Lighting upgrades: G5-BRT/Osram CBB headlights and NHK Gen V fog lights

nthnthnthnth · 04-03-2022, 10:41 PM

Inspired by this thread and this thread, I had G5-BRT projectors with Osram CBBs retrofitted in my headlights and put NHK Gen V LED projectors in my fog lights. Preview shots:

Headlight retrofit

I initially planned to do a clear lens retrofit. But there is a lot of disagreement as to which lenses fit an E90 LCI projector — ZKW-R, STI-R, etc. Changing just the lenses also wouldn’t address any issues with potentially burned out bowls. I decided to get new projectors instead and went with G5-BRTs. Given how difficult the sealed headlights are to work with, and given how expensive it would be to replace a broken headlight housing, I had Evil Headlights (https://www.evilheadlights.com/) do the headlight retrofit and put in Osram CBBs.

G5-BRTs in. Blue color is the anti-reflective coating.

Before shot of OEM projectors and 8 year old bulbs. I unfortunately caught the foreground in the shot but on mobile the blurriness is less noticeable. The left projector worked reasonably well but the right was barely visible.

Output with G5-BRTs and Osram CBBs:

I also tried out Osram CBN and Sinolyn LED bulbs. The CBBs seem to be about the same brightness as the CBNs. I prefer the color of the CBNs, but I went with the CBBs to better match the LED fog lights. The Sinolyn LEDs were significantly less bright (despite being “50,000 lux”) and not worth using.

Comparison of Osram CBNs (left) and CBBs (right):

Comparison of Osram CBNs (left) with Sinolyn LEDs (right):

Fog light retrofit

I did the fog light projector retrofit myself with 3” NHK Gen V LED projectors.

I initially tried 2" Aliexpress LED projectors, but they left a lot of extra space in the housing and had very poor output. I tried 3" fog light-specific LED projectors as well, as they were sealed and had a straight line cutoff. They were brighter, but they had excessive foreground and limited side output, and the mounting brackets didn't work well with the E90. I ultimately went with NHK Gen V, which seemed to be the brightest on the market.

To make the NHK projectors better as fog lights, I used high temperature aluminum foil tape on the projector shield to change the stepped cutoff to a flat line (because of how low the fog lights sit, the lower cutoff on the driver's side resulted in much less visible output on the road). I also repositioned the projector's low beam reflector bowl to focus more light closer to the cutoff line and reduce foreground output. I added heatsinks to the bottom of the projector assemblies for additional cooling. I also tapped the headlight high beam to the NHK high beam wire and coded the fogs to stay on with the high beams, so I could run quad high beams.

For the car's fog light assembly, I baked off the plastic housing and dremeled out most of the back of the assembly to allow the projectors to sit properly. Wood filler and black paint were used to cover sections where I cut too deep. I mounted the projectors with screws on the G5 brackets through the front of the fog light housing, and later redid the mounting by driving screws from the top down through the circular part of the fog light housing into the top of the circular black plastic at the front of the NHK projector; this was much more stable than using the mounting holes on the projector and drilling through the front of the housing. I decided not to put the clear plastic housing back on as it looks cleaner without it, the cutoff is sharper, the output is brighter, and having the projectors exposed might help cool them (there is almost no wet weather where I live, so exposure to water is not an issue). After installing I applied Xpel PPF to help protect the exposed lenses.

Before shot of the original fog lights with generic plug-and-play LED bulbs:

Initial effort with 2" Aliexpress led projectors, which were easy to install due to their size but had terrible output:

NHK Gen V compared to 2" Aliexpress projector:

NHK Gen V:

Creating space in the housing and fixing overzealous dremel work:

3" projectors sit completely flush on the front of the OEM fog light housing.

NHK Gen V output:

After installing aluminum tape on the projector shield to flatten the cutoff for fog light use:

Distance shots of headlights and fog lights (before flat cutoff mod):

Video of headlights vs. headlights + fog lights:

View post on imgur.com

Video of headlight high beams vs. headlight + fog light quad high beams:

View post on imgur.com

Lux measurements

Once everything was set up, I measured light output at roughly 25 feet:

G5-BRT/CBB low beam (one projector only): 1050 lux
NHK low beam (one projector only): 1175 lux
G5-BRT and NHK combined quad low beam: 1450 lux
G5-BRT and NHK combined quad high beam: 1750 lux

bmw335ie90 · 04-04-2022, 09:42 AM

nthnthnthnth

Looks good, how much did the retrofit run you on the headlights? The stock projector output always bugs me, plus they jiggle every time you hit a bump due to the design of the adaptive function. I upgraded the projectors on my e39 with G5 projectors w/ clear lenses and the output blows my stock LCI xenons away.

