Upgrading from sealed beams

[freeride53]

Hi guys. I briefly mentioned this on my project thread, but I am looking to upgrade from the fogged-up and burnt-out sealed beams on my 1991 318i.

Granted one of the low's is burnt out, and the rest have started to accumulate condensation, the light output over the past 4 years of me driving it was just far too low, and annoying when driving the 101 frequently in the dark (no illumination on highway for many many miles).

So right now, I'm looking to upgrade, but with affordability in mind.
I'm currently considering the chrome eBay DEPO smileys, and I've heard about doing the h1/h4 conversion, which also sounds tempting.

I don't want to do something too expensive, or something that would be inconvenient to install.
The thought of DEPO smiley sounds good because from what i've heard, installation from sealed beam is somewhat plug-and-play.

I currently have h3 35W 2000K HIDs as my fogs, and it's sorta pathetic to think that my fogs give better illumination than my headlights.


Untitled by sina.pour, on Flickr

Whatever setup I run, I'm thinking of having amber lows.

I would appreciate some feedback and suggestions, as I am not too experienced when it comes to auto lighting.

Thanks!

[blazinxpk]

the bottom line here is that anything is an improvement from sealed beams.

my suggestion would be to get some type of projectors, so that you have the best possible cutoff. pair that with some hids and youre done.

honestly get whatever you can afford in terms of depo, Euro/US ellips. just make sure the lights are in good condition and everything works.

in terms of what bulbs to get. i would recommend an hid kit(of your choice, based on money) with a bulb temperature of ~4300k. 4300k bulbs provide the maximum light output.

i dont understand your comment about wanting amber lows. amber is the color of turn signals and that would be a stupid color for your low beams. i dont think ive even seen amber low beams before. also a suggestion about your fog lights, i would consider 2000k "all show no go". if you were to just change those bulbs to either 4300k or even 3000k your light output would be better.

this is all i can think of right now...

[freeride53]

Wait, you've never seen amber headlights before?
Bro take a little trip to france. By the way, it's a little different than the turn signals.

almost every single e30 in france has ambers.
also, the amber fogs work phenomenally in fog.
there is a lot of fog where i live.

[blazinxpk]

thats not amber.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_yellow

if you are so concerned with fog you should change the 2000k bulbs you have in your fogs.

[JasonC]

3000k HIDs = yellow.


But with the DEPOs they may leak so you might want to reseal them. Also if you go with the used US ellips. remember they are 20yo used headlights now so the chrome reflective suffice in them might not be up to par and light output will suck.

[freeride53]

thats not amber.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_yellow

if you are so concerned with fog you should change the 2000k bulbs you have in your fogs.

excuse me, "french" yellow.

[Alex Mc]

I recently installed the DEPO smileys on my '91 318is and couldn't be happier. There are many people who will decry the Taiwanese replicas as garbage and unworthy, but the fact of the matter is that they are new ellipsoid projectors for $125 shipped. The look identical to the real ones. And I do speak from experience as I had Hella smoked smileys on my M3 - I promise you there is not much difference after they're installed, but you do have to be gentle as the plastic frames aren't as hefty as the Hella/Bosch pieces. If the DEPOs collect moisture - fine, reseal or vent them. No big deal. They work great and I'd recommend them.

I will say that if I was updating a nice, low-mileage E30 M3 then I would spring for factory parts, but why would I buy a set of headlights that are worth 10% the market value of my car?

[jeffnhiscars]

...but why would I buy a set of headlights that are worth 10% the market value of my car?

For the same reason we spend 20% on shocks/springs, 15% on tires & crazy amounts on sound..because we can ;)

[Mo Brighta]

Headlight upgrade

the bottom line here is that anything is an improvement from sealed beams.
....
i dont understand your comment about wanting amber lows. amber is the color of turn signals ...

Ditto on sealed beams, they are not useful.

Amber is the color for turns, but yellow is common for headlights. May be a fine distinction, but still, you might want to consider yellow tinted headlight film ($12 a pair, perfect size for 146mm (5-3/4") lights. If you don' like the color, you can apply two for more, or peel it off and be back to clear. Any color will reduce output, and my experience on the 101, you need more rather than less light- lows are in use most of the time. The majority of cars that I see with yellow headlights are highs, not lows.

BMW did a really good headlight design with Hella back in the 80's for the e30, it's called the BiFocal, and it is fantastic. It's a low beam, ALL low beam. It uses an H1 bulb, it's metal, and has a city light option if you like that sort of thing. Made for the Euro market, they never made it over here until now.

They are around $96 each, but boy do they make light! If you can afford them, you can play with bulbs and film to make them as bright and /or as yellow as you like, do you know if there's an HID for H1 lights???

Let me know if you want pics or technical data on them, I have these available on short notice if you want.

There are several good and relatively cheap High beam options, I like the Cibie flat face H1 highs, also available on short notice.

BTW, that's a French Yellow Cibie CSR in my profile pic, sorry, they are NLA.

[jaywood]

Depo smilies (I have the smoked version) with DDM tuning 55w ballasts and bulbs. 5000k low, 6000k high. Both 55w. They work excellent. They light up the road extremely well and haven't given me any issues in the almost 2 years that I've had them. I also jumped a relay so the highs and lows stay on at the same time. It was a VERY simple installation.



Old stuff out (had sealed beams too)



New headlights in



HID kit:






Take the black/blue wire out of the suction cup thing and seal up the holes



Hook up the ballast like this:



Drill a hole in the headlight cap (1 inch)



Put bulb in



Take apart the sealed beam connector: (you don't need to do this, you can use Something Like This and plugs into the stock sealed beam connector.)



Figure out which wire is power and which is ground (brown). There should be three wires (low beam). One is the power, one is ground, and the other you won't be needing.



Hook up the black wire to ground and the blue wire to the power wire



Hook up the rest of the headlight/ballast



The other wire (blue/white) is the one you won't be needing...go ahead and use a wire nut on the end of it for protection



Both low beams on





For the high beams I'm running the same HID kit. The wiring is the same procedure (the only difference is that there will only be 2 wires that plugged into the original sealed beam....one is ground, brown, and the other is power)


I also jumped the relay (#30) so that I could run the high beam and the low beam at the same time





Adjusting the cutoff:




All done and cleaned up

[bmwguy325is]

Ya go HID cause they are legit...................
Plus then you can help feed a kid in China as sweat shops pay good.

[jaywood]

Ya go HID cause they are legit...................
Plus then you can help feed a kid in China as sweat shops pay good.

Politics and Religion

Just posting from personal experience. MANY others have HID's as well (for 5+ years) and have no complaints. Never have I been "flashed." I don't see what the problem is. They are a great improvement over stock that don't require a ton of work.

[ELVA164]

WAIT. I really hope you haven't done anything yet because I really want to see someone try these.

HIR bulbs. Supposed to be the nest best thing to the best HID's and you literally don't need to do anything except buy them and put them in your existing 9005 and 9006 sockets. Please try it.

http://www.hirheadlights.com/

[blazinxpk]

[bmwguy325is]

WAIT. I really hope you haven't done anything yet because I really want to see someone try these.....
http://www.hirheadlights.com/

Seems legit...