E90 ZKW projector bowl retrofit- My progression... [Archive] - BMW E46 330 ZHP For Sale Forum

JupiterBMW

06-26-2012, 10:20 AM

Ok folks, I've been doing a ton of research on this and trying to find the best way to retrofit my lights as my output is horrible. Well, I'm going to take my time, do it VERY slowly so as to make sure I document and capture every detail. From there, hopefully, I can do some sort of a DIY/write up for others... I was only able to find a few pictures on E46f, so hopefully I can make something a little more informative to others...

So, I've heard that the E90 retrofit is nice because there are no electrical modifications as all parts are ZKW... But, the E90 cars use a D1S bulb as opposed to our D2S bulb, so from what I understand, mounting and securing the bulb will be a bit different. I'll learn more about this as I go. For now, I kept the projector, bulb securing bracket and the lens (who knows, maybe I can sell them on eBay)...

First step is to acquire E90 projectors. I found a drivers headlight housing with busted tabs on eBay for $70 shipped. I picked that up and then had to get the projector bowl out. This turned out to be a massive challenge as I found ZERO write-ups, you tube vids, or info ANYWHERE on this, so after a few hours of prying and poking at the thing, I got frustrated... Pics show my results... :biggrin

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But, after a few hours of some intense jigsaw action and prying, I finally got down to what I needed. I feel really bad hacking up some OEM parts, but it was a busted unit already and not of interest on eBay from what I could see. Plus, I got what I needed, no damages to those parts, so I'm happy. :) As you can see, the projector bowl is in perfect shape, and it is metal, so hopefully this retrofit will be a forever fix. :) I need to get new bulbs, but I'm going to wait until I get my OEM lights out and apart. I'll have to see if there's a way to fit the D2S bulb in there or if I will need to buy new D1S bulbs..

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cakM3

06-26-2012, 04:53 PM

suscribed Jon.....looking forward to seeing how you do on this project :thumbsup

JupiterBMW

06-26-2012, 05:33 PM

Thanks Charlie... You are my inspiration and guiding force thus far! And just a quickie update, the headlight JUST now made its way to the workbench. Going well so far. :) More pics and writeup to be continued soon.

Mr Paul

06-26-2012, 06:29 PM

I bought e90 projectors 2 weeks ago and am waiting until I have a free weekend to do this mod. I'll be watching closely, keep up the good work.

JupiterBMW

06-26-2012, 07:04 PM

Ok, made a little more progress this evening, more than I expected actually. And, I'm feeling good about it! But, I hit a snag, so its time to put the tools away for the night so I don't get frustrated and break anything. Basically, I started removing the drivers side headlight on my car in preparation for the retrofit. I got the headlight out and also got it part of the way disassembled. I am currently hung up on the auto leveling arm/ball joint. That is where I'm stuck currently. But anyway, let me at least catalogue what I've done thus far. I'm a super newbie as this is the first thing I've done on the E46 platform, so I am including a few steps that I didn't find in other DIYs...

1. Remove the Corner marker assembly. Its one screw, accessed through a port in the fender, on the top just under the hood edge. I didn't know this until I looked around a bit, so I took a picture as I didn't see it in the other DIYs. Shown here. Once you loosen the screw down in this hole, the corner housing slides towards the front of the car. Pull gently and disconnect the bulb. Then remove it altogether.

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2. After this, remove the 4 screws that hold the headlight in place. Many of the other DIYs have nice pictures of these screws, so I didn't take my own. Two are right on top, one down low behind headlight in the middle. It was right next to the forward outer corner of the air box. The last one was wedged down between the kidney and inner headlight edge. The two lower screws were Torx and the two upper were hex head.

3. Next was to unplug everything (all the bulbs and whatnot connected to the housing. Upon initial look, there was NO room to do this, so I unbolted the air box and slid it towards the back of the car about an inch to give myself some extra room. it worked perfectly. Pics below show what I did here.

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4. Once this was done, technically, nothing was holding the headlight in place, at least according to another DIY I read... Well, the pesky headlight washer assembly still had to be reckoned with. According to another DIY, I found a pretty good explanation and a pic that helped out immensely. Basically, you have to pop the trim off under the light where the washer is. It won't completely come off, but just pops the two ends free of their clips. Then, with one hand, pull the trim and extend headlight washer assembly. You will feel the spring pulling it back in, but pull it gently out, about 3-4". This takes one hand... The other hand will be used to work the headlight housing out of its resting place. The following pic is one I got from another DIY, but I'm reposting it here so the info is not lost.

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Mine caught up on the rubber trim on the underside a bit, so watch for that. You kind of have to work it out gently, and then twist the front of the light up towards the ceiling as it comes out, to clear the trim and headlight washer assembly. Once this is done, the headlight is free and you can gently let the washer assembly spring back into place. You should have the following result.

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5. After this step, you can start disassembling the headlight housing as per the other DIYs on this forum. Charlie has written a great one, referenced here..

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?5445-ZKW-Burnt-Projector-Bowl-Repair-Retrofit-DIY

Also, I found a great video that helped a lot with headlight disassembly. It is located here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Lcup1PYTC0

Currently, I got the lens, trim, and bulbs out of my light. I rotated all of the adjusters so the projector assembly is in position, but I cannot get the auto leveling ball joint separated. So, that is where I am stuck at the moment. Just a couple of other pics though that show my bowls... Mine were not only burnt, but also CRACKED... Like I said, I have HORRIBLE light output, and its no wonder why! In the second pic, I shined a flashlight into the front of the projector/lens so you can see the light shining through the cracks in the projector bowl.

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More progress will come in the morning. Thanks for reading! :thumbsup

JupiterBMW

06-26-2012, 07:06 PM

I bought e90 projectors 2 weeks ago and am waiting until I have a free weekend to do this mod. I'll be watching closely, keep up the good work.

Well, I will try my best to explain everything I've found, so as to help others. Good luck with your work and definitely let me know if this post needs any updates. I currently only have 1 E90 projector, so I'll do the drivers side for now and the passenger side as soon as I can get the parts...

cakM3

06-26-2012, 08:33 PM

Looking good so far Jon! This is what it's all about! :thumbsup

JupiterBMW

06-28-2012, 07:34 PM

Ok folks, its been a couple of days since I have updated my progress on this retrofit. Well, good news, I have been working, and I've made quite a bit of progress, but I've also been busy with other stuff, so unable to post. I apologize for that... But anyway, I am actually on the downhill slope of this project. I've managed to successfully retrofit the E90 projector bowl into the E46 setup. Now I am stuck trying to find a way to secure the bulb. I'm working on a few setups still, so bare with me. :) Anyway, onto steps and pics.

6. So when I left off, I was stuck getting the auto leveling arm and ball joint separated. Well, what I found to work was while prying at the ball joint with a long flat blade screwdriver, I also gently pulled on the lower portion of the projector housing from the front of the light. This way, as soon as the ball joint popped, it would pull out, as opposed to popping back into place. This was the trick. Of course, this did not completely free the projector unit as some of the DIY threads and the youtube video stated. I found there to be two other 'clips' that needed to be released. These are shown in the pics below. These pics are not mine, but ones I pirated from threads elsewhere. Just FYI, I mirrored one of the pics so that the 3 joints match up to each other. You will see in each pic, they are circled in red. The lower joint is the auto leveling ball joint. The upper middle one has two small tabs on the female side (back side of the projector body) that need to be released. The upper, outer one is kind of a funky joint. I just pryed it apart using a screwdriver. As with all plastic parts, be gentle!

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7. Ok, with all of those joints finally separated, the projector housing will come out of the front and be ready for dissection. This is where the fun really begins. And by now you should be able to see the condition of your bowls. I disassembled them gently. You will first have to unclip the chrome shroud from the front (the piece with the word 'Xenon' down the side). Once this is off, you can remove the plastic trim piece between the projector and the halogen DRL bowl. I didn't take pics of these, its pretty self explanatory. Just poke around gently until you find all retaining clips and carefully pry them off. Once that is out of the way, you can take the screws out that hold the projector bowl, lens bracket, and projector frame altogether. There are 4 screws total, 3 larger ones, and one tiny on. As viewed from the back side, the small one is the lower left. Once you take them apart, everything comes apart. From here, I took a few comparison photos, just for reference. They are shown below.

