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      04-28-2012, 07:27 AM   #1
MAf30
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Halogen bulb upgrade, anyone?

anyone here with halogen headlights thinking of upgrading their bulbs?

if so, what are your opinions on the best bulb and color?

lastly, are the aftermarket halogen replacements (i.e. piaa, nokya, sylvania) plug-n-play with our headlights?

thanks for any input guys, much appreciated
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      04-28-2012, 07:31 AM   #2
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In my experience, 5500k is the closest to a factory xenon color, closely followed by 6000k, which is a little more blue.
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      04-28-2012, 07:35 AM   #3
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i want a white/slight purple hue, and it seems like 8500k nokya are that color.

what are the bulb types on our cars?
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      04-28-2012, 09:32 AM   #4
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      04-30-2012, 04:15 AM   #5
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Anyone try fiddling with the halogens yet? Wonder if theres a certain temp that is too much for our headlight housings to handle.
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      04-30-2012, 04:47 AM   #6
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By oem xenon. Others are wannabee imo
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      04-30-2012, 06:26 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CasZy NL View Post
By oem xenon. Others are wannabee imo
oem xenon bulbs in a halogen headlight?
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      05-03-2012, 07:39 PM   #8
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anyone had a replacement done
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      05-03-2012, 09:22 PM   #9
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interested as well
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      05-03-2012, 09:30 PM   #10
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for the cool looking sake, u can use 7500K PIAA bulbs...they do great,
but kindly reminder, the higher the color temperature goes, the lower the visibility you get.
yea, everything seems bluer but darker if u drive with bluish bulbs...
factory HID outputs 4000~5000K of color temperature. Which gives the whitish color and best visibility.
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      05-03-2012, 09:35 PM   #11
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Excellent summary. Well done and an excellent reminder.
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      05-03-2012, 09:42 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by francis_william
for the cool looking sake, u can use 7500K PIAA bulbs...they do great,
but kindly reminder, the higher the color temperature goes, the lower the visibility you get.
yea, everything seems bluer but darker if u drive with bluish bulbs...
factory HID outputs 4000~5000K of color temperature. Which gives the whitish color and best visibility.
I think I'll go with the 5000, what is ur recommendation as where to buy it from
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      05-04-2012, 12:48 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by XENONX View Post
I think I'll go with the 5000, what is ur recommendation as where to buy it from
You can try to find it at your local car accessories store...
If it is not convenient, try eBay...

PIAA H7 XTREME WHITE PLUS 4000K
or
PIAA 7500K Plasma Spark Blue Halogen Bulbs

I like the quality of PIAA, Philips and some others are doing great too.
Just really careful not to touch the glass surface of your bulb at any time,
never never never...because the grease on your finger will void the light bulb.

FYI
http://www.piaa.co.jp/english/products/index.html
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      05-04-2012, 12:02 PM   #14
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just replaced the low and high beams w sylvania silverstar H7, looks cool.
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      06-17-2012, 04:14 PM   #15
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I'm planning to replace the H7 by Philips X-treme Vision (+100%). Read a lot of positive stories about them.

I was thinking about aftermarket Xenon, but I don't like them without lens-headlight. Too much "wannabee"....
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      06-18-2012, 10:00 PM   #16
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You gotta be careful with those halogens that claim 5000K+ and give you a blue-white light.

1) They typically burn out really quickly, especially the ones that claim higher color temperatures and increase the wattage.
2) You are going to wish you didn't have them when it starts raining at night and you can't see shit.

I bought the GE Nighthawk Sport bulbs and they give a slightly whiter light and better visibility than the stock bulbs (but not by a lot).

Before I settled on the Nighthawk Sports I had Philips Crystalvisions but there was almost no difference from stock. However, I have been told Philips Diamondvision gives you a much whiter light but you need to buy them off eBay since they aren't available Stateside. I would have tried these but I didn't want to get stuck with $60+ bulbs if I didn't like the result.
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      06-20-2012, 06:24 PM   #17
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HID replacement error

Hi All,

I just did my halogen replacement to HID with capacitors (for BMW flickering issues) on my 2012 328i.

The set-up is fine for 30-45 mins...then the low beam malfunction errors fires off. I turn on the headlights... and the error is gone.... till next time.

I'm a lost to what to try next. I didn't want to get the Angel eyes ($900) since it requires the Premium package ($3600).

Anyone with any experience here?

Thanks.
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      06-21-2012, 03:00 PM   #18
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The F30 is still so new that you are going to have limited aftermarket options, especially ones of any decent quality. I'd just be patient until a quality aftermarket option becomes available since you didn't want to fork out the money for OEM to begin with. It is disappointing that so many things are lumped into packages and lines anymore, really limits some of your options to customize it with what you want.
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      06-22-2012, 10:11 PM   #19
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Illegal and for good reason.
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      06-23-2012, 06:58 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MAf30 View Post
anyone here with halogen headlights thinking of upgrading their bulbs?

if so, what are your opinions on the best bulb and color?

lastly, are the aftermarket halogen replacements (i.e. piaa, nokya, sylvania) plug-n-play with our headlights?

thanks for any input guys, much appreciated
Masking the color of an incandescent bulb to make it more blue reduces visibility. I have factory HIDs and find that the halogen fogs really make a big difference in rain.
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      06-23-2012, 07:00 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MAf30 View Post
i want a white/slight purple hue, and it seems like 8500k nokya are that color.

what are the bulb types on our cars?
Why?
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      06-28-2012, 03:24 AM   #22
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So far I have tried Silverstars, then Bimmer Xenon 55w, then Bimmer Xenon 75w and now 5000k H7R HID bulbs.

The best brightness of the halogens was the Silverstar. The road looked bright, even and white, however looking at the car from head on, the lights only looked slightly whiter than the stock bulbs, still yellowish looking

The Bimmer Xenon Halogens looked great, but had poor light output. Even the 75w did not perform well

The HID's installed in the car now of course are the brightest, and so far no error lights or problems. I drove the car for about an hour today with no errors.

All this could have been avoided if BMW offered the Xenon upgrade for $900 on the 2012 model cars, like they are currently doing on the 2013's.
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