I've been trying to decide which Ellipsoids to get since im in an uncommon situation with my E36.

I had ZKW with Xtec's but i've since installed the Euro Headlight Aim adjustment kit. This kit moves the inner assembly of the headlight up and down. Doing so caused the wiring on the back of the bulb to snag on the opening on the dust shield. Upon some investigating, turns out the ZKW dust shield is flat whereas the Bosch is dome-shaped, thus providing the extra clearance for the arch of the bulbs wiring during adjustment. A friend needed headlights in a pinch so I sold him mine and now need to get new ones.

Peronally the ZKW's look more aggressive to me, but most people claim the Bosch are a "better" headlight(how much better depends who you ask). But i've also read somewhere that the ZKW projectors are actually better for HID use though so I don't know what to think anymore. :confused FWIW, ZKW's are a bit cheaper...

Now after doing some research, the E46/TSX/etc projector retrofits have become pretty popular and im impressed with the before/after pics. There seems to be a noticeable difference in light output over the entire beam pattern. What I DONT like is it seems you have to modify the outer lens and either drill it or remove it in most cases? I don't like the modified look of that. Also would be kind of bummed to lose the ECE uptick - I kinda like it for some reason but thats peanuts. It seems as if the headlight aim adjustment kit would still function properly with one of these retrofits though. Can anyone confirm the overall LENGTH of an upgraded projector?(IE would it be shorter and have more clearance inside the housing than an aftermarket kit with H1 bulb in the standard projector?) I do like the fact that a retrofit uses an OE HID kit, they seem to be more carefree. My Xtecs took a long time to get warrantied and I honestly just dont ever want to have to worry about IF the kit fails again.

Was hoping to learn from other peoples mistakes/experience so I only have to do this once. All help is appreciated!

Note: I know some people may say skip the Bosch/ZKW and save some $ if im going to retrofit but I only want OE equipment on the car.

i have done a tsx swap......you dont have to remove the lens if you dont want to....you just have to set the projector further back.....and you will get some distortion in the beam pattern from the lens.....

i put x5 lenses in mine....i like how they turned out

and yes, the spread, and pattern of the tsx projectors are amazing.......

It makes sense that a proper retro would require the inner lenses to be modified. If you look at a modern day HID projector head light, there is nothing between the projector, and the outer lenses. Leaving it in will obviously effect the beam pattern in some way.

Retrofitting is going to require some "hacking" or "fudging" of the existing parts to get it to work. Some of the retro's I have seen look really good after the bezile goes in.

These guys will do the whole thing for you if money is not a factor.

http://lightwerkz.net/index.htm


http://lightwerkz.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4253

Honestly, since you're such an OEM whore from what I've seen, you should get the Bosch headlights straight from europe with the nipples on top of the headlight, and 3 mounting points on the top. THOSE would be so hot. Since you're about OEM also, I'm not sure if I would be happy hacking up headlights and throwing in a projector. I do like the retrofits though, just not sure if that's a good addition to a fully OEM modded car.

Bosch nothing beats oe/m IMO.

Honestly, since you're such an OEM whore from what I've seen, you should get the Bosch headlights straight from europe with the nipples on top of the headlight, and 3 mounting points on the top. THOSE would be so hot. Since you're about OEM also, I'm not sure if I would be happy hacking up headlights and throwing in a projector. I do like the retrofits though, just not sure if that's a good addition to a fully OEM modded car.

+1

Just go with Bosch. Get the new 55W HID kit instead of the 35W, if you want better output.

I like the look of zkw's better than bosch and zkw's did come on some of the cars in europe.

3 headlights are OE for bmw
zkw, bosch, and hella

all of them are the same to me!! and def do a retro fit you will love it:buttrock

IF you're going to do the swap, then just get the depos, you'll be replacing the projectors anyway

Euro96- any more pics of your setup? I'm just learning about the actual Lens swaps now too... so many choices!

TopKatz- Thanks, I never heard of those guys before. They seem to charge alot though and I dont really like the way the ones on their site look.

M3@Apex- Good idea! I'll look into those. Ive heard the old Bosch's(maybe those?) had parabolic lenses or something and were later changed to projector style... ive actually gotten so frustrated I considered not even bothering with HID's and leaving it REALLY oem with halogens lol. BTW your car looks AWESOME dont change a thing:buttrock

Bears- I had the Xtec 50w kit. Everywhere ive asked has said that since the 50w kits put out more juice, they are prone to failure sooner than a 35w.

Great328ic- Read the bottom of my first post. I only want Original Equipment on this car, theres no replica parts of any sort on my M3.

