On the flip side, as I found out, constantly having to use your strong hand (typically at night and in the freezing cold...) to replace yet another cheap blown bulb is not my idea of a good time.
Finding the right bulb is not quite as obvious as you might think though, there are more than 10 different variants of E46 headlights, produced by multiple manufacturers, with several bulb types and bulb colours.
Read on to make sure you get the best bulb for you and your 3 series, you'll also find out everything you need to know (and a whole lot more) about your E46's headlights!
This post contains affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.
Post Contents
This post is crammed full of info, so to help you get straight to the info you're after just click one of the headings below.
If you're really in a rush though, you can skip right to my recommended bulbs here, although I really do recommend having a read through the full article, just to make sure you get the right bulbs first time round.
- Halogen or Xenon?
- Headlight Beam Angle Adjust
- What's the Difference Between Xenon and Bi-Xenon?
- Bosch vs AL vs ZKW Headlights
- FAQs
- Bulb Colour Temperature Chart
- Bulb Colour FAQs
- E46 Headlight Removal
- Branded Bulbs are the Best
- Osram Bulb Colour Coding Guide
- The Best Replacement E46 Headlight Bulbs
- FAQs
Halogen or Xenon?
Before buying a replacement, you'll need to determine which E46 headlight bulb you need. To do that, you need to know which bulb technology your car has. There are two types of headlight bulb technology used on the E46 3 series, halogen and xenon projector.
Xenon projector headlights were an optional extra and replaced the standard halogen outer low / high beam bulb only. There were two types of xenon headlights, single and bi-xenon. You can tell if your E46 has xenon headlights by looking at the outer headlight to see if it has the spherical glass projector lens, if both your lights look the same, you have halogen.
Note: I've read in a few places that facelift E46 coupe's could be spec'd with projector lenses and halogen bulbs, but I haven't been able to 100% confirm it yet, let me know in the comments if you can confirm!
Headlight Beam Angle Adjust
If you have xenon headlights, you won't have the headlight levelling control on your Light Control Module (LCM) as shown below. Instead you'll just have a blank, as all E46 xenon headlights are auto levelling.
If you've got halogen headlights, you should be aware of how to correctly set the beam angle when carrying different cargo. Using the scroll wheel on the LCM adjust it as follows:
- 0 / 1 = 1 or 2 occupants without luggage
- 1 / 2 = 5 occupants with luggage
- 2 / 2 = 1 occupant, luggage compartment full
- *The number after the / should be used when towing.
What's the Difference Between Xenon and Bi-Xenon?
Firstly, let me explain how xenon headlights actually work. When turned on, a high electric voltage across two electrodes sparks and ignites an arc. The arc is what provides the intense light source, for a halogen bulb the filament provides the light source. Arcing charges the mixture of noble gas and metallic vapour in the quartz glass sleeve of the bulb. A lower voltage is then used to maintain the arc. It takes roughly 15 seconds for the bulb to reach maximum brightness (although it's plenty bright enough straight away).
So, what's the difference between xenon and bi-xenon then?
Xenon, or sometimes referred to as single xenon lights, only provide low beam light. High beam light is provided by the standard inner halogen bulbs.
Bi-Xenon lights provide both low and high beam light output. When you toggle the light stalk on your steering column to turn on high beam, there is a physical movement within the headlight that changes the light output to use the xenon bulb as high beam and low beam.
If you have an E46 with a build date after 09/2001, and you have a line through the middle of your projector lens, you should have Bi-Xenon headlights.
Bosch vs AL vs ZKW Headlights
As I mentioned in the intro, there are multiple different manufacturers of E46 headlights, Bosch, AL and ZKW Group.
To find out which manufacturer produced your headlight, there are a couple of things you can check.
Check 1 - Lens Logo
First is to find the little brand logo moulded into the lens.
Note: I have seen some early cars without a logo (or perhaps the logo is hidden from sight, let me know in the comments below).
Pre-Facelift (Pre-LCI)
On the earlier pre-facelift E46's, the brand logo is in the middle of the headlight lens just above the power wash cap.
Facelift (LCI)
Here's what the AL logo looks like on a facelift saloon headlight, the ZKW headlight has the logo in the same place. (If anyone has a photo I can use hit me up in the comments below, I've been searching every where for a car with the ZKW lights).
Compact
And finally, the E46 Compact logo is located on the directional indicator lens, right on the inboard lower corner.
Check 2 - Info Sticker Colour
Second, you can check the info sticker on the top of the headlight. An AL headlight will have a yellow sticker, and the ZKW has a white / silver sticker. Don't be confused by the smaller yellow High Voltage warning sticker on the xenon lights though, this is yellow on both AL and ZKW.
FAQs
AL vs ZKW - Which E46 headlights are the best?
Time to open up a tin of worms... There is a LOT of debate on this subject across the various owner's forums. Supposedly, the ZKW xenon lenses are better, as they are clearer, but the metallic finish on their projector bowls isn't as good, discolouring with the heat from the bulb.
The best combination appears to be AL outer clear lens, AL projector bowl and ZKW projector lens, but you'll need to do some splicing and retrofitting to get this set up.
Have you got a better set up? Let us know in the comments below!
