Xenon Headlights Dilemma

[HU51A_FU]

Hi Guys,

When i bought my Z4 i believe one of the old owners upgraded the front and rear bumpers as well as front and rear lights to E86 2006, with the headlight upgrades these were changed to OEM XENON units, they were then split and halos were installed and bodged back together again unfortunately so they do suffer from water ingress and the fact its such a messy job your not able to seal them up properly once more

I have been having so many issues with trying to get the dip beams to work as both are now not working, i have replaced all components, Igniter/Ballasts/Bulbs and the loom that goes from the ballast to the igniter with no joy. I'm at the end of my tether and am after new units now.

The price of OEM xenon units are a bit of a joke and wondered whether its possible to buy Halogen units and upgrade the projectors inside to D2S fitting bulbs and ballast/igniters or is it that the plugs on the OEM Halogen lights are difference to the loom that's on the car if there setup for factory xenon's..

Hope it all makes sense.

Cheers

Jamesy

 

[Chris_D]

I’d be thinking of upgrading new halogen units to LED instead of Xenons.
Jus sayin.
:wink:

 

[Jfgoldfish]

I tried LEDs, good ones, in the projectors. Whilst they are much better than halogens, they just didn't do it for me.
I now have a good quality HID kit in the low beams and they are now usable (but not perfect).
The LEDs are amazing in the high beams, like turning the sun on!

I think the best way to get good output from these headlights is to replace the projector units for a pair of evox-r projectors from a reputable manufacturer. They are a drop in replacement for the stock Hella E55 units. Cost about £150 for a pair.

If they previous owner converted it to OE xenon's, I would have thought the low beam and high beam should operate from the same bulb. The shutter should just lift for the high beam.
Have they possibly done a bodge job of installing an aftermarket HID kit?

 

[HU51A_FU]

I tried LEDs, good ones, in the projectors. Whilst they are much better than halogens, they just didn't do it for me.
I now have a good quality HID kit in the low beams and they are now usable (but not perfect).
The LEDs are amazing in the high beams, like turning the sun on!

I think the best way to get good output from these headlights is to replace the projector units for a pair of evox-r projectors from a reputable manufacturer. They are a drop in replacement for the stock Hella E55 units. Cost about £150 for a pair.

If they previous owner converted it to OE xenon's, I would have thought the low beam and high beam should operate from the same bulb. The shutter should just lift for the high beam.
Have they possibly done a bodge job of installing an aftermarket HID kit?

I get you, no i literally have fully retrofitted xenon's from factory installed so OEM ballasts/igniters and bulbs, no aftermarket kit or bodge job there.

Just needing to know whether i can purchase OEM Halogen headlights from an e86 and remove the projectors to upgrade and still be able to then run an aftermarket HID kit using the OEM Xenon harness..thinking now i don't think its possible...i may just have to bite the bullet and buy OEM xenon headlamps to replace my dodgy ones

 

[Spriteracer]

It might be worth you looking at the Morimoto D2S 5.0 Bi Xenon projectors as well as the OEM. I did a full conversion on my non-Xenon car and they are very good indeed. I sourced from Trups at EM Tuning who was very helpful. If you search on here there are several references. The projectors fitted the existing studs in the headlight shell with minor modification which you can do yourself or EMT can do for you. Probably not the cheapest solution, but they made the car driveable at night.....

 

[srhutch]

Hi Guys,

When i bought my Z4 i believe one of the old owners upgraded the front and rear bumpers as well as front and rear lights to E86 2006, with the headlight upgrades these were changed to OEM XENON units, they were then split and halos were installed and bodged back together again unfortunately so they do suffer from water ingress and the fact its such a messy job your not able to seal them up properly once more

I have been having so many issues with trying to get the dip beams to work as both are now not working, i have replaced all components, Igniter/Ballasts/Bulbs and the loom that goes from the ballast to the igniter with no joy. I'm at the end of my tether and am after new units now.

The price of OEM xenon units are a bit of a joke and wondered whether its possible to buy Halogen units and upgrade the projectors inside to D2S fitting bulbs and ballast/igniters or is it that the plugs on the OEM Halogen lights are difference to the loom that's on the car if there setup for factory xenon's..

Hope it all makes sense.

Cheers

Jamesy

Just for info E86 is coupe, not facelift which is still E85.

Lights are from. 2.0i-2.5si as they are black inners, unless they have been separated and painted.

 

[HU51A_FU]

Hi Guys,

When i bought my Z4 i believe one of the old owners upgraded the front and rear bumpers as well as front and rear lights to E86 2006, with the headlight upgrades these were changed to OEM XENON units, they were then split and halos were installed and bodged back together again unfortunately so they do suffer from water ingress and the fact its such a messy job your not able to seal them up properly once more

I have been having so many issues with trying to get the dip beams to work as both are now not working, i have replaced all components, Igniter/Ballasts/Bulbs and the loom that goes from the ballast to the igniter with no joy. I'm at the end of my tether and am after new units now.

The price of OEM xenon units are a bit of a joke and wondered whether its possible to buy Halogen units and upgrade the projectors inside to D2S fitting bulbs and ballast/igniters or is it that the plugs on the OEM Halogen lights are difference to the loom that's on the car if there setup for factory xenon's..

Hope it all makes sense.

Cheers

Jamesy

Just for info E86 is coupe, not facelift which is still E85.

Lights are from. 2.0i-2.5si as they are black inners, unless they have been separated and painted.

Thanks for that mate, didnt realise that!

Im looking at new units at the moment, setting me back £500 a side from BMW.

 

[srhutch]

Are they oem xenon or converted halogen. Pre facelift xenon aren’t direct swap with facelift which might explain your issue unlike halogen which are.

 

[HU51A_FU]

Are they oem xenon or converted halogen. Pre facelift xenon aren’t direct swap with facelift which might explain your issue unlike halogen which are.

My vehicle came from factory with xenon's.

I have 2 options however my vehicle doesn't come up as having BI XENON. I think i will be buying the first 2 to sort out the issues I'm experiencing.

• LH Xenon Headlamp (Black Inserts) – 63 12 7 165 651 – RETAIL £544.79 inc VAT
• RH Xenon Headlamp (Black Inserts) – 63 12 7 165 652 – RETAIL £544.79 inc VAT

• LH Bi-Xenon Headlamp(Black Inserts) – 63127165699 – RETAIL £1119.17 inc VAT
• RH Bi-Xenon Headlamp (Black Inserts) – 63127165700 – RETAIL £1119.17 inc VAT