Headlight upgrade

[Redline]

Yes, I know, not another halogen to Xenon upgrade thread....

The Halogens on the Z4 are, at best, poor. Dim and poor distribution. They are much worse than I expected, especially driving out in the dark country lanes against oncoming traffic.

The OEM upgrade is hellish expensive and cheap HID bulb replacements at best risky, likely to fail MoTs etc.

I came across a company called Headlightretrofits that does a full projector replacement (including bi-zenon shutter as an option). This seems a much better and properly engineered solution, and, the cost is reasonable at £260 (both headlights). They will do Angel eye upgrades too. It looks better and better.
As standard the high-beam remains unchanged, but, I expect that bi-Xenons could be done and the main beam changed to flash-to-pass.

Anybody heard of them, used them, got any comments?
They are based north of Glasgow so, its something that has to be planned and likely to take two days to drive up there and get the work done and back again, or, use it as an excuse to continue and do a west coast tour

 

[Jack Ratt]

Very interesting. I'm seriously considering upgrading my headlights

 

[Redline]

Very interesting. I'm seriously considering upgrading my headlights

One helluva long way for you my friend!
Maybe we need a cruise and mass upgrade

 

[Jack Ratt]

It's not too far for me.

My motto is "Have Zed, will travel"

 

[t-tony]

A common enough thread on the Z4 forum this. I have fitted some Osram Nightbreaker bulbs which are an improvement. You could fit higher wattage bulbs, not strictly legal, but as a tester is not allow to dismantle anything on the test how would he know? Not that I condone this but I'm sure it happens as you often meet vehicles coming towards you and you think "They're bright !"

Tony.

 

[Redline]

A common enough thread on the Z4 forum this. I have fitted some Osram Nightbreaker bulbs which are an improvement. You could fit higher wattage bulbs, not strictly legal, but as a tester is not allow to dismantle anything on the test how would he know? Not that I condone this but I'm sure it happens as you often meet vehicles coming towards you and you think "They're bright !"

Tony.

I've got 120% xenon bulbs in. It could be that the filament isn't spot on the sweet spot but they looked identical in construction and sizing.
Its probably worth giving Nightbreakers a go if its thought they are so much better than others.
I found that projectors on other cars we've had have been poor but somewhat improved with brighter bulbs. The Z4 hasn't improved much.

Pushing to higher wattages while an easy option comes with a number of problems (as well as the legal side, although, as you say, its unlikely you'll be found out) - wiring and especially connectors might be stretched beyond their design limits, creating increased local point heating with potential disastrous consequences. Greatly increased heat also has to be dissipated in a small space in the headlight itself. That might adversely impact plastics etc, either melting them or making them more brittle. I'm guessing the projector lens is itself plastic. Call me cautious, but I see the consequences of electrical equipment fires and conflagrations regularly. They are frequently caused by people trying to push things further than they were designed for. Nowadays, everything is built to a cost - engineers won't spend more than they need to and over-engineer for any given application. The bean-counters won't let them.

£260 sounds a reasonable cost to me - less than a single headlight unit.

 

[5harp3y]

£260 is a bargain!

You can't buy horrible aftermarket lights for that money

 

[bertiejaffa]

both mine have had their headlights converted - 1 by a company using standard units and 1 using the full unit upgrade. both provide an amazing field of view in the dark and no adverse impact to other drivers - well worth it