Jon, the Bosch's I had were the parabolic lens ones and I'm not aware of any newer Bosch headlights (bought mine new from umnitza in 04). They kinda sucked with HID. I'd just go with ZKWs. Also consider this, the ZKWs are probably a few lbs lighter than the bulky Boschs.

Euro96- any more pics of your setup? I'm just learning about the actual Lens swaps now too... so many choices!

:)

some of these are with my phone...

...

last one

i wasnt trying to go for the stock zkw/depo/bosch look, as that would have been hard, so i instead just tried to make it look something along the lines on e39...x5....i dont know, fuction over form for me, as i really just wanted to build something myself and have awesome lighting....it truly is amazing lighting

if you need oem look, then dont do a p-swap....i would get zkw's with hid
but if you want to be creative and want really realll good lighting, then go for it
with the tsx projectors, you really can tell they are made for HID bulbs....the width of the beam is so helpful at night, and the spread of light is sooo even, there are no hotspots

Hey Vitolo, if you're planning on a retrofit and do not want to go with Depo, I'd go with a ZKW setup. I personally have Bosch and even though Bosch may be marginally better than ZKW if running on halogen, I don't think the Bosch will be a good candidate for retrofits. I have opened up the Bosch headlights before (actually have one in pieces right now) and it's not retrofit friendly because the mounting plate that you'll attach any HID projector to appears to be plastic. I think on the ZKW it's metal? I have a set of S2000 projectors that I planned to retrofit, and although I haven't spent much time on it so far (a few hours), I still don't know how to mount them inside the Boschs.

Running a HID kit inside the Bosch is also a no-no. The projector has an open reflector behind it and this will cause a lot of glare. It's been a long time since I've looked at lighting mods but from what I remember, the ZKW gives a cleaner beam when retrofitted with a HID kit.

So yeah - Depo if you're going to retrofit, ZKW if you really don't want DEPO, Bosch if you're going OEM... to be honest ZKW would probably be a safe option if you're not sure at this point if you want to retrofit. It looks like a very solid headlight and from looking at numerous pictures on the forums, I don't think you can really tell the differences from the Bosch.

[QUOTE=Yuen;10973330]
Running a HID kit inside the Bosch is also a no-no. The projector has an open reflector behind it and this will cause a lot of glare. It's been a long time since I've looked at lighting mods but from what I remember, the ZKW gives a cleaner beam when retrofitted with a HID kit.[QUOTE]

i believe this is the same for depo and zkw as well

ZKWs for OEM. Depo if youre poor (like me)

OE Hellas FTW. I haven't seen better headlights for our cars, other than the ZKW retrofitted E46 bi xenon or TSX projectors. Still seems like my hellas put out as much if not more light output than TSXs when I drive next to them. :) Depos, hahahaha!

[QUOTE=Yuen;10973330]
Running a HID kit inside the Bosch is also a no-no. The projector has an open reflector behind it and this will cause a lot of glare. It's been a long time since I've looked at lighting mods but from what I remember, the ZKW gives a cleaner beam when retrofitted with a HID kit.[QUOTE]

i believe this is the same for depo and zkw as well
Actually he's right. At least the ZKW's sort of have a piece of metal that prevents too much light from coming around the projector. The Bosch headlights do not.

To fix all the glare in my bosch headlights, this is what I did:
http://www.projecttechnik.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=519

Actually he's right. At least the ZKW's sort of have a piece of metal that prevents too much light from coming around the projector. The Bosch headlights do not.

To fix all the glare in my bosch headlights, this is what I did:
http://www.projecttechnik.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=519


Running a HID kit inside the Bosch is also a no-no. The projector has an open reflector behind it and this will cause a lot of glare. It's been a long time since I've looked at lighting mods but from what I remember, the ZKW gives a cleaner beam when retrofitted with a HID kit.

Nice work! May try it someday. Do you have any wall and road shots? I'd like to see how clean the Bosch beam looks especially with that done.

Btw, your car is very very nicely put together. Extremely clean and the wheels are very well done. Wonder if 17" Type 2 would come out similar - 18" is gorgeous.

[QUOTE=euro96;10978410][QUOTE=Yuen;10973330]
Running a HID kit inside the Bosch is also a no-no. The projector has an open reflector behind it and this will cause a lot of glare. It's been a long time since I've looked at lighting mods but from what I remember, the ZKW gives a cleaner beam when retrofitted with a HID kit.
Actually he's right. At least the ZKW's sort of have a piece of metal that prevents too much light from coming around the projector. The Bosch headlights do not.

To fix all the glare in my bosch headlights, this is what I did:
http://www.projecttechnik.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=519

yeah but both are basically the same when comparing them to a closed type hid projector

Agree - the sealed projector is superior. What I was trying to say was if you want to go with a kit, out of the box the ZKW will look better.