[george3761]

Hey everyone. Great site. It's my first post. I just picked up a 2006 330i and love it. My question is around the HID's. My previous car was a 2007 Acura TL-S with amazing Bi-zenons. The BMW HID's seam seam duller... not as bright.
The TL's light were stock. Any ideas? Are BMW's stock bulbs a different color temp? Or wattage?

Thanks in advance!!

[seej333]

I know what you mean. I had an S2000 and a TSX and the headlight output on both those were much better. I heard the headlights that Honda/Acura used were made by Stanley and they had a reputation, at least in the Honda world, as putting out the best light. I don't know if it was really bulb related.

[MassBimmer]

Having owned 2 Acuras with xenons and now a BMW with xenons I would agree, the Acuras xenons are much better. The color temp is the same however the projector seems to cast a wider angle providing for better visibility

[JayKay335i]

It has to do with the way the lens and cutoff were designed. Go be daring and do a TSX projector swap.

[Dark_Knight_335]

I swapped my stock D1S XENONS with Philips 6700ks. It made a significant difference. Never owned an Acura, but I know what you mean. Besides, when you buy a BMW, it ain't about the lights ;-)

[sleepyx637]

Originally Posted by SDeFranco1

I swapped my stock D1S XENONS with Philips 6700ks. It made a significant difference. Never owned an Acura, but I know what you mean. Besides, when you buy a BMW, it ain't about the lights ;-)

visibility wise, that make no sense. 6700ks should have poorer visibility than stock color...

[bobblehead]

It's true that the TL & TSX xenon are superior to the BMW (but they are NOT the absolute best in the market). Largely, it has to do with the projector's lens. I read that over @ HIDPlanet forum

A projector lens is what magnifies & intensifies the light created inside the projector.

A lot of factory equipped HID cars come with a fresnel or ribbed lens that diffuses light output for better foreground and bad-weather lighting. What this means for you is less than stellar light output & a non-crisp cutoff line. Clear lenses always sharpen the cutoff line & help intensify the light output

[hipnotic]

yeah their lights look awesome during the day too

[buckshizzo]

It has a lot to do with projector design. The design of the lenses and bowls that reflect the light of the projector is the reason why Honda/Acura projectors are the a lot wider and more intense.

[joed1]

Agreed. My TL had a brighter/whiter light.

[VTECaddict]

BMW's projectors really suck as far as output goes. I think they are made by ZKW or Valeo. Stanley projectors have some of the best output in the HID business (Acura, Lexus, Infiniti, etc.)

I had Infiniti FX projectors retrofitted into my old Accord and the output was FAR better than the E90. I could be on the right lane of a 4 lane highway and you can still distinctly see my sharp cutoff on the center divider. The E90's output has pretty much no width in comparison.

[Natural335]

Agreed! the E90 and most BMW projectors are absolutely terrible. Really the only decent ones where when they were equipped with Hella bi-xenon projectors. I believe that they came on some older 5-series models.

As far as the TLs go though they are generally considered to be among the best bi-xenon projectors on the market. If you swap on a ZWK-R clear lens it could be argued that it is the best. If your going for low beam only xenon, the S2000 projector is by far the best.

I am curious as to whether a clear lens upgrade would improve the E90 output at all. Now I just need to find the projector out of a $1000 headlight LOL.

Anyone got one laying around?

[Dark_Knight_335]

Originally Posted by sleepyx637

visibility wise, that make no sense. 6700ks should have poorer visibility than stock color...

You would think, but it's a whiter light, so for me it looks much better on the road then the yellow white 4350k (ish?). I have OSS angels, and these are the best match. Kelvin wise, you are absolutely right- the higher Kelvin loses lumens.