1chiban
05-23-2008, 09:38 AM
This will be a long paragraph so please bear with me, sorry it took me so long to get to it Steffan it was just a bad experience I wish never happened... haha.
I, like so many 8 owners out there, was simply fed up with such terrible light being produced by my low beams. I remember reading that "HIDs or not" thread that I believe was started by Prit. Faisal was kind enough to share his experience as well as posting his installation instructions with great detail on how to install your very own HID Conversion Kit. It was in this same thread I found the "how to AIM Your headlights" as Faisal had also mentioned that the lighting appears to be worse than it is in many cases due to the fact the factory aims the headlights at 25 feet, when the 8 specifically needs 33. Well, first thing on my mind was to attempt this aiming process as it seemed kind of pointless to get HIDs if your lights are pointed at the ground 10 feet in front of you. It was in this aiming process that I learned through talking with Faisal that I had 2 broken vertical adjusters and 1 broken horizontal adjuster. Keep in mind as I type this I'm typing it chronologically. My next plan of action was to find out what can be done given my current situation. This is where Faisal also provided the information necessary to make your Dealer warrant a headlight adjuster recall. When I first went into my dealer I was told that there was no such recall that they could find and that if I wanted to "fix the problem" it was going to cost me $400+ per headlight. That's garbage, I'm thinking to myself. My next plan of action was to call BMWNA (North America), following the instructions given here: http://www.e31faq.com/Default.aspx?catId=93. Right away I was told that my Dealer needs to warrant said recall for 15 years after the original retail date, and the woman was kind enough to give me her personal extension incase the dealer still would not warrant the recall. I call the service manager I know at the dealer to see if he had time to meet with me, he looked over the paperwork and said looks great let's get you an appointment! I'm super excited, this has been a long process thus far and pretty frustrating at some parts. Four days later it's appointment time and I'm told I'll have the car by the end of the day. End of the day rolls around, "Thomas we're gonna need to hold your car over night we ran into a problem and I've got my best guys looking at it." So, all right that's okay I'll wait for tomorrow for the great news that it's all fixed and ready. Ring, ring. "Thomas this is the mechanic looking at your 840Ci, you're going to need a new headlight assembly that runs 1400$ do you want me to go ahead and order it?" Excuse me? WTF? YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD SHELL OUT 1400$ FOR A PROBLEM YOU WOULDN'T EVEN EXPLAIN TO ME. I read through my invoice looking to find the golden answer of what platinum part was broken where I need to spend 1400$ for a new assembly, and sure enough... there it was... "broken pivot point..." I need to spent 1400$ because there's no way to fix said pivot point and I MUST spend 1400$. That was it, I picked up my car, went home and did what anyone in my position would do. I e-mailed Wuffer and very soon after Steffan. Wuffer had been helping me with various issues and problems being kind enough to offer any information or help he had on his own time. He tells me he's going to give me a call, on his own nickel to help me through this process, and in that time I get the life saving response from Steffan, saying he has the parts to fix it, there's 3 per headlight at a cost of $15.28. With a deal like that I couldn't help but order all 6 for some preventitive maintenance. Sure enough I get a call from Wuffer (Keep in mind he's in Canada and I'm in California, he's a truly great guy) and I inform him of the transaction between Steffan and I and he says yup that'll do it! So, naturally I'm pretty excited, and I call up my service manager to tell him the great news and schedule another appointment. IT IS AT THIS TIME MY PATIENCE COULD NOT BE WORN ANY THINNER. I arrive at my 8:00 am appointment to be met by the man himself, the mechanic who knows 8s and worked on my 8 as a favor. He tells me that there is no "fix" for what's wrong with my headlight and that "I don't know who told you about this 'pivot point' but there is nothing to be done but getting a new assembly" when I read it from the invoice, I don't know what you think those are going to do (pointing at my brand new aluminum thimbles). He couldn't even give me a description of what's wrong, but plain and simple he said I'm not getting out of the 1400, and standing there talking to him I asked well what about a bucket replacement? He, annoyingly says, look this car was originally $80 nothing on it is going to be cheap, if you don't want to pay for it then don't. I decide I know better than said mechanic of 25 years so I take a look at the assembly. Guess what's wrong? The bucket is broken and 2 of the horizontal adjusters are missing. Are you kidding me? I even spoke to the parts guy and he says yeah we have the kits but there's nothing you can do about the broken part of the bucket because taking it out may caus the whole thing to fall apart. This is where I freak out and send Steffan another email, he responds saying look order the buckets they come with the adjuster kits and you're going to be fine! I call my service manager and say look, I have the solution to the problem does Tom (mechanic) want to give it a go. Tom says you're not listening to me replacing the bucket would fix it, but you might break the plastic pivots that are good! I SAID, HELLO WHAT DO YOU THINK THOSE ALUMINUM THIMBLES WERE FOR. After I vent at him and he apologizes and we square away the deal. I pay them for the labor of putting in the new buckets and show them how to put in the thimbles and bam! FIXED HEADLIGHT, I may now RIP.
So, hopefully this story goes to show you that if you have the right kind of friends and people willing to help you, and you too are willing to put in the effort of asking the right questions and doing the research it will pay off. If any of you have any questions regarding your headlights, headlight problems or solutions feel free to send me a PM.
I wish you all better luck than me, and I hope that with this story there will be some questions answered as well as some foresight on issues you may one day have to face.
Special thanks to Faisal, Steffan and Wuffer. Were it not for them none of this would have been possible, they are truly invaluable when it comes to the wealth of knowledge and passion they carry.