I'm planning on opening up my LCI Xenons to replace the lenses. Bought a broken headlight to to practice on opening them up and....wow....Permaseal is a real pain in the ass. Might just be worth spending the ~1K and sending them out.

rod.bearings · 04-04-2022, 01:26 PM

Nice work man. G5R are the best out there right now, how did you mount the projector?

nthnthnthnth · 04-04-2022, 04:03 PM

bmw335ie90

It wouldn't be quite that high, but it's in the ballpark all-in for parts and labor assuming you remove the bumper and headlights yourself. You may want to consider getting a pair of upgraded bulbs and using a 3M lens cleaner to start. I would have done that instead of the retrofit if not for the cutoff from the new fog lights. And there is some "jiggle" with the G5-BRTs. I'd say it's more noticeable now given the sharper cutoff and brighter output.

rod.bearings

It was mounted with a premade bracket. Part of it had to be shaved off to work. I don't know the exact bracket -- Evil Headlights did the actual work and they sourced the part -- but probably something like what Lightwerkz sells. Fitment was also a bit challenging with the OEM angel eyes given how large the shroud was.

Peter Morrin · 04-23-2023, 01:32 PM

I am looking at replacing the Bi-Xenon HIDs, high-beams, and fog lights in my 2007 E90xi. My car came with self-adjusting, but non-adaptable Bi-Xenon primary lights. I am leaning toward the Morimoto projectors in either LED or HID. Can you give me your opinion of the G5-BRT and NHK units as compared to the Moriomoto. I think the Morimoto may be more expensive, but are they better built? better performance? better durability? I hope to only open up the light housings once!

Second question concerns the use of the NHK Bi-LED for the fog light. Was there a concern about exposure of the mechanism to the elements? My roads are salted and sanded 4 months of the year. I was looking at the Morimoto XB LED fog light for this reason.

Thank you for the detailed pictures of modifying the Non M-sport bumper for new fog lights. This will be useful to many of us.

nthnthnthnth · 04-23-2023, 04:20 PM

It's hard to go wrong with any of them for the headlights, but I personally think the NHK is the best overall considering price and performance. Edit: this is especially true in 2024 with the NHK M5 Plus, which is much brighter than even the NHK Gen V.

Here is a comparison from Lightwerkz between the Morimoto MLED 2.0 and the NHK Gen IV. The comments on the video are very helpful. From other Lightwerkz videos, the Gen IV is brighter than the MLED, the Gen V is brighter than the Gen IV, and the new M5 plus is brighter still. Since the MLED is listed as 30W while the NHK is listed as 50W-60W it makes sense it would be less bright. The fan in the back of the NHK (outside the headlight housing) seems to be a better design for cooling than the MLED’s, which is underneath (sealed in the housing, with little clearance against the bottom), though it does make the NHK harder to install than the MLED. The video highlights other design elements that Lightwerkz notes are better on the MLED, but also keep in mind Lightwerkz seems to be a promoter for Morimoto and NHK seems to have improved some aspects of the design in the V and certainly in the M5 plus. Overall the MLED isn’t a bad product, but you are paying extra for their marketing, and their LED tech and release cadence seems to lag behind NHK’s.

The G5-BRT with Osram CBNs are not nearly as bright on the hotspot as the NHK. Based on looking at the output of G5-BRTs with Osram CBBs and NHK Gen V at the same time over nearly a year, here are some comparison notes:
- NHK Gen V is brighter than the G5-BRT/CBB, especially at long distance. Buying a 55W ballast would help the G5-BRTs/CBBs, but you’d be paying a lot more for that setup, and the higher wattage ballasts will burn out the G5-BRT bowls and Osram bulbs much faster.
- G5-BRT/CBB loses brightness out to the sides faster and has more bowing on the cutoff on the sides. But it also has a sharper cutoff, while the NHK has a fairly wide and excessively colorful cutoff. Some of this could be addressed by tuning the projector, but it would be a minor improvement only.

On using NHKs for the fog lights, there is definitely a concern about exposure to the elements. It does not snow and it hardly ever rains where I live, so weather is not an issue for me. But I would not put NHKs (or any unsealed projector) in the fog lights if you live in an area with inclement weather, and even in good weather the lens and LED will still get dirty.

The Morimoto xB's are sealed but mounting on the non-M sport bumper could be an issue. The 2.7" diameter would fit the 3" hole well, but the four mounting holes might not all extend far enough out to mount properly, which would mean getting a hardware kit like this. But the mounting points on the xB may not clear some of the housing.

If it does require a hardware kit, that would make alignment more difficult, but because the xB is more of a blob than a cutoff it’d be hard to notice any minor misalignment. Also keep in mind the xB is only ~30W, like the MLED 2.0. I'm sure it would be a big improvement over stock halogens, but it might not be a huge improvement over 55W LED bulbs in polished/sanded fog light reflector housings.

Peter Morrin · 04-24-2023, 10:51 AM

Thank you for the detailed reply. I think your comments will be very useful to those of us looking to make informed decisions about lighting changes.

I know that you outsourced the installation of the G5-BRT Bi-Xenons so you don't have personal experience with the installation of the projectors. But.....In your research did you find a video or explanation of how we fit the new projectors to the existing brackets? Is it even possible to use the existing bracket? I know you mentioned brackets by Lightwerkz, but also mentioned that the lights are "jiggling". Since my OEM Bi-Xenon only adjust up and down (non-adaptive), I am not sure if the brackets are the same as your lights. I have scoured the internet but no luck so far finding information on this stage of the retrofit.

