headlight help.

M

maxdavid

Member
headlight help.

as you may all know, the headlamps on (my other halfs 2006 2.5 softtop ) z4 - they LOOK like xenons but are halogen standards, - are complete and utter shite for seeing in the dark with.. he insists on driving with fog lamps or full beams on because the leveller is at top level but all you can see is 5foot in front - which is becoming dangerous now. frankly ill write the car off for him and buy him a decent car at this rate as i keep driving him about in my merc because its that bad (combined with his driving of course hehe).

anyone notice it and done something to sort them out? are proper bi-xenons a better height/range? i been tempted to wedge the lamps in a funny position to make it shine further..


regards,
max
 
You've clearly never experienced TVR 5" headlights or worse Classic Mini Sealed Beam Units (Think 7" giant lightbulb!).

Anyhow I digress. You can adjust the headlights to shine further out (as in up) on the headlight unit itself. There is a white screw that does the vertical alignment. Most people do 1.5-2 turns to lift the lights. Remember to take them down for MOT though.

This is what I found after a quick search.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?814936-Headlight-adjustment

Other upgrade to HIDs. There seems to be less issue passing MOT with HIDs through projector lenses.

I do need to do this on mine though, so am not speaking from experience. I'm waiting for my HID kit to arrive.
 
yeah didnt want to spend money on it as it aint mine anyway like, and looking at the horrendous prices for other headlamp units i could buy another car for that p[rice! hehehe,

ill have a look at those headlamps then and see if i can adjust them that way.. i thought there might be something in there but with the stupid design of the car frankly just changing a light bulb made me want to kill myself.

cheers :)
 
i have tried those diy kits for headlamp conv. cos the capri was terrible, and they are ace, when i blew his engine up i swapped em to the toyota and so i swear by them for a cheap very effective upgrade. anyway, had a look at link and i reckon thats the key cheers



max
 
p.s i have experience of small, single FIVE inch! motorcycle headlamps i converted the capri to.... now THAT was like a fecking candle! it just never blew out when you moved ;)
 
I've just bought some cheap HIDS from Amazon, £25 for 6000k. I'd like to say that when I now drive at night, the road lights up like beautiful summers day, however, it's just as bad as before, but with a tinge of blue. They look great when looking at the car from outside, but are not much help when driving :(

Probably my fault for buying such a cheap set, or, not going for the 8000k option. But I shall be taking Wildfires advice and turning the adjuster screw at some point this weekend to see I it makes a difference.

What are other peoples experience with HIDS? Any sub £50 sets that actually work?
 
I think it's the inherent design of halogen projector lights. I had a similar design in my Elise. They look great, but don't really "spread" the light very well. The beam pattern in a harsh cut off. I found that even putting in HIDs only makes the illuminated area brighter, there is still very little "throw" on them. Converting old style reflector lights to HIDs works a lot better but you WILL fail an MOT.

Ollie - As the light temp goes up, the light output actually decreases. if you went for 8000k you would get a blue/purple look, but less actual light. OEM HIDs are 5000k, but 6000k are a good compromise between output and looks.

I'll be trying to convert my Z4 as soon as my replacement kit from HID's direct arrives. I may have a go at leveling up the light today.
 
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