Headlights

[charleyZ3]

For Z3's - what replacement headlights (entire unit) would you recommend - aftermarket? Has anyone used the "Spyder" lights? Do the black ones reflect and work as well as the chrome background?

I had an encounter with a deer so the drivers side headlight cover was cracked and the brackets broken - need a replacement - looking for recommendations.

[BimmerBreaker]

Oem bmw

[Mr Bingley]

Love my Umnitzas, but they're a little pricey after all is said and done. Probably better off going with stock unless you just don't care about cost and you want angel eyes. My original headlights were getting foggy and I wanted to have some fun--which I did--and I really like the angel eyes. The entire subject bears serious research before buying. I also bought a kit from them that makes the angel eyes daylight running and fades them out after shutting the car off in time with the dome lamp--very cool imho.

[LannVouivre]

Mr. Bingley, can you please post a picture of the lights on your car? I want to see what changes Umnitza actually makes.

[daven]

If you're talking about housing/assembly - I don't know. If you're asking about bulbs, I highly recommend HIR series - uses stock housing without any of the headaches and modifications required by HID systems. Decent light intensity and spread on DARK mountain roads.

[MarketMaster]

OEM headlights with sky brackets for retrofit.

[charleyZ3]

[QUOTE=daven;29763426]If you're talking about housing/assembly - I don't know. If you're asking about bulbs, I highly recommend HIR series - uses stock housing without any of the headaches and modifications required by HID systems. Decent light intensity and spread on DARK mountain roads.

I am looking for the entire unit. Wondering if anyone has used the "Spyder" lites. Also, do the black ones reflect and work as well as the chrome?

[MarketMaster]

[QUOTE=charleyZ3;29763640]

If you're talking about housing/assembly - I don't know. If you're asking about bulbs, I highly recommend HIR series - uses stock housing without any of the headaches and modifications required by HID systems. Decent light intensity and spread on DARK mountain roads.

I am looking for the entire unit. Wondering if anyone has used the "Spyder" lites. Also, do the black ones reflect and work as well as the chrome?

Spyder from a projector quality standpoint is absolutely horrible. your stock housings put out more light with a good halogen bulb.

[LannVouivre]

Spyder uses the SONAR housings. Those are the only aftermarket lights available. Umnitza just modifies them.

I replaced the projectors with TRS Acme black editions and put in Kensun HIDs.

[Tim95M3]

OEM headlights with sky brackets for retrofit.

This. Polish out your old lenses and retrofit nice projectors in there. Nice, OEM look, not cheap eBay garbage.

[Sky1Z3]

This. Polish out your old lenses and retrofit nice projectors in there. Nice, OEM look, not cheap eBay garbage.

Sounds like the best plan to me.

OP... take a look at my Instagram Skyfab368 lots of pics there.

[Vintage42]

Oem bmw

Re the Photobucket sig. I have a couple hundred parts-related BMW bike and Z3 (some) photos made and collected in Photobucket over the last 15 years. I often copied and pasted their links into forum DIYs.
Now Photobucket has blocked those links, changing each photo to a message like here:
http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18066
Photobucket wants customers to pay $400/year to make those links work, and to allow any more third party hosting with Photobucket.
http://photobucket.com/p500/

[deni2s]

Oem bmw

This.

[danomite]

Re the Photobucket sig. I have a couple hundred parts-related BMW bike and Z3 (some) photos made and collected in Photobucket over the last 15 years. I often copied and pasted their links into forum DIYs.
Now Photobucket has blocked those links, changing each photo to a message like here:
http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18066
Photobucket wants customers to pay $400/year to make those links work, and to allow any more third party hosting with Photobucket.
http://photobucket.com/p500/

Wrong thread...but yes, PB have lost their damn minds! Move all of your stuff over to a new filehosting site that allows free hotlinking, and close your PB account ASAP...it's not like you need it now anyway (unless you wanna fork over $400 a year).

Now, back to the the headlights: I vote for the Sky treatment on OEM's too!

[MC28REPSOL]

I prefer these myself (OSS Design)


headlight.jpg

oss1.JPG

[amancuso]

I prefer these myself (OSS Design)


headlight.jpg

oss1.JPG

They are nice lights but I don't think hexagons really flow with the Z3's design.