Many thanks,
Peter

lnxguy · 04-24-2023, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Morrin

Thank you for the detailed reply. I think your comments will be very useful to those of us looking to make informed decisions about lighting changes.

I know that you outsourced the installation of the G5-BRT Bi-Xenons so you don't have personal experience with the installation of the projectors. But.....In your research did you find a video or explanation of how we fit the new projectors to the existing brackets? Is it even possible to use the existing bracket? I know you mentioned brackets by Lightwerkz, but also mentioned that the lights are "jiggling". Since my OEM Bi-Xenon only adjust up and down (non-adaptive), I am not sure if the brackets are the same as your lights. I have scoured the internet but no luck so far finding information on this stage of the retrofit.

Many thanks,
Peter

You need retrofit brackets to make this work. User rodbearings in this thread makes them (or did). LightWerkz also has brackets available on their website.

I'm currently retrofitting a set of NHK IV Plus Bi-LED in a pair of non-adaptive xenons (Typical Canadian market e90 xenons)

Peter Morrin · 04-24-2023, 06:18 PM

I reached out to user rod.bearings and hope he gets back to me. In one of his earlier posts, he advised that the brackets that he made would not work with a pre-LCI E90 which is what I have. I saw brackets on the Lightwerkz site but thought they were very expensive for what they were.

Which brackets are you using?

nthnthnthnth · 04-25-2023, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Morris

But.....In your research did you find a video or explanation of how we fit the new projectors to the existing brackets? Is it even possible to use the existing bracket? I know you mentioned brackets by Lightwerkz, but also mentioned that the lights are "jiggling".

Since I had the headlights professionally done, I didn’t end up looking into that too much and relied on the shop. But I do get the sense that brackets are required.

Re “jiggling”: I may be referring to something different than others. The sharper cutoff of the G5-BRTs makes it more noticeable when the car’s front end goes over a bump or pothole and the cutoff goes up or down with the car, but nothing actually jiggles. I also don’t have the adaptive functionality working (which I think caused jiggle for someone else) — my car originally had halogens and I didn’t bother with the adaptive aspect when retrofitting the xenon headlight housings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Morrin

I reached out to user rod.bearings and hope he gets back to me. In one of his earlier posts, he advised that the brackets that he made would not work with a pre-LCI E90 which is what I have. I saw brackets on the Lightwerkz site but thought they were very expensive for what they were.

Which brackets are you using?

Unfortunately I don’t know the exact ones. Brackets weren’t really part of the pricing discussion, so I doubt they were from Lightwerkz. AliExpress might have them at a good price but not sure if they have for pre-LCI. The shop that did the work (www.evilheadlights.com) was pretty helpful and might have some leads for your car. You might also consider a clear lens swap instead of a full projector swap if compatible brackets for pre-LCI are hard to come by.

KKevin · 04-25-2023, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nthnthnthnth

I retrofitted G5-BRT projectors with Osram CBBs in my headlights and NHK Gen V LED projectors in my fog lights. Preview shots:

Headlights are amazing!

Peter Morrin · 04-25-2023, 06:15 PM

I talked with Inxguy and he confirmed both that I need brackets and that the brackets for the Pre-LCI are different than the LCI. This may be a challenge as I think the Pre-LCI, non-adaptive Bi-xenon was not sold in the US market. I think it was likely available in Europe, but I don't have confirmation of that. It looks like I may be on my own to fab up a bracket for my situation.

The simpler alternative may be to buy a set of Halogen lights and retrofit using the threaded shafts through the back of the bowls. This would likely through an error code and I would loose the self-leveling feature. In reality this is not likely a huge deal as I don't usually carry un-balanced loads in the car.

Changing topics, has anyone looked at upgrading the high-beams with a dedicated high-beam LED? This might not apply to LCI lights as I think these may have come with cornering lights in place of the high beams in the inner location. Any experience with High beams?

nthnthnthnth · 04-25-2023, 10:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Morrin

Changing topics, has anyone looked at upgrading the high-beams with a dedicated high-beam LED? This might not apply to LCI lights as I think these may have come with cornering lights in place of the high beams in the inner location. Any experience with High beams?

This thread might be relevant for your car: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1803892. I don't think the pre-LCI cornering lights had the reflector that points light out to the side. If so, putting in an LED bulb that comes on with the high beam and doing any coding needed is probably simplest, though hard to say what the light output would actually be like.

ucsbwsr did a more involved project on an LCI E90 where the entire cornering light was replaced with a Morimoto xB fog, though I don't believe they used them as high beams and the clearance looks very tight: https://www.hidplanet.com/forum/show...ite-demon-eyes.

If you do find a way to go bi-LED in the fog lights, you could tap the headlight high beam shutter wire to the fog light shutter wire, and have the fog light projectors' high beam come on with the head lights. If you are simply going for more high beam output, that would do it -- it is insanely bright.

Peter Morrin · 04-26-2023, 05:12 PM

I had forgotten about the post by ucsbwsr on HID Planet. I need to review all his notes and pictures.