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The first pic shows the two bowls, obviously the E90 on the left, E46 on the right. The second pic shows the bi-xenon shutters, again, E90 on the left, E46 on the right. The third pic is the same from another angle, showing this funky stick out piece on the E90 shutter (in the background of pic #3). Being that it was different, I chose to stick with the E46 shutter so as to change as little as possible. Otherwise, they fit the same. Also to note, I read that the shutter solenoid is the same and requires no retrofitting or swapping. I did notice that the E90 solenoid has 3 pins in the connector and the E46 only has 2, so we will see how that works. The connector is the same and plugs in just fine though.

8. An interesting tidbit, I noticed while taking this stuff apart that there was a very light film of soot on the inside of many of the parts. I assume this is from smoke accumulating in the light assembly when the ZKW bowl was slowly burning. This smoke left a layer of soot on the lens. You can see a couple smudge marks on my lens below. This obviously won't help light output, so I wiped it off. Surprisingly, a lot cleaner afterward, as shown by the soot left on my microfiber. Of course, make sure to use clean, soft cloths so as not to scratch the lens. If you've got it open, might as well clean it all up, right?? I thought so...

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9. After looking at the picture of the two projector bowls, you will notice the E90 has a bunch of extra meat on it at the bottom. This stuff is all for the adaptive lighting motor. In addition, you can see the two pins that the lens swiveled back and forth on. Obviously, we don't have that feature, so a bunch of that meat has to be removed. Others were able to remove the pins, but I couldn't push them out, so I just cut off the E90 lens bracket and shaved the projector bowl smooth with the dremel. Some of the following pics show my closeup work.

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10. From here, it was a matter of messing around the with the E90 bowl and the OEM lens bracket and projector frame to get it all to fit together. Of course, there are less screw holes on the E90 bowl, so you have to sort of do some makeshift stuff. I did something that might be a little 'ghetto' to some, but it is nice and tight and the projector will NOT move. I am more than happy with my securing. I ended up using the 3 large screws I took out, but not the small 4th one. Either way, it is still very secure with no wobble. Of course, the bi-xenon shutter still functions nice and smooth. The two top holes are just a touch closer together on the E90 bowl than they are on the E46 parts, so I had to open up those holes ever so slightly. I used a drill bit just big enough to widen the holes and allow the screws to go straight down into the holes on the projector frame. The pic below shows these screws installed.

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JupiterBMW

06-28-2012, 07:54 PM

10a. Once these two screws were secure, I checked into how the bottom half mounting was going to work. As you can see from the following pic, there was a gap on the left side. On the right, it did sit together (there's a small clear rubber grommet that was in there) but it just doesn't look it. So, I had to figure out how to get a screw in there. I initially thought I could put the screw in under the projector bowl assembly to hold the lens in (shown in the second pic below), but that allowed the projector assembly to wobble a lot, so I had to remove that and figure a way to secure the projector, lens bracket, and projector frame all together. Time to get creative. There was no place to drill a hole here in the E90 bowl, so I had to 'clamp' it by use of a finishing washer. This is all shown below. You will also notice this required some more dremel action, but that was not a big deal. The pics below show the result. It is VERY secure this way.

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11. At this point I took a few minutes to admire my work. Basically, the E90 projector bowl retrofit was complete, at least the essential parts. A couple of pics show the fitment below. It looks great, everything is nice and true.

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One thing to note, I started test fitting the projector assembly back into the main housing, and I think I'm going to have to do some more trimming of the E90 bowl unit. The whole bottom arm sticking down at the bottom, below the bi-xenon shutter solenoid in the pic below, is part of the adaptive light motor mounting. That is unneeded, and to fit into our housing correctly, it will need to get shaved off. I will do this tomorrow and post pics of that as well.

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After that, the only thing left to do was to figure out how to mount/secure the bulb. The E90 lights use a D1S bulb which has an internal igniter, as opposed to the E46 which use the D2S bulb. The mounting and connections are a bit different, so this meant a little more creativity. I haven't been able to find any really GOOD solutions as of yet, but I am still working on it. I choose not to continue if I get frustrated (that's when you hurt yourself or break stuff), so this is where I left off.

Now, if only I could find myself a passenger side E90 headlight so that I can do this stuff ALL over again! :biggrin

JupiterBMW

06-29-2012, 08:01 AM

Well folks, I didn't expect the rest of the job to take so little time, but I came up with a bulb holder solution, and did the extra trimming, and then it all went back together VERY quickly... So, I'm here to post up the remaining steps of my project.

12. Ok, so when I left off last night, my biggest challenge was to modify the bulb clip to now secure the D2S bulb into the D1S housing. Well, I used a small nut/bolt as shown in the picture. In addition, I bent the clip into a loop, and then ran the bolt through that, giving it a little extra security. It looks a little ghetto, I'll admit, but this proved to be the ticket... You can see my result below...

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13. Once that was done, it was time to finish trimming the bottom of the E90 projector bowl bracket. The lower portion has an extra arm that sticks down for the adaptive motor found on the E90 lights. Well, to fit into the E46 housing, that all had to go. Before and after pics below show the work I did. Nothing more than 5 minutes with the dremel to cut it off and smooth out any sharp edges...

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14. Now that the retrofit/custom work was finally complete, it was time to reinstall the projector assembly back into the headlight housing! As I mentioned way up in Step 6 above, there are 3 joints total that hold the projector assembly into the frame. The pic below shows how I reinstalled the projector assembly at an angle so that I could easily reengage all the clips. The first one I did was the funky swivel at the upper outer corner (top right in the pic). From there, the upper middle connection was next. It just popped into place with some gentle pressure. Lastly was the auto leveling ball joint. To do this, I just pressed lightly on the bottom portion of the projector assembly and it popped back in. Pic below shows it all.

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15. From here, it was just standard reassembly of the lights. Reconnect the bulbs, replace the dust caps, reinstall the front bezel around the lights, then the lens. Once the headlight was completely reassembled, it was time to reinstall.

16. Reinstallation was the opposite of removal, but we all know its never that easy. Well, this time it was. I made sure the lower trim was unclipped and gently extended the headlight washer nozzle and trim piece out as far as they would go with one hand. Then I gently inserted the headlight back into place. I had to come in at a downward angle just a little bit, and it did take some wiggling and stuff to get into place. But, once it was in place, all was good.

17. Reconnect the bulbs, remount the air box back into place (remember I removed it for additional room) and then reinstall the corner light. The car was now complete!

18. Once this was done, it was the moment of truth. I popped in the key and checked all functions... Everything worked perfectly, including the bi-xenon shutter, with the exception of the auto leveling. Not sure why, but the light doesn't move up and down. I'm pretty bummed about that, but I will diagnose a little bit and figure out what to do. Other than that though, the light output is AMAZING... I still haven't even moved the car out of the garage or aligned anything really, but holy crap it is SO bright. Pics below show the result.

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So all in all, the retrofit itself wasn't really that involved. And assuming you can get your hands on the E90 projector bowls for cheap, I definitely think this is THE MOST cost effective way to do it. Being that the auto leveling unit is something that wasn't swapped or modified, I'm pretty sure I must've boogered it up on disassembly. I'll look into that some more. So, assuming that it still worked, this retrofit would be 100% successful, and the light output is phenomenally better. Of course, that will depend on how bad your current output is. Based on the passenger side output in the pics above, you can tell that mine was VERY bad...

Anyway, questions or comments are definitely welcome. I am open to ideas and suggestions of course, as I am still very new to the ZHP family, but I hope to help out as much as some of you have already helped me out. I hope this serves as some sort of a DIY write up for the rest of those that need to tackle this project. I of course will probably reference it myself for when I do the passenger side (still have to locate the E90 parts). I was already asked about doing a set for someone else... If people are interested, I suppose something could be arranged. :)

328ioc

06-29-2012, 08:28 AM

Bravo good sir!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

Hornung418

06-29-2012, 10:24 AM

Great work, Jon! Clever solution to the bulb holder.

