Possible to upgrade OEM Xenon?

[Nexlevmm]

Hi all,

I got offered a good deal on some oem xenon headlights, ballast and all. Was wondering if its possible to upgrade them to a better HID bulb, or would i be better off just buying an HID kit for my regular halogen headlights now? Im wanting the xenon headlights for the better projector.

Thanks for your input.

[BOBS750il]

I have factory Xenon and I upgraded my bulbs. Haven't had any issues to speak of. You could go either route really but I prefer the factory Xenon myself.

[IamTitanium]

I have always been told the only upgrade is via personal prefernece, some people consider OEM xenons (somewhere in the 4300-5k range) to "warm" looking, and will go into the 6K range for the blue color ricers all love so much (or higher for purple for mega ricers) otherwise OEM Xenon bulbs work exellent. The only way you will benefit from going stock housing with an aftermarket ballast is if you get a 55W over a 35W (i may be wrong on the 35) and get the optimal light output temperature which will put out more light then the original Xenon kit, however I dont know how well the E38 likes a 55W kit, or what the actual lumen output is of the OEM kit.

[dansgt]

Ive got a ddm 55 watt kit in my e38 and the they work great. They are the slim balasts however and I do get a error from it, but thats an easy fix.

[dseven]

Best upgrade to factory HID is, retrofit new projector in,night and day difference,even with oem ballast and 5k bulbs.

[BOBS750il]

It is definitely up to preference. I'm using 6k bulbs in my oem xenon. I love it. Either way you decide to go you'll either need to code the xenon or buy resistors if you don't want to deal with the error display.

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[nike32]

I have 55watt slim ballast 8000K , but I cant them setup right, they re bright, like in the woods, I see everything, but on the road, its not focused on the lane , so I bright up everything... I cant find nice spot where they focus on lane and ahead of car
http://i.minus.com/jbhu6k3qrZpM31.jpg (http://minus.com/i/bhu6k3qrZpM31)

[Nexlevmm]

Awesome. Thanks very much for the help guys! So its possible to put a 6000k bulb into the oem xenons??

[BOBS750il]

Awesome. Thanks very much for the help guys! So its possible to put a 6000k bulb into the oem xenons??
Absolutely. That's what I have in mine

[DUDMD]

I have 55w 5k HID kit and will be retrofitting evoxr bixenon projectors later this week in the 750.

Sent from my iPhone using BF.com

[Nexlevmm]

Absolutely. That's what I have in mine

Perfect. Thank you so much for your help. Is it just a new bulb or both bulb and ballast?



I have 55w 5k HID kit and will be retrofitting evoxr bixenon projectors later this week in the 750.

Sent from my iPhone using BF.com

Wow. Post pics please! From what ive read those projectors are pretty badass. Is it a hard job to retrofit them? Im a diy guy but cutting headlights isnt something im comfortable with just yet.

[dseven]

No need to cut anything if you go with evoxr,maybe trim a little here and there and make mounting holes match the oem projector locations

[DUDMD]

That's what I read as well. They're close to being E55 size, which almost fit right at home.

[dseven]

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I need to get some pics at night,need a good camera.

[board57796]

I retrofitted my OEM xenons with the Hella E55 bi-xenon projector. One of my favorite mods. The output with the high beams activated is something else!!! And the cut-off is razor sharp. I added clear lenses from TheRetrofitSource also.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/board57796/DSC_0524_5_6_fused.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/board57796/media/DSC_0524_5_6_fused.jpg.html)

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/board57796/DSC_0487_8_9_tonemapped.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/board57796/media/DSC_0487_8_9_tonemapped.jpg.html)

Side note: my dad hates the cut-off though. He thinks it is too distracting to watch the line bounce up and down with the car when he's riding with me. He is used to "the lights that just kind of fade away" so just throwing that out there!