I have not found a Bi-LED or Bi-Xenon that is waterproof for an application in our climate of winter salt and sand. If I missed one, I would consider the same application as you, but I would want the low beam function to be as wide as a dedicated fog light. My fall back would be the Morimoto Xb fog with some type of custom bracket. I would put 3M film on the lense and leave it exposed as you did.

Morimoto, Profile and Aharon (from RetroritLab) all make a dedicated LED High beam that I am hoping will fit in my inner lense space. I will need to hardwire or code the high beam to stay on with the highbeam from the Bi-LED. This configuration is apparently not legal in North America although it is in Europe. The Profile and Aharon have a feature allowing the LEDs to run at reduced power and serve as DRL.

Retrofitlab currently have free world-wide shipping making their prices very attractive. I am looking for any review comments as to their product's quality as compared to Morimoto, but nothing back yet.

Learning more each day!

Peter Morrin · 05-09-2023, 02:20 PM

Regarding brackets to retrofit a Bi-LED (Morimoto or NHK) into a pre-LCI E90 with self-levelling, but non-adaptive, Bi-Xenon ZKW projectors, GTA Retrofits in Toronto, Canada claim to have a suitable bracket. I have spoken with Josh via facebook (He is a contributer to Headlight Junkies) and he seemed like a reasonable guy. I will likely order the bracket from him, and see how things go.

His recommendation for a Bi-LED was the NHK V. His recommendation for a dedicated high beam projector was the Morimoto HB LED.

No shop affiliation. The prices on his site are in CDN.$.

nthnthnthnth · 05-09-2023, 08:32 PM

That combo is a good recommendation.

On the dedicated high beam, the Morimoto HB projector is a good aftermarket option and seems much better than the Profile Hi-Lens, at least based on this Lightwerkz comparison video: youtube.com/watch?v=4TslfkR0JOY. That said, if you currently have a halogen reflector housing on the inside light that would be used as the dedicated high beam, simply putting a quality LED bulb in the high beam reflector housing would be cheaper and brighter (and retain the OEM look, if you are going for that).

Peter Morrin · 05-10-2023, 12:28 AM

This is consistent with my thinking. My one concern is that the rear-mounted fan on the NHK LED will not clear the back of the housing if installed with a retrofit bracket. I think this needs to be confirmed on the bench.

As regards the high beam, Thanks for the comments. My thinking is that if I have gone to the effort of opening up the lenses, I would want to provide the best lights possible. It looks like the Morimoto HB is the way to go and the pricing seems reasonable. Again, I really only want to do headlights once!

nthnthnthnth · 05-10-2023, 07:03 PM

That's a good point. I could see it requiring some cutting or custom work, similar to what seems to have been done on this E46: youtube.com/watch?v=wX0WKzPP9ms.

It may be worth searching online for someone who has successfully put the NHK Gen IV or V (they are the same size) in a pre-LCI E90. Or see if the shop has done that projector on your type of car before (and if not, calling other shops to see if they have).

Peter Morrin · 05-18-2023, 06:49 PM

I have been doing some research on the fog lights and found that Morimoto make a "Universal" XB fog light. It has 4 mounting holes (100mm w. x 50mm h.) The lense is 89 mm in diametre. This is 13mm (1/2") larger than the 3" hole in the OEM fog light mount. Based on your trial fitting, do you think the exising hole could be enlarged by 1/2" and the mounting holes could be used?

If this is starting to look like too much effort, could a custom fibreglass panel be fitted that would accommodate the XB fog light and perhaps a custom opening for brake cooling hoses?

I know anything is possible, but would appreciate your assessment of the level of difficulty of the modifications.

nthnthnthnth · 05-18-2023, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Morrin

I have been doing some research on the fog lights and found that Morimoto make a "Universal" XB fog light. It has 4 mounting holes (100mm w. x 50mm h.) The lense is 89 mm in diametre. This is 13mm (1/2") larger than the 3" hole in the OEM fog light mount. Based on your trial fitting, do you think the exising hole could be enlarged by 1/2" and the mounting holes could be used?

In short -- no. The challenging thing on the fog light housing is it's an odd, uneven shape on each side. Cutting the whole thing out to make a bigger hole seems like it would be almost impossible to mount and aim. You may want to try taking out the fog light housing to look at it and see what I'm talking about -- it's fairly easy to remove.

There does appear to be a 70mm/2.75" lens: https://www.morimotohid.com/morimoto...hts?quantity=1. That might work with a retrofit hardware kit like https://sparksmith.com/products/retrofit-hardware-kit. Having slightly less than 3" for the lens width would also give you more space to work with to aim -- it's easier to aim the fog light within the housing than aim by adjusting the entire housing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Morrin

If this is starting to look like too much effort, could a custom fibreglass panel be fitted that would accommodate the XB fog light and perhaps a custom opening for brake cooling hoses?

I know anything is possible, but would appreciate your assessment of the level of difficulty of the modifications.

Honestly that sounds like a lot of work and doesn't seem worth it. Another option to consider would be getting the M-sport bumper with the Morimoto fog lights that were designed for it.

