H4's, ellips, or Cibies?

[spencers]

Sounds very reasonable though!

[Inspar8r]

Ellips are the way to go. Period.

Euro or US???

Depends. Light output wise, in terms of road illumination, no difference. I've had both. The euros only difference light output wise is the cutoff. The US ellips have a steup type of cutoff, like ____|------. The Euros instead of the step, just slant upward ___/ without a top cutoff of the right hand side of the slant.

This yields a slight bit better illumination of road signs, But if you look at any NEW design of projector lenses, they all have the step up type of cutoff. Only open reflector designs have the slant without a step. This is to cut down the glare the projectors can create if not controlled. Now some designs use a step like a stairstep (US e30 design, and NEW Audi design), while some of the BMW and Mercs have the slanted step up (like a steep ramp(___/------). Euros with HID or super bright blue bulbs will create glare because there is nothing to control the light to the right of the car (affecting cars oncoming when you turn, or coming around a right hand bend on a highway)

Other than that, the only thing the Euros have is the city light (purely preference), and the smiley cutout (to allow scattered light to escape), which has no usable illumination.

Grab whatever is cheaper, yet is in good condition. I don't like the smileys, because i feel it takes away from the projectors on a car that came with them stock 17 years ago, so i like to show them off.

H4s (whether Cibie, Hella, Neolites, whatever) will not be able the create the evenness of light on the road that the ellips can while controlling the amount of glare at the same time.

I say it time and time again:

There is a reason why all BMWs with HID have projectors. If you improve to brighter light, you have to control glare. If you don't you may blind a guy and see his car headed toward your front end real quick.

I'm not flaming, but i just want people to be responsible when it comes to things like this.

I learned my lesson, the HID in my old H4s burned the retinas on oncoming traffic, but also made it impossible to drive in heavy snow.

[spencers]

Thanks man! Clears up a bunch!

[nando]

wouldn't it be possible to stick the US projector assembly in the euro housing? the only thing that's different about the cutoffs is a peice of metal between the bulb and the projector lense..

[Ryan Stewart]

or you could just cut that metal to change the US ones to euro cutoffs.

[nando]

i don't think that'd be very easy. you'd have to pop the glass projector lense out at the very least, and figure out a way to get in there with a cutting tool. besides I was talking about switching from euro to us :P

I'll have two sets of euro lights soon enough. hopefully the second set will arrive lenses intact! :)

[Ryan Stewart]

can you seperate the buulb holder and lense? I can in the euro one and the cutoff plate comes with the bulb holder. Maybe Eric Lukas could shed some light, I remember him messing with his.

[e304lyfe]

the plate w/ the cutoff (and lense) are interchangeable, US and euro..

you could also cut it if u wanted to go from US to euro... but i agree it would be tricky to get a clean cut at the proper angle, but no doubt it could be done.

all i've said only applies for HELLA brand e30 ellipsoids. bosche parts are totally different, 'n i've never seen the guts of a depo brand.

[nando]

depo are copies of hella.. just made cheaper :P

[Ryan Stewart]

you can unscew the whole thing but I would think with a dremel and some time you could easily change the cutoff. It would be just as hard to get JUST the cutoff plate from the Euro ellips.

[Inspar8r]

Thaat is the removeable housing. They use tamperproof screws, but grab a dremel and cutting wheel, and you can cut in enough to use a flathead screwdriver.

The cutoff can be altered, but incorrectly cut shields will offend oncomers on the road.

[elemental]

Cibies

I picked up a set of Cibies Highs/ Lows and for cheep and they are 100 times better then sealed beems but thery not projectors..The Highs are very long range with 100w hella's I would love a set of the smoked euro's ..... Someday



Matt

[BavarianBimmer]

Elemental :
Don't use 100w bulbs in plastic lenses the chrome film burns away after a while,
I had a bad experience with 100w bulbs in my ellips

Spencers : If you don't want smiley's go for Euro ellips w/o the smiley, they look like hell with an HID kit

[spencers]

Spencers : If you don't want smiley's go for Euro ellips w/o the smiley, they look like hell with an HID kit

Are they as common? (or rather, as rare and expensive?)

[BavarianBimmer]

you can find them often here in Europe price is almost the same

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2459463515&category=23009

and this is what you guys called "COOL" light range adjustment 8)

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2460120200&category=44293