is it worth the hassle?

[Jlastor]

Ballasts or ignitors are not going to change the color of the bulb. It will either be on or off if one of those is faulty. New or used. The bulb color will change over time. Normally not to noticeable as both bulbs are used together so they basically wear out together. But if you get a used set of lights or just replace one bulb then they may not be a matched set(different hours on them) and you will notice a different color from on to another. "Normally" the bulb will turn more of a yellow color when it is on the down hill. There is some factors that will add to the deterioration of a bulb such as moisture in the light, or touching the glass upon installation. Then the other reason for different colored bulbs would be different color temperatures. 3000K, 4300K, 6000K, etc. etc.

Nice to hear this. Cause I hate how my car looks with the passenger side with bueish/purple light and the driver side very bright white light. I must admit that when I bought the car (with bad ballast) I took it to a shop and they troubleshooted the headlight. They could have replaced my bulb in the proces and left installed on that was not originally mine.

[Jlastor]

What kind of lens did you order? Was it the headlight housing lens or the projector lens? Not the same thing. The projector lens is what gives you that sharper cutoff, and requires full disassembly of the headlight to replace it. The headlight housing lens can be done with the headlight housing still in the car...

These are the lenses I ordered
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...roducts_id=136

Saw a couple of threads of people using them on AL headlights.

[Jlastor]

What kind of lens did you order? Was it the headlight housing lens or the projector lens? Not the same thing. The projector lens is what gives you that sharper cutoff, and requires full disassembly of the headlight to replace it. The headlight housing lens can be done with the headlight housing still in the car...

These are the lenses I ordered
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...roducts_id=136

Saw a couple of threads of people using them on AL headlights.

[JupiterBMW]

Yes, you did well. Those are correct.

[az3579]

Okay, you ordered the right lenses.

[Jlastor]

Got the bulbs and lenses last night and could not hold myself. Got them installed and I must admit the difference is amazing!!! AWESOME light output and great sharpness with great cutoff. My neighbor has a e90 325i with bi-xenons and we compared last night. Mine are much brighter and sharper.

I would recommend this mod to anyone. In a scale from 1-10 (1 being as easy as refuelling, and 10 to difficult to DIY), I would say its about a 5 just because it has a lot of parts per headlight (which have to be handled with care) and some tinkering is needed to get the lens to sit properly. I used a DIY that is on youtube and it was spot on. No other reference needed.