Peter Morrin · 05-19-2023, 06:54 PM

Thanks for your feed back. The sealed NHK fog on Aliexpress does look interesting. I have not used Aliexpress for anything and would be nervous about the lack of follow-up/warranty service. Any personal experience? I always find it amusing that we pay a premium for a "finely crafted German automobile" and then people try and save a few bucks on a set of retrofit headlights that require hours of expensive personal time to install.

I will likely track this car and since I can only fit the small front rotors under my 16" winter wheels, I am thinking I will need all the brake cooling I can get. I will likely install the F30 dust shields with the air scoop and may try to fashion a ducted system from the front bumper to the shield. If I do this, integrating the fog lights into the duct plates would be the logical thing to do. I would make the whole plate removeable from the outside to facilitate aiming of the fogs. It is a ways off, but I will create a new thread when I get there.

nthnthnthnth · 05-23-2023, 09:47 PM

Returns on AliExpress are difficult but not impossible. Expect to have to take video of the product, expect everything to take longer than expected, and expect that you may not get a refund without more work than the refund is worth (paying return shipping, time involved, etc).

Given what you mentioned about other work to prep for tracking, I think it’s worth holding off on the fog lights until you’re working on that.

If you do the headlights in the meantime, post some pictures!

04-03-2022, 10:41 PM	#1
nthnthnthnth Private 26 Rep 57 Posts Drives: 2009 328i Join Date: Feb 2022 Location: California iTrader: (0)	Lighting upgrades: G5-BRT/Osram CBB headlights and NHK Gen V fog lights Inspired by this thread and this thread, I had G5-BRT projectors with Osram CBBs retrofitted in my headlights and put NHK Gen V LED projectors in my fog lights. Preview shots: Headlight retrofit I initially planned to do a clear lens retrofit. But there is a lot of disagreement as to which lenses fit an E90 LCI projector — ZKW-R, STI-R, etc. Changing just the lenses also wouldn’t address any issues with potentially burned out bowls. I decided to get new projectors instead and went with G5-BRTs. Given how difficult the sealed headlights are to work with, and given how expensive it would be to replace a broken headlight housing, I had Evil Headlights (https://www.evilheadlights.com/) do the headlight retrofit and put in Osram CBBs. G5-BRTs in. Blue color is the anti-reflective coating. Before shot of OEM projectors and 8 year old bulbs. I unfortunately caught the foreground in the shot but on mobile the blurriness is less noticeable. The left projector worked reasonably well but the right was barely visible. Output with G5-BRTs and Osram CBBs: I also tried out Osram CBN and Sinolyn LED bulbs. The CBBs seem to be about the same brightness as the CBNs. I prefer the color of the CBNs, but I went with the CBBs to better match the LED fog lights. The Sinolyn LEDs were significantly less bright (despite being “50,000 lux”) and not worth using. Comparison of Osram CBNs (left) and CBBs (right): Comparison of Osram CBNs (left) with Sinolyn LEDs (right): Fog light retrofit I did the fog light projector retrofit myself with 3” NHK Gen V LED projectors. I initially tried 2" Aliexpress LED projectors, but they left a lot of extra space in the housing and had very poor output. I tried 3" fog light-specific LED projectors as well, as they were sealed and had a straight line cutoff. They were brighter, but they had excessive foreground and limited side output, and the mounting brackets didn't work well with the E90. I ultimately went with NHK Gen V, which seemed to be the brightest on the market. To make the NHK projectors better as fog lights, I used high temperature aluminum foil tape on the projector shield to change the stepped cutoff to a flat line (because of how low the fog lights sit, the lower cutoff on the driver's side resulted in much less visible output on the road). I also repositioned the projector's low beam reflector bowl to focus more light closer to the cutoff line and reduce foreground output. I added heatsinks to the bottom of the projector assemblies for additional cooling. I also tapped the headlight high beam to the NHK high beam wire and coded the fogs to stay on with the high beams, so I could run quad high beams. For the car's fog light assembly, I baked off the plastic housing and dremeled out most of the back of the assembly to allow the projectors to sit properly. Wood filler and black paint were used to cover sections where I cut too deep. I mounted the projectors with screws on the G5 brackets through the front of the fog light housing, and later redid the mounting by driving screws from the top down through the circular part of the fog light housing into the top of the circular black plastic at the front of the NHK projector; this was much more stable than using the mounting holes on the projector and drilling through the front of the housing. I decided not to put the clear plastic housing back on as it looks cleaner without it, the cutoff is sharper, the output is brighter, and having the projectors exposed might help cool them (there is almost no wet weather where I live, so exposure to water is not an issue). After installing I applied Xpel PPF to help protect the exposed lenses. Before shot of the original fog lights with generic plug-and-play LED bulbs: Initial effort with 2" Aliexpress led projectors, which were easy to install due to their size but had terrible output: NHK Gen V compared to 2" Aliexpress projector: NHK Gen V: Creating space in the housing and fixing overzealous dremel work: 3" projectors sit completely flush on the front of the OEM fog light housing. NHK Gen V output: After installing aluminum tape on the projector shield to flatten the cutoff for fog light use: Distance shots of headlights and fog lights (before flat cutoff mod): Video of headlights vs. headlights + fog lights: View post on imgur.com Video of headlight high beams vs. headlight + fog light quad high beams: View post on imgur.com Lux measurements Once everything was set up, I measured light output at roughly 25 feet: G5-BRT/CBB low beam (one projector only): 1050 lux NHK low beam (one projector only): 1175 lux G5-BRT and NHK combined quad low beam: 1450 lux G5-BRT and NHK combined quad high beam: 1750 lux Last edited by nthnthnthnth; 10-02-2024 at 05:13 PM..
