HID headlight Conversertion- Your Thoughts

I did this and it is great, never had a problem except when I connected the wire to the main low beam of my car the hid would then flicker and did not work, so I got the 12v juice from the foglights and it works fine, so when my low beams are on I have the parking lights on and fog lights, pretty cool, no other z4 has that combo, then to get my xenon low beam i hit the fog light swith and voila.
 
BrossardZ4 said:
I did this and it is great, never had a problem except when I connected the wire to the main low beam of my car the hid would then flicker and did not work, so I got the 12v juice from the foglights and it works fine, so when my low beams are on I have the parking lights on and fog lights, pretty cool, no other z4 has that combo, then to get my xenon low beam i hit the fog light swith and voila.
Click to expand...
Hope I'm not reading this wrong, but you're saying your foglights are always on when you're low (dipped) beam lights are on? I hope I'm reading your post wrong...
 
Yes my fog lights which are now connected to the main low beam wire, so naturally they are on, unless i put just my parking light on then press the fog light button, then my fogs lights are off because only the parking switch is on.....anyway so what if my low beams are on all the time, does not make a difference.

It works just fine. plus like i said i get the fogs lights on and the yellow part of the parking lights on without the low beam on, which is not possible under normal conditions, but look really cool.
 
BrossardZ4 said:
Yes my fog lights which are now connected to the main low beam wire, so naturally they are on, unless i put just my parking light on then press the fog light button, then my fogs lights are off because only the parking switch is on.....anyway so what if my low beams are on all the time, does not make a difference.

It works just fine. plus like i said i get the fogs lights on and the yellow part of the parking lights on without the low beam on, which is not possible under normal conditions, but look really cool.
Click to expand...

So you drive with your fog lights on when you are on dip beam......?
 
AlanJ said:
BrossardZ4 said:
Yes my fog lights which are now connected to the main low beam wire, so naturally they are on, unless i put just my parking light on then press the fog light button, then my fogs lights are off because only the parking switch is on.....anyway so what if my low beams are on all the time, does not make a difference.

It works just fine. plus like i said i get the fogs lights on and the yellow part of the parking lights on without the low beam on, which is not possible under normal conditions, but look really cool.
Click to expand...

So you drive with your fog lights on when you are on dip beam......?
Click to expand...
...which is illegal. If that is indeed what's going on.

Fog lights, the clue is in the name :roll:
 
BrossardZ4 - this all seems a pointless and somewhat chavvy conversion that was popular in the 1990's, not to say now illegal as a11y mentions and contrary to several sections of the highway code:

Hightway code:

114
You MUST NOT
•use any lights in a way which would dazzle or cause discomfort to other road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders
•use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced. You MUST switch them off when visibility improves to avoid dazzling other road users (see Rule 226)

226
You MUST use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced, generally when you cannot see for more than 100 metres (328 feet). You may also use front or rear fog lights but you MUST switch them off when visibility improves (see Rule 236).

236
You MUST NOT use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226) as they dazzle other road users and can obscure your brake lights. You MUST switch them off when visibility improves.
 
Looking at his sig pic looks like his car is American.. so maybe they have different laws/ acceptability there.

While over here we frown on people with fogs on when its not foggy - in Ireland every second car has them on during the day - even though its illegal there too.
 
aquazi said:
Looking at his sig pic looks like his car is American.. so maybe they have different laws/ acceptability there.

While over here we frown on people with fogs on when its not foggy - in Ireland every second car has them on during the day - even though its illegal there too.
Click to expand...

I know it's a US car and could have as easily put up many postings that show it's unacceptable in the US too.
 
well my car is in canada, and driving with your fog lights on anytime anywhere is no problem at all here, i guess you have different laws there.
 
BrossardZ4 said:
well my car is in canada, and driving with your fog lights on anytime anywhere is no problem at all here, i guess you have different laws there.
Click to expand...

