Just read this whole thread...wow. Too bad we don't have such heated debates here anymore
I'm considering buying a set of H4 Hella lows from bavauto, one of my stock lows finally went out, so I've been driving around with my highs on at night, the best part is the stock US highs are about as bright as most modern cars' lows so I feel like I really need some more light up there. Is there a noticeable difference?
Night and day difference. I used the H4 -H1 Bavauto set up in my stock US headlight buckets on my 528E. Very easy 5 minute install. I have a straight road near my house. Stop sign to stop sign exactly 1 mile. I can turn high beams on and I can see the reflection of the next stop sign.
evanmcm wrote:Just read this whole thread...wow. Too bad we don't have such heated debates here anymore
I'm considering buying a set of H4 Hella lows from bavauto, one of my stock lows finally went out, so I've been driving around with my highs on at night, the best part is the stock US highs are about as bright as most modern cars' lows so I feel like I really need some more light up there. Is there a noticeable difference?
You don't need to pay Bav Auto's inflated prices. Search the web for these lights and save some $$$s. Here's just one example, you may find them even cheaper if you search around.
Speaking of Hondas, I rode them for several decades. Goldwings for the last two. One of the things we'd do is take the left aux fork light and aim it to the right, and vice versa. This worked especially well on a bike because of the leaning factor, but it also kept the reflective glare spots down.
If it ain't working, it's broke. If what you checked didn't fix it, you ain't done. Lights are electric. They need a certain amount of voltage and amperage to work right. That's good wires, good battery, good connections, good grounds, good components. Checking relays and wire sizes won't fix the fuzzy green fur on what's left of the old loose connections. You can get "heavy duty" replacement sockets from Pepe Boys and splice them right in. Check the bottom of the fusebox also; fugly crapola has also been know to grow down there.
And yeah, a lot of folk have noticed that installing a relay for each light as close as possible with 12 gauge wires made them brighter. What they did was replace the sockets, the bulbs and the connectors with shiny new ones. New fuses. The grounds were cleaned and replaced, as were the old nicked up wires. New heavy duty relays. My car's lights got better with a bottle of Deoxit, a skinny wire brush, and an hour whilst talking with my neighbor.
Got a whole new driver's side light bucket/bulbs/grill in today, and spent considerable time polishing both grills to make them (mostly) shiny black again. Also took a wire brush to all the contacts on all four bulbs, and tried to do what I could with the connectors. Got everything back together (still stock bulbs, Sylvannias) and everything was fine except my passenger's side low beam is extremely dim. It's almost brown. It's on, not flickering, everything is tight, but it's dim as hell. I guess now that I think of it, it's always been like this, but never noticed it as I had the brights on all the time due to the driver's side low beam going off and on again. Is this a bulb problem or a wiring problem? I think I might just try swapping the other high beam I have in just to see if it works.
Good chance you have a corroded wire near the connector. I think it's best to take them all apart and reconnect the wires. I've often found the wires nearly broken in two - just inside the insulation.
Yeah that's a possibility. We'll see what happens when I swap them.
After reading through this thread, I've seen that many knock the 7" BMW reflectors for their beam pattern, and some didn't. Also, there are aftermarket 7" reflector housings from Hella, and others. I love the look of the bigger low beams, but I'm not trying to lose performance. Assuming both are using a standard high quality H4 bulb, is the light output of a well-designed 7" reflector/lens housing going to improve at all over a comparable 5.75" reflector? And how would both compare to the stock 5.75 sealed beam bulbs?
evanmcm wrote:Yeah that's a possibility. We'll see what happens when I swap them.
After reading through this thread, I've seen that many knock the 7" BMW reflectors for their beam pattern, and some didn't. Also, there are aftermarket 7" reflector housings from Hella, and others. I love the look of the bigger low beams, but I'm not trying to lose performance. Assuming both are using a standard high quality H4 bulb, is the light output of a well-designed 7" reflector/lens housing going to improve at all over a comparable 5.75" reflector? And how would both compare to the stock 5.75 sealed beam bulbs?
