There is a long thread on the board about identifying them if you're unsure. Since there are many aftermarket bulb kits and even simple halogen bulbs coated or xenon gas filled my advice would be to get to know how to identify them correctly. It's one of the 'must have' if you plan to use the Zed in the dark. Retrofit OEM is incredibly expensive £1500 for the units before you even get into the rest of the install, components and coding
Used Z4 3.0i advice.
- Thread starter Herminator
- Start date
Here's my quick and easy guide to tell if you've got halogens or Xenons.
Xenons leave a very clear and crisp line at the edge of its beam - the beam goes from bright white to darkness. Normal lights bleed at the edges so the lights fades into darkness.
In the UK all cars fitted with Xenons must by law have self levelling lights. If you have an interior wheel to adjust the beam (next to the wheel that adjusts the dash display illumination level) then they cant be Xenons.
Xenons leave a very clear and crisp line at the edge of its beam - the beam goes from bright white to darkness. Normal lights bleed at the edges so the lights fades into darkness.
In the UK all cars fitted with Xenons must by law have self levelling lights. If you have an interior wheel to adjust the beam (next to the wheel that adjusts the dash display illumination level) then they cant be Xenons.
Well I went for a short 600 mile round trip yesterday and ended up coming home with a smile on my face 
I've finally bought a Z4 3.0i, after considering various cars over the last few months, fun with a hint of practicality won out in the end.
The spec of this particular Z4 won me over, along with a price that hasn't gone up with the usual summer convertable increases.
It's got M sports seats in red leather 8) sat nav and Elipsoid alloys, unfortunatly no Xenons but I don't plan on doing much night driving (other than motorway on the way home from work in the winter)
It's got a few things that I want to fix over the comming months but nothing I'm too worried about.
The third rear brake light is cracked right down the middle but it gives me an excuse to change it for a white one (although I think red is fine too.
The driver seat could do with some professional treatment to the bolster. If anyone knows of someone good in the Durham area, let me know.
There's a small tear on the inner lining of the hood where it's rubbed/caught on something when down, on the passangers side, again needs a pro to tidy it up.
One curbed alloy, no big chunks taken out, just a "nice and gentle" rub around half the outer edge, should refurb nicely but I'll wait until I'm used to the width of the car.
The front left tyre is noticably more worn than the right front, looks like one was replaced at a different time than the other one. The rears are nearly new. I'll probably try and find another part worn run flat to match the good one on the front, so if anyone is changing to no run flats and has a spare tyre
I would like to change to non run flats but three of the current tyres have lots of life left in them.
On the drive home I went into the slow lane for a while where there were very deep grooves in the road from the trucks, it felt like I was in a bob sled
I don't want to do that again any time soon.
The paint work is very nice for a black car, a few very light scratches that should dissapear with a proper clean/wax/polish. I plan on buying some good "detailing" products, so if you have a good list of what to buy it would be very helpful. I'd really like to get a porta cable to cut down on the manual labour, my hands are too sensitive for most cleaning products
The car has a rather unfortunate number plate, I'm not normaly one for private plates but I may just have to. :roll: I've already had my little sister taking the micky, the guys at work will probably be even worse
I never normally have a smile on my face when spending £50 at the petrol station but when I walked out and saw my new car shining there, it was awsome
No camera at the moment so you'll have to make do with the previous owners pics.
I've finally bought a Z4 3.0i, after considering various cars over the last few months, fun with a hint of practicality won out in the end.
The spec of this particular Z4 won me over, along with a price that hasn't gone up with the usual summer convertable increases.
It's got M sports seats in red leather 8) sat nav and Elipsoid alloys, unfortunatly no Xenons but I don't plan on doing much night driving (other than motorway on the way home from work in the winter)
It's got a few things that I want to fix over the comming months but nothing I'm too worried about.
The third rear brake light is cracked right down the middle but it gives me an excuse to change it for a white one (although I think red is fine too.
