HID Lamp Kits

[austinsom]

I have been thinking about putting these on my e30 for a while, and whilst browsing ebay tonight I found this link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... gory=36476

The price looks good, but my question is does anyone have experience with these kits, and are they any good?

What sort of work am I looking at to fit one?

Cheers,

Greg

[austinsom]

Come on guys, surely someone must know something!!

[charlE30]

I've had no experience with the HID conversion but you've got me hooked on the same idea, that shop on ebay does an H1 conversion which I would imagine would be quite straight foward. With the exchange rate at what it is it would be under Ԛ£200 inc shipping!!! beats the hell out of paying Ԛ£350+ .

Sorry I can't offer any usefull advise but good luck if you decide to go ahead

[Ant]

Demlot and Andy P are the guys in the know, they use/mod units from damaged cars for use in the e30 lamps.

Simon 13 has these too, maybe a pm frenzy is in order?

[Simon13]

Greg get your name down with Demlot and Andy P, you know a fair bit from when me and demlot collected the hartge wheels.

As you have seen the wait is worth it!

[dale325i]

ive just brought an xenon conversion kit form www.autobulbdirect.co.uk, i was going to buy this kit on there for Ԛ£410, it was a 5000k blue tint, but the guy said they have an even better kit now and that they have been testing for the last 3 months on there demo car and its only Ԛ£299 its a 8000k ice blue, its not up on there web site yet, this should be here tomorrow(monday) and iam having it fitted at the electric auto shop on tuesday, so if any of you are thinking about it, hold on til i have this kit fitted on tuesday and i will post a full report on them

[Demlotcrew]

8000k bulbs have very poor output and are illegal so its like paying Ԛ£300 for blue bulbs you will have the same effect as getting a blue coated 100w hallogen bulb.

But of course i would say that, after the lights i did for Simon.







Andrew

[dale325i]

andrew there not illegal, and where do you get the 8000k not being very bright

[Demlotcrew]

In this country 4200k bulbs are the only legal ones you can use.

If you look at philips Ultrion bulbs they are blue (5800k) like the ones you are buying (but yours are 8000k), but if you look at their output its 2400lm the normal 4200k bulbs are 3200lm thats 25% brighter and now your getting 8000k bulbs i would imagine they would be dimmer than some of the normal Halogen output projectors found on some newer cars.

sorry to break the bad news to you mate, yes they will look blue/purple but you can get that colour with stock bulbs and have them brighter than halogens.

Andrew

[dale325i]

well we will soon find out tuesday, i hope your wrong for a change, well if there no good then i will just send the kit back as the guy reconmended. roll on tuesday

[Demlotcrew]

Mate they will be good, its just that with such a high Kelvin rating the Luminous Flux will be very low, maybe like a 55w halogen.

Andrew

[astondg]

I have a question about this, it might be stupid because i am not exactly sure about the E30 lights or the HIDs but..

Isn't the H1 bulb in the E30's for high beam (or whatever it is called, opposite of dipped)? (If it isn't then ignore the rest of my post) Most of the cars with HIDs have them only on dipped/low beam. Not many that I know of use them for the high beam. I am sure it can be done, I know of driving lights ( that use the gas discharge type bulb, but I think a 100W halogen bulb would be enough for high beam (it seems bright enough on my car) and the part that mostly needs improving is dipped/low beam?

Aston

[Demlotcrew]

Bi-xenons are used for high beam and low beam with the same bulb/projector a small mask inside the projector moves to turn the low beam projector into a high beam one at the same time.

Andrew

[pete325i]

I'm just about to start my bi-xenon conversion!
Anyone have any tips before i get started?

I'm using lights from a Lexus.


Pete

[Jhonno]

so if you went lower than 4200k it would be even brighter?

what parts do you need to do this conversion?

[dale325i]

Jhonno this is what i dont understand what andrews saying, why are the kits with higher K output more expensive if there not brighter, iam not saying andrew is wrong as i dont really know alot about this conversion, but i will soon let you know tomorrow when i have them fitted

[Markymarc]

i've done this conversion on mine a few years ago now, i made my own kit cos they weren't available then, i used e46 bulbs you can use some x5 bulbs depending on the year, along with e39 starter packs. i've had no prob's with them, they are well bright and passed 3 mot's now

[amit325i]

My xenons were 6500K which admittedly were much brighter than standard but i think around 5500-6000K would be a could compromise between colour and brightness, I personally like the blueish look, but i swear at some angles my lamps looked white and others blue! My sig pic looks white!!

I am back to standard for the time being following the the theft of my lamps due to the HID, as they attracted alot of attention, because everybody was after the look! Guys thief proof your headlamps otherwise...you have been warned!

