* What did you do to/for your E46 today? *

i knew i needed these... just didnt know how bad i needed them....

Originally Posted by ///MPR77

Woke up at 3am and couldn't go back to sleep, so I decided to replace the belts (Continental) that I picked up yesterday.

The belts had maybe 30k on them, the AC belt definitely needed to be replaced, but the serpentine looked fine, so I replaced it anyway lol,
as I like to have them on the same replacement intervals.

Spent an extra 30-40 minutes inspecting the engine bay top and bottom.

Maybe I can get some sleep now...
Oh the things that keep a fanatic up at night.

should've called me for a chat. or a sleepover??

My A/C belt is showing cracks in it. i've replaced it three times now :/ i wonder if its a supplier problem. belt only has like 10k on it. seems to crack every 10k. my main belt is on its second helping too

nothing beats a good inspection.. never know what you'll find. pulleys have been replaced twice already for excess play..

Originally Posted by Orchazum

i knew i needed these... just didnt know how bad i needed them....

I've got some meyle ones you can buy if you want. Installed once but pretty much new.

Originally Posted by E46Mango

should've called me for a chat. or a sleepover??

My A/C belt is showing cracks in it. i've replaced it three times now :/ i wonder if its a supplier problem. belt only has like 10k on it. seems to crack every 10k. my main belt is on its second helping too

nothing beats a good inspection.. never know what you'll find. pulleys have been replaced twice already for excess play..

The inner structure is probably okay though. If you've got the time and $10 though, why not?

look what the ups man dropped off.

Nice!

Water pump, thermostat, upper and lower hose, temp sensor, front struts (everything but the springs) doing clutch master and slave cylinders along with diff bushing this weekend.

Victory

Jealous I want CBIs. one day. where'd you get them and how much?

Originally Posted by E46Mango

Jealous I want CBIs. one day. where'd you get them and how much?

Just do it man.


http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...ducts_id=10591


use the discount code for free shipping.

Originally Posted by Solidjake

Just do it man.


http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...ducts_id=10591


use the discount code for free shipping.

I just bought my 85122s though...

Fak, I'll be putting mine up for sale for 60 shipped on Saturday :/

Originally Posted by E46Mango

should've called me for a chat. or a sleepover??

My A/C belt is showing cracks in it. i've replaced it three times now :/ i wonder if its a supplier problem. belt only has like 10k on it. seems to crack every 10k. my main belt is on its second helping too

nothing beats a good inspection.. never know what you'll find. pulleys have been replaced twice already for excess play..

Not sure what happened, but I responded to this, earlier and thought I submitted the reply.

Anyway on the first take I said something witty about making a fort with the car up on jackstands.

Next time I am calling you at 3am and I have this thread as a witness to your consent.

No pillow fights until Dmax comes out...when if he ever does.

Sent from my SCH-R530M using Bimmer App

Originally Posted by ///MPR77

Not sure what happened, but I responded to this, earlier and thought I submitted the reply.

Anyway on the first take I said something witty about making a fort with the car up on jackstands.

Next time I am calling you at 3am and I have this thread as a witness to your consent.

No pillow fights until Dmax comes out...when if he ever does.

Sent from my SCH-R530M using Bimmer App

Hahaha i was thinking the same thing. put the car up on secure jackstands and sleep underneath it. instead of watching the stars, we can watch the floor of your car. just hope there's no earthquakes. We'll definitely call dmax out-good thing is lube is only arms reach away

Originally Posted by Solidjake

Fak, I'll be putting mine up for sale for 60 shipped on Saturday :/

Man you've pretty much convinced me to get CBIs. I know terra has em. i'm waiting to hear your review. At the time I got my 85122s, these were hard to come by and very expensive. $185 isn't bad... so tempted.. but i've spent a lot lately.. damn m3 steering wheel..

wait till Saturday/Sunday and I'll post up a vid

Found out that my ambient temperature sensor got ripped out today when the dashboard shows -40 degrees. Looked under the car and yup, it was gone. I blame the snow.

Ordered a cheap $10 BMW replacement off eBay. Sucks because I paid $90 for the one I just lost. FML.

Originally Posted by E46Mango

I just bought my 85122s though...

That does make it a little more painful... but it is worth it -- especially if you do a lot of night driving.

