Opinions - Xenon to Led Headlight retrofit.

All,

After deciding to keep my very well spec'd F34 I have recently looked at work lets the car down a little and the only thing is the headlights. As I live in the country where street lights are very rare I need good lighting for my very dark early & late commutes. As in addition to the dark narrow roads most of the wildlife seem to want to sit in the middle of it Getting the retro fit done is not an issue with the total cost being around £1700 but I'm interested in peoples opinions of the BMW led headlights please? Having driven both Audi, Merc & Seat with Leds I have found that all these were excellent so I'm hoping the same can be said for BMW. My current headlights are adaptive xenon's with upgraded bulbs but I feel they still drop short compared to the led's.

Some may say that £1700 is expensive but its a lot cheaper than a 7 series of which I was originally looking to purchase, however I have more options fitted except for the headlights compared to most 7 series in excess for £26K

Opinions good or bad most welcome.

Thanks

Rgds

Peter

 

Before I bought my F36 I was concerned that it only had xenons and I wanted LED, Googling got mixed reviews on people’s opinions of them. Some even ditched their LED’s to retrofit Xenons for better lighting. Given that I had xenons on my E92 and my stop gap focus only had halogen candles I decided I could manage fine with xenons.
Don’t quote me but if I remember right the issue was that adaptive LED’s don’t have as high a light output as the non adaptive LED’s and can’t recall how they compared to Xenon. Have a google around.

Try and blag an overnight road test in an F34 with the LED’s like you plan to retrofit lol.

 

@markyboyt

Thanks for that I will google, unfortunately the F34 is not longer made as I beleive production stopped late 2016 otherwise that was a good idea!

 

I went from the xenons in my 2012 E92 to the LEDs in my 2017 F32 so can do a reasonable comparison, not as good as a direct same car comparison though.
Xenons were great, always happy with the throw and beam spread, did a good job in the winter months. Can’t say I was in anyway disappointed by them. Once buying the F32 I was impressed by the clarity of the light, particularly in the unlit lanes during winter. I’d say they are sharper and more direct in the beam, giving more definition on the road ahead. The auto dip is a great addition as well.

 

yep googled.........minefield!

 

I’d like the adaptive LEDs, I’ve not seen many F32 with these, but quite a few F30/31s. Odd. Nothing to do with the actual light facility, purely to do with the halo bar being far smarter….!

 

I've got the 'standard' LED's on my current G30, & had the 'standard' 'Xenons on my previous LCI-model F10. On main beam the G30 LED's have a distinct shadow in the beam right in my eyeline. I presume it's the flap/shield dip mechanism. I don't think there's much to choose between them in dip performance, although I think the Xenons might have been a bit better/brighter. .

 

I went from the X1 e84 with Zenon Adaptive and Auto Dip to X1 f48 with LEDs. I must say I prefered the Zenons , I found the long reach a lot better than the LEDs on motorways , but the LEDs are better on minor roads. I think it becomes a matter of personnal choice.

 

This is my first car with led lights, I agree with everything Wynne + Spuffi said above about performance, I find the low speed cornering function helpful. I don't think I've noticed another F45 with them on the road so must be quite rare on this model.

If you have the spare money Peter, just get them.

 

Similarly, on our 2020 BMW X1 xDrive 2.0i M Sport (F48 )we benefit from them driving around the rural roads in Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds. We have the adaptive's with high beam assist and the cornering lights.

 

My 2013 F06 640d had standard lights which were Xenon I believe. My 2018 F06 640d has full adaptive LED's with high beam assist. In terms of light output the view is slightly crisper but the Xenons did certainly not feel inferior. The adaptive facility and high beam assist are nice but I could live without and the price of a new headlight if I ever need one is reason enough to extend my warranty. If it was me I would tend to keep the money in the bank and put it towards the newer car whenever that time comes..

 

I have experience of xenons with high beam assist (2013 530d), standard xenons (2015 535i), adaptive LEDs with HBA and “matrix” function (2016 M3 comp) plus MB intelligent LEDs (2016 C63S).

Firstly, I found the optional xenons on my 530d better than the standard xenons on the 535i, albeit I didn’t specify the HBA as I found it too slow to react.

The LEDs on the M3 are tangibly better than the adaptive xenons and I like the masking / matrix function where you leave them on high beam and they only dim the LEDs required to avoid dazzling a car you are following, or that is approaching.

The LEDs on the MB are slightly better than the ones on the M3 but not by much, but again I leave them on full beam and they are very quick to dim so I don’t get flashed like I used to in the 530d. Also, the cornering function is actually useful, rather than a gimmick.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk on

 

I had adaptive xenons with HBA on my 2015 F10 535d and the standard LEDs on my 2018 G30. Not much difference other than the shadow area that @Silverbeemer525 notes above. In passing, I note that the adaptive LEDs on my 2017 MX-5 RF are considerably better than the G30 and the F10, both dipped and full beam...go figure.

 

Further to this, when driving along locally twisted wooded roads with no other traffic coming and the lights are on high beam, and we go round corners and also going up hills, we can see the square light beams (for want of a better word), appear as windows with thin shaded lines between them. All this reflected on the trees in front and slightly to each side. Also, it appears (wife and I have noticed this a lot) as cars come towards us, the RH beams really do drop-down (dip) with the LH beams staying up making it easier to see people walking in the dark.

On another forum (US) people were asking why they were getting 8 (eight) small patches inline on the outside of each headlight glass. These small patches are about 5 mm square and can be wiped off. I have not noticed it recently and as no one appears to be certain of the answer, I would postulate that it is something to do with dust sticking on the outside where condensation areas are inside.

These LEDs are even far superior to the 67 plate Audi Q5 with adaptive style LED lights. They were good but the cut off was rather abrupt.

 

I forgot to mention in my above reply that irrespective of the performance, my childish self thinks they just look cool. Compared to the standard halogens on the 'Active Tourer' the led lights make it look like a real BMW.

 

Further to my post I am glad my current car has them. I suppose my point to the OP is in my opinion it may not be worth the hassle and expense on an older car but if this car is a keeper go for it

 

I get very confused with the terms BMW use for various Headlights.
The Sales Brochure for our X1 48 (2018 model) refers to them as having "Adaptive LED Headlights " code 5A4 but the build sheets refers to "LED Headlights with expanded content." code S5A4A It has Cornering Lights , but only any use for seeing the drive posts , no spread . The previous Zenons seemed to increase range on the motorway according to speed , this does not, and the corning lights were a lot better. The e48 had HBA but this was not fitted on this car . I will add I did not order this car new as it was not available to order in May 2018 due to BMW not listing any Petrol model in rive.I wanted the 20iXLine Xdrive Sports Seat and Lumber support.. Fortunately found a used one ,a few weeks old,that had done 2,000 miles ,it had been registered under Mobility Scheme. Dealer had bought it via BMW inhouse auction.
Still consider the best option for seeing around corners was the 1071 Cooper s fitted with 4 Super Oscars 2 crossing for corners , but not very friendly to oncoming traffic.

£1000 for a replacement headlight seem out of this world.