[BimmerBreaker]

They are nice lights but I don't think hexagons really flow with the Z3's design.

I agree. I like the flat bottom DTM style angel eyes but wish the sides were rounded

This is mine before adjustment. When I said OEM BMW... I meant housings. Retrofitting HID's is obviously a must.

[MarketMaster]

Would this just look stupid?

[LannVouivre]

It wouldn't at all be traditional for a BMW, but if it made purists scream, cry, and throw tantrums it would look genius.

I have awful taste, so I withhold my personal opinion ("I dunno").

[MC28REPSOL]

They are nice lights but I don't think hexagons really flow with the Z3's design.

I agree. I like the flat bottom DTM style angel eyes but wish the sides were rounded

I agree ... well, you'll all be glad to know that these are one offs, never to be mounted on another Z3 again.

[umnitza]

We'd like to throw our hat into the ring here, having modified probably 3-400 Sonar headlights (usa calls it spyder but they are made by Sonar and distributed by Spyder) for Z3 owners.

This is the link to the headlights with options, but if you call in you get better bimmerforums pricing AND you can get options that are not listed on the menu (see later below).

The BEST thing you can do is do a retrofit on the factory lights, and that's something we offer you both from a "we'll do the retrofit for you" perspective to the we will provide you the parts for it.
We offer Shrouds, Bixenon Projectors, LED and HID bulbs, high quality OEM bulbs, D2S adapters. Basically everything except the OEM headlights to make it work. Call us for pricing, timing, and available options.

---However, if plug and play is what you want ---
While some don't like the aesthetics of the Sonar lights that much, we can modify them to look basically as good as you want -
We can paint them, we can engrave the lenses with your logo, we can add high quality projectors, high quality angel eyes that never burn out, and in the end, you simply take your headlights out and swap them and have 1 hour of down time.

Here are some photos of the lights we've done and some links to the finished products on instagram - as well as some custom jobs - way at the bottom.
Links to products we've done just last few months:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BV8Qs40D...nitza_official
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVphMQjF...nitza_official
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTFL-FQj...nitza_official
https://www.instagram.com/p/BS_uwtRj...nitza_official
https://www.instagram.com/p/BShIKb6j...nitza_official
https://www.instagram.com/p/BR6mwxnD...nitza_official
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPgTmxHl...nitza_official




on the car:



Here's a link to Darius's headlights he just had us finish them for him after going with "stock sonar" lights to start with and he was very dissatisfied.
http://umnitza.weebly.com/blog/umnit...-from-darius-m


Here is some custom work we've done:
Custom quad projectors:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUkcabiD...nitza_official

Custom lens etching + OSS Iconz
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUAIlRRD...nitza_official

Custom halo within a halo:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPqVUDHF...nitza_official

Standard retrofit oem housing
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQOQjuZl...nitza_official

Special order GOLD Orion V4
https://www.instagram.com/p/BRb7AXEj...nitza_official

[tigerdog2000]

Now Photobucket has blocked those links... wants customers to pay $400/year to make those links work

Grrr. Photophucket.

Agree with keeping stock housings, disagree with HID conversion. Even the best HID bulbs have a different radiation pattern than Halogen, so they will disrupt oncoming traffic. The reflector/lens just isn't made for it. I am exceptionally happy, having replaced the 9005 and 9006 stock bulbs with 9011 and 9012 Voslas. No, they're not "8 billiion K blue" but they maintain the stock beam pattern, put out a very usable white light and are relatively inexpensive. You have to trim the plastic tabs but it's worth the few minutes with a Dremel.

[BimmerBreaker]

Myself and others recommend retrofitting HIDs are retrofitting entire HID projectors and therefore have the correct light cutoff and output which is miles better than anything OE.

[tigerdog2000]

Myself and others recommend retrofitting HIDs are retrofitting entire HID projectors and therefore have the correct light cutoff and output which is miles better than anything OE.

That makes more sense but also places more stress on headlight aiming. Vehicles with factory HIDs also have factory self-leveling to insure that the correct cutoff ends up at the correct level. Since we don't have those, it's important to get very good at aiming.

[BimmerBreaker]

The headlights are reinstalled and projectors are aimed and set before the outer lens is re-installed.

Yes with heavy loads in the rear they may blind people a bit, but so would HIR's or halogens in that situation.