I'm on my second r56 and I've never been pleased with the headlights, especially when its dark and rainy, I get very poor illumination from the stock halogens. I'm not looking to drop $100+ on a whole set of new lights, but I was wondering if getting new bulbs makes any noticeable difference.

I've seen a lot of conflicting info on this, some saying get this brand and some saying it doesn't do much or that brand burns out quickly (but no one ever gives an actual time frame) etc etc. I also don't want to deal with my car yelling at me that a light is malfunctioning because of different wattage bulb. So is there anything I can do that will actually make a difference?

I know some people recommended checking headlight tilt, I doubt this is the problem, its more of a brightness issue not a distance issue. But how do I check this. I know the answer is to park against a wall at night but what are the measurements I should be looking for, distance from wall and height of headlight cut off?

 

I used Sylvania Silverstar Ultras before going to my current DEPO projectors. They definitely lit the road better with the stock halogen housings, but nothing like I have now with the OPT7 HID kit in the DEPO projectors.

 

I've used Sylvania Silverstar Ultras and they are brighter, but they have a life of only 250 hours. Mine burned out within a couple of years.

 

I use Silverstar as well and have then in most of my cars .... I replace the stock bulbs soon after I get a car when it has hal's. I can't say they are the 'best', but I tried 'em in my 2002 and the improvement was significant so I've been happy with them .... and they are easy to find in any decent parts store, even WallyWorld.

I guess I don't use my headlights much tho, as I can't recall one ever needing to be replaced.

warning tho ... I've seen a couple of cars where the headlight housing was damaged because too hot of a bulb was tried ..... housing and internal wiring cooked and was damaged. I've never had this problem with Silverstar .....

 

Silverstars are a little better. My first R56 had the halogens and the headlight brightness always bothered me, so I know how you feel. I wouldn't be able to get another one without Xenons.

 

so is there a way to convert to HID without housing change, like to use LED's but keep the housing. what kit do i need? i am also running silverstars but need better lighting.
thx

 

My PIAA's make a huge difference. Not as good as factory HID's but pretty close. I've had them in for about 1 1/2 years now about 27,000mi.
They are good enough that I'm not considering the factory HID conversion