My 01 325XI has factory Xenon and no leveling feature.

 

I am not as knowledgeable on this subject as many others are and cannot describe how it would fit into an 02+ assembly since I am only familiar with 99-01. Generally, plug and play kits to my knowledge mean that you get the bulb (which being the same size as the halogen bulb may fit without any problems) and ballast and harness which allow it to be plugged directly up to the stock harnesses, no splicing or anything like that.

As far as the cut off, it depends on the projector/reflector. A unit built for halogen lights will never have the cut off that one built for HIDs will. With that said, some halogen assemblies turn out pretty good witha fairly crisp cut off and no hot spots or glare, whereas others look terribly when an HID kit is installed. Usually projectors fare much better than reflectors which makes me think that a 02+ with HIDs, whilst not being as good as if it had come stock, probably won't be too bad as far as light output and pattern.

 

I pretty much agree with this and will only add that it makes me chuckle to think that someone would buy a 911 and then install a $200 HID kit that would look more at home in the neighbor kid's Honda Civic with the fart muffler.

 

Is calling a dismantler an option?

 

get off your high horse dude, you talk like you own a damn carrera GT. you drive a 996 that competes in cost with a new S2000 which again doesn't have auto leveling which blinds the **** outta people. the snobbery is absolutely comedic/pathetic.

the '02-'04 non litronic cars come with the very same lenses as do the litronic units so if the bulb can sit pretty behind the lens, it's all good. and if you buy a kit that has OEM philips, hella, matu****a ballasts, it's again, all good.

 

 

No, I talk like someone that doesn't care for shortcuts. Go look at the C4S PPI that some guy posted a little earlier. I wouldn't touch that car with a ten foot pole, for the same reasons I'd only do a Litronic swap if it could be done properly.

That said, your term "competing in cost" means nothing, unless you think the 911 also competes with the Honda Pilot because you can get into one of each for the same price.

IOW, you're saying that the $200 eBay kits are as good as the Litronic package from Porsche. That's really all I need to hear from you...

 

never said that. bro, i know enough about HID setups and i too don't like the barney lights.

read what people write. i said explicitly so long as teh bulb and ballast are factory- sourced units (i even went so far to list brand names), and they sit behind a OEM projector lens like the '02 c4s this guy's got... it's ALL GOOD.

your whole point about auto leveling and headlight washers is all a bunch of internet bs hype which i take it upon myself to call out.

so get off your porsche snob podium and recognize that a civic has a bigger impact in this automotive world than your 911 ever will.

 

the civic has kept the crazy glue business afloat.

Honda's are good for what they are designed for. Solid reliable basic transportation. They are a great place for young guys to get creative on attaching wings and such. My era was the muscle cars. Its cool. Where it gets stupid is when the civic guy with the flying nun wings and an exhaust that you can craw through pulls up next to you on the freeways and tries to goat you into a street race. Making their pressure valve pop. They must work on their cars in the garage with the car on and the doors shut. At least when I had my 65 298 Mustang I was not foolish enough to try that with a 427 Chevy.

 

LOL yea but don't you think it's also foolish when you see these guys in $120K+ cars blasting past minivans and civics alike on shoulders and going on some silly 'run' across the country for the sake of what?

"judge not that ye be not judged" and i've seen some lame 911s on this very board so $ nor icon automobiles buys good taste nor sense.

 

Well, we agree on something, at least partially.

Ben, it's just different thresholds of "all good". Would the lighting engineers agree with you, or would they insist on designing the whole unit together? Personally, Ben Choi on the Internet assuring us that it's "ALL GOOD" isn't good enough for me, and I suspect it's not for a lot of other people, too.

As you said yourself, Ben, read what people write. I haven't mentioned headlight washers in this thread (forum?). I HAVE mentioned that almost every place but the US requires some parts that people tend to leave out of aftermarket HID installs. Just because the *US* doesn't require it doesn't mean it shouldn't be considered--the US isn't exactly at the top of their game when it comes to regulations like this.

I sometimes worry that I mention my '95 Miata too much on the Porsche forum (off topic...). Also, I've made no secret of the fact that I don't consider a proper HID swap to be worth the price of entry when you're dealing with a $30k car, hence the stock halogen setup in my car. If those sound like the actions of a Porsche snob, you go right ahead and believe it.

OTOH, some might argue that changing rims like some people change pants is at least as snobbish as pointing out that there's a right way and a wrong way to get HID headlights in your car.

 

ben: yes, only fools "race" on public roads.

 

in your mk1 996, it costs ... $1k to swap out for the OEM litronic setup? plug and play? it's an absolute must since there is a factory option and since it's so easy to do and because the nonHID setup is so damn ugly since it's literally the same lighting setup as my '99 jeep cherokee.

for the mk2, it comes with projector lenses. it looks the same so if that philips D2s bulb mated with some oem sourced ballast can plug and play for less than $500, it's completely worth it esp in light of the $4K it costs to get the factory setup.

so to castigate those in this thread because they're seeking out a solution and people like me who would only accept 4300K philips bulbs with whatever hella/matsu****a ballast is... complete hairsplitting.

ain't nobody going to know the diff and ain't no legal enforcer going to discern anything to fine any one of us who may choose to go this route.

P.S. I'm a big fan of the older, lighter miatas. so nimble, so well balanced, I remember driving my mom's MX-5 fully loaded top down when i was in HS blasting hootie and the blowfish thru the excellent sound system. great memories.

 

Here's what Todd Strong said who runs the retro site you referred us to:

There are two things you can do:
1) Use a high quality HID conversion kit to replace the halogen bulbs. Since it is a projector design, it is likely not to have any resulting glare, and I believe they take H7 bulbs? H7 usually have excellent results as conversions. You may consider one of these:
www.retro-solutions.com/DIGITAL.html
www.retro-solutions.com/55watthighoutput.html

2)You could have the halogen projectors replaced completely with OEM xenon projectors and do the same with D2S kit (either OEM or once again aftermarket). To be perfectly honest, our DIGITAL kits are a lifetime warranty product, which we can't say for used or new OEM equipment. The DIGITAL actually perform better than our OE matsu****a ballasts as far as efficiency and run-up power is considered! We do carry philips bulbs, but not Hella ballasts anymore. The Hella ballasts have a serious design flaw in that they leak in water and corrode until they fail or just plain short out.

Todd Strong, Retro-Solutions, LLC

Please check out our friends:
www.high-intensity.org/forums
www.dc5nation.com
www.importcartalk.com


I'm still not clear what the heck he's saying... whether it fits the C4S setup or not and what the heck a digital kit is. the price seems too good to be true as one HID bulb from philips costs $150.

 

Yeah, we're going to just have to agree to disagree. I do have to mention that I saw your comments in the other thread about the PPI on that gray C4S, specifically when you say that when there's something "not right", it bothers you. I couldn't agree more, and I'll readily admit that part of my problem with the leaving the leveling system out is that in my head it's just technically "not right".

I currently have curb rash on two of my rims (from previous owner); I can't even get into the car without noticing the marks, though no one else has ever even mentioned them.

+1

I don't drive the car much but it's got so many good memories and it's worth so little that I keep it around. Maybe we've come full circle on this topic, because I'd love to make it a track car, but can't bear the thought of hacking it up because it's a '95 M-edition, one of the rarest models with the lightweight BBS rims and model-specific seats.