cars. (I did.)

[Silverstar]

Locally there are hardly any for sale and if one does come up they usually have very high miles and the spec and condition is very poor and the cheapest I have seen them for sale here is around double what I paid for mine with just 33k miles when I bought it and with good spec.

Whoa. No bueno. How’s the used market in D and CH? Folk there used to take good care of their cars. (I did.)

Germany is much better more choice of cars and better chance of finding one with lower miles and better condition although spec wise many are poor. The cost though is much higher than in the UK although slightly less than what you would pay in Spain. Switzerland I am not sure, never really looked because CH isn't in the EU importing a car from there would be more complicated / costly. But I am sure you will probably find well cared for cars with lower miles although I suspect the prices will be high.

Having been in the car trade when I was in the UK (hence why I bought from auction) and knowing how cheap you can get cars for there I really begrudge paying silly prices for crap used cars here. Recently we had to change the wife's car and decided to get a used VW Golf Variant TDI (Wagen for those over the pond), since the wife can't cope with the wheel on the 'wrong side' we ended up buying a used Golf. For the same money what I paid for a 3 year old Golf with 60k miles with poor paint repair work on four panels I could have bought a 10k miles car in perfect condition in the UK or with the same mileage I could have got a GTD or for not much more a Golf R wagon!

[zxy]

I wish you continued success with the E89. I very much admire your courage for not shopping to death for the perfect, spec, color and condition. I chose mine in a similar way because I focused on low mileage and not all the myriad possible variations. I installed UV film on the glass to help protect the interior, but resisted the urge to do black grills. Mine has aftermarket halogens but I would like to install those LEDs.
I have a feeling that the resale value is getting stronger. The dealer where it is serviced, always makes me an offer to write me a check for it which has gone up rather than down over the years. but I can't think of any other car that I would rather have except the new mid engine Corvette which would be gross overkill, for the driving I do here in southern USA.

[Dazza4]

Nice write-up OP. Appreciate that as looking at potential mods once had a full service.

Just bought my first Zed, and despite the horrendous weather this last couple of weeks, I have to say first impressions are good. Loving the roof down, just need to dodge the showers.

[Silverstar]

I wish you continued success with the E89. I very much admire your courage for not shopping to death for the perfect, spec, color and condition. I chose mine in a similar way because I focused on low mileage and not all the myriad possible variations. { photo is in an earlier above post here called "Testing".) I installed UV film on the glass to help protect the interior, but resisted the urge to do black grills. Mine has aftermarket halogens but I would like to install those LEDs.
I have a feeling that the resale value is getting stronger. The dealer where it is serviced, always makes me an offer to write me a check for it which has gone up rather than down over the years. but I can't think of any other car that I would rather have except the new mid engine Corvette which would be gross overkill, for the driving I do here in southern USA.

Many thanks ZXY. Frankly I don't have the patience to wait for the 'perfect' car. Ideally I would have liked a space grey with red interior but having got one in Sapphire Black I am not sure now if I prefer it in grey. The black and red combo is unbeatable and black just adds class to the car especially when it is clean polished up and gleaming which is often here since it doesn't rain much.

I assume the UV film that you added to the windows is clear and not tinted? Does it help to lower the interior temperature or is it just for UV protection? Black grills suit certain colours on the Z4 really well while other colours might be better off with the silver / grey grills that normally come with the 35is (IMHO).

Nice write-up OP. Appreciate that as looking at potential mods once had a full service.

Just bought my first Zed, and despite the horrendous weather this last couple of weeks, I have to say first impressions are good. Loving the roof down, just need to dodge the showers.

Many thanks.

[Pbondar]

LEDs ordered

[Adil_3]

Hi guys,

hopefully, I can be of some help to someone. So I've tested and tried out multiple variants of the LED h8 bulbs. From cheap ones to mediocre ones and just like yourself I stumbled across the video of the Novisight Bulbs.

I did a little bit of research (looked at the bulb and the type and specs) and took a gamble and ordered this h8 6500k led bulb that looked very similar to the novisights and cost me £9 including shipping:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_vam6wT

My results going from a previous bulb that didn't light up the second halo very well to (all photos are taken in daylight at gloomy conditions however full daylight) :

Before:

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After:

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Much brighter and the outer halo lights up perfectly. For some reason, it showcases up as Yellow in this photo however this is the camera playing up its defo white.

The install was easy as there is no canbus add ons or faffs, the only downside is the o rings that were on the LED were slightly too bulky so had to replace them with the original Osram H8 bulb o ring. Installing wise there was no issue getting it into the housing super easy quite sleek and same as the Osram bulbs place in, twist and connect the cable.

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But yeah hope this helps someone whos looking to do the upgrade from the bulbs to LED's and wants that white look. Ive tested multiple led's with different shapes sizes and strengths and for 10 pounds, a weeks and a bit of shipping time no errors can't really go wrong!

Also I'm not getting paid for the link just helping yall out!

[Silverstar]

From your photos the results look quite similar to the Novsights although there is no faffing around with the ring on the Novsight but for just under a tenner I suppose it's a no brainer.

[Timmyboybunter]

Nice job on the bulbs, good to have a positive recommendation - especially as it was a set of Novsight bulbs I tried originally but they were waaaay to big to get in the headlight housing!

Interesting to read about your buying experience too. Many people would have walked from a sale like that, clearly a hidden gem waiting under that steam clean

[Silverstar]

Nice job on the bulbs, good to have a positive recommendation - especially as it was a set of Novsight bulbs I tried originally but they were waaaay to big to get in the headlight housing!

Interesting to read about your buying experience too. Many people would have walked from a sale like that, clearly a hidden gem waiting under that steam clean

When I originally saw the video by Simple Car Guy and clicked on his affiliate link it took me to another model of the Novsight bulbs which looked as you say much bigger, maybe at the time they sold out of this N30 model. It seems Novsight do many different designs. However this time when I clicked on his link it took me to the right bulbs and these are very compact and fit perfectly.