Sent from the past from my future self.

nk_zhp

06-29-2012, 10:32 AM

JupiterBMW

06-29-2012, 03:34 PM

When I was doing my retrofit, the reason why my hi-low shutter did not work was because the connector for it to the headlight housing was not all the way in. It's a very tight connector, make sure you press it all the way in so it locks.

Thank you all for the replies...

nk_zhp- My high/low shutter works fine... For me its the auto-leveling adjustment.

cakM3

06-29-2012, 03:57 PM

Congrats Jon!

Excellent writeup :thumbsup

---
I am here: http://tapatalk.com/map.php?s25eml

ZHPRegistry.net

06-29-2012, 04:06 PM

Thank you all for the replies...

nk_zhp- My high/low shutter works fine... For me its the auto-leveling adjustment.

Sorry, I misread, sounds like something isn't back to where it is supposed to be after the re-assembly. I am sure you'll figure it out.

imola red zhp

06-29-2012, 04:10 PM

Great info and details Jon...awesome

sent from dennis' personal electronic device

JupiterBMW

06-29-2012, 04:27 PM

JupiterBMW

06-29-2012, 05:16 PM

Ok, update on my last post... I just went and compared all plugs on both sides. The inner most connector does in fact only have 1 wire. I guess I'll have to pull out some wiring diagrams and take a look. Anyway, still no love on the auto-leveling... In addition, now that its finally dark, I went out and made some aiming adjustments, at least the best I could do.

Well, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but I've got some WEIRD light patterns. Granted, its still way better, but the pattern is so strange... Almost distracting... I suppose I'll continue to drive her in the daytime only... *sigh*

OEM, passenger side output

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Retrofit, drivers side output

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And both lights (where did the passenger side go?!)

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SoCalZman

06-29-2012, 05:28 PM

Hm. That Is a weird pattern. Starburst headlights!

cakM3

06-29-2012, 06:06 PM

I do have a question for any of the light gurus (Charlie :biggrin )... Which connector is the one that controls the auto leveling?? Is it by chance the inner most one? I need to do some additional looking, but when I made the connections I thought I saw a frayed wire, and I thought the innermost connector was a 1 wire, which makes ZERO sense... Sooo, I'm wondering if I have a clipped wire that is causing this problem. More info to come...

Jon,

Do you have a pic of said wiring? I'm going to sleep on this one and first thing in the morning take a good look at my "spare" headlight assemblies to check. My contact info is in the members only section if you want to give me a call :thumbsup

Yeah, that light pattern baffles me. In my case, I used the AL M3 projector housings and got similar light patterns to my OE ZKW headlights. That last pic has me scratching my head at the moment...I don't think Chad has those issues with his retrofitted E90 projectors. I'll have to give Chad a call tomorrow and talk to him about it.

JupiterBMW

06-29-2012, 06:11 PM

Charlie... I already updated since that post.. Now I'm trying to figure out my output pattern...

cakM3

06-29-2012, 06:15 PM

Jon,

As soon as I find out anything, I'll send you a PM and let you know :thumbsup

danewilson77

06-29-2012, 07:24 PM

Hm. That Is a weird pattern. Starburst headlights!

+1

Sent from Williamsburg, VA USA

Hornung418

06-29-2012, 08:19 PM

Looks like they're not leveled.

Sent from the past from my future self.

terraphantm

06-29-2012, 09:52 PM

Even if they're not leveled, they shouldn't have that pattern. I would guess something isn't sitting quite right.

JupiterBMW

06-29-2012, 10:12 PM

Well folks, the good news at least is that I successfully picked up a passenger side OEM E90 headlight. I won the auction last night for $67 shipped. So, as soon as it arrives, I will pull and inspect both of my lights and do a good comparison between the untouched ZKW and the modified E90 hybrid. This should help me out the most.

But anyway, all in all, I'm in this retrofit for $137 for both sides, total, including shipping. I don't think its all that bad. Of course, this is assuming I figure out the light fitment issue.

More to come I s'pose! And thanks again, to everyone for your input and help thus far.

cakM3

07-01-2012, 04:51 AM

Jon,

You get that light fitment issue resolved then you have a great solution all for under $200 :thumbsup

MrMaico

07-01-2012, 09:37 AM

It seems like it might possibly be a bulb placement/depth issue in relation to the reflector. How does it look comparing to the other, stock side? Does the bulb depth look similar? Hope you can get it squared away easily. I would assume so since other people have apparently made it work. Nice work so far otherwise Jon.

Barry

JupiterBMW

07-01-2012, 03:06 PM

Barry, you are correct. I have confirmed this to be the problem. I just have to get some time to make the necessary modifications... Stay tuned...

Chad44

07-03-2012, 04:55 AM

Did you get new bulbs by any chance? I did this retrofit on one of my headlights and have the same light pattern, but I only recall getting it after I ordered new bulbs. http://img.tapatalk.com/c6e4c998-ebc1-d2e2.jpg

Sent from Tapatalk

Hornung418

07-03-2012, 06:28 AM

Bulb looks to be in too far. I would add a spacer to the mounting point.

Sent from the past from my future self.

cakM3

07-03-2012, 12:23 PM

Jon,

It was great chatting with you via Facetime :thumbsup Let me know if you need those ZKW lens :)

nike001

07-03-2012, 01:40 PM

Yeah, definitely something bulb-fitment wise..

JupiterBMW

07-03-2012, 06:41 PM

Well guys, thanks for all the replies this morning. Chad, not sure what bulbs you had/switched to, but I was using the D2S bulbs. And yes, bulb depth was the issue. Athough, it was because the bulb isn't far enough in the socket, not too far in. This is shown below.

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The E90 projector housings had some tabs inside the bulb mounting hole that prevented the D2S bulb from sliding in far enough. Of course, the D2S doesn't have these tabs... Pictures of the tabs and bulb fitment shown below. In the first pic, you can see I already started to dremel the tabs off.

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So you ask, why dremel the tabs instead of make slots on the bulbs? Well, I chose to get rid of the tabs for the fact that if the bulbs ever need replacing, more dremeling in the future will not be needed. But I digress. Once the dremel action is complete, the inside of the bulb socket will look like the following.

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From here, I can now insert the bulb about 5mm deeper into the socket. Awesome... So, upon reassembly, I found the next problem to overcome. Now that the bulb was deeper into the socket, the igniter hit on the bulb hold down tabs and wouldn't fully press onto the bulb enough to twist lock into place. Pics below show this... Yes, I was cursing at this point. The first pic shows the interference, and the second pic shows bulb and igniter removed for a better shot of the 3 tabs causing the problem.

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Well, to be honest, my custom bulb hold down didn't really work right with the new bulb placement, so I pulled it and figured, why not... I dremeled off the three tabs. Pics below show the aftermath.

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So now, how to hold down the bulb? Well, to be honest, when I inserted it, it was a pretty snug fit, and pressing it a bit made it REALLY tight, so I decided to see if I could easily install the igniter without disturbing its placement (I took time to make sure it was centered and level). Hmm, it seemed REALLY secure. So, screw it... From here I reassembled the lights for a test fit to see if the new placement cured my light pattern.

JupiterBMW

07-03-2012, 06:46 PM

Some notes on reassembly. I couldn't find pics of these three clips that were very easy to see elsewhere, so I took some pics. There are 3 clips that hold the projector housing assembly into the headlight housing. The first one to reconnect is the upper/outer one. Next is the middle one on the top and the last one is the ball joint for the auto leveling motor. The 4 pics below show this. The first pic is the angle at which you reinstall the projector assembly. Then the next 3 pics show each clip, in the same order you would reconnect them. If disassembling, this would be the opposite.

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From here, reassemble the black bezel, outer lens and trim pieces, slap that baby back in the car and check to see how it all worked out. :fingerscrossed

I took the car out for a drive and found a wall to try and align it a bit and check the cutoff. From there, I drove to a dark lot and took some pics of the light output... Its definitely not perfect, but damn, its SOOO much better than before. I think, aside from those two flare marks above the cutoff, its about as perfect as it will get. Pics do the talking...

