Xenon Lights

[hisaacs]

I have a 2003 325i with a standard light setup (not xenon)

I see people selling the actual xenon bulbs very cheap on ebay and such, and was wondering what i need to do to upgrade to xenon lights.

Do i need to change the whole lamp unit, do the bulbs fit or is there some type of adapter.

If i have to replace the whole setup, what kind of money am i looking at and what is the best xenon bulb brand and color to use.

Also, how hard is it to replace yourself?

thanks for the help.

[e36_m3_Turbo]

Originally posted by hisaacs@Jan 10 2004, 03:00 PM
I have a 2003 325i with a standard light setup (not xenon)

I see people selling the actual xenon bulbs very cheap on ebay and such, and was wondering what i need to do to upgrade to xenon lights.

Do i need to change the whole lamp unit, do the bulbs fit or is there some type of adapter.

If i have to replace the whole setup, what kind of money am i looking at and what is the best xenon bulb brand and color to use.

Also, how hard is it to replace yourself?

thanks for the help.

a real nice xenon HID kit stock from the deale would cost you around 1g. but u can get some very nice ones for around 400. those bulbs arent the way to go

[bezor]

^Yep.

If you want what you see in other 3ers, you'll have to get the whole unit, even then your computer isn't set up for it, and will throw an error code every time you drive the car.

These are what you want.

[adrenaline]

What about the "angel eyes"? any idea about that?

[e36_m3_Turbo]

Originally posted by adrenaline@Jan 11 2004, 04:40 AM
What about the "angel eyes"? any idea about that?

yes. i do...ask a question

[adrenaline]

Originally posted by e36_332i_s52+Jan 11 2004, 06:17 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (e36_332i_s52 @ Jan 11 2004, 06:17 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-adrenaline@Jan 11 2004, 04:40 AM
What about the "angel eyes"? any idea about that?

yes. i do...ask a question [/b][/quote]
thanx! I have a 328CI, 2000...was wonderin if I could replace my xenon lights with the angel eyes and how much it could cost me approximately? Do I just change the lights themselves or is there a full change in the wiring too?

[playdrv4me]

By far the number one way to upgrade your car to Xenons is to watch ebay for auctions for the entire 3 series Xenon lamp assemblies for left and right. Sometimes, if you get lucky you can find one side for as little as 2-300.00 depending on the seller. Typically however, you might find it in pieces. For example seller A might have the plastic housing, and then you would need to buy the ballast (the portion that creates the huge electronic charge necessary to burn the gas in the burner) from seller B and the Xenon burner or bulb from seller C. Still this approach will almost always cost you hundreds less than simply going to the dealer and requesting the entire kit for both sides.

PLEASE do NOT simply throw a retrofit kit or those cheap blue bulbs in there. If youre going to do this do it RIGHT. There are many "kits" out there that will allow you to throw the real Xenon burners and a cheap ballast into a stock headlamp assembly by adapting the burner to fit in the "hole" for the standard Halogen bulb, but your stock assemblies ARENT designed for this! You will throw light all over the place due to the reflectors in place for the stock Halogen lights. Its unsafe for you, and for oncoming traffic who will see tons of glare, and it makes the rest of us Xenon owners look bad. The blue lights that are direct replacements, will just be colored bulbs sometimes with a little gas in them and designed to use higher wattage. These can burn your stock wiring and will actually give you LESS usable light out front.

I am not sure why you would get errors swapping out the assemblies from another 3 with Xenons?? But go figure, its a Bimmer.

[bezor]

^IIRC, the voltage is different. The computer senses the voltage change when the Xenon units are installed since they use more power, and the computer then throws a warning light.