[jigga]

Hey All,

I bought some GP Thunder 7500k bulbs from E92 Lighting and I think I'm running into some issues in installing them.

Here is what I bought;

- a pair of H8 (35w) for the angel eye (larger ring)
- a pair of H3 (55w) for the cornering light (smaller ring)
- a pair of H8 (35w) for the fog lights (haven't gotten around to installing yet)

Anyway, I lift the hood open and get into the headlight compartment and realize that my car has no 55w bulb in it's place (see photo to see which one i'm talking about...not my photo) however both rings were lighting up.



I installed the H3 anyway in its place but the color of neither ring changed.
I install the H8 and once I did that, the larger ring stopped illuminating and the color of the cornering light (the smaller ring) was white.

I pulled out the H3 bulb and same thing - the H8 was powering the smaller ring but not the larger ring. I thought the H8 is for the larger ring? Why is mine acting different. Also, I tried using the other H3 to see if it would make a difference (maybe one bulb was defective) but no, same results - the H8 powers the small ring only.

What's weird is that I never had an H3 bulb in it's place and my stock H8 was powering both rings but now the new H8 isn't. I'm pretty sure the previous owner probably took it out but I'm not sure how to get both rings lit up with these GP Thunders.

Sorry for being so verbose...hope someone can help? My car is a 2008 e92 coupe btw.

Thanks,
jigga

[kramerica72]

The H8 bulb lights up both halo rings on each headlight (one bulb per side). The H3 bulb is your cornering light, which comes on when you turn the steering wheel sharply one way or the other--has nothing to do with your angel eyes. Its the lens inside of the smaller ring--looks like a headlight.

[jigga]

Originally Posted by kramerica72

The H8 bulb lights up both halo rings on each headlight (one bulb per side). The H3 bulb is your cornering light, which comes on when you turn the steering wheel sharply one way or the other--has nothing to do with your angel eyes. Its the lens inside of the smaller ring--looks like a headlight.

hmmm... i didnt realize this until you posted it. So the one H8 bulb is supposed to light up both rings? The thing is, I only installed one side and both rings are not lighting up... only the smaller ring lights up, whereas on the passenger side where I haven't touched anything yet, both rings light up.

Any idea why that might be?

Thanks for your quick response btw.

[Chicks-Love-Bimmers]

The H8 GP Thunder is suppose to light up all two rings on one side, but the outter rings will be really dim. Halogen bulbs are just not bright enough for the outter rings to properly light up. If you look at the GP Thunders from the side, or far away at a certain angle, you can see that the outter rings are actually lit, but it's REALLY dim in the day time especially if you have the 8500k. If you want a bulb that lights up all the rings evenly and brightly, I would recommend Lux 8 which is what I plan on getting.

The H3 bulb is for the cornering light, (turn the knob all the way to the left to activate) so when you're turning, the cornering lights will activate depending on the direction you turn.

[jigga]

Originally Posted by Chicks-Love-Bimmers

The H8 GP Thunder is suppose to light up all two rings on one side, but the outter rings will be really dim. Halogen bulbs are just not bright enough for the outter rings to properly light up. If you look at the GP Thunders from the side, or far away at a certain angle, you can see that the outter rings are actually lit, but it's REALLY dim in the day time especially if you have the 8500k. If you want a bulb that lights up all the rings evenly and brightly, I would recommend Lux 8 which is what I plan on getting.

The H3 bulb is for the cornering light, (turn the knob all the way to the left to activate) so when you're turning, the cornering lights will activate depending on the direction you turn.

really? damn... so the stock bulbs are actually brighter in daylight?

[ryan970]

Originally Posted by jigga

hmmm... i didnt realize this until you posted it. So the one H8 bulb is supposed to light up both rings? The thing is, I only installed one side and both rings are not lighting up... only the smaller ring lights up, whereas on the passenger side where I haven't touched anything yet, both rings light up.

Any idea why that might be?

Thanks for your quick response btw.

i think you had to change the HID behind the bumper to get both rings. i have the same gp thunders as yours and only the ring on the inside lights up

[gaifaun]

Originally Posted by jigga

really? damn... so the stock bulbs are actually brighter in daylight?

yep GP thunders are slightly dimmer than stock H8's. despite this, you can still see the outer rings during the day. take a few steps back and look at it head on.

if the outer ring is still barely lit, it means your bulb is locked in properly into the socket. try reinstalling if that is the case. I did a review on GP thunders as angel eyes a while back, search it up and cross reference my pictures to your car.

also as a side note, correct me if I am wrong, your fog lights for the E92 are not H8's i dont think....

[Ben e92 / f30]

FYI, the fogs for e92's are H8's.

[onebadmofo]

You didn't install the H8 correctly. Disregard people that say that they are dimmer than stock, they're about the same brightness (it's the same damn 35 watts, people!). The only thing is that outer bigger ring will be yellowish, not white like inner.

[1QuikWS6]

If your goal of replacing the AE bulbs is to get brighter AE's - then you'll be wasting your time and $$ simply buying the same style bulb only from a different manufacturer. All you will get is a color change depending on what 'K' value bulbs you buy.

You can take it on the experience of tons of members here if you do a search. Plus my own personal experience - went thru MTec 4750's, GP Thunder II 8500's - neither had any real effect on brightness. Then stepped up to LED's and 1st tried the Weisslicht AE's - they were slightly brighter, but still fairly uneven light distribution between inner/outer rings (even with their supposed design to help alleviate the problem). Finally went with LUX H8's and they have been the best solution for brightness and even distribution that I have found if you are retaining the factory AE ring setup.

HID AE's are very bright also and relatively inexpensive (less $$ than LUX) but they tend to look like a big 'blob' of bright light during night and you lose the seperate ring effect.

OSS style, with the entire OEM AE ring replacement is another way to go - but the most expensive and requires that they bake open your headlight assemblies to do the work. I was never really fond of having that done...

Due to the design of the E92 AE's it is impossible with any lighting solution other than OSS style (complete ring replacement) to get the inner/outer rings to be of the same brightness - Outer ring will always be dimmer.

[Misturrtinnie]

Yeah when you're ready to ditch those GPs I got a set of Luxs for you. haha

[914914]

Are you really looking to sell your LUXs?

[roylo]

Originally Posted by jigga

What's weird is that I never had an H3 bulb in it's place and my stock H8 was powering both rings but now the new H8 isn't. jigga

Yep, check that they are screwed in correctly. They are most likely locked in place on an angle.