The cutoff
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OEM output on the passenger side
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New E90 retrofitted output on the driver side
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And both lights, low beams followed by high beams
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das boots

07-03-2012, 07:21 PM

I don't think the two flare / horns would really make much difference when travelling down the road........Not that much of a glare. Nice work. BZ.

Edit: You are good to go on your passenger side.

JupiterBMW

07-03-2012, 07:26 PM

Agreed... They really aren't that big of a deal. I was just pointing it out because even after all of the work and time I've put into this retro, it still isn't perfect...

cakM3

07-04-2012, 01:34 AM

Jon,

A BIG improvement from where you were at :thumbsup

JupiterBMW

07-04-2012, 03:46 AM

Yep, I'm going to retrofit the other side this way, and then I'll develop a more permanent bulb retainer.

UdubBadger

07-04-2012, 06:59 AM

so jon when are you going to come out to Chicago and do this on my car for me? :)

JupiterBMW

07-04-2012, 07:52 AM

Honestly, as soon as I develop a bulb retainer of sorts, I was thinking about offering the retrofit for others. In the midst of all this, I actually bought a set of the AL version headlights, so I'll ultimately swap those in most likely. If that's the case, I might sell these once the retro is 100% perfect.

I also thought about doing the work for others too. You ship your lights to me, I complete the retro and ship back. All you gotta do is pay for the E90 bowls and a little donation for my time.

But that's a ways down the road. I want to make sure my setup is reliable first.

UdubBadger

07-04-2012, 08:28 AM

nice. keep us updated then. :)

danewilson77

07-04-2012, 08:30 AM

Kudos

07-04-2012, 08:30 AM

A bit off topic, but just curious, when you turn on the car, mind you i have a coupe with the xenons and moving lights, are they both supposed to do a self test and move right, down, and center? mine only does this on the right side, and not sure if this proper or broken left. Anyone know how to test the auto leveling system?? i don't think i've ever noticed it actually working.

danewilson77

07-04-2012, 08:35 AM

MrMaico

07-04-2012, 03:05 PM

Yes, like Dane said, they should both do the self test but I can't say I've ever seen mine test side to side, only down then up. Also, if you didn't have them on AUTO the last time they were on they don't do the self test. If you were just using the 2 clicks to the right previously for headlights they won't do the self test. 2 clicks to the right leaves the adaptive (side to side) feature off so a lot of the time I use that rather than AUTO just to save the wear and tear on the servo motors/linkages. A little OCD I guess. :-)

danewilson77

07-04-2012, 06:04 PM

JupiterBMW

07-04-2012, 06:16 PM

Ahh Dane, you beat me to it...

Anyway, as for your earlier post, no worries... I will make sure to contact all the necessary authorities... :)

Kudos

07-05-2012, 07:36 PM

weird, my right one goes down right corner, right mid, center.

JupiterBMW

07-06-2012, 02:54 PM

Interesting. I can tell you for sure, the sedan only does up/down. I would think maybe its a coupe thing, but MrMaico says his only go up/down too, and he has a coupe also... Sooo, I'm stumped on that one.

Aaaand, back on topic... Patiently awaiting the arrival of my passenger side E90 headlight so I can cannibalize it and start on the other side retrofit... Sooooooon I hope!!! I'm going to try and capture that entire retrofit on video and then make some sort of fun DIY out of it or something...

cakM3

07-10-2012, 04:12 AM

Jon.....bump....

JupiterBMW

07-10-2012, 05:37 AM

Haha thanks Charlie. I am still waiting on the passenger E90 light to arrive. From there, the retro will continue. But I am happy to say, the drivers side is still doing great.

In other news, I got my AL headlights in the mail and of course one of them was pretty beat up, so I have to work on those too.

Aaaaand, I stated to renovate my garage, so that project has to be finished first. But it will be piiimp!

Oh, and family in town for the last 6 days visiting the new baby... So I've been busy. Headlights, not so much. :shifty

JupiterBMW

07-24-2012, 08:36 AM

Well, its all done. Long story short, I finally got the passenger side E90 light in the mail. From here, I took the time to complete the retrofit on my OEM passenger side light. But, throughout the course of this entire project, I also sourced a decent pair of AL sedan headlights. So, I'm actually running the AL lights in my car and the ZKW retrofitted lights are just chilling in the garage. The retrofit is complete though.

Of course, one of the bulbs that came with the AL lights was broken, so I only have 1 D2S bulb in the ZKW lights. But no big deal, the lights on my car are in, complete, and 100%. I also have a complete, 100% set of retrofitted ZKW lights... Now, what to do... Hmm.. :shifty

JupiterBMW

07-24-2012, 06:08 PM

Well, I've decided to post these lights for sale. See the appropriate forum. :thumbsup

BimmerWill

07-24-2012, 06:30 PM

I have a question. Somewhat related but not entirely. In the past I have heard the the ZKW lights were not something to desire for Xenon's. Is this due to the burning of the projector bowl that you experienced causing the need for this retrofit? I have stock xenons on mine labeled Bosch on the stock lenses so I was wondering whether I have the ZKW lights or something different. Vehicle is 2001 330i with stock Xenons. I dont seem to have the burned out effect that yours have shown and can still see properly at night with my low beams.

JupiterBMW

07-24-2012, 06:36 PM

Yes, in original form, the ZKW lights seem to have this problem. This is the cause for people creating retrofits. There are a few different ways to do the retrofit, this is one of them as it requires no wiring/electronic modifications.

As for your lights, I might be incorrect, but I'm fairly certain the Bosch are the same as the AL lights. AL is one of the other manufacturers and they do not have this burn problem.

SoCalZman

07-24-2012, 07:35 PM

AL sedan headlights? I thought those were coupe only? explain :shift

Hornung418

07-24-2012, 08:24 PM

AL made lights for all body styles. No explanation needed. Most ZHPs have ZKWs and that is the reason for swapping should you be so unfortunate.

Horney...via TT.

SoCalZman

07-24-2012, 08:49 PM

ah so it is just random bad luck if you happen to have a sedan with ZKWs.

danewilson77

07-25-2012, 02:05 AM

AL made lights for all body styles. No explanation needed. Most ZHPs have ZKWs and that is the reason for swapping should you be so unfortunate.

Horney...via TT.

Seems to me, that most coups have Al, and most sedan have zkw? Dunno though. That was just the impression I had.

Sent from Williamsburg, VA USA

JupiterBMW

07-25-2012, 03:46 AM

Yes, apparently the coupe style lights are all built by AL. The sedan lights were made by both ZKW or AL. From what I understand, the majority of ZHP cars got the ZKW lights, while a lot of the other E46 3 series cars were all built by AL.

I may be incorrect, but my AL lights came with silver inner bezels, whereas the ZKW lights (OEM ZHP) came with black bezels. But, I don't know if that's always the case, and they are interchangeable. I put the black bezels into my AL lights to keep the original look on my car.

FWIW, the lights on our new X3 are made by AL, so apparently they're doing something right! :)

JupiterBMW

07-25-2012, 03:48 AM

Also to mention, after all my work with both light sets, I actually think the ZKW lights are better built from a design standpoint, its just that the plastic bowl was a major downfall with them. 2 cents for anyone that wants it. :biggrin

Hornung418

07-25-2012, 07:14 AM

The titanium bezels just denoted the premium package. That started in 2001. Everything else got the black bezels. Remember, ZHP overrides ZPP.

Dane, the coupes got the Al lights because they were a completely different shape. Realize that all sedan lights and coupes before the facelift share the same design, just different lenses. AL is only specific to the facelift coupe. Everything else is either AL or ZKW.

Horney...via TT.

JupiterBMW

07-25-2012, 08:28 AM

Werd, thanks for the update. :thumbsup

SoCalZman

07-25-2012, 11:26 AM

interesting. Jon, btw, I have read that some people transplant the ZKW lens to the AL lights. I guess the ZKW lens is more desirable for some reason?

