re: Higher Wattage Bulbs

[Doug Wright <dgwright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

What's the best headlight upgrade for the E30?  Are there options
other than the Hella (Vision Plus?) with replaceable H1/H4 bulbs?

Thanks,
Doug


>      Though the request is for greater brightness, sounds like the 
>desire is for deeper penetration.
>      For the E36,  the way I found to go was to install the European 
>ellipsoid setup.  $400. or less for the whole setup.  I got mine form a 
>Quantity purchase brought in by Rogue Engineering.  Zionsville, 
>Bavarian, etc. all sell them, and have angel eyes options too.  Just to 
>buy some of the S_uper HI_gh T_ech bulbs can run 2/3 or more of that.
>      With the standard 50 watt H1 bulb, these projectors are superior 
>to _any us spec headlight/foglight/100 watt bulb combination in overall 
>road illumination.  With ellipsoids + 100 watt H1 bulbs in them, they 
>light up the night like the deflector dish on the Starship Enterprise.
>      These H1 bulbs are <$8. each to replace.  Glitzy marketed US spec 
>H Whatevers at super bright level run much more.  You still are stuck 
>with the obnoxious glare and yellowing plastic cover of the US spec 
>chrome plated plastic reflector flashlights BMW gives our market as a 
>poor excuse for a headlight.  100 watters in a factory fog are good for 
>only one thing.  Blinding an oncoming driver, who, hopefully, will not 
>be a police officer.  Brightness and glare give the impression of 
>greater speed even if you're going slower.  A precise beam with deeper 
>penetration from a normal spectrum bulb looks much more 'middle of the 
>road' at any speed.
>      Also, after five broken foglights due to road debris, I got sick 
>of them.  The last straw was with a set of guards installed over them, 
>and a bolt punched a hole right through the middle of the guards and 
>took out the foglight behind it.  Seemed Jack (my //M3) was trying to 
>tell me something.
>      So I removed the foglights and replaced them with the plastic hole 
>cover, painted to match the car.  On the driver side this gives you an 
>opportunity as I did to make a fresh air duct right through the old 
>foglight mounting bracket on up to the inlet for the air filter box.
>      With the ellipsoids, especially with 100 watt H1 bulbs, there is 
>no need for the foglights anymore anyway.  Unless you enjoy attracting 
>attention from oncoming cars including cops.
>Without foglights installed,  the front appearance of an //M3 looks more 
>normal and stealthy.  The less attention I draw to my car, the better.
>      So, no fogs, cover the holes with the plastic covers, European 
>ellipsoids, 100 watt H1 bulbs.  If 150+mph visibility is your thing, do
>perform this light conversion.
>Enjoy,
>
>'jk

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