Upgrade 2005 z4 non xenon lights

pauld2012

Member
I was thinking of upgrade my 2005 z4 non xenon lights can anyone tell what i need to buy ie what lights from ebay etc ? and what are the problems fitting etc . I looked @ some forum posts and they are a bit jumbled some saying they can be a straight swop and others saying they are not .and what will be the diffrences be just the angel eyes ? thanks for any help :)
 
Hi,

as no one has answered I think it's better to do a search and when you find the most interesting topic, join the conversation :) .
 
pauld2012 said:
I was thinking of upgrade my 2005 z4 non xenon lights can anyone tell what i need to buy ie what lights from ebay etc ? and what are the problems fitting etc . I looked @ some forum posts and they are a bit jumbled some saying they can be a straight swop and others saying they are not .and what will be the diffrences be just the angel eyes ? thanks for any help :)

Hi,

I know how you feel as there are so many old posts regarding HiD upgrades using the old style ballast kits that needed external error cancelling resistors or were so big, required external fitting and drilling, it was also hard for me to make the right choice regarding a HiD upgrade and then the discussions regarding MOT legalities all just went around in circles. So after reading a lot of threads and doing extensive research to formulate an educated opinion, I have gone ahead with the conversion and this is my view on it all...hope it helps.

I bought some from eBay listed by "we-sell-hids" for £58.00 all in that had the listing title "CAN BUS PRO KIT VAUXHALL VECTRA C ASTRA CORSA H7 HID XENON CONVERSION 8000K 6000 -MID BALLAST ALL IN ONE - ERROR FREE no flickering". I ordered the 4300k bulbs as wanted to keep everything as close to OEM for MOT reason. My car currently has projector lenses just as the OEM fitted Xenons have, clear lens covers to not scatter the light pattern and headlight washers to clean the lenses but not fitted with auto self leveling lights (although I think as the manual light leveling system cycles up and down when the lights are turned on, most MOT testers might assume that they are auto leveling - hopefully!)

The kit contained everything needed and the fitting was a simple plug and play job that took about 30 mins total time to fit. Couple of things to watch out for is the kit will have a rubber bulb cover on it that you will need to cut off as not needed because you are fitting this into a sealed unit and there also are two parts on the cars metal bulb holder that will need to be flattened with pliers to seat the bulb correctly (its really simple and you will know what I mean when you see it). As the ballast's are slim, there is no drilling or fitting required as all you need to do to is put the 3M supplied double sided sticky pad on one side and tuck the ballast into the far corner of the inner headlight enclosure (Side of the high beam housing furthest from the main beam) as there is a void there big enough to hold the ballast. You then tuck all the wires into the back of the headlight enclosure, pop the cover back and push up the retaining clip back up and its all done, tucked in firmly and water tight.

Everything works perfect with no errors or flickering and the light brightness is just right.

With regards to MOT requirements, I needed the have a couple of tires changed last week and as the fitters are also a MOT testing stations (and I mean a proper place where they do things the right way), I asked them to check all the bulb alignments as I have recently changed all the bulbs (also changed the main beam / fogs to white halogens as the yellow light looked wrong against the Xenons), and they came back and said "one of the high beam bulbs wasn't seated correctly" (as they are a pain to access correctly without taking the wheel off) "and main beams needed a little adjustment but all done now and tested with the MOT alignment tools" without mentioning anything at all about them being retrofit or not being MOT legal so you can use that info how yo like to make your own mind up regarding the MOT requirements.

Finally if you do the conversion and change the main beam and fogs to road legal white halogen bulbs, don't for get to change the small side light bulb in the main beam housing for a 501 Canbus error free LED bulb.

Hope that helped and good luck.

Billy
 
Really good write up Billy, I'm looking at doing this too - are you happy with the end result? Is the improvement over halogens really noticeable?

Finally, have you got any pics of the headlight after install?

Cheers mate.
 
Was well worth doing and a huge improvement.

Haven't taken any pic's but will do tomorrow when I get home and post them.
 
Was well worth doing and a huge improvement.

Haven't taken any pic's but will do tomorrow when I get home and post them.
 
Here you go mate:

photo13.jpg


First class lights for peanuts and a bit of work.
 
Thanks guys.

You said about sidelight LEDs - 501s - checking around there are loads of different types 'SMD' - 2, 4, 8 etc. Which ones did you go for?

Cheers (again!)
 
Hiya,

My PC is on the blink so can't upload anything but pm me your email address and I'll send you a few pics of main beam and led limelights from my phone.