JupiterBMW

07-25-2012, 04:50 PM

Yeah, the ZKW lens (this is the inner projector lens, not the outer plastic cover lens) is crystal clear. The AL lens on the other hand is frosted (VERY slightly anyway) and has a line across the middle of it. People say it doesn't look as good and the cutoff isn't as crisp... Pic below shows what I'm talking about. The first pic shows the difference in the lenses. On the left is E46 ZKW. In the middle is the E46 AL (you can see the line in the middle of the lens), and on the right is the E90 ZKW. The second pic shows a different view, giving you a good shot of the different projector bowls... And for reference, the E46 ZKW bowl on the left (my original one) looks worse than ANY of the pictures I saw online...

5219

5220

danewilson77

07-25-2012, 05:37 PM

Awesome. Lense pics rock.

Sent from Williamsburg, VA USA

cakM3

07-25-2012, 05:50 PM

Yep Jon,

Your ZKW housings are worse than what mine were.....

CERF04ZHP

07-25-2012, 06:25 PM

Yep, mine are that bad. I did the ole' line them with aluminum foil as a temporary solution until I can gather the new parts and do the conversion with Charlie!

Sent from my PDA with a 1.5 GHz brain.

cakM3

07-25-2012, 06:50 PM

JupiterBMW

07-25-2012, 07:30 PM

BimmerWill

07-26-2012, 05:36 AM

Sooo how do i determine if mine are the ZKW or the AL?

Nivo

07-26-2012, 05:59 AM

Wouldn't it be cool to use this on the Original burnt bowls! (http://www.alsacorp.com/products/killercans/kc/killerchrome.htm#productinfo)
I have used it and it does look like chrome unlike paints you buy at home depot or lowes etc...

aurelius

07-26-2012, 06:22 AM

Sooo how do i determine if mine are the ZKW or the AL?

The logo of one or the other is in the exterior protective covers. Similar to getting up close to the outer glass on an older style, fully exposed lamp and seeing "Hella" or "Sylvania," etc.

But...at least on a sedan, in theory the outer covers could've been replaced with AL or aftermarket covers and you then wouldn't know if you had ZKW or AL. But in the realm of sedans with xenons, ZKW is the norm tho some '05 sedans have AL.

JupiterBMW

07-26-2012, 08:28 AM

Sooo how do i determine if mine are the ZKW or the AL?

Like mentioned, look on the outer lens in the lower, inboard corner (closest to the kidneys) and you'll either see the AL or ZKW logo. You might also see it on top of the lights, on a sticker or something.

Another way is to look at the connectors. If they all plug into the back of the actual light unit, then you most likely have ZKW. If 3 of the 4 plug into a white box like thing on the back of the light, then you're looking at AL.

Lemme take some pics...

JupiterBMW

07-26-2012, 08:37 AM

This is the quickest and easiest way. Of course, its not a 100% guarantee (the outer lens could've been changed)... But, if your car is stock, then you can pretty much assume this is correct. On the inner corner of the headlight lens (closest to the kidneys, you will see one of the following logos. If no logo at all, then the lenses have probably been replaced. I think you can tell which is which... :biggrin

5229

5230

JupiterBMW

07-26-2012, 08:43 AM

The other way to tell without opening or removing the lights is to look on the back side of the lights. Pictured below is my passenger side AL light. You can see the 'white box' that 3 of the 4 connectors are connected to. This is part of the light, but clearly different than the ZKW setup. On the ZKWs, all 4 plugs go directly onto the back of the light housing (plugs facing the front, not the ground).

5231

5232

5233

BimmerWill

07-26-2012, 09:37 AM

Thanks guys ill take a look in a bit and determine if i have the ZKW's at night. After seeing the after effects of retrofitting the new bezels in from Jupiter's DIY im beginning to see how really lacking my light output is.... :(

JupiterBMW

07-26-2012, 10:05 AM

Yeah if you've owned your car for awhile, you probably wouldn't notice the bad output. For me, I knew of this issue before buying my ZHP so I looked for it. Without fog lights I literally couldn't drive safely, not even slow speeds on city streets. So, right away I looked to fix it. Plus, my last car had Xenons, so I knew what I was missing...

SoCalZman

07-26-2012, 10:47 AM

Jon and others with burnt bowls: dont forget to go into the NHSTA thread thats open about this issue and file a complaint as well. we might be able to get remibursed for all this hassle someday.

JupiterBMW

07-26-2012, 10:48 AM

Yes Dad.... :rofl

Hornung418

07-26-2012, 11:21 AM

Will, what year is your car?

danewilson77

07-26-2012, 12:33 PM

Jon and others with burnt bowls: dont forget to go into the NHSTA thread thats open about this issue and file a complaint as well. we might be able to get remibursed for all this hassle someday.

Great heads up..

Sent from Williamsburg, VA USA

elric

08-11-2012, 03:28 PM

Jon ..

Wanted to take a minute to say .. "Thank You" for the excellent write-up on the E90 ZKW retrofit. Today I was able to rebuild not only mine, but also a friend of mine's set as well. The very first one was a 'learning/trial' and the subsequent ones after that were quick and easy. We prepped/replaced all the new bowls (following yours and cakM3 expert guidelines). Just waiting for it to get dark to see how much they improved.

My friend and I both had one bowl that was extremely burnt, and another that was still good. So we donated our good 'set' to yet another Mafia member here in Raleigh. As his are badly burnt and in desperate need of replacement.

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee123/elrice36/20120811_103225.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee123/elrice36/20120811_103209.jpg

JupiterBMW

08-11-2012, 04:37 PM

Wow Jeff, glad to hear I could help. Would love to see some final pics of your work! And definitely let us know how well your retrofit turns out when you get some nighttime pics. :)

cakM3

08-11-2012, 04:43 PM

Jon,

It's good to see that others are using your DIY to help them correct something that should have been corrected by BMW to begin with. You did a great job detailing how to do the E90 projector retrofit to help others in the family....well done bro! :thumbsup

Rovert

08-11-2012, 09:01 PM

Where did you find a pair of E90 hardware and what's the average cost?

JupiterBMW

08-12-2012, 02:36 AM

Thanks Charlie... Trying to give back!

Trevor- I just sourced busted up lights on eBay. The ones I found had busted mounting tabs and/or cracked out lenses, making them "worthless" to most. I got mine for about $75 each. Don't spend the money on good lights, you're just going to trash them getting them apart anyway.

Rovert

08-12-2012, 10:10 AM

I'll keep searching for E90's...that seems the painless way to go so far. I'm tired of my HID fogs being brighter than my headlights. LOL

Sockethead

08-13-2012, 06:25 AM

I'll keep searching for E90's...that seems the painless way to go so far. I'm tired of my HID fogs being brighter than my headlights. LOL
I'm tired of my halogen fogs being brighter than my headlights....

cakM3

08-14-2012, 03:24 AM

I'm tired of my halogen fogs being brighter than my headlights....

Rob... I can completely relate. Last year I was at that point and when I discussed my ZKW headlight issue with my SA at my local dealer they told me that the problem was people inserting Xenon bulbs incorrectly. I checked fitment of my D2S bulbs and they were secure with no incorrect positioning....basically BS response on their part. I realized that BMW was not going to address this issue therefore we would be stuck purchasing brand new headlights, which I was not going to do so I retrofitted my burned out ZKW projector bowls with OEM M3 projector bowls. You can also retrofit E90 projector bowls but will need to mod both the bulb retainer and bulb guides on the projector housing. This is why I chose the OEM M3 projector bowls since they are D2S fitment to begin with and the bulb retainer rings do a great job securing the D2S bulbs....basically one quick twist and they are on or off...;)

The problem in using the OEM M3 projector housing is that there is a little more trimming, fitting, and drilling involved whereas the E90 projector assemblies are a much easier bolt-on (Jon you can interject here since you did the E90 retrofit). My cost for the retrofit was just under $200 :)

For much cheaper, this is the way to go but then you can also get the AL headlight assemblies for cheaper than ZKW headlight assemblies.

