[paul_sarky]

Want to replace my bulbs in my F10, for something much brighter. My lights are decent, but when next to a new Benz or Lexus, they overpower mine. What are the options out there?

Has anyone upgraded their bulbs to 55watt system?

[AW BMW]

Could be that maybe the Benz headlights, xenons I'm referring to have a higher Kelvin burning rate. I know my wife's E350 uses a bulb that burns at 5,000K and it is a osram cbi bulb. I think our bulbs burn at a lower temperature, 4400K or 4600K so they look almost yellow. The E350 look more bluish and give the appearance of brighter light distribution. I had to replace one of the bulbs on the E350 and got a standard xenon bulb and the light looked yellow next to the other headlight, had to return it and make sure that it had the correct color temperature. So maybe I higher temperature will work for you I just wouldn't go higher than 6000K or the light output becomes less after that.

[Outlaw 06]

Originally Posted by paul_sarky

Want to replace my bulbs in my F10, for something much brighter. My lights are decent, but when next to a new Benz or Lexus, they overpower mine. What are the options out there?

Has anyone upgraded their bulbs to 55watt system?

You didn't specify, so I'm assuming that your car has halogens. I replaced all four of my F30’s 55 watt, 1,400 lumen OEM H7 bulbs with 65 watt, 2,100 lumen Osram H7 bulbs (made in Germany). They’re 50% brighter than OEM and they make a huge difference at night.

[paul_sarky]

Originally Posted by Outlaw 06

You didn't specify, so I'm assuming that your car has halogens. I replaced all four of my F30’s 55 watt, 1,400 lumen OEM H7 bulbs with 65 watt, 2,100 lumen Osram H7 bulbs (made in Germany). They’re 50% brighter than OEM and they make a huge difference at night.

My bad. I have the stock Xenon ones on my car. They just don't seem that bright. Maybe they go bad after so many years?

[R3dliner]

keep in mind going higher kelvins might seem brighter but you're losing the lumens.
I believe most ballast are 35W so upgrading to a higher watt bulb might not work with your ballast.

[ShocknAwe]

Gotta check the lumen output of the bulb. Temperature output only goes so far, and yes, generally upping the Kelvins reduces output.

There are a few bulbs out there with ~5000K temps which have higher lumen outputs than stock, but just barely. So you can have a whiter bulb without sacrificing real performance if you want. I think Morimoto makes one, and perhaps Osram.

[Unikarl]

I have the osram cbi's fitted to my car. A little brighter than standard and a much nicer colour. They have a slight hint of blue rather than the slight yellow of the standard set up. Just got to watch out for fakes out there. I got mine imported in from the retrofit source. They took a few hours of driving to get to the correct kelvin but now they are spot on.

[E90Fleet]

The Osram Night Breaker Xenon bulbs are a nice upgrade from the regular Osrams fitted to BMW's. Same color but a lot more light. But I dont think you get those in the US. Could import though. Available from Amazon.de

The Osram Cool Blue Xenons are a little bluer and only give a little more light that th standards but should be available under the Sylvania Silverstar name in the US.

[lsturbointeg]

will these throw a code? never thought about replacing mine as i believe they're just the regular one's.

[Stück]

The D1S Osram Xenarc 66144 CBI is going to be your brightest direct fit bulb. At 5500k it is decidedly cooler in color temperature than the factory 4300/4500k but is by no means blue.

Xenon bulbs do not have a wattage rating, ballasts do. All Xenon bulbs can operate at a higher driven wattage, but it shortens lifespan in doing so. There are no aftermarket ballast options for our cars with increased wattage output.



Buy from The Retrofit Source if you want to be sure you are buying genuine bulbs and not Chinese fakes.

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by Stück

The D1S Osram Xenarc 66144 CBI is going to be your brightest direct fit bulb. At 5500k it is decidedly cooler in color temperature than the factory 4300/4500k but is by no means blue.

Xenon bulbs do not have a wattage rating, ballasts do. All Xenon bulbs can operate at a higher driven wattage, but it shortens lifespan in doing so. There are no aftermarket ballast options for our cars with increased wattage output.



