LITES ON E36 M3

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Administrator
Staff member
Hey guys, I have Hella angel eye headlites on my e36 M3 which look great on the car but do not provide very good lite when driving at nite. I tried some of those so so called brighter bulbs which only lasted 1 day before 1 burnt. Need to find a way of getting them to offer better lite cos my eyesite is not too good at night. I dont want to change the headlites cos they look good on the car and trying to keep costs down so am trying to avoid going for an HID kit. Does anyone have any suggestions?
 

msm

Well-known member
Try Osram Nightbreakers.

About R140 a set from Midas (for H7).

BTW, are your lights focussed properly? Else, changing globes is not going to make a diff ....
 

STREETRACER

Active member
msm said:
Try Osram Nightbreakers.

About R140 a set from Midas (for H7).

BTW, are your lights focussed properly? Else, changing globes is not going to make a diff ....

+1 they make a masive difference! we use them on all our cars..
 

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Administrator
Staff member
Gizmo said:
For R2500, I swap the Bi xenon E46 ellipsoids into your headlights. It is a 200% increase in light output and makes a world of difference.

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=165

Thanks for the advice Gizmo and will probably take you up on that offer in the near future. I assume you are in JHB so it may be a challenge getting the work done as I am in Durbz. How long does it take for the transformation?
 

osiris

///Member
I have tried 55w Night breakers and I have tried 100w Nightbreakers and I have had xenons....There is no comparrison at all, you cant compare any normal bulb to a xenon light the visibility increase is amazing, if I were you I wouldnt even waste my money on crappy night breakers or any type of normal bulbs, just go straight for Xenons plus they look 100% better.

Other thing is that you need to open the light fitting out and remove those cover lenses the two round ones on each fitting, that will make the biggest difference and allow you to see your cut off beam properly too which in turn allowes you to focus your lights properly.

Anothet thing is that those crappy night breakers dont last!!! the 100W bulbs lasted me just over a month and then one of them blew, one of my friends bought the 55w nightbreakers and she had them for just under 2 months and they blew...its a waste of time and money.

Xenons will last you years and years and you can drive with them al day all night and they will still last years. I paid R750 more my xenon kit, I fitted it myself and it took about 30 mins.
 

STREETRACER

Active member
osiris said:
I have tried 55w Night breakers and I have tried 100w Nightbreakers and I have had xenons....There is no comparrison at all, you cant compare any normal bulb to a xenon light the visibility increase is amazing, if I were you I wouldnt even waste my money on crappy night breakers or any type of normal bulbs, just go straight for Xenons plus they look 100% better.

Other thing is that you need to open the light fitting out and remove those cover lenses the two round ones on each fitting, that will make the biggest difference and allow you to see your cut off beam properly too which in turn allowes you to focus your lights properly.

Anothet thing is that those crappy night breakers dont last!!! the 100W bulbs lasted me just over a month and then one of them blew, one of my friends bought the 55w nightbreakers and she had them for just under 2 months and they blew...its a waste of time and money.

Xenons will last you years and years and you can drive with them al day all night and they will still last years. I paid R750 more my xenon kit, I fitted it myself and it took about 30 mins.

Bud you surely didnt use OSRAM night brakers or maybe fakes!!! Ive been using same set for a year now on all our cars and the light is 200% better!!!
 

osiris

///Member
Just checked Gizmo's thread, looks like he will be fitting a projector unit to the headlights, which will make a massive improvement as the HID Projectors can aim the light correctly and focus it.

@ Gizmo - for the E36 conversion that you do is it a closed Projector kit like the E46 or how are you doing it do you have any close up pics of the E36 conversion that you do?

well I bought them from Autostyling and they cost me almost R200.00

Yes they were definately brighter and didnt look as yellow, but the fact of the matter is that they are still ordinary halogen bulbs which only give of 1200lumens of light, the bulb is just painted blue giving it a brighter whiter look.

A xenon bulb gives off at 6000k temp a fat 3200lumens of light, which makes it more than double the brightness of any halogen 55w bulb and that is from a 35w Xenon, if you get a 55w xenon then it will be even brighter.

I parked my car next to my friends car with the osram nightbrakers and we switched our lights on, my xenons just over powered her lights completely there was no competition in night time visibility, you just cant compare a halogen bulb to a xenon setup, xenon setup is using a arc of electricity to generate light, its the same as a welding arc which blinds you if you look at it, there is no filiment in a xenon light just a straight arc of electric current that is pure white in colour, well depending on the temp - 6000k xenons being the brightest but I prefer the colour of the 8000k.
 

Gizmo

Banned
The std e36 headlights have a low beam projector too, this is removed and replaced by the E46 bi-xenon projectors. Its not a simple process as alot of dremel work is needed to get them in there, but once in-place you then have OEM xenons with quad highbeams!!!
 

osiris

///Member
that sounds awsome, I have noticed that the projectors in the E36 are open projectors and the ones in an E46 are closed projectors with much bigger magnifying glasses, the ones that you would put in the E36 would they have larger magnifying glasses as that looks awsome. I have attached a pic of what I mean.

kp2-1.jpg


kp3-1.jpg


kp4-1.jpg



If thats what you can do to my headlights then I will become a customer very soon :) I dont care about the angel eyes that I can do myself, but those insane projectors with massive magnifying glasses is what I am after.

Let me know if this is what you can do. :)
 

osiris

///Member
That is AWSOME, and you say the xenons are 6000k colour temp? my last xenons were 8000k, loved the colour but if your putting a proper closed projector unit in there thats actually built for a xenon capsule then I rather go that route as it will give far better light output and wont blind other drivers!

Ok please can you pm me your number and I will be brining my car around soon to get this conversion done.

Thanks :)
 

001asp

///Member
osiris said:
I have tried 55w Night breakers and I have tried 100w Nightbreakers and I have had xenons....There is no comparrison at all, you cant compare any normal bulb to a xenon light the visibility increase is amazing, if I were you I wouldnt even waste my money on crappy night breakers or any type of normal bulbs, just go straight for Xenons plus they look 100% better.

Other thing is that you need to open the light fitting out and remove those cover lenses the two round ones on each fitting, that will make the biggest difference and allow you to see your cut off beam properly too which in turn allowes you to focus your lights properly.

Anothet thing is that those crappy night breakers dont last!!! the 100W bulbs lasted me just over a month and then one of them blew, one of my friends bought the 55w nightbreakers and she had them for just under 2 months and they blew...its a waste of time and money.

Xenons will last you years and years and you can drive with them al day all night and they will still last years. I paid R750 more my xenon kit, I fitted it myself and it took about 30 mins.

Nothing better than xenons!!
Remember never to touch halogen bulbs with your bare hands when installing them as the fattyness on your skin makes them blow very quickly
 

osiris

///Member
001asp said:
Nothing better than xenons!!
Remember never to touch halogen bulbs with your bare hands when installing them as the fattyness on your skin makes them blow very quickly

Yea for sure, I make sure to never touch them, as it does indeed make them pop quite quickly, I usually use my microfiber cloth that came with my TV to handle them just to make sure my fingers never touch that glass.
 

bmwfanboy

New member
Osiris

That picture of the e36 that you posted, where did that bonnet on that car come from?!!!

I want one!!!! if somebody can point me in the right direction, i would be very happy!1

sorry for the off topic post.
 
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