Sockethead

08-14-2012, 03:58 AM

Thanks for the info Charlie... i imagine that the M3 solution requires doaner headlight assemblies too?

I been trying to figure out where to get broken e90 headlight assemblies. when I remember that Kpro works at a dealership with an in house body shop... hopefully they have some laying around... maybe over the months, I can get some for other members too!... especially the winter months :thumbup

cakM3

08-14-2012, 04:06 AM

Rob,

I would ask Kpro to keep her eye out for broken headlight assemblies. This would be your best, and cheapest, option :thumbsup

You have two choices for your headlight retrofit....E90 or E46 ///M. It depends on what you want. I would say that the E90 method is much easier to retrofit but then you have to mod the bulb housing to accomodate the D2S bulbs and rig/fashion a bulb retainer clip. The ///M3 projector assemblies, however are made for D2S bulbs and the retainer ring screws on holding the D2S bulbs in place. The drawback is modding the headlight assembly housing so that you can properly mount and secure the ///M3 projector assemblies to them. I have a detailed DIY for that (link in my sig)...;)

Post #29 details the E90 projector retrofit that was added to my DIY by edlvrt, so you can look that part over and compare both to decide which way you want to go Rob :thumbsup

Sockethead

08-14-2012, 04:19 AM

Rob,

I would ask Kpro to keep her eye out for broken headlight assemblies. This would be your best, and cheapest, option :thumbsup

You have two choices for your headlight retrofit....E90 or E46 ///M. It depends on what you want. I would say that the E90 method is much easier to retrofit but then you have to mod the bulb housing to accomodate the D2S bulbs and rig/fashion a bulb retainer clip. The ///M3 projector assemblies, however are made for D2S bulbs and the retainer ring screws on holding the D2S bulbs in place. The drawback is modding the headlight assembly housing so that you can properly mount and secure the ///M3 projector assemblies to them. I have a detailed DIY for that (link in my sig)...;)

Umm, you have your coffee yet? :scratchinghead

re-read my post lol

Thanks for the info Charlie... I imagine that the M3 solution requires doaner headlight assemblies too?

I been trying to figure out where to get broken e90 headlight assemblies. when I remember that Kpro works at a dealership with an in house body shop... hopefully they have some laying around... maybe over the months, I can get some for other members too!... especially the winter months :thumbup

cakM3

08-14-2012, 04:28 AM

Rob,

I was just agreeing with you - restating what you posted...:) Nah....working on my coffee right now. Had plenty of Kyle and Ryan's moonshine last night....morning is kicking my butt...:biggrin

Sockethead

08-14-2012, 04:35 AM

haha ass kickin moonshine... how is that? I was wondering when they handed it to you...

JupiterBMW

08-14-2012, 06:09 AM

Yes, the E46 M3 AL projectors that Charlie did have the advantage that they already use D2S bulbs, making the bulb retainer setup a little better. But the E90 ZKW retrofit is better in that it fits easier into the housing, and there are no electrical mods needed.

Each retrofit requires donor assemblies, I found mine on eBay. I would think the E90s would be easier to find due to the sheer # of those cars out there.

JupiterBMW

08-14-2012, 06:11 AM

Wow, I'm a bit late... Sorry, I got distracted for a few hours and came back to see that I never actually posted my message, only typed it...

cakM3

08-14-2012, 08:42 AM

haha ass kickin moonshine... how is that? I was wondering when they handed it to you...

Rob,

You gotta get some! Man is this stuff good!!! So smooth for 70 proof sweetness :) When you open the mason jar the apple/cinnimon scent is awesome...

aurelius

08-24-2012, 11:54 AM

...but then you can also get the AL headlight assemblies for cheaper than ZKW headlight assemblies.

^^Does this refer to pricing on good used E46 AL xenons vs a used set of ZKW? Seems counter intuitive if the AL's are the ones that don't experience bowl burn.

In order to inspect my ZKW bowls, what's the trick to getting the rubber cup off the back of the lamps? There doesn't seem to room enough on the right side and on the left, I popped out the obvious upper tabs but something is preventing the cup from full removal and of course now I can't get it to pop back into place.

I suppose some or all of this may be covered in the "burnt bowls thread" but time is of the essence and that thread is about 30 pages in length at this point. Anyhow, input appreciated...

JupiterBMW

08-24-2012, 12:09 PM

^^Does this refer to pricing on good used E46 AL xenons vs a used set of ZKW? Seems counter intuitive if the AL's are the ones that don't experience bowl burn.

In order to inspect my ZKW bowls, what's the trick to getting the rubber cup off the back of the lamps? There doesn't seem to room enough on the right side and on the left, I popped out the obvious upper tabs but something is preventing the cup from full removal and of course now I can't get it to pop back into place.

I suppose some or all of this may be covered in the "burnt bowls thread" but time is of the essence and that thread is about 30 pages in length at this point. Anyhow, input appreciated...

I tried to reread Charlie's post, and to be honest, I can't really tell what he's trying to say here either. As for the pricing of the lights, if you do either the E46 M3 (AL style) retrofit OR the E90 ZKW retrofit, you'll need to source some used parts. From what Charlie said and I experienced, it looks like either way will run you about $200 in parts.

As for complete assemblies, I don't see a lot of E46 lights for sale. I found my AL branded E46 lights online for about $600, but that did not include bulbs, and they were not in perfect condition. If you're going to spend any money on any sort of repair for your lights, make it a quality retrofit or a set of E46 AL branded lights.

As for inspection, yes, it is a PITA to get in there. I don't know if there's room to do it on the passenger side. The drivers side has ample room, all you have to do is unclip the top tabs, and then tilt the cup back to look in there. You can see the top of the bowl from there and you'll be able to tell if its burnt or not. The other way to do it is headlight removal. Then you have all the room in the world.

nike001

08-24-2012, 12:29 PM

danewilson77

08-24-2012, 12:39 PM

AL's don't experience bowl burn. I personally went the AL route.

To inspect your ZKW's, take off the cover to get to your headlight bulbs. You should be able to see the top of the projector.. and if it's brown, its burnt. Yours are most likely burning/burnt the way it is.

Aurelius can't get the caps off the back....because of where they contact the fenders In the engine bay. My best advice....is to stick with it. They will come out.

Sent from Williamsburg, VA USA

cakM3

08-24-2012, 01:02 PM

^^Does this refer to pricing on good used E46 AL xenons vs a used set of ZKW? Seems counter intuitive if the AL's are the ones that don't experience bowl burn.

I was referring to a good set of used AL headlight projector assemblies to replace the ZKWs. I probably worded this wrong...my apologies. My method is a little more indepth but I went with this method because I really didn't like how the D2S bulbs were held in place by a make-shift method (E90 retrofit). I feel that the OEM method of how the bulb is retained is much better, which is why I went with the OEM AL M3 projector assemblies. Either way is an effective fix to the poor OE ZKWs.....

In order to inspect my ZKW bowls, what's the trick to getting the rubber cup off the back of the lamps? There doesn't seem to room enough on the right side and on the left, I popped out the obvious upper tabs but something is preventing the cup from full removal and of course now I can't get it to pop back into place.

I suppose some or all of this may be covered in the "burnt bowls thread" but time is of the essence and that thread is about 30 pages in length at this point. Anyhow, input appreciated...

What I did was remove the headlight assembly screws on top (two of them) and the corner lights so that I could move the headlight assembly enough to remove the D2S cover and look inside to see the top of the projector bowl. Doing so makes removal of the cover easier...:thumbsup
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp37/macdctr/01-ZKWHeadlights-1.jpg

If you see any cracking just above where the D2S lightbulb would line up or any medium to dark brown areas on the top part of the projector assemblies, chances are you have burned out projector bowls. If the upper area of the projector is dark brown to black, then you have burned bowls.....period.

