I've Solved The Mystery Behind The Z4 Angel Eyes

[BimmerZealot]

Hey guys, so today I decided to put my car on a jackstand, pull off the driver side front wheel and have a look inside the back of the headlight to once and for all figure out how BMW designed the crappy Z4 angel eyes.

So I got it all open saw the usual stuff but this time I could look at the back of the headlight straight on with the wheel not being there, I turned on my DRL and sure enough I saw which bulb was the culprit. The bulb is inside a X looking plastic casing that is held on by two T-16 Torx screws to the inner "projector" housing (see other thread for dummy inner projectors) I unscrewed it and took it out. All it was, was a simple BA9S Bayonet Clear Bulb, how it doesn't light up the glass but only the ring I have no idea but that's that.

Now I tried to remove the bulb but the base of the housing where you can turn it to remove the bulb is plastic welded on there. Not wishing to break it at the time being I took some pictures, stared in aw and put everything back in.

Now, what was all that work for you might ask, well...now we can "upgrade" those crappy stock halos. How? LED replacement bulbs of course, similar to how they've been upgrading the E39, E90 stock halos to HID match etc except the E39/E90 use a H8 bulb instead of a BA9S. I haven't had time to fully dwell into which would be the best choice but I figured I'd post this and get the wheels turning.

If any of you guys are LED savy now is the time to speak up, what kind of LED arrangement // type of LED(s) // Number of LEDs would work best for this application to give the brightest angel eyes.

Thanks :rocks:

[Artz 330]

Pics please

[Dammmittt]

I'm guessing it looks something like this:



No. Description Supplement Qty From Up To Part Number Price Notes
01 SPACER HOLDER 2 63126920998 $6.25
02 SPACER SLEEVE 2 63126925447 $3.52
03 WIRING LIGHT REGULATOR 2 61138373573 $6.14
FOR VEHICLES WITH
XENON LIGHT
S522A=YES
04 HEAD LIGHT VERTICAL AIM CONTROL 2 67168352206 $56.36 +core
FOR VEHICLES WITH
XENON LIGHT = NO
S522A=NO
04 HEAD LIGHT VERTICAL AIM CONTROL 2 67168372381 $52.73 +core
05 VENTILATION GROMMET 4 63126928409 $1.69
06 CLIP, HEADLIGHT COVER 2 63126928410 $3.07
07 LEFT HEADLIGHT COVER 1 63126928413 $11.83
07 RIGHT HEADLIGHT COVER 1 63126928414 $11.83
08 BULB SOCKET, TURN INDICATOR 2 07/2006 63127158748
09 LONGLIFE BULB 12V 21W H21W 4 63217160788 $9.37
10 LONGLIFE BULB 12V 5W 2 63217160797 $1.34
11 LONGLIFE BULB 12V 55W H7 4 63217160781 $14.06
12 SCREW 8 63126922586 $0.28
13 REPAIR KIT, LEFT HEADLIGHT 1 63126932823 $9.71
13 REPAIR KIT, RIGHT HEADLIGHT 1 63126932824 $9.71
14 RETAINING SPRING FOR BULB H7 2 63117178713
15 BULB SOCKET WITH BULB F PARKING LIGHT 2 01/2006 63127170858

Notes:

[BimmerZealot]

It's #15: Bulb Socket with Bulb F Parking Light

And ya, only inner angel eyes right now, you would need to DIY something if you wanted quad angel eyes. If I was gonna do that I would go ahead and just use CCFL for all four.

[mds82]

Hey i make a LED upgrade for the E90 - 2006+ 3series Sedans. Maybe i can do some work with someone to make a LED upgrade for the Z4's

[wasupdu]

Just be happy your car even has angel eyes. My '05 Z4 doesn't even have em yet my '05 e60 has em. What gives?

[BimmerZealot]

The 05 doesn't have angel eyes? Hm, must be the facelifted Z4s then.

[killjohnnyforan]

Originally Posted by mds82

Hey i make a LED upgrade for the E90 - 2006+ 3series Sedans. Maybe i can do some work with someone to make a LED upgrade for the Z4's

i live in northern westchester, if u need a guinea pig, i'm in!

[mds82]

Originally Posted by killjohnnyforan

i live in northern westchester, if u need a guinea pig, i'm in!

sure, as long as you have a few hours to put into the car. i'm going to research first, but that would be cool to start with your car

[zoomzoomers]

Originally Posted by BimmerZealot

Hey guys, so today I decided to put my car on a jackstand, pull off the driver side front wheel and have a look inside the back of the headlight to once and for all figure out how BMW designed the crappy Z4 angel eyes.

