Stage II HID Conversion - Experience? - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

MAH · 27th October 2001, 00:33

All,

For those of you that have upgraded your HID's to Stage II, what are your thoughts? Was it worth the $409 and an exchange of your bulbs? Does this bother the oncoming traffic?

www.hids4less was very helpful with my questions. They explained that because the M5 has such a good, focused lense, you will not have a problem with oncoming traffic. Opinions?

I did make the decision to purchase this upgrade. I will have it for the upcoming Northern California event. Perhaps we can take some night time shots and post the comparision for all to see.

I was also considering the HID conversion for the foglights, but the $840 price tag to upgrade to stage II was a little much for me. I already have the PIAA superwhites in the foglights.

I will let you know what I experience when they come in next week. We can also do a side by side comparison at the next event.

Mark

RM5 · 27th October 2001, 00:53

how much for the PIAA superwhites and do you just plug em .thanks

atomic80 · 27th October 2001, 02:29

Mark,

I'll be happy to help you decide. *cracking fingers* Here I go once again...

If I had the chance to do it again, I'd definitely do it in a heartbeat. I didn't like the colors of my stock headlights

Looked too green to me. I can definitely tell you that right after I made the change to those new 6000k bulbs, I noticed it right away! It was just so blue that it blew me away!

If you had to ask me about the "focusing" issues of the new bulbs as opposed to the old, I'd tell you that the new ones are a bit more crisp but that's probably because they're brighter so the edges are more defined in general. I haven't had any issues with people flashing their headlights at me or anything like that. In fact it's been the opposite. I get compliment from people on how good my headlights look especially bimmer owners. I should put on a sticker saying "HIDS4LESS.com" on my car or something since people ask me where I got mine from quite often.

Take a look at these headlights.

Looks good doesn't it? The fogs are actually first generation HID bulbs which was before Phillips decided to make the change to make them more green/white in order to more closely match halogen bulbs because of glare issues.

1st generation bulbs are on the left and the 2nd on the right.

The 1st generation bulbs also has the rubber O-ring which is good for weather sealing especially since it's in the foglight housings down close to the ground. It isn't an issue for the lowbeams because they have the rubber boot protecting it.

One thing though is that you'll save a bundle by going with those 1st generation HID bulbs if you can manage to find them. I got lucky and found a pair. I still had to get the ballast/ignitor units though. Total cost for that was $500.

I paid $469 dollars for my stage 2 HID bulbs since I didn't trade in my old bulbs. I can easily sell those for $150-$200. $50 credit from those guys at HIDS4less.com is a ripoff. Those stock HID bulbs cost $300 a piece from the dealership!!!

Here's another picture of the beast with its new eyes.

Jason

atomic80 · 27th October 2001, 02:31

RM5: I heard that those PIAA superwhites were around $45-60 dollars depending on where you get them from. They're not bad, not as blue as the HID's but they're a lot less yellow than the stock bulbs.

Jason

MAH · 28th October 2001, 18:34

Quote:

Originally posted by RM5
how much for the PIAA superwhites and do you just plug em .thanks

The PIAA Superwhites are between $75 and $85 depending on where you purchase. They are true plug and play. This is the easiest conversion you will have on this car.

Hope that helps,

Mark

MAH · 28th October 2001, 18:44

Jason,

Thank you so much for the very informative response on the stage II conversion. I will not trade my Stage I low beam bulbs in and sell them like you suggested.

I believe you mentioned you have the Stage I for the fogs. HID4Less still has the Stage I for the fogs.

Would it be possible to use the Stage I bulbs from the low beams for a conversion for the foglights? I realize you would need to purchase the ballasts, but it would be a considerable savings. What do you think? Has anyone else thought of this?

Once again thanks for the great pics. I have got to learn how to post mine. It is people like you that make this site a great place to frequent.

Stage II Mark!

MAH · 30th October 2001, 17:48

All,

If you have done the conversion, what do you think about the foglights converted with the low beam HID's?

Mark

atomic80 · 30th October 2001, 18:06

Mark,

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner...

You CAN use the stage 1 HID bulbs from your lowbeams in the foglights. You will need to get the ballast/ignitor units just as you guessed. It's all plug and play so it's easy to put it in. The hardest part was getting the black plastic housing around the foglights off. Once that's done, it's a breeze from there on. I used double sided tape to attach the ballast/ignitor to the inside of the front bumper on the side.

I should explain a bit again. There are TWO types of stage 1 HID bulbs. Generation 1 and 2. Generation 1 is far more blue/purple and generation 2 is a bit more white/green. You can tell the difference between gen 1 and 2 by looking to see if the bulbs has an O-ring on it or not. Generation 1 HID stage 1 bulbs have O-rings whereas generation 2 HID stage 1 bulbs do not.

Jason

P.S. I'd make the conversion again if I had to...the fogs now match my lowbeams! It's definitely brighter but there's still no "defined" edges because the foglight housing wasn't designed for it.

Angel · 30th October 2001, 21:22

Any clue what labor charges are going to be for my stage 2HID conversions (fog,high)?? I am bringing my car in the morning to my Dinan man to install an exhaust. He said he will do the lights but he said he has to see everything before he can give me a quote. What should I expect?

Thanks,

Harry

atomic80 · 30th October 2001, 22:15

Are you kidding me! I put the foglights in myself! They're easy to do! The hardest part was getting the black plastic moldings off. From there, its EASY! Took me all of 10 minutes to do it.

If you really want detailed instructions, email me. I can explain everything throughly to you. Maybe you'd much rather have a mechanic do it for you..but he should be able to do it for free since it doesn't take long at all! I asked my mechanic to take off the black moldings since you need a special "flat" plastic tool for that. And finally, to put the bulbs in the lowbeams, you'd have to remove the airboxes. My mechanic put it in for me at no charge!

Jason

Angel · 30th October 2001, 22:57

I was going to attempt to to it all myself, I didn't get to far

. My guy told me that to install the exhaust, headlights, and HIDs, he will only need the car for about an hour. I think he is a little upset with the fact that I bought all these things myself and not from him. He told me that he has trouble competing with these "internet prices". I will let you know how it all goes and I will try to shoot some more pics as well by tomorrow.

Thanks!!

Harry