e34 525i US headlight upgrade?

I am not happy with the lighting performance of my 95 525i e34 US.

What are the most logical upgrades to the lighting system and where can these be found? I would like to simply upgrade the bulbs if possible. Are there concerns for be pulled over for just moderate upgrades in wattage? There are definitly some very bright low beams on the road today.

Thanks for your help.

Reply to
David N Emmet
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easy upgrade to replace bulb:

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harder, more expensive, although you get HID Xenon lighting:

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Reply to
bfd

I would not recommend: ======================

Altering high-beam bulbs to fit in the low-beam housing. The high-beam bulb does not have the anti-glare coating on the end so anyone coming at you WILL be blinded.

HID conversions - the E34 housing really won't work well with one and it WILL blind people coming at you.

Putting a higher wattage bulb in an E34. The harness and socket are "just enough" for the standard wattage bulbs. Putting higher current draw though these components has a high probability of causing them to fail. That's a bad thing.

What I would recommend: =======================

If your E34 has H1, H7 or H4 bulbs - visit

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- order a set of Osram Silverstar bulbs. These are NOT the same as the Sylvania bulb of the same name sold in the US. The Sylvania bulb is inferior to a standard Sylvania bulb in terms of light output. The euro Osram does put out ~50% MORE light than a standard bulb - but draws the same wattage. I've ordered from them several times and delivery is typically a matter of days - and free. If your E34 uses 9006 and 9005 bulbs - Philips has a 30%+ bulb, or you can go to
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and get HIR bulbs - which can give you up to double the amount of light of your current bulbs.

Also make sure your headlight lenses aren't badly pitted. The pitting will cost you light, and cause glare for oncoming traffic. If they are pitted consider putting "StoneGuard" on them - it has the nice property of index-matching the index of refraction of glass quite well - effectively making the pits pretty much disappear, and preventing new ones from forming.

HTH.

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