Headlight bulbs & fitment question

P

phoundZ4

New member
 Leeds
Hi all,

I have a question that I'm hoping someone (or several of you) would be able to assist with... :tumbleweed:

I need to change the headlight bulbs on my 04 plate 2.2i SE...I would like to avoid dismantling the front of the car to see what fitment of bulb I require before I order some brighter ones...

I find that the distance that the dipped headlights light up (especially on motorways) is really poor and find myself relying more on the headlights of other motorists for safe motorway driving. I therefore need to resolve this issue, as even with the "dip controller" adjacent to the steering wheel set to highest the range is minimal. Can the dipped angle be adjusted in anyway? Is there a section in the forum on how to do this? I searced "headlight realignment" but that returned no results in the "how to" section...

As I see it I have 2 options, change the bulbs for a brighter road and/or adjust the dip level in the actual headlight section.

One final question, that is more of a general query...why do bulb retailers sell both dipped beam bulbs and high beam bulbs? I was under the impression, possibly in my ignorance ( and I apologise if I'm way wrong here), that you get your dipped headlights from a mirror deflecting the "high beam" onto the road, thus only utilising a single bulb, is that right or are there 2 bulbs in the headlight?

Cheers for any help you guys can offer.

Andy.
 
Let me see if I can help in a logical order here

First find if you have xenon of halogen. I suspect halogen as they are not bright. Look for yellow xenon warning stickers under the bonnet
You gain access to the bulbs by turning the wheel to lock, undo the access panel, unclip the rear of the light and remove the bulbs. No need to remove any bumper panels

There are lots of posts on the forum about headlights - just search creatively :) articles on changing bulbs, alignment, upgrading, etc.

You can adjust the bulbs a bit higher using the white adjusters under the bonnet, fit brighter bulbs, upgrade to proper xenon (HID) All have benefit.

Halogen works with 2 filaments and switched between them or in some instances uses a separate H& bulb. Xenon uses a mechanical shield to cut off the upper reach of the beam to create a dipped beam. Z4 are equipped with 2 sets of bulbs. Inner is dipped and main. Outer is flash to pass and main.

Have a read and start posting supplemental questions
 
Im guessing from what you are saying that you do not have xenon lights,

There are generally two types of lamps (bulbs), one is called H4 this is a double filament lamp that does both low and high beam, the other is a H7, which we have, they are a single element bulb but in two different light housings, one set for low beam and one for high.

Changing the standard H7's to a Philips extreme or a Osram Silverstar will improve thing immensly, just make sure you buy legal ones which are 55w, there are some with much higher output but are illegal for road use and will fail an MOT, also get the height up as far as legal.

Fitting is what CJ said :thumbsup:
 
Get the philips extreme bulbs, I have had Osram on other cars and you will be doing well to get 6 months life from them (also backed up by a thread on another forum i frequent).
 
I just changed the bulbs (helps to turn the wheels the right way...) to the Halfords Extreme Brilliance. So far so good!
 
Fitted Halfords extreme brilliance H7 lamps to my car and in all honesty don't think they made that much difference on dipped but do seem better on high beam, save your money and see if you alter the projection of beam to be a bit higher that's my next step.
 
A full turn of adjustment up under the bonnet, and then some decent 80-90%+ bulbs for the main beam, will make a great deal of difference.

I've run mine raised for a good month now, and have only had one person flash at me, and I was coming up a hill towards them so not surprising they got a bit more glare anyway (even standard they might do)

Dave
 
ive fitted the phillips xtreme and the difference is a bit better, im now playing with alignment as they still seem a bit too low. i changed the main/dipped/side bulbs for £50, id say its worth it for the money, but they are no hid's thats for sure.
 
No photo of it on the car, but here's one from the rear:

rear_nonXenon.jpg

You can see one adjuster top centre (blurred white) and one lower left with 3 screws to hold its gears.

Open the bonnet look vertically down behind the headlight and you will see them, with a crosshead screw in the top.

One is left to right the other up and down.
 
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