gmhl10
09-22-2005, 05:46 AM
Well... technically, it's not really a full retrofit since I don't have the auto-leveling bi-xenon shutters working yet.
Anyway, this was a pain in the butt install for me.
I don't have much car/electronics expertise so it took me roughly 4 hours to do it all.
Did it around 9pm to 1am (had to do it after work :stickoutt )
BTW... some info on the stuff I used.
This is all OEM BMW hardware that I picked up personally from the dealership brand new.
I have a '05 E46 M3 and what was purchased was a BOSCH bi-xenon kit for the '04 M3.
I heard that in '05, BMW changed headlight manufacturers, but not sure to which company.
Well... here's some obstacles that I ran into:
- I have CF headlight surrounds and halos so I had to swap those over to the new headlights (simple, but annoying).
- There was one bolt (one for each side) that was very difficult for me to reach and impossible for me to screw back in. It's the one near the kidney grills in back of the lights.
- I installed it and everything seemed to work fine. I took a test drive with my xenon headlights on and I drove for about 30 minutes and everything seemed to work fine. However, tonight when I turned them on, the fault light came on and the xenons started flickering. Luckily, M3s have large foglights so I just drove with my fogs on. I guess I thought I didn't need the reprogramming from the dealership, but I guess I do.
- I dropped a tool in the engine bay. Damn... Went to a friend's place and used his magnetic tool to retrieve it
- The side with the airbox... The ballast kept hitting the airbox so I didn't have enough room to fit the headlight with the ballast. I had to remove the ballast and relocate it.
Anyway... BME should be able to do the reprogramming for me, right?
Anyway, this was a pain in the butt install for me.
I don't have much car/electronics expertise so it took me roughly 4 hours to do it all.
Did it around 9pm to 1am (had to do it after work :stickoutt )
BTW... some info on the stuff I used.
This is all OEM BMW hardware that I picked up personally from the dealership brand new.
I have a '05 E46 M3 and what was purchased was a BOSCH bi-xenon kit for the '04 M3.
I heard that in '05, BMW changed headlight manufacturers, but not sure to which company.
Well... here's some obstacles that I ran into:
- I have CF headlight surrounds and halos so I had to swap those over to the new headlights (simple, but annoying).
- There was one bolt (one for each side) that was very difficult for me to reach and impossible for me to screw back in. It's the one near the kidney grills in back of the lights.
- I installed it and everything seemed to work fine. I took a test drive with my xenon headlights on and I drove for about 30 minutes and everything seemed to work fine. However, tonight when I turned them on, the fault light came on and the xenons started flickering. Luckily, M3s have large foglights so I just drove with my fogs on. I guess I thought I didn't need the reprogramming from the dealership, but I guess I do.
- I dropped a tool in the engine bay. Damn... Went to a friend's place and used his magnetic tool to retrieve it
- The side with the airbox... The ballast kept hitting the airbox so I didn't have enough room to fit the headlight with the ballast. I had to remove the ballast and relocate it.
Anyway... BME should be able to do the reprogramming for me, right?