Facelift - Replacing foglights with factory aux. highbeam

I saw these on Real OEM

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...83&hg=63&fg=95

From what i can understand, it´s a kit where you replace the halogen foglamps with Xenon auxillary highbeam lamps. I´ve been looking at some way to "up" the highbeam lighting on my BMW since i drive alot of dark and lonely country roads.

Anyone seen/heard of anyone installing the kit above?

//amullo

nah, i don't think anyone has installed that above.

do you have OEM bulb in the xenons right now? if not, go back tot OEM. it will give you the best light output. also, do you have bixenons? that should do a lot as far as lighting up the sides and stuff.

you could put HID fogs in if you want, and rewire them to stay on when your flick the highs (unless yours already stay on. US cars don't have that option because people are stupid).

i remember seeing those years ago

actually come to think of it. just get the projector fogs + aftermarket HID kit, and you'll get that for a fraction of the price

Thanks for the input guys.. The thing is that i have full Bi-xenon as it is and I´m looking for an option of extending the range of my highbeam.

Foglights only light up like 10 feet of the road infront of you (front fogs are about the most useless thing on the car IMHO, all show and not very many practical uses). I have the option of re-aiming my stock halogen fogs and rewiring them as auxillary highbeams, but the Xenon kit above seems like it will give more lumens at longer distances (and I´ll not even get into the light color matching). The thing about doing that is that fogprojectors are designed to give a wide light output and I´m looking for a highbeam or even pencilbeam shaped light output to extend the range when i flick on the highbeam.

I´m thinking about ordering a "stand alone" kit from Hella via Rallylights..
http://www.rallylights.com/Hella%20H...20Modules.aspx
If i can figure out which one will fit that is.
The 50mm module looks like the one above doesn´t it?



I really want the stock look and not put auxillary highbeamlights on like most of my dear counrtymen do..
While this setup would give me VERY nice range, I can+t bring myself to install something like this (below)

It looks like CRAP!!

//amullo

Originally Posted by amullo

Thanks for the input guys.. The thing is that i have full Bi-xenon as it is and I´m looking for an option of extending the range of my highbeam.

Gez bi-xenon highbeams aren't bright enough? You will blind everyone in Stockholm if you get any brighter! That being said you could get a projecter HID kit for your foglights (ive seen a few replacements on ebay designed specifically for the e46 but I dont think they project very far unless you could find a good way to aim them).

Well.. I´m not saying the light is BAD You just get used to it and want more..

I saw the Rayzer light mounted on a E46 and it looks like a cool solution, but I´m 6.1" and i have trouble weeing around the rearview mirror in right hand corners as it is! Besides.. People will think I´m a cop (Yes, cops in Sweden have unmarked BMW´s)
http://www.visualeyes.se/

//amullo

So which one are you going to buy? the hella ones are pretty much like fog lights. do you ever use your halogen inner beams for flash to pass? if not, you can put an HID kit into that and do a little wiring and you'll have yourself more light.

Originally Posted by sillieidiot

So which one are you going to buy? the hella ones are pretty much like fog lights. do you ever use your halogen inner beams for flash to pass? if not, you can put an HID kit into that and do a little wiring and you'll have yourself more light.

How would you get the bixenons and the inner beams to work at the same time (just curious in case I end up finding an OEM headlight unit for cheap in the future)?

Originally Posted by amullo

Well.. I´m not saying the light is BAD You just get used to it and want more..

I saw the Rayzer light mounted on a E46 and it looks like a cool solution, but I´m 6.1" and i have trouble weeing around the rearview mirror in right hand corners as it is! Besides.. People will think I´m a cop (Yes, cops in Sweden have unmarked BMW´s)
http://www.visualeyes.se/

//amullo

That is too cool! Can we get those in the States? Get one for the front and one on the back to ward off those tailgaters...

Originally Posted by 2001BMW325Ci

That is too cool! Can we get those in the States? Get one for the front and one on the back to ward off those tailgaters...

they seem to have an office in the US so I would imagine yes. I am curious if they are hardwired to the car or the driver has to turn them off manually (which would determine whether they are completely awesome or just a burdensome pain in the ass).

$995 excluding VAT?! Wow! I think I can find best use of$995.

Originally Posted by rizzo2008

How would you get the bixenons and the inner beams to work at the same time (just curious in case I end up finding an OEM headlight unit for cheap in the future)?

on your my rides it says you have a facelifted coupe. you're never going to find them for cheap lol. because i bought them all LOL jk jk, you probably will find it one day. but right now i have 3 of them.

you just need to make a relay wiring harness and tap things differently to make it light up.

sillieidiot!
The Hella´s look like fogbeams, but the polyepsiloide lens is made diffrently to project the light and focus it like a highbeam pattern instead of a foglight one. I´m still thinking about it.. I may go 55w Xenon on my bi-xenons to start with and see what that does for the light output.

2001BMW325Ci!
I looked into the Rayzer and they are 35w Xenons that are controlled by a remote sending RF-unit under the dash, so you turn them on and off together with your highbeam. As i understood it, you need only to wire the permanent positive lead and not a signal one.

It´s a pretty sweet setup if you like that kind of thing. It has had great results in all reviews I´ve seen, the only downside being the high price of the unit itself. The Upsides are good.. No change to the look of your vehicle, extra lights always ready and as high up on the vehicle as they can go without putting them on the roof, always clear of the winterslush since you have your windshield wipers to clean infront of them.
The downside for me is the price and the fact that they limit my field of view since I´m so tall. Plus.. What do they look like IRL? 2 giant lights in your windshield? People are gonna think I´m a cop or a wannabe cop!

EDIT: Just found there installation manual here..
http://www.visualeyes.se/brands -> scroll down.


//amullo

are you sure about that? the ones you pictured don't do that. i've used them. they are just made for halogens and you can put and HID kit in there. it's just like a really bright flashlight. no cutoff what so ever. what makes a projector a high beam projector is that the cutoff beam pattern is on top rather than being on the bottom (inside the projector). so when you light it up, the lense flips it 180 and all the light is on top of the cutoff rather than being on the bottom.

If you visit http://www.rallylights.com/Hella_50mm_Modules.aspx you´ll see that they offer 3 versions of the lamp.. I can´t say for sure what the diffrence is between them since i havent seen them IRL, but it stands to reason that the optics on a lowbeam lense will differ from a highbeam one since they are made to focus the light at diffrent distances and lighted fields.

Take a maglight for example. You can focus the light at a distance OR get a wider feild depending on where in the reflector you have the bulb. Turning the reflector will give you a diffrent light output.
Here is a good tech page. http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html

Or am i wrong? I´m going to start by taking my existing halogen foglights apart and take a good look at what i can do with them.

//amullo