one of the first stupid questions

[TonysX5er]

Hi fellow x5 owners, I just took delivery of my x5 a couple of months ago. I noticed that the xenon light wasn't as bright as I thought it would be, to make a long story short, I just wanna know in order to make it brighter would I have to buy a HID conversion kit or just buy a 6k ( I want pure white as my old car had it and I loved it) xenon bulb and replace with the oem stock xenon bulbs? I'm guessing its the latter but I just wanted to double check with you guys. (This is my first BMW by the way and I am loving it.) I asked my CA if it would void warrenty and he said no so I'm gonna take his word on it even though its an after market product. Anti flame suit on* ps. Thanks in advance for your help

[Denalio]

Which lights are you referring too? Headlights? If so, I find it hard to believe they are not bright enough. Perhaps they are faulty. Anyway, HID are sold by color temperature, 6K is not pure white it will have a blue tint to it. Generally, the higher the K rating the less light they give off. The X5 should be 4150K.

[TonysX5er]

Now that you mention it, it does seem a little bit blueish which I don't mind. And yes I was referring to the headlights, living in nyc, there seems to be a lot of potholes which I try not to go over but I still do. I don't mind the little ones, but the big ones are a hassle. I'm also planning to put in hid fog lights so see a lot better, I don't really use the adaptive headlights so the ignition ballast won't go bad that fast. So yea, I'm assuming that all I have to do is switch the bulb from oem to the 6k one, and ill try to get the hid fog lights at 6k also to match

[x5mad]

The oem hid should be very bright. 6k will give less light output. Is the headlight throw adjusted properly? Sometimes when the dealer does not prep the car properly they skip on making sure the headlight throw is aimed right. This was the case on my 135 and all it needed was a minute adjustment to aim the beam a little bit higher. I am not referring to automatic headlight throw, there are plastic screws under the bonnet near the headlights which you can turn to adjust the throw.

But I advise to do with a shop as even the slightest variance can blind on coming traffic

[poleposition]

TonyX5er, you seem to be confused with a higher color temperature equating to more light output. As others have told you here, this is not the case. The higher the color temp, the less actual light output you'll get. I also dont understand you not using the adaptive headlights that much. What exactly does that mean? If you drive the truck at night, why wouldnt you leave the switch in auto to take advantage of that feature that millions of people only wish they had? I will say this, putting HID's in the fogs will most certainly help you with pothole spotting. C's Bimmer put HID's in his fogs and it's truly a night and day difference, no pun intended. I myself installed the yellow 2500K fogs. Anything is better than stock

All the best

[TonysX5er]

yea i am really confused with these HID's stuff. But thanks for all your help