I used 5 led for sidelights as they cover all around the bulb.

Also did all the interior bulbs with led's too so have a nice white light inside too.
 
Hiya,

My PC is on the blink so can't upload anything but pm me your email address and I'll send you a few pics of main beam and led limelights from my phone.

I used 5 led for sidelights as they cover all around the bulb.

Also did all the interior bulbs with led's too so have a nice white light inside too.
 
Hi Fairzy,

The links to all the bits I bought are as follows...

HID Kit for £54.60 all in.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260951876482&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123

The LEDS I ordered are from China so be patient for the delivery or alternativly you can look for UK suppliers but if you are buying quite a few to do all lights in one go, ordering direct may take longer but the saving will be about 50% on UK prices.

501 Canbus Error free LED's for Side Light, Map lights (will need to fit to the bulb holder from outside the hole when you take off the light fitting as will not fit in the gap from back) and Footwell lights.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400335105941

The main interior light has has the same size bulbs and fittings hole as the map lights but as that part is a sealed unit, you will need 501 bulbs with less LED's as they will be slimmer and therefore be able to fit in the gap. These are the ones I have ordered but they havent arrived yet but I'm sure they will fit as they do not have as many LED's.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CANBUS-ERROR-FREE-W5W-T10-501-WEDGE-4-SMD-LED-SIDE-LIGHT-BULB-/220963429313?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3372725bc1 - UPDATE... THIS BULB IS TOO WIDE TO FIT IN THE HOLE

Haven't bothered with dong the rear lights or side indicators myself but thats entirely up to you how far you want to to go with this i.e. number plates, center cubby hole, inside boot etc.

Hope that helps mate and as I said, the above HiD kit has been fitted by me in no time at all and works 100%.

Billy
 
Thanks again mate - just ordered the HIDs and some LEDs (including main beam bulbs) so hopefully after a weekend of grazed knuckles I'll be able to see again!
 
123BillyB said:
Hi Fairzy,

The links to all the bits I bought are as follows...

HID Kit for £54.60 all in.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260951876482&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123

The LEDS I ordered are from China so be patient for the delivery or alternativly you can look for UK suppliers but if you are buying quite a few to do all lights in one go, ordering direct may take longer but the saving will be about 50% on UK prices.

501 Canbus Error free LED's for Side Light, Map lights (will need to fit to the bulb holder from outside the hole when you take off the light fitting as will not fit in the gap from back) and Footwell lights.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400335105941

The main interior light has has the same size bulbs and fittings hole as the map lights but as that part is a sealed unit, you will need 501 bulbs with less LED's as they will be slimmer and therefore be able to fit in the gap. These are the ones I have ordered but they havent arrived yet but I'm sure they will fit as they do not have as many LED's.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CANBUS-ERROR-FREE-W5W-T10-501-WEDGE-4-SMD-LED-SIDE-LIGHT-BULB-/220963429313?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3372725bc1

Haven't bothered with dong the rear lights or side indicators myself but thats entirely up to you how far you want to to go with this i.e. number plates, center cubby hole, inside boot etc.

Hope that helps mate and as I said, the above HiD kit has been fitted by me in no time at all and works 100%.

Billy

Just fitted the HID kit - very happy with the end result. Thank you for help Billy! Tried LED headlights and wasn't very impressed though. Rest of the kit (LED sidelights, HIDs and interior lights look stunning)
 
Yeah I didn't do high beam as led either, just put a white street legal H7 bulb in its place and just did the small 501 bulb in that light unit as led.

The ballast tucked in just right in that gap didn't they?

And doesn't the interior look a lot better!

Happy it all worked out for you and glad to be of help.

Billy
 
It looks loads better. Just ordered the smaller LED for the central interior light and need to find some white bulbs for main beam. (And stubby, and spacers, and ZHP etc....)
 
Finisterre said:
:thumbsup:
Am bookmarking this thread for later use.


Same here, great info, on my to do list hopefully in the next few weeks, (after new discs n pads - ordered mtec, booked in at centre gravity for all wheel alignment, then save a few quid and do this)

Thanks for great write up and links :thumbsup:

Corrie Phil
 
Did the same myself over the weekend, Billy's write up is spot on and lighting is much better 8). Need to swap the main beam and sidelights for whiter bulbs now as it looks a bit crap though :(.
 
Glad to of been of help guys.

Just one thing, ignore the last link regarding the slimmer led for centre light as mine arrived today and is still a little too fat to fit in that gap so have any of you got a link to where you got the slim led from?

Cheers
 
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