Matching Up Colour of Sidelights/fogs for Xenon...

G

GaryThomlinson

Member
Manchester
Hi Guys,

I'm thinking of matching up the colour of my sidelight bulbs and fogs to that of the Xenon headlamps, as the nice blue/white colour of the Xenons, surrounded by yellow sidelights or fogs, looks a bit pants. Can anyone suggest the best bulbs to go for. eBay has loads, mostly LED, but I've heard these can trigger false "bulb-gone" alarms in the car?
 
Philips Blue Vision sidelight bulbs are the best bet - actual bulb looks blue when off, but pure white when on. I've not got xenons, but they match my uprated bulbs perfectly.

Not sure on fog light bulbs, never use em anyway.
 
i can second that,i've just put some in mine and im well impressed. :thumbsup: i tried halfords own first and they looked no different at all. :rofl:
 
Hi all,

Sorry to kinda hijack your post Gary, just a quick question..

i have the same problem/look, in that the side lights are the yellow'ie colour than the main headlights, but i don't know if I have xenons tho..

How do i tell if they are? when on light mode is on auto.. as soon i start the car (if dark enough) the lights come on straight away and they seem to adjust or do something.. not sure.. is this a sign of a xenon?

I don't know as it wasn't stated on any spec i had when i purchased the car, so assumed they were normal halogens with maybe upgraded bulbs :?

Any ideas? - thanks :)

note: I have just search and read a post where someone say's auto level thingy at start up also happens on halogens, so I doubt mine are xenons, probably just upgraded bulbs :)
 
WelshGirl2009 said:
Hi all,

Sorry to kinda hijack your post Gary, just a quick question..

i have the same problem/look, in that the side lights are the yellow'ie colour than the main headlights, but i don't know if I have xenons tho..

How do i tell if they are? when on light mode is on auto.. as soon i start the car (if dark enough) the lights come on straight away and they seem to adjust or do something.. not sure.. is this a sign of a xenon?

I don't know as it wasn't stated on any spec i had when i purchased the car, so assumed they were normal halogens with maybe upgraded bulbs :?

Any ideas? - thanks :)

note: I have just search and read a post where someone say's auto level thingy at start up also happens on halogens, so I doubt mine are xenons, probably just upgraded bulbs :)
Click to expand...

Xenons are really bright white and usually flicker a little when you turn then on, normal ones are a little yellow in colour when on and not so bright :D
 
It's all to do with the "Kelvin" colour of the lights - usually something like 5000k for xenons but it varies for different manufacturers. Higher numbers are more chavvy (8000k is quite blue/purple).

Best way to confirm if you have xenons is look for warning stickers about high voltage under the bonnet. These could obviously be removed I suppose, but it's a start.
 
you also wont have the ability to adjust the light level from inside the car with xenons - rolling switch next to the light controls...
 
On most cars i just remove the side lights as i hate the difference in colour between the xenon's and the side lights. However on the Z4, i'd be prepared to play about with the sidelights. I assume it's a bulb within the single angel eye??
 
I got the Phillips blue vision or whatever its called and it does not really match :( was thinking of going light orange to balance the white/blue color of the xenon :)
 
czechT698 said:
I got the Phillips blue vision or whatever its called and it does not really match :( was thinking of going light orange to balance the white/blue color of the xenon :)
Click to expand...

i bought the same phillips bulbs for the sidelights and they don't look any different, but it appears that nothing will come close to the xenons so not too sure on what else we can do :(
 
I just retrofitted some xenons and used the phillips bulbs as they were recommended to match, what a load of pants they are really yellow next to the xenons :| I will be ordering some LED sidelight bulbs tonight as these will match (had some on my TT) I will post up a link later.

Tom :)
 
Replace the sidelights with white LED's. You can even get them with built in resistors to prevent a bulb out warnng (LED takes about .1 to .5w Vs 5w standard) If not fit a 5w ceramic resistor in line. I did it on mine before later converting to Angel Eyes.

Foglights - just find some H7's (I think H7) with a higher temp like 6k.
 
Bit of a thread revival but has anybody found some LED bulbs which are compatible with the Z4 xenon headlamps and do not give bulb failure warnings whilst looking bright, good colour match whilst illuminating the reflector as opposed to a forward facing dot of light (from what I've read BMW's can flag the low current draw of the LED bulbs as a bulb failure or glow dimly when the car is off).

I've thrown in a spare set of phillips blue vision sidelight bulbs I had in the shed but their light output looked weak compared to the OEM yellow candle light sidelights that were in the car originally. Will have to try them at night to be sure!
 
Ready to be ripped off?!

http://www.priracing.com/product.php/2293/1/piaa-led-tera-6500k-sidelight-bulbs-euro-cars--pair-/eed15ba81605a5d82687df3eed181a6f
 
Found some others for a more reasonable price - and should give the light dispersion you are after since the LEDs are mounted sideways

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390090679277
 
Cheers Dave, will be useful to see if anybody has used those or similar (the first option is out of the question... its not that annoying ;))
 
I don't know who would pay £60 for sidelight bulbs! Even the £13 is way over what I'd like to pay. I'm going to have a play when I get my car so will post up if I find a decent solution
 
Thanks for the tips CJ10jeeper,

I don't have any experience of cars with blown bulb indicators and I can see it's going to be a pain on the Z4! Can you confirm that a parallel 5W 50ohm is what's needed to prevent a blown bulb warning?

Thanks,
Dave
 
daveg said:
Thanks for the tips CJ10jeeper,

I don't have any experience of cars with blown bulb indicators and I can see it's going to be a pain on the Z4! Can you confirm that a parallel 5W 50ohm is what's needed to prevent a blown bulb warning?

Thanks,
Dave
Click to expand...

Can't remember how many ohm but def 5w, Where I sourced my LED's they gave me a few FOC so never really investigated beyond knowing I need e them and fixing them in parallel inside the headlamp.
 
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