higher wattage full beam bulbs

[dan0235]

can a 94 525td handle higher wattage (100 to 130w) bulbs in the full beam, or am i gonna fry the wiring,
i do a lot of country road driving, on the way back from work, and don't want to upgrade my driving lights (i don't like getting flashed all the time by oncomming trafic who think i've got full beam on around town) but for the amount of traffic i see on these country roads, i think going bongo on the full beam would be ok,
anyone have any ideas
thanks, dan

[Brandon J]

You can put slightly higher wattage bulbs, but 100+ watts is too much. If you are in need of good low or high beams, there are some very reasonable HID kits out there like the 6k or 5k kit from here: http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZzgperformance

Don't worry I have no affiliation with him, just purchased this kit earlier this year and it is great. I have heard from other e34 owners that have used this kit with good results. After the price of some bulbs out there, the price can run over $100 for both bulbs. Then they have a lower service life. This might be a bery good option, no cutting or splicing, no check light as it has a relay, you can get replacement bulbs, compared to halogen longer service life, and if they do go bad, it is very easy to use the regular bulbs as all you do is unplug the HID kit.

Just a word of advice for you or anyone out there, pitted headlights do emit a lot of less light and focused light. Sometimes all you need is a new plastic headlight for the brighter results you need. If you or anyone do decide on using HIDs, they also perform very well with new headlights/lenses.

Good luck.

[Qube]

Avoid McCulloch kits. They are actually quite poor quality compared to others of the same price. Trust me. I bought a batch of McCulloch (and other brands) to test. Furthermore, the McCulloch kits have the ballast and ignitor separate. Anyway... It's your money but do go do some research and decide for yourself

Oh, and if you DO go HID for the high beams, you'll lose the ability to 'flash' people. Well technically you can, but it's harsh on the bulbs.

[Brandon J]

So, then what are the suggestions? What is your experience?

Avoid McCulloch kits. They are actually quite poor quality compared to others of the same price. Trust me. I bought a batch of McCulloch (and other brands) to test. Furthermore, the McCulloch kits have the ballast and ignitor separate. Anyway... It's your money but do go do some research and decide for yourself

Oh, and if you DO go HID for the high beams, you'll lose the ability to 'flash' people. Well technically you can, but it's harsh on the bulbs.

[Eric540i]

I replaced the standard 55watters with some 100watters but kept blowing fuses. I 'upgraded' the fuses from 7.5amp to 10amp and this appeared to solve the problem but I wasn't comfortable with the idea so I pulled out the 100w bulbs and returned everything to stock.
Regardless I noted very little difference in brightness between the stock 55w setup and 100w alternatives - despite trying both some 'conventional' and 'Xenon' effect 100w bulbs bought on eBay.

I've noted that 55w 'Super White Xenon' or 'Cool Blue' H1 bulbs made by Phillips and Osram that claim 30-50% more brightness (and are road legal - in Europe) can be had for as little as €13 (in Germany).

[Zeuk in Oz]

I use a 55 W Phillips bulb in my E34 and they are great.

I had a problem with my F250 as its stock lights were terrible. My auto sparkie rewired the lights and installed relays so that I now run 90/100 W headlights. What a difference !

He explained that just adding higher wattage bulbs wouldn't have helped as the wiring was too thin - needed beefing up first.

[shogun]

can a 94 525td handle higher wattage (100 to 130w) bulbs

Yes, maybe 5 minutes, then your wires are melted and maybe the reflectors too. I had 100 W bulbs inside and they melted wires and reflectors.

[Jon K]

I have Phillips HIDs from www.lavalighting.com I have H1 euro projectors with 6000k bulbs.

[Chris'91'525i]

I use a 55 W Phillips bulb in my E34 and they are great.
I had a problem with my F250 as its stock lights were terrible. My auto sparkie rewired the lights and installed relays so that I now run 90/100 W headlights. What a difference !
He explained that just adding higher wattage bulbs wouldn't have helped as the wiring was too thin - needed beefing up first.

Good move on the relays. They are mandatory if using higher than stock bulbs. With the stock wiring and light switch trying to carry the increased load, bad things will happen.

Just adding relays with stock bulbs will have a noticable increase in light output, as the bulbs get full voltage from the battery with no volt drop, as you would get in the stock headlight curcuit.
The relays carry the load , and the stock headlight curcuit is now just basically a switching curcuit to the relays. The headlight switch can now be just a switch and not carry all the Amperage it would with no relays.
I did it to my BMW motorcycle, and was amazed at what just the relays did with the stock H4 bulb. Switched to a Osram Silverstar and boosted up light output even higher.
I'll get around to doing it on the 525i, one of these days.

[Dash01]

Assuming you wanted to stay with the stock fuses and wiring (to avoid overload problems and melting), but just wanted more light to see, what are the best 55W bulbs to use?

Specifically, what street legal bulbs put out the most/best light in 55w capacity?