Clearly HID kits are NOT made for E46 BMW's.

So I have some to the conclusion that there is no way to fit the H7 HID into the existing housing, normal cars have little buble type retainers that hold the back of the bulb in while BMW have an "L" shaped screwing mechanism. **** it, anyone know what i'm talking about?

Originally Posted by islanq

So I have some to the conclusion that there is no way to fit the H7 HID into the existing housing, normal cars have little buble type retainers that hold the back of the bulb in while BMW have an "L" shaped screwing mechanism. **** it, anyone know what i'm talking about?

We strongly recommend that you don't add an aftermarket HID kit to your car without projectors as you will have glare EVERYWHERE. You can get the H7 to fit, just takes some cutting.

Originally Posted by Tyler@UniqueDesign

We strongly recommend that you don't add an aftermarket HID kit to your car without projectors as you will have glare EVERYWHERE. You can get the H7 to fit, just takes some cutting.

Yeah, I bought the P46 projectors from Umnitza, and my H7 HIDs went it without a problem.

yeah but how did u get the HID's to mount in the back of the holder? did u drill it or something? this seems impossible to do with the L shaped fixture.

buy P46s or get rid of that xenon kit now...

Scattering light everywhere, blinding other drivers, and potentially causing an accident so that YOU can think you have cool headlights is stupid. Furthermore, the headlight housing will look like utter cr@p with the xenon bulb in it as it will scatter light all throughout the housing...

Don't be cheap with your BMW dude... Save up for P46s, drop the extra cash, and smile when you have halos, projectors, and xenon headlights...

Now go sell those bulbs on ebay...

Originally Posted by Tyler@UniqueDesign

We strongly recommend that you don't add an aftermarket HID kit to your car without projectors as you will have glare EVERYWHERE. You can get the H7 to fit, just takes some cutting.

+1
the word here is it is a custom install when ever you do this. You must have projectors as mentioned by Tyler and remember that HID kits put out over 20,000 volts to ignite the Xenon gas in the bulb. This 20,000 volts can kill you. Be carefull. Good news is it only requires a drain on your system of 35w.

I'm still not sure what you're talking about.....

I'd be willing to take a picture if u would be here when I got back.

When would that be?

Here is a NON bmw example,



See how the piece just goes in and everything? On BMW there is an L shaped peiece, u can't hold the bulb in without drilling it i thikn which would in turn destroy the peice rendering it unusable for future applications.

The L-shaped piece is part of the halogen bulb itself.

Originally Posted by islanq

So I have some to the conclusion that there is no way to fit the H7 HID into the existing housing, normal cars have little buble type retainers that hold the back of the bulb in while BMW have an "L" shaped screwing mechanism. **** it, anyone know what i'm talking about?

i had a set in mine before i purchased a new set of oem hid headlamps, and they worked perfectly for me...only reason i got rid of them is i liked the look of the projector for the low beam....anyway, sounds like maybe you got a cheap kit or are just having issues, lol...(no offense) but my kit worked great!

His kit isn't cheap... ALL kits if used with the OEM halogen headlights will have the same problem.

This is an example of an OEM H7 bulb holder (look at the one on the RIGHT side)



now take a good look at the H7 HID bulb, there is no way to mount this securely unless you dremel out your OEM bulb holder or somehow manage to clip it in (like on P46's "preinstalled" with an HID bulb)

i had a kit from hids4less (now defunct i believe) and i just simply ordered an H7 retrofit kit, and it fit, 100% like the oem bulbs (same base) no problem whatsoever....took all of about 10 mins to swap them in. mine even came with a coating on the end of the bulb to reduce glare since they were being used in non-projector head lamp assemblys....his kit sounds like a generic hid upgrade kit, and not a h7 upgrade kit, see what i'm saying? i dunno, maybe noone makes those anymore, but they did, and i had one, it was awesome...i just liked the look of the projector in the housing better and spent the, i dunno what it was, $1,500 i think for the oem pieces....

Originally Posted by cls1000

i had a kit from hids4less (now defunct i believe) and i just simply ordered an H7 retrofit kit, and it fit, 100% like the oem bulbs (same base) no problem whatsoever....took all of about 10 mins to swap them in. mine even came with a coating on the end of the bulb to reduce glare since they were being used in non-projector head lamp assemblys....his kit sounds like a generic hid upgrade kit, and not a h7 upgrade kit, see what i'm saying? i dunno, maybe noone makes those anymore, but they did, and i had one, it was awesome...i just liked the look of the projector in the housing better and spent the, i dunno what it was, $1,500 i think for the oem pieces....

How did you get it to fit the bulb holder without modifications?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HID-x...spagenameZWDVW

This is what needs to be done or you can buy it in the link above. Its not a direct plug-n-play for our H7 bulbs and holder combination. It requires modifications to the bulb holder so that the bulb will fit securely and stay on.

Originally Posted by BMW Loe

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HID-x...spagenameZWDVW

This is what needs to be done or you can buy it in the link above. Its not a direct plug-n-play for our H7 bulbs and holder combination. It requires modifications to the bulb holder so that the bulb will fit securely and stay on.

there is no way this car



does not have projectors... that headlight looks way to clean... (also with a car that heavily modded, there is no way somebody would go the "cheap-o" route and put xenon bulbs in a halogen housing)

Trust me, it will look like $hit... buy P46s, sold here... http://jlevistreetwerks.com/store/pr...bf0d2ca523e8a6 , or stick with halogen bubls

its a facelift E39 in the picture, they all have projectors. The bulb holder (or socket, whatever you want to call it) on the halogen projectors on E39's still require modifications to them so H7 base HID bulbs can be held onto them the mount in the headlight securely.

I know you're trying to push P46's, I would too, but I'm trying to help the guy out on how to mount them in his halogen housing.

Originally Posted by BMW Loe

its a facelift E39 in the picture, they all have projectors. The bulb holder (or socket, whatever you want to call it) on the halogen projectors on E39's still require modifications to them so H7 base HID bulbs can be held onto them the mount in the headlight securely.

I know you're trying to push P46's, I would too, but I'm trying to help the guy out on how to mount them in his halogen housing.

ah... correct you are about that bening a 5... good eye.

But, the point still stands, Xenon bulb + Halogen housing = CR@P

Found the write up

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...ht=projector46

We use H7-based bulbs, you can slip any H7 base bulbs into the socket. BUT the thing to hold the bulb inside the socket (bulb holder) is a 9006 based "twist" type vs. the tradition metal clip in type that most other manufactor uses in their H7's. This metal clip in type is also whats in P46's preinstalled with an H7 HID bulb so I would imagine that a non-HID P46 purchased from our vendors uses the same twist type bulb holder like OEM or the one used on P46's highbeams w/HID lowbeams. This bulb holder needs modifications to accept an AMP connectioned H7 based HID bulb so that it can run through to the back to be plugged into the ignitor to ballast w/integrated ignitor. Regular halogen H7 bulbs use a 3 prong that resembles what you plug into a wall socket in your own home.