Buy from The Retrofit Source if you want to be sure you are buying genuine bulbs and not Chinese fakes.

are those straight plug n play Stuck? no error codeds? ouch $185 but probably well worth it!

[Stück]

Yes they are a direct swap, no errors or problems. Cheaper than new dealer bulbs...

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by Stück

Yes they are a direct swap, no errors or problems. Cheaper than new dealer bulbs...

i'm going to play dumb here as i really never pay'd attention to my headlights as i know there's different kinds but they should work on my current headlights correct? i always here Xenon and Halogen's brought up but wasn't sure what mine are exactly?

[Quicksilv3r]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

i'm going to play dumb here as i really never pay'd attention to my headlights as i know there's different kinds but they should work on my current headlights correct? i always here Xenon and Halogen's brought up but wasn't sure what mine are exactly?

HID.

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by Quicksilv3r

HID.

thanks Quick! i know they're HID's but i didn't know if there was different bulbs used in each models? so this morning i decided to take the car out of storage and drive it for a few days as the weather suppose to be like 70's here in Ohio and during my commute for 4300k bulbs that come factory on these cars i think the light output is pretty good. i'm wondering if swapping in the Osram's 5500k will be that much brighter without actually blinding people?

[Quicksilv3r]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

thanks Quick! i know they're HID's but i didn't know if there was different bulbs used in each models? so this morning i decided to take the car out of storage and drive it for a few days as the weather suppose to be like 70's here in Ohio and during my commute for 4300k bulbs that come factory on these cars i think the light output is pretty good. i'm wondering if swapping in the Osram's 5500k will be that much brighter without actually blinding people?

I'd reco these:
http://www.lightwerkz.net/index.php/...d1s-bulbs.html

[sachaja]

I know this is an old post but I just wanted to give a review of the Osram CBB D1S bulbs..... These seem to produce more light than the OEM Osrams . My concern was that they were going to be too blue tinted in that they were rated at 7000K. When you first turn them on, they appear to have a blue tint. But once they are on for a minute or so they warm up to a more pure white . The color is pretty close to the OEM led Msport foglights. I was reading that after about 40 - 50 hours of burn in they may turn slightly bluer . We shall see . I have around 10 hours of run time as of now. Qsram and Phillips seem to offer a couple of bulbs that may throw out a little more light but are slightly warmer ~5000K temperature. My goal was to match the LED foglights as close as possible.

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by sachaja

I know this is an old post but I just wanted to give a review of the Osram CBB D1S bulbs..... These seem to produce more light than the OEM Osrams . My concern was that they were going to be too blue tinted in that they were rated at 7000K. When you first turn them on, they appear to have a blue tint. But once they are on for a minute or so they warm up to a more pure white . The color is pretty close to the OEM led Msport foglights. I was reading that after about 40 - 50 hours of burn in they may turn slightly bluer . We shall see . I have around 10 hours of run time as of now. Qsram and Phillips seem to offer a couple of bulbs that may throw out a little more light but are slightly warmer ~5000K temperature. My goal was to match the LED foglights as close as possible.

I have yet to this day replaced my light lol! with my headlights will these bulbs work or do I need something different? do you have a link?

[sachaja]

These are direct replacements for the OEM HID D1S bulbs.


https://www.osram.com/am/ecat/XENARC...t/ZMP_4057453/

[Apples12]

I do a lot of late night driving and I replaced my stock xenon's after 5yrs/110,000 miles to the Philips Xtreme vision gen2

They're nowhere near as blue as the CBB osrams but they produce a nice white/slightly yellow light which is bright! Also doesn't fatigue the eyes

[ocas23]

Does anyone have before/after pics so we can compare? Thanks

[agentorange]

All these D1S fitment bulbs show the same output of 3200 lumens on their datasheets. So I suspect the "great improvement" that many speak of around the Web is down to the change of color temperature or the "it must be better because my wallet's lighter" effect.

Color me skeptical.