Hi all. Yep a newbie here. Had my 3 (a 2008) for almost a year now. I was curious if I can put in HID headlights in for my low beams. It has projectors but is using standard halogen now. Will I encounter any thermal or other issues?

Thanks!

 

I think its the same or similar projector setup except the OEM HID has a switch inside that you control to raise or lower you low beam HID light. Aftermarket have just the manial 1 setting under the hood.

 

Thanks! I guess I will give it a shot.

 

Yup you can add HIDs. No worries with the temp, it won't cause an issue. Actually if you go with 35w ones then they should put out less heat than the stock 55w halogens.

Re: the projector. While all models of 3 have the projector low beams the HID projectors are different.

 

Hmm... Does that mean that the beam shape will be out of whack?

 

No. The OEM HID projectors are designed to fit a D2S lamp whereas the halogen projectors are designed for a H7 lamp. The focal point of the light is different between them. That said the beam won't look quite as good as it would in the HID projectors.

If you want to clean up the beam and eliminate some glare you can do several little mods.
1) swap out the OEM frosted lens with a clear lens (available at www.theretrofitsource.com)
2) cut off the little projection on the front of the cutoff shield
3) paint the front of the cutoff shield black

 

LOL! I never noticed there a being a frosted lens in there. I guess I don't star into my headlamps enough...

EDIT:
FWIW I just looked into my projectors (lights off, of course). I'm not sure there is anything frosted in there. I can see the filament of the halogens fairly well while shining a flashlight into it. That is unless frosted means a very slight apparent texture of the glass on the inside of the lens. Anyhow, thanks for the info!

EDIT #2:
It would appear that the lens IS somewhat frosted. I found a comparative pic elsewhere.
http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/show...a-3-with-Evo-s

 

Yup, the lens is frosted. It doesn't look like much just looking at the lens, but the before and after is breathtaking.

Here are a few pics.

OEM HIDs


OEM HIDs with TRS clear lens + washer spacers


I can't find any great examples of the halogen housing w/ HID before and after, but it's pretty marvellous as well. Incidentally here's a shot of the little tab you'd want to cut off of the shield on the halogen.

 

Wow that does look like a big difference!