I have already put an upgraded front bumper and lights on to my 2004 Z4 E85, but have now just purchased a pair of facelift Xenon lights to do a xenon upgrade. The lights come with the ballasts and I know there will be some coding required, but is there anything I will need to buy for this to work?
Xenon upgrade
- Thread starter olsonn
- Start date
A BMW USB-OBC lead, that's all.
FWIW, these days I'd favour dropping LED H7s in to the old housing. Because they're projector lenses the LEDs work every bit as well as a xenon.
FWIW, these days I'd favour dropping LED H7s in to the old housing. Because they're projector lenses the LEDs work every bit as well as a xenon.
I don’t think it matters if you have xenons or standard, Z4 lights are just s**t.
The projector lenses are very good concept but require a lot of light to make them work properly. A standard H7 bulb is something like 1500 lumen. A D2S burner is 3500 lumen (from memory.)
I fitted a pair of 6500 lumen LED H7 in my halogen projectors and they are great. Lovely even spread, decent brightness, proper cutoff and goes straight thru the MOT.
I fitted a pair of 6500 lumen LED H7 in my halogen projectors and they are great. Lovely even spread, decent brightness, proper cutoff and goes straight thru the MOT.
Usel
Senior member
I have a pre-facelift with xenons and I did have to raise the lights when dipped but with that done I find dipped driving great. Full beam is phenomenal though but I believe that only uses halogen bulbs and I haven't upgraded those.
I prefer driving my car at night with the top down and so headlights being good is high up there on the essential list and apart from raising the lights I have found them perfect.
I do eat a lot of carrots mind.
I prefer driving my car at night with the top down and so headlights being good is high up there on the essential list and apart from raising the lights I have found them perfect.
I do eat a lot of carrots mind.
I bought some 6500ish lumen Bevinsee ones with a fan on the back and they fit ok. Require some H7 clips to hold them in. Can't find the model number, doesn't seem current. But they sell loads of different ones if you have a shufti thru eBay.
Car lights have improved over the years. Cooler to run, brighter longer life etc. But remember one thing 10,15 or 20 years ago at the time they were the best at the time. Also keep in mind that most of us are much older and our eyesight was not what it was years ago. So combine old tech with old age and bingo. Get a car that most of us can't see s**t with at night. Anyway, good luck with the updates hope it helps.
Xenons are fine but the original Hella projectors that came on these cars 20 years ago don’t have the sharpest output. I would use this time to replace the projector entirely and put in high quality d2s bulb. I did this swap 2x and it makes a huge difference and bring it up to par with modern LEDs.
Put the Hella G5R projectors in whilst you're doing it, it's what I plan on doing to mine in the near future. I have the stock Xenons and they're shocking, I think due to age and the limitation of the 20 year old tech
Unitedleeds1919
Member
Dubbedown said:
Unitedleeds1919
Member
thecremeegg said:
Be good to see how you get on with doing that, where you get them from, any problems to overcome etc...I have a few things to get done to my incoming zed but lighting is a biggie with me as I like a night drive and don’t want to be a pain to other drivers with a selfish light kit.
I've rebuilt my headlights from halogen to xenons (used evox-r projectors), and replaced front lens, as it was scratched somewhat. The results are great - clean cut-off line, good light output, MOT passed.
The hardest part was aligning them with high beam bowls, as just swapping them resulted in high beam being really high. So just a heads up to anyone that is considering replacing the projectors.
The hardest part was aligning them with high beam bowls, as just swapping them resulted in high beam being really high. So just a heads up to anyone that is considering replacing the projectors.
I'm going to order from EM Tuning as they do a kit with the required bracket, just plug and play then. There are videos on youtube I think showing the beam
Following on from my earlier contribution here, I've had the Bevensee H7 LEDs in for nearly 2 years now and they're still great. I do a fair bit of night driving so longevity isn't an issue. With this upgrade option I'd pick a car based on anything but headlights knowing I can upgrade for the price of a round of drinks.
Also, I've thrown some H7 LEDs in the non-projector high beams and they're super too. Obviously not quite correctly focussed but that doesn't matter for these.
Also, I've thrown some H7 LEDs in the non-projector high beams and they're super too. Obviously not quite correctly focussed but that doesn't matter for these.
