[jabroni80]

Hi all

Can anyone recommend a decent hids kit to replace the halogen headlamps on my 56 plate e91 pre lci 3 series touring.

To be honest I'm a bit bamboozled with the amount of different kits out there and the fact that I can get canbus errors etc.

Really want to get something with a really white light either 4300 or 6000k

any advice would be appreciated.

[Frobius]

You've got two or three options really.

1. Just put a hid kit (get an H7R kit as these are allegedly designed for refelctor housings) in the current refector headlamps. Result - you'll have white light, or blueish light. Secondary result, as of 1 Jan you'll fail your MOT. Plus, the relfector housings are not designed to cope with the intensity and type of light that HID bulbs create so you'll dazzle other drivers all the time and get flashed by everyone! = Fail.

2. Get Depos or some other aftermarket projector housing headlights. You then fit a HID kit in these, giving you not only the white light you want and angl eyes but you might not get flashed as much because they projector directs the beam a lot better than the old reflector bowls. However, I've heard that Depo headlights have a crap beam pattern so they might not be all that great either. Result - you'll fail your MOT with these too if you put a HID kit in.

3. Get OEM Xenon headlights. Fit these and you'll get angel eyes, white light and a perfect beam pattern. You'll prob need a bit of coding though to tell the car not to do a halogen bulb check. This is the most expensive option but also the best. It's also more expensive because if you want to pass your MOT you'll need to fit headlamp washers and auto levelling sensors to your suspension. If you don't fit the washers or sensors and associated kit, you'll fail the MOT again.


What I'm basically getting at is that there's no cheap or easy way to get HID light / Xenons in your car and still pass your MOT. As of 1 Jan 12 (pr thereabouts), the rules for the MOT change. Basically all aftermarket HID kits will be an immediate MOT fail. OEM kits must have headlamp washers and autolevelling (or your car must have autolevelling suspension). There are checks in place to identify this on the MOT so unless you're bezzie mates with the tester, chances are he'll fail you. Oh, and don't be fooled into thinking the headlights going up and down when you turn them on is self levelling, this is just the manual levelling system testing itself.

It's something I looked at a lot, but I've come to the conclusion that short of either getting Depos and then putting halogens back in for the MOT, the only way I'll get half decent light out of the car is with Philims Xtreme +100% halogen bulbs.


Sorry...

[jabroni80]

Basically a no goer then. Have got a mate that's an mot tester but dosent really come into it as I'd rather keep the car road worthy. Thanks for the advice.... Really helpful

[parapaul]

Good advice

It will be very interesting to see what happens from next year with regards to how MOT stations deal with HIDs and remaps. I'm expecting to either see hundreds of reports of people failing the test, or the same number of people surprised they've passed because the testers either don't know or don't care what they're looking for.

For example, to check for self levelling lights, how would they know where to check for the sensors, looms, etc. on every single model of car? It's not like checking a brake disc for corrosion or an exhaust for holes. Likewise for remaps, are they going to have OBD readers for every single model of car to check whether the software is OEM or not?

I hope, in a perverse way, that they'll only use it to weed out the really badly done chavmobiles, and leave otherwise roadworthy cars alone.

[xenon]

Perhaps the new MOT test will test self-levelling by requiring the tester to put the lights on the beam alignment tester, as they do now, and then raise the front of the car by 6 inches and check the beams automatically angle downwards and maintain alignment.

Anyway, if it gets those horrid chav conversions off the road it can only be a good thing.

[jabroni80]

Originally Posted by xenon

Perhaps the new MOT test will test self-levelling by requiring the tester to put the lights on the beam alignment tester, as they do now, and then raise the front of the car by 6 inches and check the beams automatically angle downwards and maintain alignment.

Anyway, if it gets those horrid chav conversions off the road it can only be a good thing.

I don't think it will make one bit of difference. The guys that convert their halogens headlamps just need to stick they're halogens back in for the mot. What's to stop them leaving the hid kit in place but disconnected?

[xenon]

Yes they might but the faff may put them off the whole idea in the first place with a bit of luck.