I thougt "standard" Xenon's colour temperature was ~4700 K or roughly that of sunlight, while halogens were coming in at ~3500 K, so quite naturally red signs will look warmer. But more natural? No. I think what you see as brown is actually the correct "red" but in low lighting conditions. Unless you point the full beam at them, 35W of light cannot compare with the big bulb in the sky...

 

After you drive around in a car equiped with HID, the halogen equiped cars feel like the lights are not even on.

 

I would recommend xenons everytime. I had them on my first E60 530d without the adaptive option and now have them with the adaptive option. I would however say the adaptive option is just for fun and not essential.

Its interesting to hear what you say about the X5 lights as we also have an X5 with non-xenon lights and they are just superb. Never tried a non-zenon E60.

 

I owe you a big thanks Rudy for pointing me to the 2004 thread on this issue. I adjusted the white nylon adjusters tonight a full 2 revolutions anti-clockwise and the height on the garage door raised quite a lot. Thought I may have overdone it so took it for a test drive tonight on a mixture of main lit roads and small country unlit and winding roads.

The difference was absolutely amazing, so much so that i hardly needed the full beam although that was even better than better! Passed may oncoming cars and not one flashed me so think I'm safe to assume they are not dazzling other motorists. Still will keep the allen keys in the car in case I need to do a quick adjust on route.

Must have been set very low at the factory for me to need to adjust 2 turns to get it right..!

Thanks again for this - I can now enjoy my drive home from work now that it is dark by mid afternoon and the clocks have just gone back one hour last weekend.

David

 

You're welcome, glad I was able to help -- just be careful you're not blinding others -- I realize nobody is flashing you which is probably good...

 

thanks for this thread...I've always tought mine were a bit low ..and after lowering my car it feels even lower. I'll have to try this fix

 

I have it, and I can't live without it.
.... because most the 30,000+ Japanese car comes with it standard. How can I drive a 60,000 car without one.

 

you can`t relly say that because the mini and lexus has peddel shift dose that mean you need peddel shift in you E60

 

I seem to be very much in the minority, but I actually prefer halogen lamps to Xenon, without taking into account the cost of the option. I have driven many BMs, Mercs and Audis at night with and without Xenon or Bi-Xenon lamps. I found that for the majority of routes I take at night the halogens offer a greater contrast between the road and kerb or grass verge. Xenons tend to turn mud a shade of grey that blends nicely into the road. Signs are also sometimes funny colours, although not a problem it is rather disconcerting to find familiar items appearing so different. When I first had Xenons on a car I raved about them until I realised that I actually didn't like them. Neither of my current cars have been specified with Xenon lamps (not on the grounds of cost) and neither give me any cause for complaint in terms of lighting.

For the E60 there are options that are far more worthy recipients of your cash than Xenons. I would specify the M-Sport pack and Comfort seats way above Xenons. The only real advantage exists for UK residents as most Xenons can be easily tilted to dip on the right for driving in mainland Europe.

I have my Fireman's helmet and asbestos underpants on. Flame away......

 

I agree, my last car had Xenons and my current car hasn't. Dont really miss them.