[javia1492]

So I've spent the last few days trying to figure out which type of lighting i want to swap my halogens too. I have an 09 328i xDrive and I plan to swap both my high and low beams. I have projectors for the high beams and reflectors for the low beams. I really wanted to swap to LEDs but i've read that this isnt a great solution mainly because of how the light is distributed from the reflectors (doesnt seem to be an issue using projectors?).

Now I do have projectors so I was thinking I might be able to at least swap the high beams to LEDs and make the low beams xenons (not sure if that will mess with the cpu or not).


So my questions are:

1) Is it possible to do LEDs with projectors for high beams?
2) Is it worth swapping to LEDs?
3) Will LEDs be PNP or will coding be required?
4) Is it better to just go with Xenon HIDs? And will they work with reflector low beams?

I was looking for some vendors and i came across this site (https://www.xenonhids.com/bmw/2009/328i-xdrive.html).

I noticed they do sell H8 LED headlight kits for ~$100 as well as H8 Xenon HID conversion kit. Was wondering if anyone has purchased from them to know if they're good or not.

Im not a fan of having to mount the ballast in car which makes going to LEDs more attractive but its more of a minor nuisance. Not enough to stop me.

I've just come across so many conflicting points of view that I got confused in it all as far as what's possible, what's better, what's easier, etc..

[vb7200]

Do you have aftermarket HIDs or the OEM ones? I have factory Xenons and the low beam and high beam are actually both the Xenon projectors. The second high beam light (the inner smaller one) is only used as daytime running lights or if you flash the high beams. Other wise, the Xenons just get brighter. I can’t see putting LEDs in there really making that much of a difference.

After market would be a different story. Switching to LEDs can be a pain, as the car will always think the light is out. I switched my rear turn signals to LEDs and had intermittent hyper blink, and check control messages saying the build were out. The lights still worked, just the car thought they were out. If you buy specific CANBUS LEDs, this solves the problem. But then again, if you have aftermarkets, idk how the car would handle that, I can’t n imagine I’d be any different.

[javia1492]

Originally Posted by vb7200

Do you have aftermarket HIDs or the OEM ones? I have factory Xenons and the low beam and high beam are actually both the Xenon projectors. The second high beam light (the inner smaller one) is only used as daytime running lights or if you flash the high beams. Other wise, the Xenons just get brighter. I can’t see putting LEDs in there really making that much of a difference.

After market would be a different story. Switching to LEDs can be a pain, as the car will always think the light is out. I switched my rear turn signals to LEDs and had intermittent hyper blink, and check control messages saying the build were out. The lights still worked, just the car thought they were out. If you buy specific CANBUS LEDs, this solves the problem. But then again, if you have aftermarkets, idk how the car would handle that, I can’t n imagine I’d be any different.

I bought this off of ebay and it came with halogens for the low and high beams. The headlight is a projector and the drl/highbeam is a reflector, but both are still halogens. I wanted to swap them both to either xenon hids or leds, however i read that the led pattern is terrible when used with reflectors. Likewise, xenon hids are extremely bright when used with reflectors. So i'm not sure if I can only swap the projector headlight to xenon hids or if i'd be on swapping both.

[vb7200]

Ohh I see. I've been looking around and it seems like a lot of sites offer Xenon HID Conversion kits, as well as LED ones, too. I haven't seen any to convert the high beams, though. You're going to need a ballast if you want to go to xenons, there just isn't a way around that.

I would defiantly go with xenons instead of LEDs, xenons are much brighter. LEDs also can act very funny with projector lenses. This video tests halogens, xenon, and LED's in projector housings.

[javia1492]

So I'd only be swapping the projector headlight to xenon hid. I basically cant touch the DRLs because they're reflector so xenon hids would be too bright. Is this correct?

[e90yyc]

Originally Posted by javia1492

So I'd only be swapping the projector headlight to xenon hid. I basically cant touch the DRLs because they're reflector so xenon hids would be too bright. Is this correct?

Yes.

Thank you for being a part of the minority who understand that drop-in HID conversions almost always end up blasting light indiscriminately in the faces of others drivers. If you don't like the DRL's you can code them out, but personally I see no reason to.

My only suggestion is not to "retrofit" the actual light output assembly. For example, while you're retrofitting xenon lights to a halogen-equipped car, make sure you do it with projectors that were manufactured for a D-series xenon bulb (D1S, D2S, etc). This will ensure the correct light pattern and cutoff, and will look 10x better.

As a general rule, LED's are still somewhat inferior to xenon when it comes to raw light output, especially if you're retrofitting. So indeed, you're better off with xenon's and will have more options.

What I would do is see what size the projectors in those assemblies are, and swap in a pair of good quality bi-xenon projectors. You'll have to open the headlight housing to do this, but it's the only proper way you can get xenon lights working in those housings.

Bi-xenon projectors use one light source for both low and high beams, and simply use a solenoid to actuate a shutter that changes the light cutoff in order to achieve the high beam. This would be the ideal setup in my opinion, and closest to OEM. Probably better actually as the OE HID projectors in our cars are horseshit.

If you just put re-based xenon bulbs in your current eBay headlights, you'll end up with a terrible light pattern that blinds other drivers.

Do it right and swap in new projectors. It'll be a bit more work, but more rewarding.

EDIT:

After re-reading your original post, I see that you are/were considering using re-based H8 xenon bulbs. Don't do this. Please.

The idea that retrofitting a reflector assembly will result in scattered light but that retrofitting a projector will not is incorrect. There are reflector assemblies specifically designed for xenon lights, as well as LED lights (current F30): it all comes down to where the actual light source resides in the assembly.

Check out The Retrofit Source. Specifically their Projector Kits section. Once you know the size of the projectors in your current headlights, you can order and install a suitable bi-xenon replacement.

Regardless of how you proceed, you will have to do some coding if you want to avoid the pesky BOW's. I know it's possible to code the car to tell it xenons are installed, but I'm *guessing* that is only useful when swapping in OEM xenon headlights. So worst case you just disable hot and cold bulb monitoring for the affected lights and you're good to go.

[javia1492]

Thanks for the reply. That was super useful information. I think after reading that i'm probably gonna stick it out with the halogens. With the new lens and bulbs, the light output is decent. Not as much as xenon hids or leds, but more than enough road visibility. As far as the projector light pattern itself, i'm not too familiar with what a proper projector pattern should look like, nevertheless, i've adjusted them either way to make sure not to blind other people.

If it was as simple as swapping out a bulb for a new bulb and coding it i would, but to remove the lens cover to access the projector assembly, swap that out, etc... It's more work than I think its worth at this point. Especially because the lens cover is sealed and i've no experience doing it myself, meanwhile the units themselves are brand new.

I've ordered the Carly ODB coder so i'll maybe modify the brightness of the halos/headlights to be brighter but I guess that's about it.

Thanks!