The ZKW Burnt Bowls Thread

[Hornung418]

Kid's a freakin wizard when it comes to this kind of thing LOL

[cakM3]

For $700 you have lights that work half way? If there's no way to fix the bixenon function....Mmm..not sure bro, though you're right....anything is better than Zkw.

HTC Thunderbolt+TT

Dane,

I'm not saying that there's no way to fix the problem...I still have more research to do on this. I will have this figured out...besides it's electrical...just got to get the wiring diagram or indepth info on this to understand how the M3 shutters work.

For me the priority was to restore my lows since I realized my fogs were providing better lighting. Not a good thing. I still can't believe that someone designed headlights usung a plastic projector bowl...talking about a high failure rate...

[cakM3]

Kid's a freakin wizard when it comes to this kind of thing LOL

Yeah, that's what I have heard. I'll be sending a PM to TerraPhantm after work today

Thanks!

[Hornung418]

Found what I think you're looking for.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...php?p=22562951

[cakM3]

Found what I think you're looking for.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...php?p=22562951

That's awesome! I will go over this closely when I get home. If I get this to work I will be sure to detail every step so this will help others. Thanks again!

[zj96sc]

You probably got AL assemblies from the M3. The reason it has 3 wires is because AL bi-xenon shutters use two solenoids to move the shutter; one start solenoid to move the shutter, and a 2nd lower draw solenoid to hold the shutter in the up (hi-beam) position. The ZKW projectors use a single solenoid to move and hold the shutter. There are controllers sold that allow you to convert your two wire input to the 3 wire output needed for the 3 wires (provided you swapped only the internals and not the whole housing):

http://www.wolstentech.com/bixenon/

I was the one that did the e90 bowl retrofit into my ZKW housings on this forum, following fgin's thread on e46f. It is not a 100% plug and play solution...involves a little bit of cutting and fitting, but all said and done it is about $30 per side to get pretty decent light output that will not suffer from burnt bowls again. The trickiest part is coming up with a way to retain the bulbs in the housings that you're happy with. E90 bowls take D1S bulbs (ignitor integral to bulb base), we take D2S (ignitor separate)...meaning the wire bulb retainer won't work the way it is. My retrofit is in my build thread with details of the bulb retainer I bent up:

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showt...er-s-Chronicle

If I can answer any questions let me know. I spent a lot of time researching solutions and working on mine.

[Rovert]

Compared to all other modifications FX-R, TFW, AL, E90 bowls. Did you find out of all methods, the E90 bowl was the least involved as far as retrofitting with at least the same light out as stock E46 ZKW?

[zj96sc]

Least involved? Probably not. I'd say AL retrofits are probably the least involved since I understand that to be 100% bolt in place (aside from bi-xenon shutter wiring). This retrofit is actually pretty involved (you will disassemble probably every last component of the headlights).

I picked it because it was very cheap ($70 for 2 e90 projectors) and produced a reliable permanent fix with OEM level light output.

I didn't want to do FX-R or TFX etc because I didn't feel like JBwelding headlights together.

[danewilson77]

Dane,

I'm not saying that there's no way to fix the problem...I still have more research to do on this. I will have this figured out...besides it's electrical...just got to get the wiring diagram or indepth info on this to understand how the M3 shutters work.

For me the priority was to restore my lows since I realized my fogs were providing better lighting. Not a good thing. I still can't believe that someone designed headlights usung a plastic projector bowl...talking about a high failure rate...

Werd. I Gotcha brutha.

HTC Thunderbolt+TT

[Rovert]

The AL bi-xenon shutter is just 3 wires vs 2 wires for ZKW, right?