E36 Headlight Bulbs ?

I have an E36 saloon and the owners book says H7 bulbs for both headlights and main beam. The Haynes manual also says H7 but the car is fitted with H1s. What bulbs does your E36 have and what's wrong with the books ?

Reply to
RustY©
Loading thread data ...

H1 is the standard fitting to all E36s as far as I know. Use Osram Silverstars or Philips Vision Plus. Don't go for 100W lamps or any of this "Sooper Dooper Blue Xtra Lumen" shit though.

JB

Reply to
JB

I had 100W high beams in my E36 and they were great.

Reply to
adder1969

It depends on what market you are in. H1's in Yurop. 9005/9006's in You-ess.

Reply to
Fred W

I think it depends on which side of the Atlantic you are on.

I notice this with several US/UK vehicles. ROVER for one, Chrysler is another. Over here (UK) headlamps are H1 & H7. ROVER in US had H1s we had H7.

A Sebring I had used H1s and the UK import had H7....

Check it out as the bulbs are different so if H1 fit use them.

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen snipped-for-privacy@h-gee.co.uk Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK

Reply to
hsg

I had 100W high beams in my E36 and they were great.

The LKM (lichtkontrolmodul) doesn't put up with 2x therated current for long. Also the 55W retrofit Silverstars/Vision Plus lamps give more light on the road than the 100W lamps anyway.

JB

Reply to
JB

I have the osrams on low beam and 100W on high, it's like daylight ;-)

Reply to
John Burns

My Bentley manual, and my practical experience, is that the car takes H9006 Low Beams and H9007 High Beams.

My experience comes from replacing the bulbs. Having said that, the style of bulb defines the requirement. I see no problem with taking a high and low beam bulb to the store and buying another of whatever you have. I'm pretty sure the wrong bulb will not fit, so if what you have fits, buy some more. I like the SilverStar bulbs from Sylvania the best. They are pricey, but the light quality is definitely very good.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

I notice a few others suggesting that the Atlantic Ocean plays a role in your lamp selection. My information assumed you were over here in the Colonies. Sorry if I assumed wrongly.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Must comment on this.

Apart from being illegal (who really cares?) many of these 100W bulbs do not have UV filtering and I know the E38 series and those that have similar headlight units as the diffuser lenses are plastic and can go yellow and crack under high intensity UV as generated by the 100W halogen/xennon bulbs.

Perhaps a better compromise would be the 80W bulbs.

The outer (dip) units have a glass lens so no problem except for the extra heat generated (50W - 100W).

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen snipped-for-privacy@h-gee.co.uk Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK

Reply to
hsg

Hi Jeff

Florida - 5 years in the 1980s and again for a whole summer & fall 2000.

Hugh

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen snipped-for-privacy@h-gee.co.uk Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK

Reply to
hsg

I was unaware that halogen bulbs could produce UV spectrum light. Do you have some evidence that this is so?

Reply to
Fred W

Not personally but anything that produces high intensity light also emits UV. not usually anything to harm you and me unless you really feel like staring at it however Plastic or rather "Plexiglas" or Acrylic to give its real name is prone to UV radiation and will turn yellow - why do you think the celluloid and later Acrylic rear windows in convertibles were replaced by glass - they turned YELLOW and plastic can even turn a milky white.

Honestly. If you look at the spec of legit bulbs you will find the quartz envelope has UV filtering - minute all the same but it is there.

The Chinese & Taiwanese 100W bulbs do not have UV filtering. Might not cause any harm but ....... be prepared to swap the lens unless you don't do much night driving and then why get 100W bulbs - don't make the car go faster!

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen snipped-for-privacy@h-gee.co.uk Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK

Reply to
hsg

That is excactly what they do do, but only at night.

Reply to
RustY©

So you can see the tree, lamp-post etc clearly before you smash into them!

Yes I know exactly what you are saying and I am all for brighter lights but at the same time it has been shown here (UK) by several magazine tests using the Road Research Lab test rigs and photograph evidence that many - if not all the illegal (60W +) bulbs and many of the legit "blue" fake xennon do not actually meet acceptable standards.

They may be brighter but the amount of light on the road - or where it is needed is often far less then stock bulbs. Blue xennon style are the worst performing in many cases but still look cool...... The 100W tend to scatter light all over the place and this is often due to lack of manufacturing skills and/or tolerances are not up to correct spec.

If you blind the driver coming towards you there is much greater risk of a crash than if he could actually see where he intended to go.

One thing you have in the US is massive overhead signs and I read once where somebody was fitting aircraft landing lights (5.5") @ 150+W to one of the main beam units on the then current 4 lamp round systems aimed specifically at the overhead gantries carrying the traffic signs.

Off road it's a totally different ball game of course ----------------!

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen snipped-for-privacy@h-gee.co.uk Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK

Reply to
hsg

While I'm with you that perhaps the cheap blue tint type bulbs are more about image than performance I can tell you categorically that

100W high beams in an E36 do infact light up the road as one would expect - the same as the 55W ones but brighter. There's no odd scattering or anything it's like replacing a 60W household bulb with a 100W one.

There is an argument however that the difference between the 100W high beams and the regular dipped beams is too much and can lead to "blindness" when you switch to dipped. ...and yes you do have to be careful that you're not blinding anyone coming the other way.

I never had any problem with overheating or discoloration. If there was UV concern I think we'd all be placing covers over the lights in the summertime.

Reply to
adder1969

Next time you are out and about have a good look at the headlamps of a few "plastic" cars (sic) of about 5+ years and notice if any have discolored lenses and or fittings with the lamps.

Several of our UK vehicles (not necessarily made here) have got to the state of yellowed plastic lenses and reflectors. Lens & Shells splitting or separating, water ingress due to lens cracking (BMW E38 are prone to this on the outer shell of the rear lamps especially the reversing lamp bit) the E38 is often turned into a rear lamp assy fish tank. Had to replace both of mine and a couple of friends had to do the same - discolored and cracked due to UV degrading the plastic. Look at the inner shell of the E38 style lamps - unless yours are the "chrome line" type you will find the once glossy black plastic has turned to a dusty looking matt surface due to UV - Ok so it takes 10 years in the UK climate but maybe AZ, Fl or CA in the USA or Australia, Africa, India type climate would speed it up a bit.

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen snipped-for-privacy@h-gee.co.uk Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK

Reply to
hsg

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.