Im gonna be doin a conversion soon, and I wanted to get a few questions answered before I install these. The lights I am buying come with H3 bulbs, and I am planning on getting some higher watt bulbs, like 85 or 100. My concern is how bright this is gonna be, and if H3 lights will be the right type of bulb to use or if I should use H7's. If I should in fact use H7's, what do I need to buy in order to use the H7's (harnesses, etc). If anyone has input, please feel free to throw in you 2 cents.

 

Are you talking about doing the Piaa (or similar) light conversion? What brand of lights(model, etc) did you order?

 

Yeah, similar to that, but I wasnt too fond of the round lights, and I found these at JCWhitney for a ton cheaper. http://www.jcwhitney.com/item.jhtml?...=13276&BQ=jcw2

 

Well, since they are made by Hella I would hold off on buying upgraded bulbs. The biggest part of why our lights suck is because the factory reflector is crap. So I would give it a try first, making sure they are aimed correctly for their beam pattern.

I would not go over 85 watts on factory wiring for lights, especially when they are on all the time like the lows.

 

Thats what I was thinking of doing, since I wasnt sure how bright the lights were gonna be. I also want a Blue H.I.D look, so Im probably gonna upgrade the bulbs anyway, but I'll stay with 55 if I can. One more question though, will H3's with the purple tint give the BMW look? I like their lights a lot, and if they will give that look then Im gonna get those.

 

Well, be careful using these things as headlights...they are technically a fog light. There is a major difference in the beam pattern of a driving light and a fog light. Here is a pretty good explanation of beam patterns.

The install guide in my sig is for a set of driving lights using an H3 bulb in place of your fog lights. You can see by the link above that the driving light pattern is much more suitable for a driving beam (duh?)

What I'm saying is, there is no way I would use those fog lights as a headlight. Even if you upgrade the H3 bulb I don't think you are ever going to get a good enough light to drive by. The driving lights that I used for fog lights aren't bright enough to drive by alone, and they are a hyperwhite H3 bulb. I think you are gonna have to go with a H7 setup like pu12en12g has. I'm sure that he will respond to this thread, but in case he doens't, he is using Hella Free Form 75 Housings with a higher wattage H7 bulb. That is the only other way I would go.

As far as the color...if you upgrade to a bluish/purplish tint bulb, it will simulate a HID look like the BMW's, etc...but it won't really look like it. You can tell a big difference in the real thing and the wannabees...it sucks, I know, but that's just the way it is.

 

hella ff75 is I think the best upgrade if you want to stay around the same dimensions of the headlight. they are a driving light and are super bright with a replaceable bulb. the only bad part is that no one has a connector and you have to cut off the factory 9005/6 connectors. You can also go to any pep boys or advanced auto and ask for their products listing book. turn to the yellow section or the lighting section and look for driving lights. piaa makes some of the best and almost all have replaceable bulbs.

 

also, if you get the hella ff series lights you can buy a hid upgrade off of ebay and have true hids for just over 400 bucks. if my hellas burn out that is what im gonna do

 

Hi,
I know there has been debates over using the AutoOptiks headlight conversion kit, but I bit the bullet and ordered a set of their lowbeam housings. #4351C for $50
http://www.autooptiks.com/front.htm
On one side I had to message the headlight frame by bending it a little and use a file on one side(with the notches in it) to clearance it for the headlight. Took 2-3 minutes to modify. The passenger side I had to just file it a little and the light had room.
They are meant for 9006 bulbs, which are low beam bulbs. Most are around 1000 lumens for 55 watts.
I ended up putting in 9005, Britelite bulbs, which are for high beam. They are 65 watts and around 1700 lumens. I think the added light is from not having the "cap" over the end of the bulb and the little wattage increase. You have to use a pair of clippers to clip a little of the plastic "wings" on the bulbs to get them in the low beam housing. I know it sounds like rigging, but once you do it, it is no big deal.
First thing I noticed is the lights were very bright (no pun intended) and it threw the light out compared to the two stock headlights which look like two "d" cell flashlights.
I had to lower the lights from the stock ones.
They are also brighter than the stock high beams even at the same wattage.
Also looking at the front of the car with the lights off, the lights look shiny compared to the stock ones. Might have to get the housings for them soon.
Still have some headlight adjusting to do, but now I can actually see the headlights on the road even when I go under a street light.
Just an alternative.
I also noticed that my stock replacment headlight I bought a year ago was made in the US and says "guide" just like the stock ones. The stock replacement I bought 4-5 months ago says made in Tiawan and says "sylvania on it. The Tiawan one looked brighter than the US one..It has reflective coating on the bottom of the light the US one doesnt. Sorry for the long post.
James

 

I have had some Autooptiks housings for 2 years and I would HIGHLY recommend NOT getting those. The reflector is actually of worse quality than the sealed beams from Sylvania. The only advantage I saw from having them is that you can buy some higher quality bulbs that will last longer than the 3 months I was getting out of a set of low beams. In the end, the better bulbs about compensate the crappier reflectors and the result is still very much LESS than desirable. About a month ago, I decided to fix it once and for all and installed Hella 90mm projector low beams and the corresponding high beams. The lighting is phenomenal, but you have to like round lights... Here's a link to the thread

Sam

 

Sam,
Nice job on the find and install. A little too much work for me right now. The autooptiks low beam housing w/9005 bulbs might not be the best, but so far it seems much better than the stock lights.
That might be my next light mod if/when these fall apart.
Thanks,
James
PS Do you have a webpage/write up of the install published online?