Making sense of the headlights

[cj10jeeper]

Mine are xenon as main beam and halogen as high beam - single xenon if you like - which is standard on Alpina Lux models?


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No idea about Alpina but I'm surprised it's any different to a standard Zed.

 

[Mowflow]

I'm currently trying to make sense of the headlights myself at the moment. Everyone on here mentions xenons but every Z4 i've ever seen has had xenons. Do people mean bi-xenons and only regard them as being worthy of the name xenons within the Z4 community? The other ones (like what are fitted to my car) being termed halogens as the inner most light is a regular 501 and H7 affair. It's very confusing on this car.

All xenons fitted to Z4 are bi-xenon meaning that they operate on both dipped and main beam. In the instance of the Z4 by dropping a shield that removes the cut-off for dipped beam.

If all the examples you've looked at have xenon then you're either looking at ///M's or have been lucky.

Standard fitment is halogen H7's and they are widely regarded as useless.

Are you sure all the examples you're looking at have xenon? Extenally they look identical to the casual eye and can best be determined by other factors such as single knurled adjuster on the darsh switch, decals under the bonnet, flicker on start-up, etc.

Now I'm REALLY confused.

I was only looking at 3.0 Z4s if that makes a difference. The light closest to the centre grill seems to be a normal style affair where as the one on the outside is a projector type glass orb stylee. They flicker when they come on, have an auto setting, seem to auto level (although the halogens on my 3 series did this as well) and they have washers in the bumper.

I don't have halos, it does seem that the projector light is on in all switch positions. I'll get a picture of them when I get home in the hope someone can clarify what i've got as I'm hoping to do the clear indicator mod. If it turns out these are the xenons everyone mentions then I don't think I've ever seen the halogens. My wifes friend has a council spec 2.0 maybe I should check that.

 

[chrisj900]

can someone show me a picture of a LHD and RHD headlight/ is there an indication on the unit that states this.

 

[cj10jeeper]

can someone show me a picture of a LHD and RHD headlight/ is there an indication on the unit that states this.

There is absolutely nothing different to see in a photo of a xenon and halogen. It's minute detail such as D2S etched on the lens

 

[cj10jeeper]

I'm currently trying to make sense of the headlights myself at the moment. Everyone on here mentions xenons but every Z4 i've ever seen has had xenons. Do people mean bi-xenons and only regard them as being worthy of the name xenons within the Z4 community? The other ones (like what are fitted to my car) being termed halogens as the inner most light is a regular 501 and H7 affair. It's very confusing on this car.

All xenons fitted to Z4 are bi-xenon meaning that they operate on both dipped and main beam. In the instance of the Z4 by dropping a shield that removes the cut-off for dipped beam.

If all the examples you've looked at have xenon then you're either looking at ///M's or have been lucky.

Standard fitment is halogen H7's and they are widely regarded as useless.

Are you sure all the examples you're looking at have xenon? Extenally they look identical to the casual eye and can best be determined by other factors such as single knurled adjuster on the darsh switch, decals under the bonnet, flicker on start-up, etc.

Now I'm REALLY confused.

I was only looking at 3.0 Z4s if that makes a difference. The light closest to the centre grill seems to be a normal style affair where as the one on the outside is a projector type glass orb stylee. They flicker when they come on, have an auto setting, seem to auto level (although the halogens on my 3 series did this as well) and they have washers in the bumper.

I don't have halos, it does seem that the projector light is on in all switch positions. I'll get a picture of them when I get home in the hope someone can clarify what i've got as I'm hoping to do the clear indicator mod. If it turns out these are the xenons everyone mentions then I don't think I've ever seen the halogens. My wifes friend has a council spec 2.0 maybe I should check that.

It is confusing.
Let's talk prefacelift for ease:

Firstly the lights look near enough identical so don't be fooled by thinking a projector outer equals xenon.
Both cycle on start up, merely to reset to stepper motors.

Both have a standard H7 inner light (main and flash to pass) and projector style outer (either with dipped halogen or a bi-xenon dipped and main)

Some halogens have washer jets, but all xenon do.

Look at your light control switch. If you have 2 adjusters. 1 for lights and one for instrument then you have halogen

Do you have xenon warning decals under the bonnet?

Is there tiny lettering on the lens of the light marke D2S - that xenon

Now see what you have

 

[Mowflow]

I shall check when i get home from work. Thank you very much for taking the time to educate me in this. I'm about 96.7% sure I have xenons.

 

[Mowflow]

Good news. I have xenons.

I guess the cloud to that silver lining is that if I want to do the clear indicator mod I'm going to have to go through the extremely difficult process of butchering and building headlights

 

[Naith]

Well certainly for starters you'd be able to run them with just the flat beam pattern, but need to check local regulation on beam pattern for vehicle importing, annual testing, etc.

In any event you shoudl be able to pick up a cheap set of LHD of either Ebay UK or Germany

Thanks for the suggestion

 

[theribs]

Sorry to resurrect this topic but I am new to the pleasures of owning a Z4.
I'm interested in the complexities of the Z4 headlights because I was hoping to have the 4 halos (or angle eyes) on as DRLs, similar to those on my 320d.
I have a Carly BMW ODB connector and the app installed on my Iphone. It wasn't too differcult to get online with the car and change the relivant codings... or that's what I thought. I have set the following:
Daytime running lights 1/2
• active
Daytime running lights 2/2
• active
Daytime running lights brightness
• high

... these I didn't touch....

Daytime running lights – dimmed high beams
• not active
Daytime running lights – front turn signals
• not active
Daytime running lights – standing lights
• not active
Daytime running lights – tail lights
• not active

The result of this was to light my dipped bean headlight whenever the ignition is switched on, no effect on the halos.
Here is a photos of what lights when. Also note that I have a separate main beam headlight in the inbound position, contrary to earlier posts?? Is this the norm or have the lights bean modified by someone over the years??



I have read somewhere that the lighting of the dipped headlight instead of the halos is a "Canadian Standard" as opposed to the "US Standard"... but what about the UK Standard?
Does anyone know if I can change this??
My car is a face-lift 3.0si, built in February 2006 and first registered January 2007.