Different laws and culture I guess :thumbsup:
 
I'm sure that your fog lights on the other side of the pond don't work the same, the fog lights here are no worse than regular low beams, just that it is lower to the ground. here the audis have the same configuration for their daytime running lights, parking lights and fog lights on all the time, trust me it is a really cool mod on my car and not seen anywhere, perfectly legal and none glaring to other motorists, i promise.
 
BrossardZ4 said:
I'm sure that your fog lights on the other side of the pond don't work the same, the fog lights here are no worse than regular low beams, just that it is lower to the ground. here the audis have the same configuration for their daytime running lights, parking lights and fog lights on all the time, trust me it is a really cool mod on my car and not seen anywhere, perfectly legal and none glaring to other motorists, i promise.
Click to expand...
Ah, I take back what I said. However, if someone in the UK did something like that I'd quite rightly call them an idiot - our fog lights, as you say, must be different as they do spread the beam out a bit more :)

I personally find front fog lights pretty pointless for 99.9999999999% of the time. I fitted front fog lights to my VW van but wired them to come on when I switch from dipped to high/full beam. It just provides an extra bit of illumination for me but will never dazzle other drivers as they'll never see them on - unless I flash them of course 8)
 
Just read through this listing and just wondering if anyone can post some images of where they installed the Ballasts under the bonnet? I have looked at the link of where you can buy them from - will these defo fit my 2004 Z4?

http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/hid-conversion-kits-35w/bmw-hid-kits/bmw-ultra-35w-hid-kits-p-263.html

Many thanks people,
Max
 
Exactmax said:
Just read through this listing and just wondering if anyone can post some images of where they installed the Ballasts under the bonnet? I have looked at the link of where you can buy them from - will these defo fit my 2004 Z4?

http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/hid-conversion-kits-35w/bmw-hid-kits/bmw-ultra-35w-hid-kits-p-263.html

Many thanks people,
Max
Click to expand...
Yes they'll fit as long as you choose the Z4 bit from the dropdown menu.

I bought a slightly different set from the same place - this exact set in 4300k, 50w: http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/hid-conversion-kits-50w/bmw-hid-kits/bmw-supervision-50w-hid-kits-p-279.html

And is what's fitted in these (crap) photos:

Passenger side (that's the edge of the airbox you can see):
4466793440_2f25c517c9_b.jpg


Driver's side:
4466015339_f55fd87205_b.jpg


4466019861_b478520f54_b.jpg
 
a11y - you might want to reconsider that mounting point. That HT lead you have looping around inside of the bonnet is a 25,000v supply. It shouldn't be anywhere that a finger can get near (unless of course the suppliers have some sepcific advise to the contrary) An unsuspecting mechanic or observer could kill themselves.

It's not without good reason that the Z4 are under the headlight unit as are others like the X5
 
I'll second that I recently unplugged a hid cable to figure which bulb had gone, on leaving the lead unplugged hanging near the chassis of the car , it arced andsparked over 2 inch consistantly on startup I noticed this by a very loud cracking noise. I now have a lot more respect for these ballasts they are very dangerous! It would only take a small nick on the insulation of the cable and you would receive a shock not even touching the cable!
 
Wow those ballasts are pretty massive!

Had some aftermarket HID's in my celica years back, but they were much smaller then those.
 
Cheers guys, I had at some point planned on taking the front bumper off and finding a better location for them, but just haven't got around to it. I sort of hoped I could tie that job in with replacing my front headlights with clear-lensed ones but that's not happened yet either :oops:

Although I will say that the only person who ever pokes around under the bonnet is me or my father-in-law (a car dealer/mechanic) - nobody else ever gets to poke around in there. Better safe than sorry though...
 
Im thinking of getting the same set that you have A11y more twards winter time. The headlights on the z4 truly are shocking especially having come from xenons before.

Is there anywhere else people have mounted the ballasts thats considered a more suited location?
 
My porsche hids i bought just plugged straight in and taped to the back of the plastic housing. Is there a set that you can just plug into existing wires. The set i used before were Bosche ones. And will only fit HID's if this is the case??

There are some on ebay £59 and they say their ballasts are 50% smaller to fit in the housing???
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom