[rponti]

My head hurts from reading so I'm going to be lazy and look for recomendations......I have a feeling I know the answer though.

Looking for a halogen that is whiter or LED upgrade that doesn't involve hacking my car apart. I've used Sylvania Silver Star Ultra and Piia super whites. They work well but looking for a whiter/bluish light. Any thing I'm missing! Or time to get a new car Or change headlights

[aaronov]

I am in the same boat. One of my halogen DRL or low beam went out so I am looking to try upgrade to something that is brighter. I have a 2010 328i and am looking for suggestions on what the best route is for getting brighter whiter lighting.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Go LED or HID. There is just not much available to achieve what you're looking for. Halogen bulbs are outdated technology. LED is the way to go.

[aaronov]

Do you have any specific suggestions for LED that work with a 2010 328? I've seen some posts on here but they target F30's and later models.

[rponti]

I defiantly would like to go LED. I just dont want to rig or cut the dust cover.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by aaronov

Do you have any specific suggestions for LED that work with a 2010 328? I've seen some posts on here but they target F30's and later models.

We use HPB LED in our vehicles.

[SamelCamel]

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

We use HPB LED in our vehicles.

Jeff,

Do you have detailed specs on these lights?

• LED manufacturer and type
• Lumens
• Do these fit without cutting?
• Does the metal wire snap on these correctly?
• Any pictures of them being installed?

By the way, I have a 2011 BMW 328i Sedan (RWD).

Thank you!


-Sam

[dakine_surf]

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

Go LED or HID. There is just not much available to achieve what you're looking for. Halogen bulbs are outdated technology. LED is the way to go.

There honestly isn't any good solutions for LED unless you retrofit the correct projectors same with HID... and unless you buy adaptive dynamic headlight housing to retrofit, they aren't going to stay level as you go down the road... you will just end up dazzling oncoming drivers...

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

We use HPB LED in our vehicles.

Again these are going to be a downgrade if you put them in a halogen housing.

Originally Posted by SamelCamel

Jeff,

Do you have detailed specs on these lights?

• LED manufacturer and type
• Lumens
• Do these fit without cutting?
• Does the metal wire snap on these correctly?
• Any pictures of them being installed?

By the way, I have a 2011 BMW 328i Sedan (RWD).

Thank you!


-Sam

Sam best thing to get an upgrade is to upgrade the wiring to the bulbs and get some better Hella or PIAA halogen bulbs... say away from high K color temperatures or "Xenon" filled halogen bulbs, their output typically sucks and they blow out easily.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by SamelCamel

Jeff,

Do you have detailed specs on these lights?

• LED manufacturer and type
• Lumens
• Do these fit without cutting?
• Does the metal wire snap on these correctly?
• Any pictures of them being installed?

By the way, I have a 2011 BMW 328i Sedan (RWD).

Thank you!


-Sam

4500 Lumen and 6000 Lumen options. (For comparison, Halogen 800-1200 Lumens, HID 2800-3200 Lumens).

No cutting (Except in headlights unless you remove the cover).

Plug and Play

We have many on the road today, including on my personal car. I never really thought to take pictures of them installed to be honest as most pictures don't do justice. What you see pictured is what you'd see installed. We encourage any current customers to post pictures if they'd like.

I disagree with the previous post mentioning these are downgrade. They are significant improvement over stock & HID for looks, output. They are also less expensive then HID upgrades. The cut off is just like factory since it uses the factory housing and these LED project the light in a similar manner to halogen. Moreover, no reason anyone should consider a halogen upgrade this day and age. They run hotter, don't last nearly as long, lose a majority of the output after a few short years, don't have nearly as much output and look outdated.

[dakine_surf]

Sorry bud but you are so wrong in so many different ways... it's crazy how many people want to slap a $50 led bulb in your BMW to make it look "cool" but won't actually listen to the science behind why your stock halogens will out perform them in every way except perceived image.

Post a decent pic of an output shot from an led in a halogen housing and I'll change my mind, but so far it hasn't happened.

You might perceive more output but the science behind the reflectors will prove otherwise.

I do this for a living, designing reflectors and chip sets for Cree for over 8 years. Before moving to photonics. I was involved with many OEM applications and have toyed with countless retrofits on my own time... but what you are trying to achieve isn't possible.

A halogen reflector is made to reflect light in very specific wavelengths from a source that can't be replicated with a led chip. It why we design them to utilize a projector so the light can be controlled correctly.

I just posted some similar info in another thread check it out here

https://www.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...php?p=24400672

This guy posted output shots so I can prove how they really don't work... but again I'm just the guy with the Ph D. who designs them for the OEMs so what do I know right

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by dakine_surf

Sorry bud but you are so wrong in so many different ways... it's crazy how many people want to slap a $50 led bulb in your BMW to make it look "cool" but won't actually listen to the science behind why your stock halogens will out perform them in every way except perceived image.

Post a decent pic of an output shot from an led in a halogen housing and I'll change my mind, but so far it hasn't happened.

You might perceive more output but the science behind the reflectors will prove otherwise.

I do this for a living, designing reflectors and chip sets for Cree for over 8 years. Before moving to photonics. I was involved with many OEM applications and have toyed with countless retrofits on my own time... but what you are trying to achieve isn't possible.

A halogen reflector is made to reflect light in very specific wavelengths from a source that can't be replicated with a led chip. It why we design them to utilize a projector so the light can be controlled correctly.

I just posted some similar info in another thread check it out here

https://www.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...php?p=24400672

This guy posted output shots so I can prove how they really don't work... but again I'm just the guy with the Ph D. who designs them for the OEMs so what do I know right

If you are trying to say that a projector with a quality lense is the IDEAL replacement the answer is yes.

However, I've used and installed these LED on many cars, not only my own but customers, friends and family. The output difference in the REAL WORLD is significant over a stock halogen.

I can appreciate where you come from, suggesting people go the IDEAL route but these still are a significant upgrade over a dull brown halogen.

[dakine_surf]

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

If you are trying to say that a projector with a quality lense is the IDEAL replacement the answer is yes.

However, I've used and installed these LED on many cars, not only my own but customers, friends and family. The output difference in the REAL WORLD is significant over a stock halogen.

I can appreciate where you come from, suggesting people go the IDEAL route but these still are a significant upgrade over a dull brown halogen.

Not just ideal... It really is the only safe way, sorry but you are so wrong. You also keep saying dull brown halogens... do you even understand how light works? Or how temperature effects output? Do you know how a real HID system works? You do realize the color of the light has a lot to do with how well it performs, there is a reason fog lights are typically low K.

Post up an output shot and prove me wrong... hell, if I can find a cheap halogen unit I would throw one of these and your LED lights on my bench at work and actually show you what I am talking about from a scientific perspective. I can guarantee that you have a drop in performance.



Here is a picture of pair of RHD LCI headlights and halogen bulbs. As you can see the light is nice and even, the cutoff is not super sharp but that is to be expected from halogens... honestly the output is decent and the cutoff isn't bad for what it is... There is a very nice distribution that is even and wide... this is due to the fact that the reflector was designed to capture the specific wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation given off by a gas when ignited. Hang in here with me on this, but this is key...

A light-emitting diode on the other hand is a two-lead semiconductor light source, this means its a p–n junction diode that emits light when activated. When a suitable voltage is applied to the leads, electrons are able to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons. This effect is called electroluminescence, and the color of the light (corresponding to the energy of the photon) is determined by the energy band gap of the semiconductor.

This is one of the main reasons a halogen reflector is going to actually show a dip in performance.

Here is a picture of the exact same headlights but with a LED bulb that is similar to the one you are recommending. It has an offset row of LEDs to mimic a filament, but again because the light produced is of a different wavelength it is going to react differently in that housing than a typical filament/halogen bulb. As you can see the cutoff is gone there are "artifacts" and hot spots all over where the cutoff used to be. There is a ton of light leaking all over, none of it is a performance upgrade or even safe. All the light that should be lighting the lower right where things run in front of you (remember this is a RHD car) is gone. The light is all narrowly focused and all width is gone.



Just because the light seems brighter, doesn't mean it actually is... just because it is whiter, doesn't mean better... it might look cool, but when you throw that light on a bench and actually measure it you can see the loss. More lumins or lux poorly focused is not actually better. Its why guys spend hours tuning their projectors to get the sharpest brightest light possible while also focusing it properly.

Light is measured with a bunch of units. Its wavelength, λ, is measured in both ngstroms and nanometers. Its frequency is measured in Hertz. Its energy is usually measured in electron-volts (eV), because Joules are too large to be practical. Its red-shift is measured in either short-distance units (if measuring the shift in the emission lines on the spectrograph) or in velocity units, from how fast the object is receding.

All of this is taken into account when a reflector is tuned from the manufacturer... It really is optimized for a specific wavelength, when you throw the LED bulb in there you change everything. That white color is caused by a higher K temp. As your light passes above 6K in temp you actually lose visible light as you get closer to UV. True Xenon is actually cooler temp than the color of the light might suggest. most factory HID run 4500-5500K. It is the focus of the shield and lens on the projector that produces the beautiful blue purple color. Yes there are people out there making 6k-10K bulbs but they are also a performance downgrade... they might look cool but you are not getting any more effective light on the road in front of you.

I get that people want their BMW to "look" like you have Xenon, and if looks are more important that performance, then by all means have at it. But when you come on here as a vendor and tell people complete bullshit like it is "better" or an "upgrade" with no real science behind it, well I gotta call you out...

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by dakine_surf

Not just ideal... It really is the only safe way, sorry but you are so wrong. You also keep saying dull brown halogens... do you even understand how light works? Or how temperature effects output? Do you know how a real HID system works? You do realize the color of the light has a lot to do with how well it performs, there is a reason fog lights are typically low K.

Post up an output shot and prove me wrong... hell, if I can find a cheap halogen unit I would throw one of these and your LED lights on my bench at work and actually show you what I am talking about from a scientific perspective. I can guarantee that you have a drop in performance.



Here is a picture of pair of RHD LCI headlights and halogen bulbs. As you can see the light is nice and even, the cutoff is not super sharp but that is to be expected from halogens... honestly the output is decent and the cutoff isn't bad for what it is... There is a very nice distribution that is even and wide... this is due to the fact that the reflector was designed to capture the specific wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation given off by a gas when ignited. Hang in here with me on this, but this is key...

A light-emitting diode on the other hand is a two-lead semiconductor light source, this means its a p–n junction diode that emits light when activated. When a suitable voltage is applied to the leads, electrons are able to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons. This effect is called electroluminescence, and the color of the light (corresponding to the energy of the photon) is determined by the energy band gap of the semiconductor.

This is one of the main reasons a halogen reflector is going to actually show a dip in performance.

Here is a picture of the exact same headlights but with a LED bulb that is similar to the one you are recommending. It has an offset row of LEDs to mimic a filament, but again because the light produced is of a different wavelength it is going to react differently in that housing than a typical filament/halogen bulb. As you can see the cutoff is gone there are "artifacts" and hot spots all over where the cutoff used to be. There is a ton of light leaking all over, none of it is a performance upgrade or even safe. All the light that should be lighting the lower right where things run in front of you (remember this is a RHD car) is gone. The light is all narrowly focused and all width is gone.



Just because the light seems brighter, doesn't mean it actually is... just because it is whiter, doesn't mean better... it might look cool, but when you throw that light on a bench and actually measure it you can see the loss. More lumins or lux poorly focused is not actually better. Its why guys spend hours tuning their projectors to get the sharpest brightest light possible while also focusing it properly.

Light is measured with a bunch of units. Its wavelength, λ, is measured in both ngstroms and nanometers. Its frequency is measured in Hertz. Its energy is usually measured in electron-volts (eV), because Joules are too large to be practical. Its red-shift is measured in either short-distance units (if measuring the shift in the emission lines on the spectrograph) or in velocity units, from how fast the object is receding.

All of this is taken into account when a reflector is tuned from the manufacturer... It really is optimized for a specific wavelength, when you throw the LED bulb in there you change everything. That white color is caused by a higher K temp. As your light passes above 6K in temp you actually lose visible light as you get closer to UV. True Xenon is actually cooler temp than the color of the light might suggest. most factory HID run 4500-5500K. It is the focus of the shield and lens on the projector that produces the beautiful blue purple color. Yes there are people out there making 6k-10K bulbs but they are also a performance downgrade... they might look cool but you are not getting any more effective light on the road in front of you.

I get that people want their BMW to "look" like you have Xenon, and if looks are more important that performance, then by all means have at it. But when you come on here as a vendor and tell people complete bullshit like it is "better" or an "upgrade" with no real science behind it, well I gotta call you out...

Sigh LOL

There is always 1 guy that knows everything, right?

Sorry but you aren't calling anyone out, especially me. I've been browsing forums for 2 decades and have come across many folks, this is nothing.

Although I appreciate your efforts, they are well written and sound very convincing.

You know what's not convincing? Nothing to back it up other then words.

Have you used a product we are offering?

Do you have real world comparative data in a controlled environment with our products?

No?

Then thank you but no thank you and have a nice day.

[dakine_surf]

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

Sigh LOL

There is always 1 guy that knows everything, right?

Sorry but you aren't calling anyone out, especially me. I've been browsing forums for 2 decades and have come across many folks, this is nothing.

Although I appreciate your efforts, they are well written and sound very convincing.

You know what's not convincing? Nothing to back it up other then words.

Have you used a product we are offering?

Do you have real world comparative data in a controlled environment with our products?

No?

Then thank you but no thank you and have a nice day.

Maybe you didn't understand what I was saying, Jeff you are probably a great guy, I'm sure we would actually get along (we are all car guys on here afterall.) I really am not an asshole or a know it all... in fact, if you come on out to Santa Barbara, Ill bring you out to my offices and labs, I'll show you what we do on a regular basis... hell I'll even buy you a free beer in our break room. Shit bring a halogen headlight and bulb, I'll give you free time on the test bench (serious here, we bill clients $10k-15k an hour for use of the test lab)

I bet your products are great... but not in an e90 halogen housing and that is what I was trying to convey. I did provide that backup, not words but pictures as well.

That was all I was trying to say here. The bulbs are not really in question, You as a person are not in question... its the reflector that is the problem since it was made to reflect a very specific light output. If you cant understand that, well sorry dude

I am sure your products work well in some applications but you are always going to be limited by the reflector, how it was tuned, etc. In the case of our beloved e90's halogen headlights, the reflector is basically shit, but it actually does an okay job it just needs the correct output to match how BMW designed them.

Its why you cant just slap a clear lens in a projector, or higher output bulbs in without tuning the projector, shimming it... getting things in proper focus. I don't doubt that these HPB bulbs try their best to mimic a halogen bulb, but if you understand how electromagnetic radiation works on the visible spectrum, you will understand why the reflector is not suited for those wavelengths.

So when I called you out as a vendor its because I am trying to help possibly educate some people... even you yourself admit to the lights not being IDEAL as you put it. Well why not just help people understand those limitations instead of throwing around complete horseshit... maybe pointing them in the right direction, help them understand what a retrofit is and how an LED bulb in the incorrect housing can effect performance... you can still get your $80 for the bulbs if that's all you care about, but the point of these forums are to provide people with as accurate info as possible, not just pointing people to a product and making blanket statements.

While you have been on forums doing God knows what for 20 whatever years, I have been designing semiconductors in the real world for an awesome US based LED company. I designed a lot of the chips that companies like HBP rip off and call CREE, even though they are nothing more than counterfeit/ reverse engineered products from China.

This forum is a great place place to share information, I find that most people genuinely want to help people make their cars better, upgrade, customize etc.

This wasn't a dig at you personally or your products, but that the info you are passing on is technically incorrect. At the end of the day, what people do to their cars is their own decision. But I gotta call bullshit when I hear it... If you want to tell people they can "update" the look of their car, or get the "look of HID" for a fraction of the cost, great. But telling anyone this is an upgrade or you will get sharper cutoff without any modification to the reflector is straight bullshit... If you claim this, you obviously don't understand the physics of how visible light works, and that is what I was calling out in the first place.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by dakine_surf

Maybe you didn't understand what I was saying, Jeff you are probably a great guy, I'm sure we would actually get along (we are all car guys on here afterall.) I really am not an asshole or a know it all... in fact, if you come on out to Santa Barbara, Ill bring you out to my offices and labs, I'll show you what we do on a regular basis... hell I'll even buy you a free beer in our break room. Shit bring a halogen headlight and bulb, I'll give you free time on the test bench (serious here, we bill clients $10k-15k an hour for use of the test lab)

I bet your products are great... but not in an e90 halogen housing and that is what I was trying to convey. I did provide that backup, not words but pictures as well.

That was all I was trying to say here. The bulbs are not really in question, You as a person are not in question... its the reflector that is the problem since it was made to reflect a very specific light output. If you cant understand that, well sorry dude

I am sure your products work well in some applications but you are always going to be limited by the reflector, how it was tuned, etc. In the case of our beloved e90's halogen headlights, the reflector is basically shit, but it actually does an okay job it just needs the correct output to match how BMW designed them.

Its why you cant just slap a clear lens in a projector, or higher output bulbs in without tuning the projector, shimming it... getting things in proper focus. I don't doubt that these HPB bulbs try their best to mimic a halogen bulb, but if you understand how electromagnetic radiation works on the visible spectrum, you will understand why the reflector is not suited for those wavelengths.

So when I called you out as a vendor its because I am trying to help possibly educate some people... even you yourself admit to the lights not being IDEAL as you put it. Well why not just help people understand those limitations instead of throwing around complete horseshit... maybe pointing them in the right direction, help them understand what a retrofit is and how an LED bulb in the incorrect housing can effect performance... you can still get your $80 for the bulbs if that's all you care about, but the point of these forums are to provide people with as accurate info as possible, not just pointing people to a product and making blanket statements.

While you have been on forums doing God knows what for 20 whatever years, I have been designing semiconductors in the real world for an awesome US based LED company. I designed a lot of the chips that companies like HBP rip off and call CREE, even though they are nothing more than counterfeit/ reverse engineered products from China.

This forum is a great place place to share information, I find that most people genuinely want to help people make their cars better, upgrade, customize etc.

This wasn't a dig at you personally or your products, but that the info you are passing on is technically incorrect. At the end of the day, what people do to their cars is their own decision. But I gotta call bullshit when I hear it... If you want to tell people they can "update" the look of their car, or get the "look of HID" for a fraction of the cost, great. But telling anyone this is an upgrade or you will get sharper cutoff without any modification to the reflector is straight bullshit... If you claim this, you obviously don't understand the physics of how visible light works, and that is what I was calling out in the first place.

The problem is your approach and your intentions.

You say you want to educate but then you make stabbing remarks about our integrity and the products we offer. You then back peddle it one sentence then continue to call out, point fingers and blame in another. You're all over the place as you continue to dig this grave. Meanwhile, who've you really helped? Nobody. What did you end up doing? Deterring people from a good solution at a reasonable price point. How is that fair to us? What did we do to you?

If you want to talk about lenses, talk to BMW, we didn't make the lenses. If you want to talk to HPB about ripping stuff off, talk to HPB.

Don't use us as bait to get your rocks off about LED's because the pickings are minimal on these side of the boards for some drama.

Putting words in our mouths and really making a mountain out of a mole hill isn't exactly reasonable nor is it fair; especially for someone that hasn't even used the product.

To tarnish what we offer, our reputation and integrity, isn't fair. You can't say you don't have that intention and then go on to reiterate why you have a chip on your shoulder about what HPB "ripped off". That's called hypocrisy and slander by the way.

Meanwhile, everyone in reality over here just wants something better then their old stock bulbs and that's what we offer.

It does as intended. It's brighter and whiter then a stock halogen. With 100's sold, no returns or complaints, we stand behind it. If someone isn't happy with their performance they are welcome to return it and invest 4x-10x more for custom retrofits. I've said all I needed to say on that subject. You can try what we offer or spend up to 10X more for custom; It's really that simple and most people probably knew that without you making a mountain out of a mole hill and questioning our integrity and slandering companies in the process.

Do you harass all vendors who offer LED upgrades? Then why us? That's not fair or right meanwhile we haven't done you personally wrong. We don't go to your place of business and rain on your parade, trying to make you look bad and inhibit/deter commerce and trade. We are supporting vendors and have been for nearly 10 years on this board.

If you want to educate people, educate them but leave us out of it. Bring your own data and information to the table and leave it as that. So far you've only posted words and still not actual data or facts, especially with regards to the actual product in question or the application. You've been making more blanket statements then anyone else in here.

If you want to go above and beyond throwing out technical data, your life story, education, wavelengths, lumens, lux, lenses and every other aspect that 95%+ of people don't care about, that's your prerogative but we'd appreciate you leave us out of it.

You didn't use this particular product on this particular application and have no results about it to offer. Your opinion therefore is moot as I said before.

We haven't passed out anything incorrect or misleading. Maybe your interpretation of what we said is the issue here and not actually us.

We'd prefer you leave products we offer that you haven't used out of the equation though.

[dakine_surf]

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

The problem is your approach and your intentions.

If my approach was off, I apologize. I guess all I can say is that I am an engineer so I probably have the the social skills of a shitty cat.

As for my intentions, only I can know those, so if you can take my word for it, I really was just trying to answer a question with some informed info. I didn't say those bulbs suck or you shouldn't buy from Top Gear... I originally didn't even go on a long rant about it, only offering some simple advice.

The OP asked a question saying he felt like he was going around in circles and his head hurt, you pointed them to a product... then more specific technical questions were asked like manufacturer, output, fitment, even pictures of install were requested. It was then that I tried to point to the OP and the other poster who was curious, that it isn't as easy as just swapping bulbs to improve your output. The OP even eluded to that in his post. That was when you said:

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

I disagree with the previous post mentioning these are downgrade. They are significant improvement over stock & HID for looks, output. They are also less expensive then HID upgrades. The cut off is just like factory since it uses the factory housing and these LED project the light in a similar manner to halogen. Moreover, no reason anyone should consider a halogen upgrade this day and age. They run hotter, don't last nearly as long, lose a majority of the output after a few short years, don't have nearly as much output and look outdated.

The parts in bold is what I had a problem with, you are a vendor, and what you said there IS bullshit. Yes they might look updated, cooler, more expensive... but they are not an improvement, especially over HID. Now if they had a gimbal and decent projector I'm sure they would have decent output, but even then we are talking about physics in the end, which can't be changed without physical modification and a projector specifically made to output those wavelengths. Even in a projector housing meant for a halogen bulb there is light loss when a LED is used, its why LED projectors utilize a different design than a HID projector, typically utilizing multiple projectors in each housing to output correctly with full width and cutoff.