[BOBS750il]

Perfect. Thank you so much for your help. Is it just a new bulb or both bulb and ballast? Wow. Post pics please! From what ive read those projectors are pretty badass. Is it a hard job to retrofit them? Im a diy guy but cutting headlights isnt something im comfortable with just yet.
Just the bulb is all I changed.

[nmlss2006]

board577, is that a direct fit? I know the E60 bi-xenon is a direct fit in the E39 headlamp.

The best upgrade for the lights in the cars as of 2013 is probably to fit new bulbs. Sylvania or Philips, not trash. Original temperature. Xenons will produce materially less light as the bulb outgasses - the ones on my E39 are embarassingly dead. I picked up genuine Sylvania D2S for $43 on Amazon..

[board57796]

board577, is that a direct fit? I know the E60 bi-xenon is a direct fit in the E39 headlamp.



No, but Edwin did a great write-up on it here http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/778988

That is what I followed. Took some time but worked fine. I could do it much quicker now (and I actually did do it for another Bimmerboard member in Florida.)

[nmlss2006]

Aha.I read that a while ago and it takes a little more.. adapting than I'd like. Getting everything aligned is going to be tricky.

[Nexlevmm]

I retrofitted my OEM xenons with the Hella E55 bi-xenon projector. One of my favorite mods. The output with the high beams activated is something else!!! And the cut-off is razor sharp. I added clear lenses from TheRetrofitSource also.

[/URL]

[URL="http://s222.photobucket.com/user/board57796/media/DSC_0487_8_9_tonemapped.jpg.html"] (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/board57796/media/DSC_0524_5_6_fused.jpg.html)

Side note: my dad hates the cut-off though. He thinks it is too distracting to watch the line bounce up and down with the car when he's riding with me. He is used to "the lights that just kind of fade away" so just throwing that out there!

So is it possible to upgrade the halogens with these projectors, or should i pick up the xenon and upgrade them instead?

[Nexlevmm]

Bump

[board57796]

So is it possible to upgrade the halogens with these projectors, or should i pick up the xenon and upgrade them instead?

I'm not sure if if I understand 100%, but the bi-xenons only affect the xenon portion of the headlight. Of course, while you have the headlight out you could upgrade the halogen bulbs separately.

[DUDMD]

Yes. You can install the bixenon projectors and hid system in your halogen light and it will work the same. It will outperform any stock e38 headlight.

Sent from my iPhone using BF.com

[Chief Rocka]

I retrofitted my OEM xenons with the Hella E55 bi-xenon projector. One of my favorite mods. The output with the high beams activated is something else!!! And the cut-off is razor sharp. I added clear lenses from TheRetrofitSource also.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/board57796/DSC_0524_5_6_fused.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/board57796/media/DSC_0524_5_6_fused.jpg.html)

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/board57796/DSC_0487_8_9_tonemapped.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/board57796/media/DSC_0487_8_9_tonemapped.jpg.html)

Side note: my dad hates the cut-off though. He thinks it is too distracting to watch the line bounce up and down with the car when he's riding with me. He is used to "the lights that just kind of fade away" so just throwing that out there!
Board that looks SICK!!!! question what bulbs are you using DS2 5k or 4300k?? also are these running on 35w or 55w, i would like to do this mod, im really digging it.

[DUDMD]

For best output, I'd recommend going with the 4300K bulbs, as they put out the most lumens. I have cheap 5k now and am waiting on my Phillips 85122+ to arrive from Germany.
4300k puts out around 3200-3400 lumens, while a quality (not cheap ebay) 5k bulb is rated in the middle 2000s. I can't even imagine how low the lumens output you get from those cheap $5 hid bulbs.

