Better headlights ???

[Colin]

I have never been very happy with the dipped beam on my 325i. The main beam is ok but the dipped beam is not good. Has any one any experence of fitting different bulbs to sort this out. I am not too worried about upping the wattage so long as Iam not blinding people or overloading the electrics. Any advise would be good.

[rowemeister]

I fitted some Osram blue bulbs in all 6 off my lamps. On dipped beam the light is much whiter and brighter. I recommend them. I changed the other four because the light looked yellow compared.

[Simon]

I've got some phillips blue vision in mine, I think they're great, never really had a problem with E30 lights myself. Make sure you're lights are nice and clean too (inside and out) as slight misting inside the lamp can greatly reduce the effectiveness of the light output. Osram silverstar are another popular bulb.

[Lordschleife]

I've got some phillips blue vision in mine, I think they're great, never really had a problem with E30 lights myself. Make sure you're lights are nice and clean too (inside and out) as slight misting inside the lamp can greatly reduce the effectiveness of the light output. Osram silverstar are another popular bulb.

I've got the Philips blue vision in mine, and while the light is whiter and looks better, I dont think they're any brighter

Heard great things about the Osram Silver star though, so I'd recommend Colin trys them

[Zayyan]

I've got the Osram Silverstars for my dipped bulbs and they make a HUGE difference

Well worth the extra 3 quid or so per bulb, order them from www.PowerBulbs.co.uk and you get free sidelights too

[smithy318i]

The bulbs you choose will make a HUGE difference. I got HID white 4500K bulbs and the lights are WHITE, instead of a sort of yellowish colour.

[Brianmoooore]

Ultimate upgrade is a proper high intensity discharge set up.
Ballasts can be obtainrs from any make of car that was fitted with these, and H1 lamp holder adaptors are available.
Not strictly legal unless you fit an automatic levelling system as well.

[Colin]

Thanks everyone. I will be buying the Osram Silverstars .

[UweM3]

Ultimate upgrade is a proper high intensity discharge set up.
Ballasts can be obtainrs from any make of car that was fitted with these, and H1 lamp holder adaptors are available.
Not strictly legal unless you fit an automatic levelling system as well.

Any chance of an URL or link for the H1 adaptor's? I have bought all the HID stuff on german EBAY, some bargains to have (Ԛ┚¬30 for two bulbs)
Search for XENON
Otherwise can only second the opinion about the Silverstar. Fitted them to my E30 and to the GF's E36. Much whiter light. I might be paranoid, but I have the feeling after 2 years they've lost a little bit of brightness.

[Cloggy Saint]

Is it the same H1 bulb for main, dip and fogs?

[Cloggy Saint]

Is it the same H1 bulb for main, dip and fogs?

[Simon]

Main beam are H1, fogs are H3.

[Brianmoooore]

Ultimate upgrade is a proper high intensity discharge set up.
Ballasts can be obtainrs from any make of car that was fitted with these, and H1 lamp holder adaptors are available.
Not strictly legal unless you fit an automatic levelling system as well.

Any chance of an URL or link for the H1 adaptor's? I have bought all the HID stuff on german EBAY, some bargains to have (Ԛ┚¬30 for two bulbs)
Search for XENON
Otherwise can only second the opinion about the Silverstar. Fitted them to my E30 and to the GF's E36. Much whiter light. I might be paranoid, but I have the feeling after 2 years they've lost a little bit of brightness.

I think they may be somewhere on www.ca-automotive.co.uk
Also, there was a "hands on" article in Sept.2002 Total BMW, detailing a DIY conversion which may be of interest. I have this article as a pdf, but have no idea of where I got it from.

[astondg]

A bit late to reply here but I have the Philips Vision Plus in mine (supposed to be 50% more light) and I'm not sure if they are any brighter but the light is definately white instead of orange. I do have cracks in my headlights (no water though) and they look a bit dirty so that probably doesn't help with light output.

I also have 100W bulbs for the high beam (H1) and they definately made a difference! The roads near my house don't have a lot of street lighting and there aren't many cars late at night so I can use them and they definately light up the road, even with the dirty, cracked lenses.

Aston

[haffeel]

hi guys before any one want to change your bulbs try this trick, there is some thing called grounding wire set, try installing them. You sure will find all the lamps are real bright, even the engine will wake up with fat current to the spark like never before.

I have tried it, yes it works. the stuff is known as GROUNDING CABLE , a set of 5 cables which connects to the battery and the rest to various parts of the car like

Engine Block top
Engine Block bottom
Alternator
Left Shocks tower
Righty Shocks tower

It is cheap and worthy trick, my mechanic told me, one of the weakest link in the E30 is the cable running from battery to the chassis is thin and only one piece.

give a try,

cheers

[Brianmoooore]

hi guys before any one want to change your bulbs try this trick, there is some thing called grounding wire set, try installing them. You sure will find all the lamps are real bright, even the engine will wake up with fat current to the spark like never before.

I have tried it, yes it works. the stuff is known as GROUNDING CABLE , a set of 5 cables which connects to the battery and the rest to various parts of the car like

Engine Block top
Engine Block bottom
Alternator
Left Shocks tower
Righty Shocks tower

It is cheap and worthy trick, my mechanic told me, one of the weakest link in the E30 is the cable running from battery to the chassis is thin and only one piece.

give a try,

cheers

Snake oil!
Although the OE wires to the headlamps (feed and earth) are a bit on the thin side for 100W bulbs. The existing wires won't cook, but the voltage drop is significant.

[astondg]

hi guys before any one want to change your bulbs try this trick, there is some thing called grounding wire set, try installing them. You sure will find all the lamps are real bright, even the engine will wake up with fat current to the spark like never before.

I have tried it, yes it works. the stuff is known as GROUNDING CABLE , a set of 5 cables which connects to the battery and the rest to various parts of the car like

Engine Block top
Engine Block bottom
Alternator
Left Shocks tower
Righty Shocks tower

It is cheap and worthy trick, my mechanic told me, one of the weakest link in the E30 is the cable running from battery to the chassis is thin and only one piece.

give a try,

cheers

Yeah, that's been around for a while but doesn't seem to be used that much. I think results depend on the type of car but it sounds like it works well on an E30. Thanks for the info.

Snake oil!
Although the OE wires to the headlamps (feed and earth) are a bit on the thin side for 100W bulbs. The existing wires won't cook, but the voltage drop is significant.

Mine seems to handle the 100W bulbs ok. I haven't actaully checked how much the voltage drops with them on, I'll do that soon. They aren't dim though and the rest of the lights stay bright, dashboard lights stay the same, and the car seems to run the same. I will check though. I also dont use them much or for long, maybe 1 min or two at a time, because of the other cars around.

Aston