Now as far as me tarnishing your reputation... doubtful dude, read the words I said... I didn't say you rip off the designs, or that by selling HPB you are ripping anything off, its just a fact of business. Chinese companies do this constantly... their engineers don't care about copyrights or patents. I know nothing of HPB other than what I can see on their website and my experiences with their products.

Actually HPB makes some more than decent products... their angel eye kit is one of the best on the market and typically less expensive than their competition. I was just trying to point out that upgrading you light output is not as easy as slapping some LED's into you stock housings, and just because you perceive the light as brighter doesn't mean its actually is. On things like angel eyes and side markers its not a big deal but in ACTUAL REAL WORLD driving, your headlights are very important and were actually designed to output based on what the manufacturer and the OEM specified when they ran through their project milestones. That's all, sorry if I offended.

[benh0218]

dakine_surf - you have my 100% attention. I want to replace my Halogens in my E91 and want to know which ones are going to offer the best performance and longevity? Obviously a whiter light looks nicer, but isn't essential for me.

[oldballls]

Same - I just want to replace my running light that burnt out with the best light I can get that doesn't require any cutting / ripping / chopping --- can anyone direct me to the best plug and play bulbs? for like under $100 ideally... or under $50 even better...

[dakine_surf]

Sorry Guys, just noticed these...

Originally Posted by benh0218

dakine_surf - you have my 100% attention. I want to replace my Halogens in my E91 and want to know which ones are going to offer the best performance and longevity? Obviously a whiter light looks nicer, but isn't essential for me.

So an LED as we all pointed out here is going to have the look a lot of people are seeking but typically you are going to see a performance decrease.

The best bet is honestly a good quality bulb from a one of the top manufacturers. PIAA makes great bulbs, as do Phillips and Osram... a few others out there as well. Just remember that most of these Performance bulbs have a lower life expectancy its just the price you pay for performance... It why car manufacturers started messing with HID nearly 30 years ago.

Originally Posted by oldballls

Same - I just want to replace my running light that burnt out with the best light I can get that doesn't require any cutting / ripping / chopping --- can anyone direct me to the best plug and play bulbs? for like under $100 ideally... or under $50 even better...

Running light as in Daytime running light? As in the Flash to pass/high beam headlight? Lookin into PIAA or Phillips. Both make a very nice ungraded halogen that will be brighter, a little more white, and have better throw.

Chasing real lighting performance is expensive... but considering it is very crucial to safety, it can easily be justified. If I had halogens and was on a budget, I'd look into a set of mini Morimoto projectors to retrofit. You won't have adaptive functions or auto leveling, but you will get a huge bump in performance for well under $500 (if you can DIY)

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by oldballls

Same - I just want to replace my running light that burnt out with the best light I can get that doesn't require any cutting / ripping / chopping --- can anyone direct me to the best plug and play bulbs? for like under $100 ideally... or under $50 even better...

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1196261

[Camman]

Here is a good cheap alternative for an LED light. These come very close to mimicking the same position of the filament of a halogen bulb so you will get mostly the same beam pattern, clean cutoff, and more brightness. Don't have my E90 anymore but I installed them on my fiance's Sentra and they made a big improvement. I found these after I spent $100 more on the SuperNova V4's from Headlight Revolution which are both the same bulb.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C1LTQ92...v_ov_lig_dp_it

These are cheap enough to try and if you don't like them, then your not out a bunch of money.

[rponti]

Do these work without drilling the rear dust cover?

Originally Posted by Camman

Here is a good cheap alternative for an LED light. These come very close to mimicking the same position of the filament of a halogen bulb so you will get mostly the same beam pattern, clean cutoff, and more brightness. Don't have my E90 anymore but I installed them on my fiance's Sentra and they made a big improvement. I found these after I spent $100 more on the SuperNova V4's from Headlight Revolution which are both the same bulb.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C1LTQ92...v_ov_lig_dp_it

These are cheap enough to try and if you don't like them, then your not out a bunch of money.