For those of you who don't know, Strasburg is out in the country, and we took the country back roads to get there. Dark! Really dark. I guess we're spoiled, since both Mary Ellen's BMW 328 and my new VW GTI have xenon headlights, but it felt like we were making our way (in John Biemiller's evocative phrase) by shining a flashlight out the window. I resolved then and there to try to upgrade the lights.
Bavarian Autosport had some Hella halogens on sale, and I decided to give them a try. They are advertised to be "xenon blue" and have a very slightly higher wattage than the standard halogen bulbs. Even on sale, they were about $36 a pair, plus shipping. I bought both low and high beams, and with shipping it was around $82. However, since I currently have a credit balance at BavAuto.com, it felt like they were free!
Installing these bulbs should be dirt simple - you just give the old bulb a quarter-turn, and do the same to install the new one. You do need to be careful not to touch the glass of the bulb, since oils on your hands can cause a hot spot that makes the bulb burn out faster. I took care of that by wearing nylon gloves, and I was still careful to not touch the glass.
Since the Z3 has such a tight engine compartment, you do need to move a couple of things. On the driver's side, the airbox (the bit that holds the filter, and connects to the air flow sensor) has to come out, and on the passenger side, the windshield washer fluid tank has to be moved, but they are both designed to be moved easily.
But... when I went to swap bulbs, the low beam bulbs wouldn't seat! The high beams went in without a struggle. The Sylvania bulbs I removed would go back in easily. But the Hellas would not, would not, WOULD NOT turn. I tried various things, and finally decided that the "bumps" on the back of the bulb that hold it tight were a little taller, and so I filed them down a bit. And a bit more. That worked, finally.
But then, one of the low beams wouldn't light. Either it was bad out of the box, or my manhandling had killed it. Since this is a family blog, I won't describe my state of mind at that moment! I returned the old Sylvania bulb to that side, and put everything back together.
One unintended consequence of that event was that I could easily compare the light output from the passenger side (Hella) and the driver's side (Sylvania). Yes, the Hella bulbs were both brighter and whiter... a little. Hard to claim it was $80 better, but I was desperate for more light!
A couple of days later I called customer support at Bavarian Autosport. I could have just claimed that it was bad without telling the whole story, but that is not my style. I laid it all out for him. He said they had not had other reports of those bulbs sticking, but it was not a problem - he would send another set of bulbs right away, no charge. And he did! I got an email within the hour saying they had shipped. Now you know why I love to shop at BavAuto...
The replacement bulbs came today (pack of two, so I now have a spare). Same problem with fitment, but I was ready this time. I started filing, but then decided to slow down and really figure out what's going on. I used a digital caliper to measure all the pertinent surfaces. The tabs were 0.010 thicker on the Hellas, so I filed them down. No joy. Then I filed a little more on the "bumps" - no joy yet.
Finally, I put the old and new bulbs where I could compare them better, and finally I saw it - the "bumps" are arranged differently. In the photo below, I drew some lines to make it clear - the Hella is on the left:
So, that's why filing the bumps worked - it took enough off that they could fit into the socket, and allow the bulb to drop into alignment. Done! I thought about trying to raise the aim of the lights a little, but the adjusters were frozen with age, and I didn't want to take the chance of snapping something.
Way back in October 2011, I posted how John Zimmerman polished the headlight lens to reduce their fogged appearance. I think that this winter, while I'm working on some larger projects on the car, I will also remove both of those headlight assemblies. If I can get the adjusters freed up, then John and I can get even more aggressive with those lens, without the fear of damaging adjacent bodywork. Maybe we can get a few more lumens to shine forth!
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