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04-04-2022, 09:42 AM	#2
bmw335ie90 Lieutenant 592 Rep 457 Posts Drives: 2011 335i M Sport Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Norcal iTrader: (0)	nthnthnthnth Looks good, how much did the retrofit run you on the headlights? The stock projector output always bugs me, plus they jiggle every time you hit a bump due to the design of the adaptive function. I upgraded the projectors on my e39 with G5 projectors w/ clear lenses and the output blows my stock LCI xenons away. I'm planning on opening up my LCI Xenons to replace the lenses. Bought a broken headlight to to practice on opening them up and....wow....Permaseal is a real pain in the ass. Might just be worth spending the ~1K and sending them out.
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04-04-2022, 01:26 PM	#3
rod.bearings Lieutenant 135 Rep 547 Posts Drives: E92 M3 Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Alberta iTrader: (3) Garage List 2009 BMW 135i [0.00]	Nice work man. G5R are the best out there right now, how did you mount the projector? __________________ 2011 E92 M3 AW DCT IG - rod.bearings
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04-04-2022, 04:03 PM	#4
nthnthnthnth Private 26 Rep 57 Posts Drives: 2009 328i Join Date: Feb 2022 Location: California iTrader: (0)	bmw335ie90 It wouldn't be quite that high, but it's in the ballpark all-in for parts and labor assuming you remove the bumper and headlights yourself. You may want to consider getting a pair of upgraded bulbs and using a 3M lens cleaner to start. I would have done that instead of the retrofit if not for the cutoff from the new fog lights. And there is some "jiggle" with the G5-BRTs. I'd say it's more noticeable now given the sharper cutoff and brighter output. rod.bearings It was mounted with a premade bracket. Part of it had to be shaved off to work. I don't know the exact bracket -- Evil Headlights did the actual work and they sourced the part -- but probably something like what Lightwerkz sells. Fitment was also a bit challenging with the OEM angel eyes given how large the shroud was.
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04-23-2023, 01:32 PM	#5
Peter Morrin Private First Class 61 Rep 199 Posts Drives: 2007 E90(sedan) 328xi Join Date: Dec 2021 Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada iTrader: (0)	LED Lighting I am looking at replacing the Bi-Xenon HIDs, high-beams, and fog lights in my 2007 E90xi. My car came with self-adjusting, but non-adaptable Bi-Xenon primary lights. I am leaning toward the Morimoto projectors in either LED or HID. Can you give me your opinion of the G5-BRT and NHK units as compared to the Moriomoto. I think the Morimoto may be more expensive, but are they better built? better performance? better durability? I hope to only open up the light housings once! Second question concerns the use of the NHK Bi-LED for the fog light. Was there a concern about exposure of the mechanism to the elements? My roads are salted and sanded 4 months of the year. I was looking at the Morimoto XB LED fog light for this reason. Thank you for the detailed pictures of modifying the Non M-sport bumper for new fog lights. This will be useful to many of us.
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04-23-2023, 04:20 PM	#6
nthnthnthnth Private 26 Rep 57 Posts Drives: 2009 328i Join Date: Feb 2022 Location: California iTrader: (0)	It's hard to go wrong with any of them for the headlights, but I personally think the NHK is the best overall considering price and performance. Edit: this is especially true in 2024 with the NHK M5 Plus, which is much brighter than even the NHK Gen V. Here is a comparison from Lightwerkz between the Morimoto MLED 2.0 and the NHK Gen IV. The comments on the video are very helpful. From other Lightwerkz videos, the Gen IV is brighter than the MLED, the Gen V is brighter than the Gen IV, and the new M5 plus is brighter still. Since the MLED is listed as 30W while the NHK is listed as 50W-60W it makes sense it would be less bright. The fan in the back of the NHK (outside the headlight housing) seems to be a better design for cooling than the MLED’s, which is underneath (sealed in the housing, with little clearance against the bottom), though it does make the NHK harder to install than the MLED. The video highlights other design elements that Lightwerkz notes are better on the MLED, but also keep in mind Lightwerkz seems to be a promoter for Morimoto and NHK seems to have improved some aspects of the design in the V and certainly in the M5 plus. Overall the MLED isn’t a bad product, but you are paying extra for their marketing, and their LED tech and release cadence seems to lag behind NHK’s. The G5-BRT with Osram CBNs are not nearly as bright on the hotspot as the NHK. Based on looking at the output of G5-BRTs with Osram CBBs and NHK Gen V at the same time over nearly a year, here are some comparison notes: - NHK Gen V is brighter than the G5-BRT/CBB, especially at long distance. Buying a 55W ballast would help the G5-BRTs/CBBs, but you’d be paying a lot more for that setup, and the higher