gazzam

I might try that... anyone got a sunroof I can borrow

Hi Jochen...do you have a Business CD for a 2000 E46 for sale.

Thanks for the info. I'll say it again, you learn something new every day...

If the headlights are glued together the same way the E39 CELIS headlights are, you can bake them to take them apart. Probably more trouble than it's worth, though.

Yep..a bit of a closer inspect shows that the lens on the drivers side does have some distortion in the polly.. not so bad on the other side.. cant believe I didnt see this earlier...I guess I just goes to show love is blind.. fell in love with this car as soon as I saw it .. no pre nup.

Have just noticed today that the headlamp lens directly in front of the low beams..on both sides.. has some distortion.

There is an area about 40-50cm wide by 15cm high directly in front of the low bulbs that seems to have heaps of very small cracks.

The lens feels quite smooth on the outside, the cracks seem to be on the inside.

I'm thinking that my muppet... sorry elmarco dont want to be mean to muppets... might have had over rated bulbs in the lows that have

overheated the lenses and caused the cracking.

My next question..can the lense be replaced or am I up for new headlights??

Better make that mm's instead of cm's...looks like I need new glasses as well as new headlights.

This shows the difference... A picture is worth 1000 words

http://bartrax.net/hid.htm# also shows the difference - but I'm not advocating anyone try using HID conversion kits (they are both dangerous and illegal in NZ).

I was at Automechanika a couple of years back and saw a Chinese supplier with an HID conversion kit balast and burner running submerged in a bucket of water on the floor... Scary stuff!! Not sure what they were trying to demonstrate!

Have just noticed today that the headlamp lens directly in front of the low beams..on both sides.. has some distortion.

There is an area about 40-50cm wide by 15cm high directly in front of the low bulbs that seems to have heaps of very small cracks.

The lens feels quite smooth on the outside, the cracks seem to be on the inside.

I'm thinking that my muppet... sorry elmarco dont want to be mean to muppets... might have had over rated bulbs in the lows that have

overheated the lenses and caused the cracking.

My next question..can the lense be replaced or am I up for new headlights??

Welcome Garry. Can you post up some pictures of the lights from the front, and the insides with both low beam and high beam covers removed (assuming E46 has covers like the E36) so we can see the bulb holders, and the lights on at night with the beam pattern (both wall and floor shots if possible for us to see how the light is dispersing).

Hi Yuen...Haven't had a chance yet to take any pics of the beams at night but I have done some research on

the use of 'cool blue' bulbs, link below.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bu...ue/bad/bad.html

Seems the blue tint bulbs are not very driver friendly and are just a fashion statement unlike the blueish tint of the

HID bulbs which are a totally different animal. I think I'm going change them back to clear halogens.

I have posted some pics of my bulb holders, can you make out from the pics that the one on the left has three tabs broken off and the one on the right has one tab broken. I assume the tabs are for locating the holder into the housing. I think I can still get them in the right position with whats left.

Will check out the beam pattern again after I change the bulbs.

Cheers

Garry

Hello All... I am new to the forums but have been reading bimmersport for a while now and am blown away by amount of knowledge you all bring to these forums.

I have a Jap import E46 its a 2000 323i its my first BMW and I don't think it will be my last, what great cars they are.

Anyway took it to get a WOF this morning, first since I have had it, and the guy commented on the strange pattern of the low beams. We had a bit of a look and whoever had the car before me had put blue halogens into the low beam holders but when the muppet put the holders back into the housings he broke off most of the locating lugs on the holders. I am also not sure now if the bulbs had been put the right way up in the holders can anyone confirm for me if the low beam bulbs should be the same way up in their holders as the high beam bulbs.

The guy gave me the warrent so thats good. I dont use the car much at night but I have noticed that the lows are very low.

Cheers

Garry