Full Light/Fogs Replacements

[Dathaeus]

And I am thinking while i am on this, why not replace the ballasts as well, maybe with the Morimoto 50W?
I dont really care if the bulb lasts less... bright light is more critical for me.

[fredo]

Someone told me about my last "solution":
[ Projectors (Morimoto Mini D2S 5.0) + Bulbs (Morimoto XB D2S 35W) + Lenses (FCP Euro Magneti Marelli) ]


If you’re replacing the projectors entirely, it removes the burnt bowl issue completely.
You are already planning to replace the entire projector assembly (Morimoto Mini D2S 5.0).
This means you will NOT be keeping the burnt bowls...
If you replace your ZKW projectors entirely (not just the bulbs), then the burnt bowl issue is 100% FIXED.


Are we missing something here?

These are the projectors I am looking at:

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/bi...ctors-P-M-D2S5

Seems like a much better solution for this pesky ZKW issue.

I was not aware of that. It may be a good idea to contact Marimoto's customer service to double check.

[cakM3]

And I am thinking while i am on this, why not replace the ballasts as well, maybe with the Morimoto 50W?
I dont really care if the bulb lasts less... bright light is more critical for me.

Using 50W ballasts would blind oncoming traffic if that's what you're going for.

[Dathaeus]

Using 50W ballasts would blind oncoming traffic if that's what you're going for.

So 50W ballasts dont have sharp cutoffs, they spray all over the place?

Cant be worse than half the cars out there with either high beams on or have their lights aligned to high and blinding half the traffic already, you dont see that? I am sure this is not even comparable to that.

[cakM3]

So 50W ballasts dont have sharp cutoffs, they spray all over the place?

Cant be worse than half the cars out there with either high beams on or have their lights aligned to high and blinding half the traffic already, you dont see that? I am sure this is not even comparable to that.

I can see you don't have a good understanding of how ballasts work. They provide the power to your bulbs so the higher the wattage the brighter the bulbs will output lighting. Typically cars come with 35W ballasts and the higher 50W ballasts are used for "off road" usage only. If you install and use the 50W ballasts on your car your light output will be a lot brighter and people coming on you at night will most likely flash their high beams at you thinking you're running with high beams.

Yes lighting is important but having the right setup for a clean light output is key, not wattage.

[BADCLOWN]

I didn’t know that either, honestly. Good to know moving forward

[sillieidiot]

This thread is interesting lol

Ugh really? I thought the projector itself will override the bowl??

FML

Ok so we are back to

1. Get the AL light on eBay (maybe negotiate down to $400, fair? It's still for sale)

2. Bulbs are probably dimmer now so get the Morimoto HID bulbs (3500 lumens each and like 4500K color)

3. New lenses (on FCP euro for like $65 each)

Is this my best plan... And then the Morimoto foglights (like 1200 lumens at 5000K color i think)

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Yeah that's a decent plan.

1. Yes, or if you find some other cheaper ones. I see them go anywhere from $200-$500
2. I would suggest going with like Philips or Osrams. Morimoto bulbs lumen #s are measured incorrectly and it only hits that peak in the first 10 hours of usage. After that it falls down to it would look like if you used it for 500 hours. They are decent, but it's more like 2000 lumens
3. no problems there. The ebay ones also work well too.
4. The fog lights, they are ok. I mean they are fog lights, so they really don't do anything, light up the sides during fog. Not sure it justifies the price.

And even though these state for e46 M3 are we sure this will fit the 2003 ZHP?
Then it is assumed that the ZHP and M3 share the same bumper style vs stock 330i?

https://www.beefcakeracing.com/morim...00-bmw&srsltid

Yes they will fit. They just share the same style fog lights. There are lots of other e46 models that also use this like mt1 330.

Also 50W ballast will burn your bowls, even metal AL ones. More power, more light, more heat.



on another note, if you are going to throw away your current headlights, can I have it? lol

[Dathaeus]

I can see you don't have a good understanding of how ballasts work. They provide the power to your bulbs so the higher the wattage the brighter the bulbs will output lighting. Typically cars come with 35W ballasts and the higher 50W ballasts are used for "off road" usage only. If you install and use the 50W ballasts on your car your light output will be a lot brighter and people coming on you at night will most likely flash their high beams at you thinking you're running with high beams.

Yes lighting is important but having the right setup for a clean light output is key, not wattage.

No i have a very clear understanding, my question is between my setup of projectors vs the other solution, not "what is a ballast" , not sure why you people are so obsessed with that 1% of my issue.

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[Dathaeus]

This thread is interesting lol





Yeah that's a decent plan.

1. Yes, or if you find some other cheaper ones. I see them go anywhere from $200-$500
2. I would suggest going with like Philips or Osrams. Morimoto bulbs lumen #s are measured incorrectly and it only hits that peak in the first 10 hours of usage. After that it falls down to it would look like if you used it for 500 hours. They are decent, but it's more like 2000 lumens
3. no problems there. The ebay ones also work well too.
4. The fog lights, they are ok. I mean they are fog lights, so they really don't do anything, light up the sides during fog. Not sure it justifies the price.




Yes they will fit. They just share the same style fog lights. There are lots of other e46 models that also use this like mt1 330.

Also 50W ballast will burn your bowls, even metal AL ones. More power, more light, more heat.



on another note, if you are going to throw away your current headlights, can I have it? lol

So those Morimoto projectors won't work? Or does no one here know what they are

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[dpark]

If it was me, I would look for an used set of AL headlights.

The ZKW headlights have the burnt bowl issue. I believe all the ZHP sedans have ZKW from the factory.

The Magnetti Marelli headlights also work. I bought one for the passenger front that was brand new on sale on ebay probably 5-6 years ago for $300. I never found one for the driver front that wasn't $600+

I also did the Clemsone46 refurbed projector bowls on my original headlights. The refurb is still working on my driver front headlight.

I still can't believe BMW avoided a mandatory recall on the ZKW headlights. Seems like a total safety issue to me.