[Nyc Dito]

I retrofitted my OEM xenons with the Hella E55 bi-xenon projector. One of my favorite mods. The output with the high beams activated is something else!!! And the cut-off is razor sharp. I added clear lenses from TheRetrofitSource also.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/board57796/DSC_0524_5_6_fused.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/board57796/media/DSC_0524_5_6_fused.jpg.html)

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/board57796/DSC_0487_8_9_tonemapped.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/board57796/media/DSC_0487_8_9_tonemapped.jpg.html)

Side note: my dad hates the cut-off though. He thinks it is too distracting to watch the line bounce up and down with the car when he's riding with me. He is used to "the lights that just kind of fade away" so just throwing that out there!

i would LOVE to do this..looks really nice!..

[BOBS750il]

What's the actual difference between xenon and bi-xenon? What's the benefit of retrofitting my xenon's to bi-xenon. I found E55 bi-xenon projectors fairly cheap but they don't look much different than my current xenon projectors other than size. Is it really worth the mod? If so I'll pop on these projectors now because I'm all about more light. Is there anything else I'll need or is it just simply swapping out my smaller projector for the larger one?

[board57796]

The bi-xenon projectors have a much larger diameter than the stock ones. The difference is noticeable even without high beams on. And with the clear lenses on my car (as oppose to frensel on the OEM ones) the cutoff is razor sharp.

The main advantage to bi-xenons is that your xenons are now your high beams also, instead of just the halogen high beam. When you flip the switch for the high beams, a metal flap in front of the projector drops down and exposes the entire projector. The light output with the high beams on is intense.

There's some modding needed to the headlight housing and some simple wiring (coming from me, simple wiring means it must be really easy because I hate wiring). The write up I linked to looks very involved but once you're actually doing the work it isn't so bad.

[DUDMD]

Well said, Buck. The newer projectors are just much better designed and engineered. E38 projectors are pretty much at the bottom of performance, due to them being old now and also they were designed a long time ago when HID/xenon was just being introduced into headlights. Projectors since then have been improved a lot. It's really not the size of the projector, too. There's some pretty awesome little projectors that kill the light output of the stock e38 projectors.

Simple wiring it sure is. Only 2 wires you have to tap into the 2 high beam wires, 4 wires in total. All done inside the headlight, pretty much impossible to get it wrong. That's only if you're going with the bi-xenon projectors or want to use the bi-xenon part of it. If you don't want to use your bi-xenon part of it or get projectors without that option, then there is zero wiring.


The bi-xenon projectors have a much larger diameter than the stock ones. The difference is noticeable even without high beams on. And with the clear lenses on my car (as oppose to frensel on the OEM ones) the cutoff is razor sharp.

The main advantage to bi-xenons is that your xenons are now your high beams also, instead of just the halogen high beam. When you flip the switch for the high beams, a metal flap in front of the projector drops down and exposes the entire projector. The light output with the high beams on is intense.

There's some modding needed to the headlight housing and some simple wiring (coming from me, simple wiring means it must be really easy because I hate wiring). The write up I linked to looks very involved but once you're actually doing the work it isn't so bad.

[BOBS750il]

The cutoff and the metal flap are the difference that I was curious about. E55 bi-xenon will work in my E38? I have oem projectors now but I see now what the difference is. Larger diameter means more light and the metal flap provides crisp clean cutoff while high beam gets the full output off everything.

[board57796]

Yep the Hella E55 will work, and so will the EvoX-R. Both will require some modification to fit, however. Here is a video from Edwin showing the flap and also a side-by-side
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGadPVW3UWk

[DUDMD]

The cutoff and the metal flap are the difference that I was curious about. E55 bi-xenon will work in my E38? I have oem projectors now but I see now what the difference is. Larger diameter means more light and the metal flap provides crisp clean cutoff while high beam gets the full output off everything.

The E55 bi-xenon is think is the easiest projector to install into the e38 headlight I believe. The EVOX-R projectors I put in pretty much took the exact same work as the e55 ones.

[Nexlevmm]

Great info! Thanks gents. Looks like i have a retrofit in my future as well. :D

[Chief Rocka]

The E55 bi-xenon is think is the easiest projector to install into the e38 headlight I believe. The EVOX-R projectors I put in pretty much took the exact same work as the e55 ones.
How much difference are these two projectors?