So I got it all open saw the usual stuff but this time I could look at the back of the headlight straight on with the wheel not being there, I turned on my DRL and sure enough I saw which bulb was the culprit. The bulb is inside a X looking plastic casing that is held on by two T-16 Torx screws to the inner "projector" housing (see other thread for dummy inner projectors) I unscrewed it and took it out. All it was, was a simple BA9S Bayonet Clear Bulb, how it doesn't light up the glass but only the ring I have no idea but that's that.

Now I tried to remove the bulb but the base of the housing where you can turn it to remove the bulb is plastic welded on there. Not wishing to break it at the time being I took some pictures, stared in aw and put everything back in.

Now, what was all that work for you might ask, well...now we can "upgrade" those crappy stock halos. How? LED replacement bulbs of course, similar to how they've been upgrading the E39, E90 stock halos to HID match etc except the E39/E90 use a H8 bulb instead of a BA9S. I haven't had time to fully dwell into which would be the best choice but I figured I'd post this and get the wheels turning.

If any of you guys are LED savy now is the time to speak up, what kind of LED arrangement // type of LED(s) // Number of LEDs would work best for this application to give the brightest angel eyes.

Thanks :rocks:

Hey did you replace your fog light bulbs with something brighter? Yours seems so much more brighter and whiter than the stock ones do. If you did replace them, what did you replace them with and how difficult was the switch? Thanks.

[BimmerZealot]

I have HID fog lights that is why they are very bright, they are 6,000k to match my low beam HIDs. The kit consist of a pair of bulbs, a pair of ballast (required to ignite the HID bulbs) and all necessary wiring. It is simple plug and play installation. Send me a PM if you have any other questions.

[20Ducks]

Originally Posted by BimmerZealot

I have HID fog lights that is why they are very bright, they are 6,000k to match my low beam HIDs. The kit consist of a pair of bulbs, a pair of ballast (required to ignite the HID bulbs) and all necessary wiring. It is simple plug and play installation. Send me a PM if you have any other questions.

A source for these HID fogs would be a good thing. Thanks.

[BimmerZealot]

Sent you a PM 20Ducks

[AmmarYasirA]

Bumpppp, wondering if I can replace the bulb with brighter, whiter LED's that wont cause error light to pop up in the instrument cluster.

Thanks.

[Kgolf31]

Most likely, yes....and if you use too high of a wattage you can burn up the wiring

[AmmarYasirA]

Well I recently got my Z4MR and one of the halos was out. I just thought itd be a nice thing to have white halos rather than the regular amber-ish ones.

Has anyone successfully done a halo mod that HAsnt caused error lights?

[pungo]

Wow, a 6 year old thread brought back to life

Anyway, I tried the brightest LEDs at the time back in 2007. They were whiter, yet dimmer then the stock Halogen bulbs, plus I got the bulb out warning, so I put the stockers back in. Fast forward to today, LED technologies advance, I ordered the brightest LED available in a BA9S and I hope they are at least as bright if not brighter than the stock Halogens. If they throw a error, I'll just code them not to error. I'll report back once I receive and try them.

Originally Posted by Kgolf31

Most likely, yes....and if you use too high of a wattage you can burn up the wiring

BTW, LEDs are super low wattage and there's no way you'll burn up the wiring. They'll be like 1/10th the wattage, that's why they give the error, so don't worry about the wiring.

[StickMon]

Somebody tried higher wattage incandescents, and that didn't go well.
An option to coding out the warning would be to add a parallel resistor to raise the current draw back to nominal.

Let us know how the LEDs work out. I'd like to do that, too.

[AmmarYasirA]

Ha, it's all I could find on google search that was somewhat relevant.

But that'd be nice. I know coding won't hurt anything but I'd rather add resistors or something else to the wiring.

[yousefnjr]

Good timing of this thread revival, one of my bulbs went out last week and I've been looking at all the old threads on this topic.

I saw Ron Stygar's old thread where he installed 20w bulbs. He wrote that after being on for 2 hours everything was ok, but I think another user reported some melting, not sure about the details though. If they're good for 2 hours at a time without melting I might just install the 20w, I don't think I've ever had a drive in the car longer than an hour-ish anyway.

I tried searching for a 15w bulb with ba9s base but I didn't have any luck. That might be a good compromise between brightness and heat, if it exists.

[jdoublehcubed]

subscribed

[papitosabe]

Originally Posted by BimmerZealot

Sent you a PM 20Ducks

can you just post it here for others in the community? plus there are sometimes lurkers here that would benefit as well

edit....oh snap, I just replied to someone from 2007...lmao....whoops..

Originally Posted by StickMon

An option to coding out the warning would be to add a parallel resistor to raise the current draw back to nominal.