Here is what the burned ZKW projector bowls look like - these were mine when I removed them...
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp37/macdctr/Drivers-PassBurntBowls.jpg

This is what you will see from the opening when you look inside your headlight assembly....the back of the projector bowl...
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp37/macdctr/IMG_1823.jpg

Once you see this look for the dark brown areas as shown below...
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp37/macdctr/36-burntprojectorbowl.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp37/macdctr/37-burntprojectorbowl.jpg

I mentioned removing the corner lights earlier. The reason I do this is because I have learned the hard way that you can break off the guide pins located at the back of the headlight assembly where the cover clips into. By having the corner lights removed, I am able to see how the bottom tabs of the cover line up to the guide pins and not break them when inserting the cover back in place.

As Jon stated, either way (the E90 or M3 retrofit) with parts it will cost somewhere around $200 to do this but it is much cheaper than shelling out $2,062 for a new set of headlight assemblies....replacing the failed ZKWs with brand new ZKWs will only delay the same problem a few years....not worth it to me....

aurelius

08-24-2012, 01:08 PM

I'll get at it again. It's loose now since I couldn't reattach it. I'll try to shine a light inside to see the bowl.

If any of you know or suspect why I can't get that cup reattached, do tell. Nothing appears to be in the way and at least from what I can tell by feel, the bottom is flush against the rear lamp assembly when I go to reattach but the upper tabs just will not lock back into place.

aurelius

08-24-2012, 03:57 PM

Ok, so I got the rear cup-cover off the back of the left bulb assembly. Not surprisingly, I can see the bowl is brown. But in order to get that rubber cup back on without breaking those lower plastic tabs, I'll have to remove the headlight.

Question: the DIY headlight removal at the beginning of this thread mentions a hassle with "headlight washer assemblies." The OP's car, which looks just like mine in terms of the trim around the headlight, does not seem to my eye to have said washers.

danewilson77

08-24-2012, 04:29 PM

You must not have cwp. It's ok....pull that sheet out from center outward after the other stuff is removed.

Sent from Williamsburg, VA USA

aurelius

08-24-2012, 05:12 PM

Correct, I don't have the Cold Pkg.

Also, brain fart on my end. Mine does not look exactly like the OP's after all. I don't have that painted cap indicating presence of headlight washers. I had not ever known how those work, had just assumed the washer jets were external on cars with CWP, that being a rare option here in TX.

cakM3

08-24-2012, 05:14 PM

Then all you have to do is pull out the lower headlight trim. It's so much easier to remove headlights w/o the headlight washer units....consider yourself lucky :) :thumbsup

JupiterBMW

08-24-2012, 08:57 PM

Exactly as Charlie and Dane posted. The lower trim under the headlight will be all one piece (without the washer nozzle in the middle). Pop it out gently and you should be fine. Definitely remove the corner lights as this will aid in getting the outer clips of this trim freed. The inner clip is about 1.5" long, you will see it. 4 screws in total to remove the headlight, the two on top that Charlie highlighted in his pic, and two on the bottom.

Good luck and report back with questions if you need!

Sent from my iPhone 4/4S hybrid on Tapatalk...

Johnmadd

08-29-2012, 05:41 PM

danewilson77

08-29-2012, 05:42 PM

Those look awesome.

Sent from Williamsburg, VA USA

Johnmadd

08-29-2012, 05:45 PM

Those look awesome.

Sent from Williamsburg, VA USA

They really are awesome Dane, Brett had a similar reaction.

JupiterBMW

08-29-2012, 05:58 PM

Wow John, so glad to hear you are seeing better! The improved lights really make night driving that much better. I still get a great feeling driving at night, just astonished at my perfect light output.

Sent from my iPhone 4/4S hybrid on Tapatalk...

danewilson77

08-29-2012, 06:03 PM

I need some new lights. It's starting to stay dark longer in the morning.

Sent from Williamsburg, VA USA

Sockethead

08-30-2012, 06:32 AM

I drove through my first big storm at night with my e90 bowls coming back from bimmerfest and it was definitely worth the money, thanks Jon. My lights overpowered everyone else's lights including the street lamps.

I need some new lights. It's starting to stay dark longer in the morning.

Mine are so bad now that I can barely see... I'm going to have to stop driving it at night... I'm thinking of going to local body shops in the area and seeing if I can track down some e90 assemblies...

nike001

08-30-2012, 07:19 AM

I need some new lights. It's starting to stay dark longer in the morning.

Sent from Williamsburg, VA USA

Dane lol. I love you, but your grammar cracks me up :rofl

danewilson77

08-30-2012, 08:25 AM

Dane lol. I love you, but your grammar cracks me up :rofl

:shifty

I cheat as well.

Sockethead

09-14-2012, 04:00 AM

brettbimmer

09-14-2012, 06:53 PM

For the e90 donor lights, can they be any year e90? Also are the bowls for each side different i.e. can't use two left donor light assemblies ?
I'm getting junk assemblies from Kristen's BMW dealership...

Bump for Rob's question as I'm curious too. Rob, if you find extra e90 assemblies, you may be able to re-sell them to the Mafia, and help cover the cost of your new pair.

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Johnmadd

09-14-2012, 07:05 PM

Bump for Rob's question as I'm curious too. Rob, if you find extra e90 assemblies, you may be able to re-sell them to the Mafia, and help cover the cost of your new pair.

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I really am not sure, but I don't think that would work. From looking in the back it looks staggered and if you were to try and turn upside down the hole in the running light bowl would be at the bottom. I would say you need both sides. Jon will let us know as soon as he sees this I'm sure.

JupiterBMW

09-15-2012, 05:34 AM

Hah. Good question. Regarding the years, I went with pre-LCI (before '09) as they were cheaper and I knew that those would work. I am pretty sure the later years would work also, as the changes were subtle. But I cannot guarantee. I can say this, it doesn't matter of you get coupe/sedan.

As for side to side, that too does not matter. The metal bowl is symmetrical. As for the plastic housing that goes around it, those are different due to the adaptive headlight motors, but that stuff all gets removed/dremeled off anyway so it doesn't really matter.

Good luck!

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brettbimmer

09-15-2012, 05:04 PM

Thank you Jon! Appreciate the helpful info.

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Sockethead

09-17-2012, 11:23 AM

Thanks for the update.
Anyone can check with local high end body shops or dealers for these assemblies. Of course, any car that is in a wreck is going to have the Assemblies replaced outright and the old one tossed in the dumpster as to any normal mechanic, the old assemblies are useless.
Also, Kristen said that when they replace defective Assemblies at the dealership, they just keep the old one for 30 days then they toss them in the dumpster.

Mr Paul

09-24-2012, 06:15 AM

Jon, I did one side of the retrofit over the weekend and following your writeup everything went smoothly, almost. I reassembled everything and all light functionality returned including autoleveling, but not my high-beam shutter. I pulled everything apart and checked all my connections for the shutter but it still doesn't work. Does anybody have any thoughts on this?

Thanks.

JupiterBMW

10-03-2012, 11:49 AM

Mr. Paul- Sorry for the delay in my reply... I didn't see this thread update... Anyway, aside from electrical connections, is it possible that you didn't clip the shutter assembly back onto the solenoid shaft? If possible, have someone sit in your car and activate your high beams. With the engine off and the hood open, listen at the headlight assembly. The shutters actually make quite a bit of noise. But, if its not connected, you should still hear the solenoid clicking as it operates. If you hear nothing, and your connection is definitely good, then I'd say the shutter is bad.

Also, you made sure to connect the shutter inside the light assembly, as well as ALL connectors on the outside (back of the light)...??

Good luck...

Sockethead

10-06-2012, 03:31 AM

All that's needed out of the doner assembly is what's in you first post, yes? looks like bowl, lens and bulb clip?

Kpro found someone that got his assembly replaced and he's willing to give me the old unit but he wants the stepper motor and shutter...

JupiterBMW

10-06-2012, 06:44 AM

Yes all you need is the metal bowl, plastic bowl housing/cage and the bulb retaining clip. Even then, that can be fabbed up separately. No need for the lens, you'll reuse your E46 stuff there.