wattage ballasts will burn out the G5-BRT bowls and Osram bulbs much faster. - G5-BRT/CBB loses brightness out to the sides faster and has more bowing on the cutoff on the sides. But it also has a sharper cutoff, while the NHK has a fairly wide and excessively colorful cutoff. Some of this could be addressed by tuning the projector, but it would be a minor improvement only. On using NHKs for the fog lights, there is definitely a concern about exposure to the elements. It does not snow and it hardly ever rains where I live, so weather is not an issue for me. But I would not put NHKs (or any unsealed projector) in the fog lights if you live in an area with inclement weather, and even in good weather the lens and LED will still get dirty. The Morimoto xB's are sealed but mounting on the non-M sport bumper could be an issue. The 2.7" diameter would fit the 3" hole well, but the four mounting holes might not all extend far enough out to mount properly, which would mean getting a hardware kit like this. But the mounting points on the xB may not clear some of the housing. If it does require a hardware kit, that would make alignment more difficult, but because the xB is more of a blob than a cutoff it’d be hard to notice any minor misalignment. Also keep in mind the xB is only ~30W, like the MLED 2.0. I'm sure it would be a big improvement over stock halogens, but it might not be a huge improvement over 55W LED bulbs in polished/sanded fog light reflector housings. Last edited by nthnthnthnth; 09-04-2024 at 01:11 AM..
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04-24-2023, 10:51 AM	#7
Peter Morrin Private First Class 61 Rep 199 Posts Drives: 2007 E90(sedan) 328xi Join Date: Dec 2021 Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada iTrader: (0)	Thank you for the detailed reply. I think your comments will be very useful to those of us looking to make informed decisions about lighting changes. I know that you outsourced the installation of the G5-BRT Bi-Xenons so you don't have personal experience with the installation of the projectors. But.....In your research did you find a video or explanation of how we fit the new projectors to the existing brackets? Is it even possible to use the existing bracket? I know you mentioned brackets by Lightwerkz, but also mentioned that the lights are "jiggling". Since my OEM Bi-Xenon only adjust up and down (non-adaptive), I am not sure if the brackets are the same as your lights. I have scoured the internet but no luck so far finding information on this stage of the retrofit. Many thanks, Peter
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04-24-2023, 06:18 PM	#9
Peter Morrin Private First Class 61 Rep 199 Posts Drives: 2007 E90(sedan) 328xi Join Date: Dec 2021 Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada iTrader: (0)	Projector mounting brackets I reached out to user rod.bearings and hope he gets back to me. In one of his earlier posts, he advised that the brackets that he made would not work with a pre-LCI E90 which is what I have. I saw brackets on the Lightwerkz site but thought they were very expensive for what they were. Which brackets are you using?
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04-25-2023, 06:15 PM	#12
Peter Morrin Private First Class 61 Rep 199 Posts Drives: 2007 E90(sedan) 328xi Join Date: Dec 2021 Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada iTrader: (0)	I talked with Inxguy and he confirmed both that I need brackets and that the brackets for the Pre-LCI are different than the LCI. This may be a challenge as I think the Pre-LCI, non-adaptive Bi-xenon was not sold in the US market. I think it was likely available in Europe, but I don't have confirmation of that. It looks like I may be on my own to fab up a bracket for my situation. The simpler alternative may be to buy a set of Halogen lights and retrofit using the threaded shafts through the back of the bowls. This would likely through an error code and I would loose the self-leveling feature. In reality this is not likely a huge deal as I don't usually carry un-balanced loads in the car. Changing topics, has anyone looked at upgrading the high-beams with a dedicated high-beam LED? This might not apply to LCI lights as I think these may have come with cornering lights in place of the high beams in the inner location. Any experience with High beams?
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04-26-2023, 05:12 PM	#14
Peter Morrin Private First Class 61 Rep 199 Posts Drives: 2007 E90(sedan) 328xi Join Date: Dec 2021 Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada iTrader: (0)	I had forgotten about the post by ucsbwsr on HID Planet. I need to review all his notes and pictures. I have not found a Bi-LED or Bi-Xenon that is waterproof for an application in our climate of winter salt and sand. If I missed one, I would consider the same application as you, but I would want the low beam function to be as wide as a dedicated fog light. My fall back would be the Morimoto Xb fog with some type of custom bracket. I would put 3M film on the lense and leave it exposed as you did. Morimoto, Profile and Aharon (from RetroritLab) all make a dedicated LED High beam that I am hoping will fit in my inner lense space. I will need to hardwire or code the high beam to stay on with the highbeam from the Bi-LED. This configuration is apparently not legal in North America although it is in Europe. The Profile and Aharon have a feature allowing the LEDs to run at reduced power and serve as DRL. Retrofitlab currently have free world-wide shipping making their prices very attractive. I am looking for any review comments as to their product's quality as compared to Morimoto, but nothing back yet. Learning more each day!
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05-09-2023, 02:20 PM	#15
