HID issues! Poor lighting???

[Erick]

Ok, so I'm rocking Hella Euro Smileys on my 318iS. Ever since I bought them, the lighting has been piss poor.... I mean.... you can tell they are on, but these xenon lights will literally not light past 5ft of the front of the car.

So I start taking the covers apart and BAM! What do I see? Factory BMW D2S HIDs on an H1 housing headlight assembly. Bulbs being held together by mechanic wire. Genious!!!

I assume that's the cause and proceed to order an H1 kit. I figure I can turn around and sell these pretty much for the same I got the new ones for so I can come close to breaking even.

Got my H1 8000k kit today. Sweet.

15 minute install (had to redo the wires) and lights on.................................and the lighting is just as poor!

The headlights are properly aligned.

It's not the HID kit.

The lenses are not pitted.

What's the deal? Could it be a relay? Lights not getting enough power? Experts I summon your knowledge!

Thanks,
Erick

[Gooch]

How do your reflectors look?

[nando]

reflectors are toast

[Erick]

Hmmm, the reflector is the plastic piece with the smiley cut out?

[clavinZERO]

The piece with the smiley cut out is more like a blocker of stray light...

The reflector is the whole egg-shaped housing behind the lens, the part that your bulb is mounted to. Try disassembling the lowbeam bucket from the car and then wash it out carefully with something strong but not corrosive and rinse like crazy with CLEAN water to avoid spotting as it dries out. This should clean the projector glass and all the supposed-t-be-shiny parts inside the housing.

Worst comes to worst, like Nando says, your 'flectors are toast.

[Erick]

Yeah... definately the reflectors as I took them out today. Tried cleaning it some, but it's very spotted already.... can I just chrome this piece or something similar? :p

I find it hard to just find reflectors in good shape just laying around.

- Erick

[gearheadE30]

Yeah, they are hard to find. I remember someone saying that the reflectors are now NLA, but I haven't verified that. You might be able to rechrome them, but I don't know how long that would last.

[nando]

I actually have a couple in my broken set of smoked ellipsoids. What are they worth to you? They may have some slight damage around the screws but the reflectors are perfect (they were only a couple years old).

[Erick]

Reflectors are not NLA, but even at dealer's greatest wholesale discount, those suckers are $$$. And they would come from Germany.

I checked.

I dunno Chris... like $50 for two sounds reasonable?

- Erick

[bmw325csi]

chrome spray can FTW