Halogen bulbs 6000K or 7000K??? opinions needed

H

Hotride

Active member
 Nth Qld
I have xenons, which are a nice crisp white, but the halogens (high beams) are rather amberish, and don't fit in with my led side lights and xenons, so I bought a set of 6000K halogen bulbs http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160580395646&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_2287wt_905 to hopefully fix the colour difference.

However now that I have fitted one i'm not sure if 6000K is enough to match the xenons or if i should try some 7000K bulbs instead http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NOKYA-HEADLIGHT-BULB-H7-7000K-55W-ICEBERG-COLOR-OE-FIT-/130515231264?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e63506220#ht_5619wt_919, so do you think i should stick with these or toss em and go for the 7000K???

Pics of the oem phillips Halogen
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Pics of the 6000K bulbs fitted
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lights on late afternoon
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lights at night
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PS - the LED sidelights are being replaced with 7000K Angel Eyes, as per Pawn Sacrifices headlights in the next week or 2
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FYI I also added an LED strip of lights to the boot, as the OEM boot light is crap
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and i added an leds to the cabin as well
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it is nice and bright but hard to photograph - but there is no amber coloured light in my cabin anymore 8)
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anyways do you think the 6000K is enough or should I try the 7000K Nokya bulbs?? im leaning towards the 7000K or adding a HID kit, but I don't use high beams often so HID seems a waste of cash, and hard to fit. cheers
 
How easy was it to change the interior bulb / cablin - is it a 501 sidelight bulb or a festoon?

iv had a look at changing it but couldnt see how to and didnt want to break it.. advice would be very helpful!
 
Hotride said:
So did I, till I seen my high beams. Cant figure out why they are called bi-xenons TBH.
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I'm going to have to test this out when I get home. Maybe it works differently in different markets, or it changed in facelifted Z4's?

As far as I know, this is how it works on my Z4:

The outside light (near the fender/wing) is both low-beam and high-beam. It's your high-beam light when you 'push' the turn signal stalk away from you. There is a little motor inside the headlight housing that 'opens' up the full beam size.

The inside light (near the kidney grills) are at half-wattage for daytime running lights, and full-wattage for high-beams as 'flash to pass' (when you pull the turn signal stalk towards you.)

In either case, the higher kelvin bulbs you put in there does look much better --- make sure you do your foglights too. Just be careful as a lot of those high kelvin bulbs have a blue coating on them and run VERY hot. Hot enough to melt your plastic housing or cause a fire. Some of them actually run at a higher wattage than indicated and may lead to burnt wiring and blown fuses.

I had some of these bulbs in my headlights on my e46 m3 many years ago, and driving on the highway I saw smoke coming up from the front of the car---got out and noticed a nice little fire inside my headlight. Melted it pretty good. Thankfully the fire went out before it could affect any other part of the car.

I also put these bulbs for my interior of my e36 m3 to 'whiten' the interior color. The C-pillar lights have a nice melt-mark in the middle of them. I was using them for my license plate lights too. Well those got all melted and yellowed the lens after a year or so too.

I had a lot of parts to replace with OEM originals and have since moved to LED lights for the 'white look' instead. Haven't done as such mods on the Z4 yet.

On a side note, how did you wire up your trunk LED strip? The stock trunk light is useless in one corner. Especially when you get used to the e46 dual trunk lights connected to the tail light covers.
 
Dragonhead - the bulb is the t10 type. I tried a few types and ended up useing these ones http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-x-White-T10-Car-Bulbs-LED-Wedge-Light-Bulbs-Lamp-168-/260785674885?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3cb8099a85#ht_2887wt_902 the hole is very small and I had to sand the bulb down a bit with a dremel to make it fit.

Zed not zee - I used an led strip with adhesive backing and just stuck it in place, then I ran the wire over to the carpet on the right side, held it in place with black electrical tape so you can't see it. and I ran the wire down behind the carpet to the back of the oem trunk light and just soldered the led strip wires into the boot light wires. Pretty simple when u get in there and have a look.

The way you describe your headlights, is how the facelift headlights work as far as I know. But the prefacelift are different. My car is 03 model. My xenons come on when the lights are switched to on and the halogens come on when I push or pull the indicator lever, but not any other time. On another note for some stupid reason it is illegal to use high beams while driving in this country, and you are only allowed to use them in an emergency situation or as a warning if required. Even so your comments about the bulbs over heating are now worrying me, and I haven't found any LEDs that will go in there without causing a bulb out warning.

Do you know of any h7 LEDs suitable for bmw's? I have changed every other bulb in my car to LEDs now except headlights/ tail lights and indicators!
 
Dragon head, I used this instructions to remove the light casing http://tis.spaghetticoder.org/s/view.pl?1/08/35/17 I use a credit card to lever it out, as screwdrivers can easily mark/ damage the interior panels.
 
Hotride said:
Dragonhead - the bulb is the t10 type. I tried a few types and ended up useing these ones http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-x-White-T10-Car-Bulbs-LED-Wedge-Light-Bulbs-Lamp-168-/260785674885?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3cb8099a85#ht_2887wt_902 the hole is very small and I had to sand the bulb down a bit with a dremel to make it fit.

Zed not zee - I used an led strip with adhesive backing and just stuck it in place, then I ran the wire over to the carpet on the right side, held it in place with black electrical tape so you can't see it. and I ran the wire down behind the carpet to the back of the oem trunk light and just soldered the led strip wires into the boot light wires. Pretty simple when u get in there and have a look.

The way you describe your headlights, is how the facelift headlights work as far as I know. But the prefacelift are different. My car is 03 model. My xenons come on when the lights are switched to on and the halogens come on when I push or pull the indicator lever, but not any other time. On another note for some stupid reason it is illegal to use high beams while driving in this country, and you are only allowed to use them in an emergency situation or as a warning if required. Even so your comments about the bulbs over heating are now worrying me, and I haven't found any LEDs that will go in there without causing a bulb out warning.

Do you know of any h7 LEDs suitable for bmw's? I have changed every other bulb in my car to LEDs now except headlights/ tail lights and indicators!
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That's interesting. I have a pre-facelift as well (my car was imported from the US, so US Spec) but my low beams xenons are the same bulbs used for high-beams when I pull the lever. I wonder if you guys got different headlights because of the laws over there? Over here highbeams can only be used if there is no other car in front of you for a minimum of 30 meters (travelling towards you OR in the same direction). Or for flashing to pass when in the left-most lane. I'll take some pictures of how my headlights work when the gf gets back home with the car.

The H7 LED's are available from AutoIllumination.com. I haven't actually tried them so I can't attest to how bright they are / quality of the bulbs. Most of the newer LED bulbs contain the resistor so it won't throw a bulb-out warning on the dash.

Where did you get the rest of your LED bulbs from? I know bimmian.com has high quality ones specifically for the Z4, but kind of expensive. I really want to swap the brake lights + turn signals with LED's.
 
Well the Aussie zed's are euro spec, so they could very well be different. Your rules make more sense, it is now a fineable offense to flash your lights here. :x

I'll have to check out that site, but I have just been playing with a program called navcoder and it seems I can turn off the bulb warning sensor, so i'm gOing to buy some cheap h7 led's and test it. I'll let you know if it works, as it will save a bit of money if you don't need led's with inbuilt chips. And you can then buy them off eBay, for cheap :thumbsup:

I've sourced all my led's off eBay. As eBay was roughly 10 times cheaper then the retail prices here. But I haven't done any bulb's connected to the bulb warning light ju
 
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