OV9

Jobbo wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 9:46 pm Early 2000s BMWs has shit halogens or xenons which by now are also shit. Replacing the bulbs was around £150 a side when I owned mine, so I lived with them. Wouldn’t go back.

The bulbs do dim with age, stick a new set of Osram xenarc lasers in for under £100 and they’ll be like new.

Mito Man wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 10:39 pm So are they shit or not shit

shit as standard (confirmed), ok with decent bulbs by the sounds of it.

I think the Xenon's fitted to my M3 are pretty good. Haven't driven a car with LEDs at night to be able to gauge how much better they are. Two of my bikes have LEDs. One of them throws out a mediocre amount of light, the other one gives out a decent amount of light. Both are Hondas, so I'm not sure why they'd be so different!

Gratuitous M3 pic:

I’d want LEDs or Xenons simply because standard headlights look crap on newer cars, like they’ve got cataracts

Rich B wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 10:04 pm Our 2014 E91 headlights are shocking - I really must remember to get round to sorting them. It’s only been 3 years so far I’ve meant to...

I think you are underestimating how actually shockingly shite they are. Get those LED's literally a 10 min job each side to fit then a twiddle on the re-alignment knob.

MASSSIVE difference on ours since i fitted them. The standard halogens are downright dangerous - especially in the rain.

ETA - H7 ones of these

I just drive past my missus - I recognised the yellowy candles (tree canopy has triggered them on) way earlier than I could make out the whole car!

What do I need to order for the upgrade?!

Great edit - cheers!

Marv wrote: Tue Aug 04, 2020 12:29 pm I think the Xenon's fitted to my M3 are pretty good. Haven't driven a car with LEDs at night to be able to gauge how much better they are. Two of my bikes have LEDs. One of them throws out a mediocre amount of light, the other one gives out a decent amount of light. Both are Hondas, so I'm not sure why they'd be so different!

Both my E46s had xenons, though I don't think I ever drove the Alpina at night Had LEDs in my Volvo and now my Merc. The Volvo ones were bright enough but the beam cut-off was incredibly tight so they didn't blind others, which meant they were pretty useless. Merc ones are better, but previous adaptive xenons on my C-class were pretty much perfect so I'd never bother speccing LEDs over xenons if I were optioning a new car.

My cars-to-buy-in-the-future list includes the later 7 Series, whatever code that is, because they could be optioned with laser headlights. ACTUAL LASERS.

You’re not allowed to drive them near the airport though.

Sundayjumper wrote: Tue Aug 04, 2020 1:30 pm My cars-to-buy-in-the-future list includes the later 7 Series, whatever code that is, because they could be optioned with laser headlights. ACTUAL LASERS.

Fricking lasers are brilliant at producing a point of light, far away. Never have I thought a laser would be good to light a whole area, such as the road in front of a car. I really don't think BMW's marketing is good here.

Made famous by Audi in Le Mans iirc.
Similar to a CRT screen, laser hits phosphorus which then emits light. All of these light sources degrade over years. Xenon, LED and Laser.
In the case of the latter 2 I imagine you have to bin the whole light unit rather than pay £80 for a pair of bulbs.

FWIW the factory LED's on my M240i are fackin great.

Rich B wrote: Tue Aug 04, 2020 12:53 pm I just drive past my missus - I recognised the yellowy candles (tree canopy has triggered them on) way earlier than I could make out the whole car!

What do I need to order for the upgrade?!

Great edit - cheers!

Make sure your twiddling the correct adjuster knob. one does left to right the one at the back does up and down. A long scredriver does the job. I took it up a dark bit of road to do it and it passed the MOT so must have been a decent guesstimate.

You will however get bulb warnings on the dash. i had to code them out with bimmercode. If you were closer i would have done that for you.

Or just get some decent halogens and you don't have to fanny about

And we’re back to 3 years of not sorting them...!

Still have the jamiewins in the mito main beams and they’re still great.

Rich B wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 10:04 pm Our 2014 E91 headlights are shocking - I really must remember to get round to sorting them. It’s only been 3 years so far I’ve meant to...

I just realised you said 2014 E91. I was confused why Scotta was recommending what he'd done on his F31.

scotta wrote: Tue Aug 04, 2020 2:17 pm FWIW the factory LED's on my M240i are fackin great.

Main beam great but cut off on dip could do with reaching a little further up the road IMO. Lots of nice white light though and great for a xcountry nighttime dash.

Swervin_Mervin wrote: Tue Aug 04, 2020 7:30 pm

Rich B wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 10:04 pm Our 2014 E91 headlights are shocking - I really must remember to get round to sorting them. It’s only been 3 years so far I’ve meant to...

I just realised you said 2014 E91. I was confused why Scotta was recommending what he'd done on his F31.

oh yeah - I meant F31 of course!

The adaptive LED headlights on my previous 235i were bloody amazing. High beam assist was cool but a bit pointless. The LEDs on my current F31 are great, just wished they were adaptive.