I've just received these foglight bulbs from xenonshop.com and it looks like it's the right ones.
I've taken these quotes from a friend of mine from bimmer.org who gave me good advice about what bulbs to get and what to avoid.
"Price. You tend to get what you pay for. Two yrs ago, most of the HID outfitters were selling kits for ~$1000. I bought my first set from
www.hidlights.com. Ben, the owner, was using Osram 1st gen D2S bulbs w/Aromat ballasts. Results were awesome -- very OEM color, smooth swath of light. I'm a regular on the Philips lighting forum and about 1.5 yrs ago, Phoenix Microlight popped up. They were selling a Philips based kit (bulb and ballast) for $600. Seemed like a good deal. So I ordered a 9006 D2R kit. I was shocked. The output was green!/yellow and littered w/ hot-spots/glare. Furthermore, the base (adapter) on the bulb was a joke (soft, machined PVC/brittle cyanoacrilate). My disappointment/complaint actually led the owner (Bob) to totally redesign his 9006 base. Surprise! the second unit he sent roke inside my housing (and was yellow/green again w/tons of glare). Type/Brand. This is a *real* touchy subject. First, when retrofitting, NEVER use D2R bulbs. -- If you
don't already know, both Osram and Philips make 2 kinds of HID bulbs: D2S and D2R. Within OEM xenon/HID housings, D2S are to be used w/projector-style housings, whereas D2R are designed for parabolic reflector/free-form headlights. The D2R bulb is striped with a dark paint to (in theory) block glare. Ignorant retrofit companies recommend D2Rs in free-form reflectors (actually, that's what you're M5 fogs are) -- 90% of the time, this results in glare and coloration. D2Rs are simply not intended for
housings not originally made for OEM HID. Point is, stick w/D2S. Back in the day, Osram 1st gen bulbs yielded the best output/color. Unfortunately they've become very difficult to find. So, your options are
Philips or Osram 2nd gen bulbs. From my experience, when correctly matched to the original filament placement, Philps bulbs (D2S) can yield decent colored output. Which is where the actual retrofit shop comes
into play. I use/suggest:
www.hidlights.com. They're the only company I've dealt with that doesn't lay blame on your optics if the output is green/yellow. I've used their 9006, H4 and H1 based
bulbs and all have produced the same blue/OEM color in multiple vehicles w/ NO glare."
It's also said that the ballast from Phillips is a good one since it's what those non-japanese manufacturers tend to use with their HID headlights.
Jason
'01 Lemans/Lemans - Status 160
Linear Mode