Cheers,
Thomas (whew)
I, like so many 8 owners out there, was simply fed up with such terrible light being produced by my low beams. I remember reading that "HIDs or not" thread that I believe was started by Prit. Faisal was kind enough to share his experience as well as posting his installation instructions with great detail on how to install your very own HID Conversion Kit. It was in this same thread I found the "how to AIM Your headlights" as Faisal had also mentioned that the lighting appears to be worse than it is in many cases due to the fact the factory aims the headlights at 25 feet, when the 8 specifically needs 33. Well, first thing on my mind was to attempt this aiming process as it seemed kind of pointless to get HIDs if your lights are pointed at the ground 10 feet in front of you. It was in this aiming process that I learned through talking with Faisal that I had 2 broken vertical adjusters and 1 broken horizontal adjuster. Keep in mind as I type this I'm typing it chronologically. My next plan of action was to find out what can be done given my current situation. This is where Faisal also provided the information necessary to make your Dealer warrant a headlight adjuster recall. When I first went into my dealer I was told that there was no such recall that they could find and that if I wanted to "fix the problem" it was going to cost me $400+ per headlight. That's garbage, I'm thinking to myself. My next plan of action was to call BMWNA (North America), following the instructions given here: http://www.e31faq.com/Default.aspx?catId=93. Right away I was told that my Dealer needs to warrant said recall for 15 years after the original retail date, and the woman was kind enough to give me her personal extension incase the dealer still would not warrant the recall. I call the service manager I know at the dealer to see if he had time to meet with me, he looked over the paperwork and said looks great let's get you an appointment! I'm super excited, this has been a long process thus far and pretty frustrating at some parts. Four days later it's appointment time and I'm told I'll have the car by the end of the day. End of the day rolls around, "Thomas we're gonna need to hold your car over night we ran into a problem and I've got my best guys looking at it." So, all right that's okay I'll wait for tomorrow for the great news that it's all fixed and ready. Ring, ring. "Thomas this is the mechanic looking at your 840Ci, you're going to need a new headlight assembly that runs 1400$ do you want me to go ahead and order it?" Excuse me? WTF? YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD SHELL OUT 1400$ FOR A PROBLEM YOU WOULDN'T EVEN EXPLAIN TO ME. I read through my invoice looking to find the golden answer of what platinum part was broken where I need to spend 1400$ for a new assembly, and sure enough... there it was... "broken pivot point..." I need to spent 1400$ because there's no way to fix said pivot point and I MUST spend 1400$. That was it, I picked up my car, went home and did what anyone in my position would do. I e-mailed Wuffer and very soon after Steffan. Wuffer had been helping me with various issues and problems being kind enough to offer any information or help he had on his own time. He tells me he's going to give me a call, on his own nickel to help me through this process, and in that time I get the life saving response from Steffan, saying he has the parts to fix it, there's 3 per headlight at a cost of $15.28. With a deal like that I couldn't help but order all 6 for some preventitive maintenance. Sure enough I get a call from Wuffer (Keep in mind he's in Canada and I'm in California, he's a truly great guy) and I inform him of the transaction between Steffan and I and he says yup that'll do it! So, naturally I'm pretty excited, and I call up my service manager to tell him the great news and schedule another appointment. IT IS AT THIS TIME MY PATIENCE COULD NOT BE WORN ANY THINNER. I arrive at my 8:00 am appointment to be met by the man himself, the mechanic who knows 8s and worked on my 8 as a favor. He tells me that there is no "fix" for what's wrong with my headlight and that "I don't know who told you about this 'pivot point' but there is nothing to be done but getting a new assembly" when I read it from the invoice, I don't know what you think those are going to do (pointing at my brand new aluminum thimbles). He couldn't even give me a description of what's wrong, but plain and simple he said I'm not getting out of the 1400, and standing there talking to him I asked well what about a bucket replacement? He, annoyingly says, look this car was originally $80 nothing on it is going to be cheap, if you don't want to pay for it then don't. I decide I know better than said mechanic of 25 years so I take a look at the assembly. Guess what's wrong? The bucket is broken and 2 of the horizontal adjusters are missing. Are you kidding me? I even spoke to the parts guy and he says yeah we have the kits but there's nothing you can do about the broken part of the bucket because taking it out may caus the whole thing to fall apart. This is where I freak out and send Steffan another email, he responds saying look order the buckets they come with the adjuster kits and you're going to be fine! I call my service manager and say look, I have the solution to the problem does Tom (mechanic) want to give it a go. Tom says you're not listening to me replacing the bucket would fix it, but you might break the plastic pivots that are good! I SAID, HELLO WHAT DO YOU THINK THOSE ALUMINUM THIMBLES WERE FOR. After I vent at him and he apologizes and we square away the deal. I pay them for the labor of putting in the new buckets and show them how to put in the thimbles and bam! FIXED HEADLIGHT, I may now RIP.
So, hopefully this story goes to show you that if you have the right kind of friends and people willing to help you, and you too are willing to put in the effort of asking the right questions and doing the research it will pay off. If any of you have any questions regarding your headlights, headlight problems or solutions feel free to send me a PM.
I wish you all better luck than me, and I hope that with this story there will be some questions answered as well as some foresight on issues you may one day have to face.
Special thanks to Faisal, Steffan and Wuffer. Were it not for them none of this would have been possible, they are truly invaluable when it comes to the wealth of knowledge and passion they carry.
Cheers,
Thomas (whew)