Headlight colours

saseinlinie · Post by **saseinlinie** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:31 pm

Hi,

Far as I can find on Google, there are 2 types of headlights for the Z4, ones with black insides, and ones with grey insides. But I am not sure that it's not just the internet pictures showing the colours in the wrong way. For example, these ones look black on the inside:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E85-HALOGE ... 1438.l2649

But these ones look like the headlights I have:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E85-Z4-Con ... 1438.l2649

Does anyone know if these are actually different types of headlights, or is it just one type, and the problem is the pictures.

I need to buy a new headlight, but don't want to order the wrong part.

Thanks.

jamie_z4 · Post by **jamie_z4** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:34 pm

First link is a black inside

second is chrome inside

what ones do you have?

Paulr · Post by **Paulr** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:35 pm

Found this out last week, earlier 2.0 & 2.5 cars had black inside, later had silver. I think that is right. I am sure I will corrected if not. There are threads on here going into detail about it somewhere.

jamie_z4 · Post by **jamie_z4** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:36 pm

Paulr wrote: ↑Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:35 pm Found this out last week, earlier 2.0 & 2.5 cars had black inside, later had silver. I think that is right. I am sure I will corrected if not. There are threads on here going into detail about it somewhere.

all 3.0 cars and Z4M cars had chrome/silver inners , all 2.0/2.2/2.5 cars had black inners, regardless of pre/post facelift

Paulr · Post by **Paulr** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:38 pm

jamie_z4 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:36 pm
Paulr wrote: ↑Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:35 pm Found this out last week, earlier 2.0 & 2.5 cars had black inside, later had silver. I think that is right. I am sure I will corrected if not. There are threads on here going into detail about it somewhere.
all 3.0 cars and Z4M cars had chrome/silver inners , all 2.0/2.2/2.5 cars had black inners, regardless of pre/post facelift

Knew someone would be along to explain! Ta!

Ducklakeview · Post by **Ducklakeview** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:40 pm

There are actually 8 different combinations;

Pre-facelift, orange indicators, black inners - Halogen
Pre-facelift, orange indicators, black inners - Xenon
Pre-facelift, orange indicators, silver inners - Halogen
Pre-facelift, orange indicators, silver inners - Xenon

Post facelift, white indicators, black inners - Halogen
Post facelift, white indicators, black inners - BiXenon
Post facelift, white indicators, silver inners - Halogen
Post facelift, white indicators, silver inners - BiXenon

Black inners for the smaller engined cars, silver for the 3.0/3.2

Mike

Paulr · Post by **Paulr** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:41 pm

Ducklakeview wrote: ↑Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:40 pmThere are actually 8 different combinations;

Pre-facelift, orange indicators, black inners - Halogen
Pre-facelift, orange indicators, black inners - Xenon
Pre-facelift, orange indicators, silver inners - Halogen
Pre-facelift, orange indicators, silver inners - Xenon

Post facelift, white indicators, black inners - Halogen
Post facelift, white indicators, black inners - BiXenon
Post facelift, white indicators, silver inners - Halogen
Post facelift, white indicators, silver inners - BiXenon

Black inners for the smaller engined cars, silver for the 3.0/3.2

Mike

Interesting stuff, Mike. You really need to get a life sorted though....

Ducklakeview · Post by **Ducklakeview** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:43 pm

Lol - What makes it a pain, is if you are looking for a replacement, there are sixteen variants to choose from in total, which makes searching for one a nightmare as most people selling them don't accurately describe them.

Mike

saseinlinie · Post by **saseinlinie** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:48 pm

Wow great info !

Sorry if that's cheeky, but any part numbers available

) ?

I like the look(in pictures) of the black ones more, why were these fitted to the "cheaper" cars ? Do they look crappy in real life ? Never seen them up close.

MACK · Post by **MACK** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:52 pm

Be careful OP as there are all the pre and post facelift colour/indicator/xenon/halogen combos listed above plus euro spec left hand drive and US/Canada spec left hand drive (different to the euro ones) on top of the right hand drive UK stuff.
You might think that there's only going to be UK spec stuff on the likes on ebay.co. uk but I've seen both US and euro ones on there in the past.

The best bet is to check part numbers on realoem.

Monkeydonkeyratmagic · Post by **Monkeydonkeyratmagic** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 3:42 pm

MACK wrote: ↑Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:52 pmBe careful OP as there are all the pre and post facelift colour/indicator/xenon/halogen combos listed above plus euro spec left hand drive and US/Canada spec left hand drive (different to the euro ones) on top of the right hand drive UK stuff.
You might think that there's only going to be UK spec stuff on the likes on ebay.co. uk but I've seen both US and euro ones on there in the past.

The best bet is to check part numbers on realoem.

Euro spec ones don't matter though. You can switch them from ldh to rhd anyway. My xenon ones do anyway.

Ducklakeview · Post by **Ducklakeview** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 3:46 pm

Monkeydonkeyratmagic wrote: ↑Wed Feb 07, 2018 3:42 pm
MACK wrote: ↑Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:52 pmBe careful OP as there are all the pre and post facelift colour/indicator/xenon/halogen combos listed above plus euro spec left hand drive and US/Canada spec left hand drive (different to the euro ones) on top of the right hand drive UK stuff.
You might think that there's only going to be UK spec stuff on the likes on ebay.co. uk but I've seen both US and euro ones on there in the past.

The best bet is to check part numbers on realoem.
Euro spec ones don't matter though. You can switch them from ldh to rhd anyway. My xenon ones do anyway.

Sort of... You can use the lever to eliminate the "flick up" to the side, making the beam flat. But it's not the same, you will reduce illumination to the nearside.

Mike

MACK · Post by **MACK** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 4:09 pm

saseinlinie wrote: ↑Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:48 pmWow great info !

Sorry if that's cheeky, but any part numbers available ) ?

I like the look(in pictures) of the black ones more, why were these fitted to the "cheaper" cars ? Do they look crappy in real life ? Never seen them up close.

OP Why do you need a new light? don't think you've actually said, apologises if i miseed it. The reason I ask is that if its just a case of some broken mounting lugs there's a kit for about a tenner to repair/replace these from bmw.
Colour wise my preference is silver inners on most colours, but that said the black looks pretty good on both silver and black cars. I Don't think it looks cheap, just that the silver looks nicer. That said I also prefer the titanium grill slats where others prefer the black ones or the full black grill look.

saseinlinie · Post by **saseinlinie** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 4:20 pm

Condensation ruined the interior of my right headlight(LHD car).

I definitely like the look of the black headlights more(car is black also), so if they don't look bad in reality, I might just order 2 new black ones.

MACK · Post by **MACK** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 4:30 pm

saseinlinie wrote: ↑Wed Feb 07, 2018 4:20 pmCondensation ruined the interior of my right headlight(LHD car).

I definitely like the look of the black headlights more(car is black also), so if they don't look bad in reality, I might just order 2 new black ones.

New ones aren't cheap at all. You might be better trying to find some good used ones. Is yours a pre or post car? Are you looking for clear or orange indicators and are you looking for xenon or halogen? All of these factors have an impact on price and availability.

Z4-forum.com

Z4-forum.com