The ZKW Burnt Bowls Thread

[LivesNearCostco]

Has anyone tried repaining the burnt ZKW bowls with high-temp metalic paint or covering the burnt part with gold foil?

[Rovert]

Tried...I was the originator of finding the burnt ZKW bowls back in 2008 since I think my car had the most nighttime driving from the mileage. It's hard to tell when your lights are having issues because the reflective bowl material degrades over a long period of time. I am fortunate that every car in the household has xenons so I could tell when I compared against the other vehicles. Foil only helps about 10% and don't compare the light coming off the garage door because it's not accurate to what lays on the ground. I tried to contact places that do high temperature plating but there is nothing that I could find that worked with plastic. Maybe someone the USA has more luck due to population.

[zj96sc]

As far as bulb retention goes, that is a simple matter of getting D1S bulbs, no?

D1S bulbs have integral ignitors (i think that's the part) whereas D2Ss do not....so, no, not really a simple swap. You'd have to replace the electronics of the light.

D1S:


D2S:

[edlvrt]

Projectors came in today. The lenses should be in tomorrow. Looks like I have a project for the weekend!

[nk_zhp]

I just converted my driver's side with E90 bowls. There was a good amount of cutting on the E90 bowls, however no mods were needed to the existing E46 lights. And the swap was done by accessing from the back side. So the headlight itself did not have to be taken apart. The lighout output is like night and ... well... later that night after the retrofit. I do plan to do a write-up when I replace the other side.

[danewilson77]

I just converted my driver's side with E90 bowls. There was a good amount of cutting on the E90 bowls, however no mods were needed to the existing E46 lights. And the swap was done by accessing from the back side. So the headlight itself did not have to be taken apart. The lighout output is like night and ... well... later that night after the retrofit. I do plan to do a write-up when I replace the other side.

Ahhh.... So you just modified e90 bowls.

HTC Thunderbolt+TT

[nk_zhp]

Ahhh.... So you just modified e90 bowls.

HTC Thunderbolt+TT

yes, all and all I had to cut and test fit it about 20 times before it was perfect. There are some very important details in the process that I am hoping to document.

[LivesNearCostco]

nk_zhp: I read this whole thread at one point but don't remember, is it easy to order just the E90 projector bowls new, or would I need to chase them in a junkyard?

Rovert: Thanks for the photos. To me it looks better than 10% improved in total light output, though I realize the ground pattern might not be so much improved, especially if it's the top of the bowl that throw light onto the ground in front of the car.

Since I recently figured out how to remove my headlights (thanks in part to a DIY here on ZHP Mafia), I might try foiling just the top part of my driver's side bowl to compare.

[nk_zhp]

nk_zhp: I read this whole thread at one point but don't remember, is it easy to order just the E90 projector bowls new, or would I need to chase them in a junkyard?

Do not believe you can get the projectors new from BMW, so yes.. ebay and the likes.

[zj96sc]

Yeah, the E46 side of things never gets modified unless you use the old bulb retaining clip to make the new one.