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Sockethead

10-06-2012, 07:34 AM

Cool! thanks!
I gotta get this done... when we drove down to NC last weekend it was night time and raining. Going through DC I couldn't see a damn thing. I had my face against the windshield for what seemed to be an hour or more...:eyetwitch

brettbimmer

12-11-2012, 06:40 PM

JupiterBMW

12-12-2012, 06:19 AM

Jon, when you did the bowl swap, did you end up using fresh D2-S's? I was just curious if it was a "while you were in there anyway" scenario here. Also, I read somewhere that as the Xenon bulbs age they get hotter, probably what is contributing to our melted bowls. Anyway, I have one E90 assembly en route and need to track down another. Tired of driving at night with the "Dark Deer Fear" looming just out of my line of vision due to bad bowls.

Brett- Initially, no, I didn't buy new bulbs. I eventually had the lights in and out so many times, pulling them again later to swap bulbs didn't phase me at all. As for the age of bulbs, you are correct. The color will change a bit as they get older.

I did eventually buy new bulbs though. I got to the point where my lighting upgrade had cost me so much money, I figured I shouldn't skimp out, so I opted for new bulbs as well. I went with the OSRAM Xenarc SVS bulbs... Insanely bright, no blue at all. Pure white light. At the cutoff, there is a little blue/purple line. Very nice I think.

brettbimmer

12-12-2012, 11:24 AM

Thanks Jon. When I swap bowls I will see if I can swap bulbs too!

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jack.chris328

12-13-2012, 09:03 PM

JupiterBMW

12-14-2012, 04:47 AM

Well done. :thumbsup.. Also, a new guy just registered and has the silver headlight bezels.. Perhaps you can hook him up with some black ones?

das boots

12-14-2012, 07:26 AM

Does it matter if they are the silver/titanium or the black bezels? What years did the silver come out and the black take over? I removed my black and used the silver since my turn signals are titaniums....And they match better to the Mystic Blue with contrasting colors. Using a black bezel makes the car look darker. Another reason why I did not move to the piano black grills. But they look great for a AW III or light colored cars.

JupiterBMW

12-15-2012, 06:18 PM

No, to answer your question, the bezel color does not matter. The only E90 parts being used are the bowl, bowl cage, and perhaps the bulb retainer.

jack.chris328

12-19-2012, 05:23 PM

Well done. :thumbsup.. Also, a new guy just registered and has the silver headlight bezels.. Perhaps you can hook him up with some black ones?

Don't know if I have a full set of black. I will have to check.

Does it matter if they are the silver/titanium or the black bezels? What years did the silver come out and the black take over? I removed my black and used the silver since my turn signals are titaniums....And they match better to the Mystic Blue with contrasting colors. Using a black bezel makes the car look darker. Another reason why I did not move to the piano black grills. But they look great for a AW III or light colored cars.

As Jon said. It doesn't matter for the function of anything. It is purely for looks. It depends on what the car came with. Titanium bumper grid or black. Black or titan turn signals. Just as you have noticed it was just to change the look of some cars.

das boots

12-19-2012, 08:10 PM

Don't know if I have a full set of black. I will have to check.

As Jon said. It doesn't matter for the function of anything. It is purely for looks. It depends on what the car came with. Titanium bumper grid or black. Black or titan turn signals. Just as you have noticed it was just to change the look of some cars.

Jack...are your saying that the lower bumper grid came with black or titanium? All i have noticed are all black.

jack.chris328

12-19-2012, 09:08 PM

Jack...are your saying that the lower bumper grid came with black or titanium? All i have noticed are all black.

Yea Lawrence. Here is an example. These are the insert pieces on the left and right of the grid. I had a picture of a titan grid but I must have deleted it.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz237/JackChristian/E46/Exterior/th_16fdd989.jpg (http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz237/JackChristian/E46/Exterior/16fdd989.jpg)

Sockethead

12-20-2012, 08:52 AM

I finally got e90 lights for both sides. '07 & '09. Going to start after the holidays...

Johnmadd

12-20-2012, 08:56 AM

I finally got e90 lights for both sides. '07 & '09. Going to start after the holidays...

You'll enjoy being able to see at night now. :thumbsup

Sockethead

12-20-2012, 11:12 AM

You'll enjoy being able to see at night now. :thumbsup

Yea, I don't even drive it at night anymore....

Torxuvin

12-20-2012, 12:57 PM

Yea, I don't even drive it at night anymore....

Lucky. I feel like it's always either night or raining...

brettbimmer

02-05-2013, 12:57 PM

Hey Jon/All - One retrofit installed and looks good. High beams work, low beams work, but no auto-level at startup (either side - one old, one new). All four plugs are securely in the rear of the light, and everything inside the housing looks to be snug & secure. Anyone have any ideas? I can't believe that the auto-leveling sensor on the control arm would've taken this time to die on me...though stranger things have happened. Any ideas? Also, everything that I did for this retrofit I did from the back side without having to remove the front of the housing, so I never had any of the internal wiring/leveling sockets apart. :scratchinghead

Mr Paul

02-06-2013, 06:39 AM

When I did this retrofit a few months ago, I did the passenger side first and then the driver's side. After I got the passenger side done I checked the functionality and I had no hi-beam on the new headlight. I rechecked my work and couldn't find any problems. But once I got the driver's side completed, BOTH high beams functioned as they should. I don't have any explanation as to why this could be because I reused the highbeam solenoid from my old headlights in the new ones. Perhaps when you complete the other side your auto-level functionality will return.

Hey Jon/All - One retrofit installed and looks good. High beams work, low beams work, but no auto-level at startup (either side - one old, one new). All four plugs are securely in the rear of the light, and everything inside the housing looks to be snug & secure. Anyone have any ideas? I can't believe that the auto-leveling sensor on the control arm would've taken this time to die on me...though stranger things have happened. Any ideas? Also, everything that I did for this retrofit I did from the back side without having to remove the front of the housing, so I never had any of the internal wiring/leveling sockets apart. :scratchinghead

brettbimmer

02-06-2013, 09:24 AM

When I did this retrofit a few months ago, I did the passenger side first and then the driver's side. After I got the passenger side done I checked the functionality and I had no hi-beam on the new headlight. I rechecked my work and couldn't find any problems. But once I got the driver's side completed, BOTH high beams functioned as they should. I don't have any explanation as to why this could be because I reused the highbeam solenoid from my old headlights in the new ones. Perhaps when you complete the other side your auto-level functionality will return.

Thank you for that information. Perhaps that is the issue here. I did not swap the solenoids from the brunt bowls as I didn't think we needed to (and hi-low beams are currently functioning fine for each). Guess I should try the other side modification first and see if it works with both lights running E90 solenoids & see if auto-leveling returns.

JupiterBMW

02-07-2013, 11:13 PM

Thank you for that information. Perhaps that is the issue here. I did not swap the solenoids from the brunt bowls as I didn't think we needed to (and hi-low beams are currently functioning fine for each). Guess I should try the other side modification first and see if it works with both lights running E90 solenoids & see if auto-leveling returns.

Hwy Brett. I already PMed you back, but I just had another thought. Being that you did everything from the back, possible that something is physically binding up the light inside?? An easy thing to check I would think.

brettbimmer

02-08-2013, 07:07 PM

Hwy Brett. I already PMed you back, but I just had another thought. Being that you did everything from the back, possible that something is physically binding up the light inside?? An easy thing to check I would think.

Thanks for the help Jon. How did you know that this is where the flux capacitor has been hiding all along? :innocent Well, I wish it was something that simple, but I don't think that anything could've been wedged inside as I was very, very careful to be sure that I didn't leave any tools or other parts behind. I even used compressed air to blow out any residual dirt/plastic grindings (from the two tiny alignment tabs on the back of the lens housing), and wiped down what I could with mircofiber.

One item that did give me cause for concern was that the base of the solenoid on the driver's side light came very, very close to the plastic tab inside the housing assembly - used to hold the wiring out of the way - but I did my best to modify the tab and be sure it wouldn't interfere. This was more of an issue on the driver's side light (which I swapped last), so I doubt that this is the cause here, as it should've moved freely when I had the new light in the passenger side and old one in the driver's side. Nonetheless, thanks for the help and ideas. Provided I have time tomorrow, I plan to investigate further, making sure that all of the components on the suspension parts are intact and operational as they should be. I will keep you posted.