[chrissyw]

I'm looking at upgrading my headlights on my e90. My previous cars have had Xenons and tbh, even with uprated Osram bulbs, these aren't the best, still a bit too yellow.


I've got the standard pre lci halogen headlights, can't really justify upgrading the whole cluster to Xenon so I'm looking at HID's.

Has anybody fitted HID's to their e90? I've heard they aren't really recommended due to the design of the cluster and you can get stray beams of light that can blind oncoming drivers??

[OGM2LCI]

The stray beams is the case when putting any HID kit in to a headlight cluster without having projectors retrofitted at the same time, you would need to find a way of focusing the beam to get the best out of the HID kit, pretty sure the beam would also fail the MOT without projectors

Personally if it was me I would bite the bullet and do it properly with the OEM units, coding, level sensors etc, albeit a little expensive, although you could probably find someone who would give you a custom headlight unit with projectors fitted, it's been mentioned on here a couple of times, the only company I can remember off the top of my head is NEM (never enough mods) who do custom headlight work, might be worth giving them an email and discussing your options

[Icekube]

don't retrofit a HID kit into your stock lights.

theretrofit source sell projector kits that can be fitted into your lights and allow you to run a HID kit without blinding everyone, depends how handy you are if you can make them work though.

guy done it here:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=701284

[chrissyw]

Pretty much confirms what I've already seen online. The headlights need upgrading to projectors. These really aren't cheap though.

Are there better, sharper, whiter H7 bulbs available?

[OGM2LCI]

I've used Phillips Xtreme Vision bulbs before, found them to be a nice white light, slightly better performing but nothing spectacular which is to be expected without going to full bi-xenon, if for any reason I changed my car for one with halogen units these would be the bulbs I would fit

[Sensible_]

I see loads of people whining about HID retrofits. The fact is HID lights are safer for everyone if fitted correctly. Nothing can compare to a full retrofit of xenon headlights, washers and leveller for around £1000+.

However, With the advent of H7R Anti Glare kits I don't see a reason why you can't fit these to reflector lamps. They don't blind other road users and give a much better beam of light on to the road. The anti glare should avoid beam scattering and you should have an auto levelling system already.

They will never be as good or road legal as factory xenon, but in my opinion they are safer than halogen when fitted properly. Halogens are dangerous especially if you do a lot of country / night driving.

[chrissyw]

Originally Posted by Sensible_

I see loads of people whining about HID retrofits. The fact is HID lights are safer for everyone if fitted correctly. Nothing can compare to a full retrofit of xenon headlights, washers and leveller for around £1000+.

However, With the advent of H7R Anti Glare kits I don't see a reason why you can't fit these to reflector lamps. They don't blind other road users and give a much better beam of light on to the road. The anti glare should avoid beam scattering and you should have an auto levelling system already.

They will never be as good or road legal as factory xenon, but in my opinion they are safer than halogen when fitted properly. Halogens are dangerous especially if you do a lot of country / night driving.

Interesting thanks for that! I'll have a look into these.