There's not a lot of difference between the two sizes. The H4 plug-in replacement for the stock US sealed beam is easier to do and provides essentially the same result if you're using Hella. The Cibie replacements are reputed to be much better. I don't know. I'm fine with my Hellas.
The 7" Euro lamp has a unique mounting system that I don't think is shared with any other car - so you need the dedicated E28 parts, which drastically narrows your options.
True. Yeah I've heard the same about the Cibies, I'm sure Hellas are fine too. The main thing turning me off the 7s is cost, I hate how much euro buckets/grills are. I like the look of them, but not several hundred dollars worth. Especially if they are mostly the same functionally.
I've found a (cheap) solution for weather-sealing Euro lights, for those of us not utilizing the Euro backing plate and using the plug-and-play US wiring directly into the bulb.
I did a search and didn't find anything about this, but I didn't quite feel it warranted its own thread either; I figured this was the most relevant place to post this; I apologize if I'm wrong.
If you happen to have a derelict Mazda Protege lying around (or are reasonably close to a pick-n-pull), you can use the the rubber boots on the back of the headlight assembly and they'll fit snugly over the hole left by the missing backing plate, and there's a hole in the center that mates nicely to the bulb.
Just thought I'd throw that out there as a possible solution.
For those still clinging to the delusion that a BMW's headlamp circuitry is immune to voltage drop and there's nothing to be gained by improving the wiring, there's a real nice photo-illustrated test report, with data and stuff, done with actual test equipment on an actual, real BMW here.
Jeremy wrote:
The THIRD option is to obtain the backing plate from a two headlight euro 3-series (e21 I think). That part number is: 63121358. This backing plate will allow the low beams, fogs, and high beams to work exactly as they do now and enable you wire in the city lights should you want to. I have the backing plate, but never installed it, but I think it works with the stock US connectors/ wiring. The upside of this is that the lens assembly is closed off from the elements the way it's supposed to be AND you get fully operational lights that utilize every filament available to you.
Confused yet?
Jeremy
Its too bad someone couldn't 3D print one of these e21 backing plates. I could draw an e28 backing plate in AUTOCAD or Inventor if someone has a 3D printer. I would add in a slot for a 4th pin. Currently the 3rd pin on the backing plate is for the city light (Facing horizontally like the top pin). Next to it is a blank spot. That is were a pin could be for the second filament in the bulb to be utilized. Basically making an e21 backing plate with 4 pins. The 4th pin being for the city light.
I'm currently searching for e21 backing plates. I'm not having to much luck finding new ones.
You don't have to modify the e21 backing plate at all, that's kind of the point. The euro-only 2 light e21s had wiring provisions for high, low, city lights, and ground. You'd need to add wiring to use the city light part, but the bulb holder and spade connector are there.
Yes I understood that part Jeremy. What I meant was I only have e28 back plates. I was talking about drawing the e28 back plates in autocad. Then I would ad in the slot for the 4th pin. essentially making e21 backing plates. Because I don't actually have an e21 backing plate to draw. This was just a thought in case anyone had a 3D printer.
Currently I am searching for e21 backing plates. I'll try the dealer.
Hey so I sort of quit looking for a set of e21 back plates. I haven't had time to draw a set of back plates in Autocad. About a week ago I was replacing a burnt out filament in my wife's Mazda. I couldn't help but notice the rubber boot covering the back of the bulb was similar size to the back of my euro light. The boot turned out to be too small. However today I was at the junk yard and found a handful of boots that would fit. Except the 3 tabs that stick out for the twist on metal cap. I'm having a dilemma because I don't want to cut off the tabs on my really nice set of euro lights. Any Ideas? I have a crappy light I will cut the tabs off of to do a water test. I'll be posting pics.