That said, keep an eye on the new Philips xtreme vision bulbs (I think they're 85122XV or something like that). Supposed to be Philips' answer to the CBI. Out of the box, they're a little brighter than brand new CBIs. However the CBIs are known to gain quite a bit of brightness and whiteness after about 20 hours. Unknown if the Philips behave the same or if they start becoming dimmer right away like other HID bulbs.

Originally Posted by TerraPhantm

That does make it a little more painful... but it is worth it -- especially if you do a lot of night driving.

That said, keep an eye on the new Philips xtreme vision bulbs (I think they're 85122XV or something like that). Supposed to be Philips' answer to the CBI. Out of the box, they're a little brighter than brand new CBIs. However the CBIs are known to gain quite a bit of brightness and whiteness after about 20 hours. Unknown if the Philips behave the same or if they start becoming dimmer right away like other HID bulbs.

Interesting. Are they the same color temp and output as the CBIs? And if you could do it all over again, would you get CBIs again?

Took a drive and took some photos. All photos are from my phone camera and taken in AZ

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Bimmer App

Originally Posted by E46Mango

Interesting. Are they the same color temp and output as the CBIs? And if you could do it all over again, would you get CBIs again?

They seem to be about the same color temp as the CBI in the pictures I've seen.

If I were starting over today, I'd probably wait for a few more people to get their hands on the new Philips bulbs. If they are brighter than broken-in CBIs, I'd probably buy those. Honestly I'll probably end up buying them anyway if they do end up being a good bit brighter (and reasonably priced).

That said, I have no regrets with my CBIs. I've had them for about 2 years now (though I'm on my second set -- a failing ballast killed one of my original bulbs, and I kept the good one as a spare) and every time I have my headlights side-by-side with another car with "normal" bulbs, I can't help but smile a bit. A friend of mine around here has an E46 M3 with stock bulbs, and mine put his lights to shame (admittedly his were probably a good bit older than mine, but the difference was quite striking). And I've had my car side-by-side with a brand new Audi A3 (which presumably had 85122+s), and my lights were so much better. I think the A3s came with AL projectors like ours too.

I should mention, so far the only issue I've noticed with them is that they are a bit more finicky about power, especially as they age. If your ballast is borderline, it'll have a hard time keeping the bulb lit. It seems like it's a bad bulb issue when it happens, but I'm almost positive it's the ballast itself. The first time it happened to me I blamed the bulb (and I think I ran like that long enough that it actually damaged the bulb). This time around it seemed like too much of a coincidence -- so I bought new ballasts. No issues whatsoever now.

I guess that's one of the costs of making a bulb that is brighter and whiter without any extra juice.

Originally Posted by TerraPhantm

They seem to be about the same color temp as the CBI in the pictures I've seen.

If I were starting over today, I'd probably wait for a few more people to get their hands on the new Philips bulbs. If they are brighter than broken-in CBIs, I'd probably buy those. Honestly I'll probably end up buying them anyway if they do end up being a good bit brighter (and reasonably priced).

That said, I have no regrets with my CBIs. I've had them for about 2 years now (though I'm on my second set -- a failing ballast killed one of my original bulbs, and I kept the good one as a spare) and every time I have my headlights side-by-side with another car with "normal" bulbs, I can't help but smile a bit. A friend of mine around here has an E46 M3 with stock bulbs, and mine put his lights to shame (admittedly his were probably a good bit older than mine, but the difference was quite striking). And I've had my car side-by-side with a brand new Audi A3 (which presumably had 85122+s), and my lights were so much better. I think the A3s came with AL projectors like ours too.

I should mention, so far the only issue I've noticed with them is that they are a bit more finicky about power, especially as they age. If your ballast is borderline, it'll have a hard time keeping the bulb lit. It seems like it's a bad bulb issue when it happens, but I'm almost positive it's the ballast itself. The first time it happened to me I blamed the bulb (and I think I ran like that long enough that it actually damaged the bulb). This time around it seemed like too much of a coincidence -- so I bought new ballasts. No issues whatsoever now.

I guess that's one of the costs of making a bulb that is brighter and whiter without any extra juice.

Great information. All filed in my head. As for the ballasts, where did you source new ones? TRS? We talking direct replacements or did you get a lightly used pair of modern Denso equivalents with 9006/D2S input/outputs?