E46 Xenon bulb gone- £130 to replace!

[sparks_E46]

So I had one of my (oem) Xenon headlight bulbs fail today. Went to Halfords hoping to pick up a pair and fit myself. Expected to pay about £30/£40. They want £41 per bulb and would not let my purchase them myself. They insisted they fitted them and wanted £130 all in. I haven’t had it done. There must be a cheaper way?

I assume it’s not the ballast, the bulb went a purple colour for an hour or so then finally died and triggered the warning on the dash.

Edited by sparks_E46 on Saturday 20th October 17:19

[sparks_E46]

Cheers! BMW suggest they are not DIY. I’m not too handy with the spanners, is it doable?

[sparks_E46]

d_a_n1979 said:

They're talking ste Just want to rip you off

I and a lot of folk use the Lunex ones; they're very good:

D1S: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lunex-Headlight-Xenon-Rep...
D2S: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lunex-Headlight-Xenon-Rep...

Not sure which ones you need; but I've used both in my current E65 and previous E39s and they're superb bulbs, not cheap eBay specials and give out a very good light indeed

If you want to pay more; the best option IMO are the Osram ones:

D2S Osram: https://www.amazon.co.uk/XENARC-BREAKER-UNLIMITED-...
D1S Osram: https://www.amazon.co.uk/XENARC-INTENSE-discharge-...

I’ve ordered the DS2’s. I think they are the right ones, no one seems to know! Cheers

[sparks_E46]

Collectingbrass said:

Are you sure it's just the bulb that's gone? Have you swopped them over to confirm the control unit modules and ballasts are still working. See http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=AM52-... for locations & part numbers and here for a DIY https://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/techarticles/BMW-...

Well the bulb went a purple pink colour for a short time before eventually dying so hopefully it’s just the bulb.

[sparks_E46]

Well the cheap bulbs work a treat and are very good at night. Went for 6000k and they seem much improved, but not bright enough to look like a tt. Cheers for the recommendation

[sparks_190e]

dhutch said:

d_a_n1979 said:

I and a lot of folk use the Lunex ones; they're very good:
D2S: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lunex-Headlight-Xenon-Rep...

If you want to pay more; the best option IMO are the Osram ones:
D2S Osram: https://www.amazon.co.uk/XENARC-BREAKER-UNLIMITED-...

sparks_E46 said:

Well the cheap bulbs work a treat and are very good at night. Went for 6000k and they seem much improved, but not bright enough to look like a tt. Cheers for the recommendation

Is that the Lunex ones? Still going going well a year on?
Not looking for anything over blue, just OEM spec and look.

Finally getting around to this (cant believe it's been a year), as while they usually still work fine it is getting gradually worse and also have started to fill up with damp, so for £100 ive manage to get a new-old-stock headlight unit of ebay to save messing around trying to re-seal it.

Daniel

I sold the E46 in June and they were still going strong.