[BOBS750il]

Thanks guys! Just bought these ones!
http://*******/18bL61c

[BOBS750il]

Got my E55 bi-xenon's in the mail from Istanbul today. Took some modification but I got the passenger side done tonight. Still need to reinstall my inner lense that I didn't have with me but doing one at a time is the best way to do it. All I can say is WOW! What a huge difference in light output. And the high beam is unbelievable now. I really like the clean cutoff. I need to get both done and aim them properly but for those of you that want more light then I highly recommended this retrofit. I can't wait to finish the driver side tomorrow.

485592

[Alpina7]

Got my E55 bi-xenon's in the mail from Istanbul today. Took some modification but I got the passenger side done tonight. Still need to reinstall my inner lense that I didn't have with me but doing one at a time is the best way to do it. All I can say is WOW! What a huge difference in light output. And the high beam is unbelievable now. I really like the clean cutoff. I need to get both done and aim them properly but for those of you that want more light then I highly recommended this retrofit. I can't wait to finish the driver side tomorrow.

485592

great job bob! you just dove right in!!! love it..... cant wait to see the finished product.... also (how much did you get them for? can you lead me in the right direction? i want a set now )

[BOBS750il]

About $70. The retrofit isn't that bad really. I bought them on eBay. Just search e55 bi-xenon but make sure you buy the ones that take the bulb you have. Mine is D2S but I've seen a few that take a different bulb

[Alpina7]

ok cool.... so by E55 do you all mean Mercedes e55?

[BOBS750il]

ok cool.... so by E55 do you all mean Mercedes e55?
Yes. Mine are Hella

[Alpina7]

hmmmm... idk how i feel about a mercedes product on my e38... any other routes we can go? surely there are bmw with bigger projector lenses.. no one else have a problem running Mercedes lenses on their BMW?

[board57796]

hmmmm... idk how i feel about a mercedes product on my e38... any other routes we can go? surely there are bmw with bigger projector lenses.. no one else have a problem running Mercedes lenses on their BMW?

While the Hella E55 projectors were in fact used in Mercedes E55 AMGs, "E55" is the model number of the Hella product and doesn't refer to the Mercedes specifically. You can see a list of cars the "Hella E55" was used in here. http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?31092-Hella-E55-Most-Popular-with-European-Cars or here
http://www.oemxenonshop.com/Hella-E55-Bi-Xenon-Projectors-HID.html
It's what I have in my car. Mine came out of an Audi.

[BOBS750il]

Mine happen to be out of a Mercedes but in my searches I saw that the e55 projector was used in a wide variety of vehicles. I was watching a set out of a Nissan I think.

[Nexlevmm]

Awesome info guys!

[BOBS750il]

Actually the set I got weren't Mercedes. The Mercedes set I was going to buy had a line across the front of the projector lense. Not sure what it was for but I didn't like the look so watch out for that if you feel the same

[Alpina7]

When will you be done bob??

[BOBS750il]

The retrofit is done. I just have to reinstall them back into the car. Going to do that in a little while.

[BOBS750il]

I wish I had bought new outer lenses. I definitely need to change those next.

[WarMachine7]

Yes. Mine are Hella

Your gonna hook us up with some nightime pics right? Lol

[BOBS750il]

Your gonna hook us up with some nightime pics right? Lol
Very soon. I had the passenger side done last night so I had the chance to see the difference from stock to upgrade and what an amazing difference.

[BOBS750il]

They're going to look basically the same as Edwin and Board57796's cars. Except mine don't self level yet. I haven't figured out a way to make that all work. I have all the parts but in need the wiring and the know how on hooking it all up.

[Alpina7]

Wonder if this can be done on the pre-facelift 7's

[BOBS750il]

Mine is a pre face that's been face lifted. I think the self leveling can be done but idk where to even begin.