Peter Morrin Private First Class 61 Rep 199 Posts Drives: 2007 E90(sedan) 328xi Join Date: Dec 2021 Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada iTrader: (0)	Retrofit brackets for Bi-Xenon Regarding brackets to retrofit a Bi-LED (Morimoto or NHK) into a pre-LCI E90 with self-levelling, but non-adaptive, Bi-Xenon ZKW projectors, GTA Retrofits in Toronto, Canada claim to have a suitable bracket. I have spoken with Josh via facebook (He is a contributer to Headlight Junkies) and he seemed like a reasonable guy. I will likely order the bracket from him, and see how things go. His recommendation for a Bi-LED was the NHK V. His recommendation for a dedicated high beam projector was the Morimoto HB LED. No shop affiliation. The prices on his site are in CDN.$.
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05-09-2023, 08:32 PM	#16
nthnthnthnth Private 26 Rep 57 Posts Drives: 2009 328i Join Date: Feb 2022 Location: California iTrader: (0)	That combo is a good recommendation. On the dedicated high beam, the Morimoto HB projector is a good aftermarket option and seems much better than the Profile Hi-Lens, at least based on this Lightwerkz comparison video: youtube.com/watch?v=4TslfkR0JOY. That said, if you currently have a halogen reflector housing on the inside light that would be used as the dedicated high beam, simply putting a quality LED bulb in the high beam reflector housing would be cheaper and brighter (and retain the OEM look, if you are going for that). Last edited by nthnthnthnth; 01-01-2024 at 02:17 AM..
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05-10-2023, 12:28 AM	#17
Peter Morrin Private First Class 61 Rep 199 Posts Drives: 2007 E90(sedan) 328xi Join Date: Dec 2021 Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada iTrader: (0)	This is consistent with my thinking. My one concern is that the rear-mounted fan on the NHK LED will not clear the back of the housing if installed with a retrofit bracket. I think this needs to be confirmed on the bench. As regards the high beam, Thanks for the comments. My thinking is that if I have gone to the effort of opening up the lenses, I would want to provide the best lights possible. It looks like the Morimoto HB is the way to go and the pricing seems reasonable. Again, I really only want to do headlights once!
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05-10-2023, 07:03 PM	#18
nthnthnthnth Private 26 Rep 57 Posts Drives: 2009 328i Join Date: Feb 2022 Location: California iTrader: (0)	That's a good point. I could see it requiring some cutting or custom work, similar to what seems to have been done on this E46: youtube.com/watch?v=wX0WKzPP9ms. It may be worth searching online for someone who has successfully put the NHK Gen IV or V (they are the same size) in a pre-LCI E90. Or see if the shop has done that projector on your type of car before (and if not, calling other shops to see if they have).
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05-18-2023, 06:49 PM	#19
Peter Morrin Private First Class 61 Rep 199 Posts Drives: 2007 E90(sedan) 328xi Join Date: Dec 2021 Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada iTrader: (0)	I have been doing some research on the fog lights and found that Morimoto make a "Universal" XB fog light. It has 4 mounting holes (100mm w. x 50mm h.) The lense is 89 mm in diametre. This is 13mm (1/2") larger than the 3" hole in the OEM fog light mount. Based on your trial fitting, do you think the exising hole could be enlarged by 1/2" and the mounting holes could be used? If this is starting to look like too much effort, could a custom fibreglass panel be fitted that would accommodate the XB fog light and perhaps a custom opening for brake cooling hoses? I know anything is possible, but would appreciate your assessment of the level of difficulty of the modifications.
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05-19-2023, 06:54 PM	#21
Peter Morrin Private First Class 61 Rep 199 Posts Drives: 2007 E90(sedan) 328xi Join Date: Dec 2021 Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada iTrader: (0)	Thanks for your feed back. The sealed NHK fog on Aliexpress does look interesting. I have not used Aliexpress for anything and would be nervous about the lack of follow-up/warranty service. Any personal experience? I always find it amusing that we pay a premium for a "finely crafted German automobile" and then people try and save a few bucks on a set of retrofit headlights that require hours of expensive personal time to install. I will likely track this car and since I can only fit the small front rotors under my 16" winter wheels, I am thinking I will need all the brake cooling I can get. I will likely install the F30 dust shields with the air scoop and may try to fashion a ducted system from the front bumper to the shield. If I do this, integrating the fog lights into the duct plates would be the logical thing to do. I would make the whole plate removeable from the outside to facilitate aiming of the fogs. It is a ways off, but I will create a new thread when I get there.
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05-23-2023, 09:47 PM	#22
nthnthnthnth Private 26 Rep 57 Posts Drives: 2009 328i Join Date: Feb 2022 Location: California iTrader: (0)	Returns on AliExpress are difficult but not impossible. Expect to have to take video of the product, expect everything to take longer than expected, and expect that you may not get a refund without more work than the refund is worth (paying return shipping, time involved, etc). Given what you mentioned about other work to prep for tracking, I think it’s worth holding off on the fog lights until you’re working on that. If you do the headlights in the meantime, post some pictures!
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