The cheaper kits are coated bulbs, but the colour temp is usually from the halide salts in the lamp which burn at a particular K depending on the salts in the bulb!
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[Simon13]

and how do you thief proof your lamps?!

[amit325i]

My mate put longer bolts and spot welded from the back to the front panel, but i put some plastic glue over the screw heads just to make it even harder. I wouldn't want anyone to experience the feeling of loss of expensive kit!! I know its a extreme but its not gona happen to me again!

[dale325i]

Hi Amit, if your kit was a 6500k, what should i expct from an 8000k kit, i dont know what all these numbers mean, is it higher the K the higher the brightness or not, iam getting the blue more for the bling look. cheers

[austinsom]

If you're confused about the colour temperature, have a look at this. Tells you what kelvin gives off what Lumens!

http://www.sigmaautomotive.com/HID/hidfaq.php

It's about halfway down the page.

[dale325i]

cheers mate, it all makes sense now, so with my 8000k i should get the nice blue look i was after, thats when the bloody kit turns up, it was ment to be here yesterday, now its ment to be here today, but it was also ment to be getting fitted today as well, so depending what time it turns up as to if i will get it fitted today

[Demlotcrew]

My xenons were 6500K which admittedly were much brighter than standard but i think around 5500-6000K would be a could compromise between colour and brightness, I personally like the blueish look, but i swear at some angles my lamps looked white and others blue! My sig pic looks white!!

I am back to standard for the time being following the the theft of my lamps due to the HID, as they attracted alot of attention, because everybody was after the look! Guys thief proof your headlamps otherwise...you have been warned!

The cheaper kits are coated bulbs, but the colour temp is usually from the halide salts in the lamp which burn at a particular K depending on the salts in the bulb!

Thats just not possible, look at some sites they clearly state that the higher K the lower LM which means that your 6500k bulbs were not brighter than 4200k bulbs found in all factory fitted HID cars.

Man why dont people listen?

Dale you are getting a rebased HID capsual which really doesnt have the correct focus.

[Demlotcrew]

I'm just about to start my bi-xenon conversion!
Anyone have any tips before i get started?

I'm using lights from a Lexus.


Pete

What lexus? i need the name of the projector. Bixenon projectors are not as sharp non bi projector thats why im not fitting it to my car.

Andrew

[Demlotcrew]

Jhonno this is what i dont understand what andrews saying, why are the kits with higher K output more expensive if there not brighter, iam not saying andrew is wrong as i dont really know alot about this conversion, but i will soon let you know tomorrow when i have them fitted

Because people want that blue look. But the whole point of HID is to give off more light in the right place. Wait till the next meet you will see what im talking about when the two cars are next to eachother.

[dale325i]

iam really not to worried about the brightness, anything that is better than what it is now would be a bonus, iam after the bling look that only this sort of kit can give, ive tried all the other bulbs. ie philipps blue , ect, i understand that higher the K the less light it would give, but depends on what you want

[amit325i]

demlotcrew, i think you should read in its entirety what i wrote, i said the 6500K were brighter than standard ( i mean standard halogen and not 4200K HID) My 330D has 4000K bulbs i think and they are super brighter much brighter than 6500K.

[dale325i]

my HID kit turned up today, sadly to late to have them fitted, have to wait til friday now

[Demlotcrew]

demlotcrew, i think you should read in its entirety what i wrote, i said the 6500K were brighter than standard ( i mean standard halogen and not 4200K HID) My 330D has 4000K bulbs i think and they are super brighter much brighter than 6500K.

Fair enough, but your BMW will have 4200k not 4000k. Osram or philips

Andrew

[pete325i]

I'm just about to start my bi-xenon conversion!
Anyone have any tips before i get started?

I'm using lights from a Lexus.


Pete

What lexus? i need the name of the projector. Bixenon projectors are not as sharp non bi projector thats why im not fitting it to my car.

Andrew

IS300 I'm told. Just about to strip them down! woooo

[Demlotcrew]

Does that car have projectors? if not then i dont know what you could use from it.

There are the balasts from the Is300




Andrew

[Markymarc]

A mate of mine has a xenon kit around the 8000k mark and they look really purple rather than blue, but its on a vectra
they are really bright, but wouldn't say any brighter than mine cos white light is better than blue/purple for visability... if that makes sense

[pete325i]

Have just taken the lexus lights out of the box, They are not the projector type and are therefore pretty useless to me.

I bought them off ebay and the pictures where very poor, I just imagined they'd be projectors.
What a doofus!

Back on ebay for them.

[Demlotcrew]

You can keep the balasts but the reflector is not much use, You can send it to me?

Andrew