Bulb Colour Temperature Chart
Not all bulbs emit the same colour light, for headlights they typically lie somewhere between a warm yellowish white (traditional halogen bulbs) and cool blueish white (modern xenon bulbs).
A bulb's colour is specified in Kelvin (K), the base unit of temperature. Conversely to logic, the higher the Kelvin number of a bulb, the cooler the bulb colour is.
| Colour | Colour Temperature (K) | Comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Orange | 1700K | Match Flame |
| Orange | 1850K | Candle Flame |
| Yellow | 2700K | Incandesant Light Bulb |
| Yellow | 3000K | Household Warm White Bulb |
| White - Yellow Tint | 4300K | Household Cool White Bulb |
| Pure White | 5000K | Noon Daylight |
| White - Blue Tint | 6000K | Daylight Overcast |
| Light Blue | 8000K | Light Blue Sky |
| Blue | 10000K | Blue Sky |
If you want to remain squeaky clean with the law, according to The [UK] Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations, headlights should be white or yellow i.e. 3000K to 5000K. That said, most new cars are fitted with 6000K bulbs without a problem. I wouldn't recommend going any higher than 6000K though, not only does it look daft (#sorrynotsorry), you'll just get unwanted attention from the Fuzz.
FAQ's
I want to match my OEM E46 bulbs, which colour bulbs should I get?
If you want to retain an OEM look for your E46, your best bet is to go 3700K for halogen and 4350K for xenon bulbs. It's tricky to get an exact match as each manufacturer is slightly different.
I want yellow headlight bulbs, which colour bulbs should I get?
Even though it's not my cup of tea, a lot of people love the yellow headlight look, it's common place in the Euro, French and JDM scenes. If that's for you, go for 3000K bulbs.
I want bulbs with a blue tint, what colour bulbs do I need?
If you want a modern look, crisp white with a blue tint, you need to go for 6000K.
Is 8000K brighter than 6000K?
No, 6000K is brighter, the further from pure white light (5000K) you get, the more light wavelengths are filtered to give the light it's colour e.g., blue tones are filtered out to give a 3000K bulb it's yellow colour.
E46 Headlight Removal
If you need to remove your headlight for any reason, you can follow my step by step guide in this post - E46 Headlight Removal Guide.
If you haven't got the headlight power wash function it's dead simple, even if you have it's just a little bit more fiddly but, it's definitely something that the home mechanic can do.
I had to replace my RHS headlight due to an auto levelling failure, which is what the article centres around initially, just scroll down to the removal guide.
Branded Bulbs are the Best
You'll notice I've only recommended Osram and Philips options for each bulb type. There are a few of reasons for this;
- The OEM bulbs, used by BMW, were either Osram or Philips
- I've had very good experience with bulbs from these two manufacturers
- I upgraded my 330d to Osram Night Breaker bulbs
- and my Audi S5 to Philips Crystal Vision fog light bulbs
- I've bought many cheap bulbs before and they've all blown in a few months...Buy cheap, buy twice
I'm sure there are other great bulb options out there - leave a comment below if you have a recommendation! - but I'm only comfortable recommending bulbs to you guys from manufacturers I trust and have personally used myself.
One brand I've seen mentioned as reliable is Twenty20, if you've got experience with using them I'd love to hear your feedback, drop me a message in the comments below.
Osram Bulb Colour Coding Guide
INNOVATION - Latest LED technology: Lamps and fixtures for a modern look.
PERFORMANCE - More brightness: Luminous intensity and maximum light output.
DESIGN - Stylish light: Modern look due to bluish-white light.
COMFORT - Longer lifetime: Drive more, exchange less.
ORIGINAL - Original spare part: Lamps with proven OEM quality.
The Best Replacement E46 Headlight Bulbs
| Bulb Type | Colour Temperature (K) |
Purchase Link (Amazon) |
|---|---|---|
| Xenon - D2S | 4350K | Osram Xenarc Night Breaker Unlimited |
| 4500K | Osram Xenarc Night Breaker Laser | |
| 4600K | Philips X-tremeVision 85122XVS2 | |
| 6000K | Osram Xenarc Cool Blue Intense | |
| Halogen - H7 | 3700K | Philips X-tremeVision 12972XVS2 |
| 3700K | Philips RacingVision 12972RVS2 | |
| 3750K | Osram Night Breaker Laser | |
| 4200K | Osram Cool Blue Intense | W5W - 501 | 4000K | Osram Cool Blue Intense |
| 6000K | Osram LED Premium Retrofit | |
| 4500K | Philips WhiteVision Xenon Effect | |
| 6000K | Philips X-tremeUltinon LED |
FAQs
Can I replace just the blown bulb, or do I have to buy a set?
Yes, if you've got halogen bulbs just replace the blown one.
No, if you've got xenon bulbs it's recommended to replace both sides at the same time, even if only one bulb has blown.
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That concludes the article for now, as I learn more and new products become available I'll keep it continually up-to-date. I really hope you enjoyed this post, if you did and would like to see more articles like this, let me know in the comments below. Can you add anything to make the post even more complete? Let me know in the comments below!
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Stay tuned for plenty more content to come!
1 Comments
You can get retrofit kits from Retrofitlab.com for the burned ZKW and AL projectors.
ReplyDeleteand you can retrofit projectors in the origional halogen headlights.
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