The driver seat could do with some professional treatment to the bolster. If anyone knows of someone good in the Durham area, let me know.
There's a small tear on the inner lining of the hood where it's rubbed/caught on something when down, on the passangers side, again needs a pro to tidy it up.
One curbed alloy, no big chunks taken out, just a "nice and gentle" rub around half the outer edge, should refurb nicely but I'll wait until I'm used to the width of the car.
The front left tyre is noticably more worn than the right front, looks like one was replaced at a different time than the other one. The rears are nearly new. I'll probably try and find another part worn run flat to match the good one on the front, so if anyone is changing to no run flats and has a spare tyre
I would like to change to non run flats but three of the current tyres have lots of life left in them.On the drive home I went into the slow lane for a while where there were very deep grooves in the road from the trucks, it felt like I was in a bob sled
I don't want to do that again any time soon.The paint work is very nice for a black car, a few very light scratches that should dissapear with a proper clean/wax/polish. I plan on buying some good "detailing" products, so if you have a good list of what to buy it would be very helpful. I'd really like to get a porta cable to cut down on the manual labour, my hands are too sensitive for most cleaning products
The car has a rather unfortunate number plate, I'm not normaly one for private plates but I may just have to. :roll: I've already had my little sister taking the micky, the guys at work will probably be even worse
I never normally have a smile on my face when spending £50 at the petrol station but when I walked out and saw my new car shining there, it was awsome
No camera at the moment so you'll have to make do with the previous owners pics.
sp3ctre said:Never mind your lil sister, what about us lot??? :gfight:
Herminator said:I've already had my little sister taking the micky, the guys at work will probably be even worse
No camera at the moment so you'll have to make do with the previous owners pics.
That didn't take you long :roll:
Nothing wrong with the plate...
Seriously, only kidding, I just needed an excuse to use that smiley again! That's a very nice car, from the looks of the plate it was a BMW management car which would explain a fairly decent spec on it. How many owners before you?
Seriously, only kidding, I just needed an excuse to use that smiley again! That's a very nice car, from the looks of the plate it was a BMW management car which would explain a fairly decent spec on it. How many owners before you?
Also, been using Swissvax for a few years now, seems pretty good to me http://www.swissvax.co.uk/
Three owners before me, it did say 3 before the previous owner when I did a HPI check but it was a DVLA mistake. The person I bought it from had changed address and somehow the DVLA added an owner when they changed address, they' had just had a new V5 sent out though which brings it back down to 2 before the previous owner (I have the old V5 showing the wrong owner change)
I hope those BMW managers didn't thrash the car :roll:
I was quite happy with the fuel economy I managed on the way home, 34mpg over 330miles. Most of it cruising at typical motorway speeds :wink: with about 1.5 hours sitting in M25 rush hour traffic :thumbsdown:
I'll get plenty of funny looks with me driving the car, I'm 25 and look even younger (I was ID'd last October ) The licence plate is not going to help at all 
I also need to find a technique for getting out of the car, at the moment I look like Sideshow Bob climbing out of a clown car.
I plan on getting some oil to have handy for top ups when needed. I noticed today that Halfords have Castrol Magnatec at £26 for 4litres with £10 off petrol (either Vpower or one of the other premium fuels) is this decent or should I get some from BMW?
I hope those BMW managers didn't thrash the car :roll:
I was quite happy with the fuel economy I managed on the way home, 34mpg over 330miles. Most of it cruising at typical motorway speeds :wink: with about 1.5 hours sitting in M25 rush hour traffic :thumbsdown:
I'll get plenty of funny looks with me driving the car, I'm 25 and look even younger (I was ID'd last October
) The licence plate is not going to help at all I also need to find a technique for getting out of the car, at the moment I look like Sideshow Bob climbing out of a clown car.
I plan on getting some oil to have handy for top ups when needed. I noticed today that Halfords have Castrol Magnatec at £26 for 4litres with £10 off petrol (either Vpower or one of the other premium fuels) is this decent or should I get some from BMW?
