[boostedbusa]

The adaptive lights have proven to be something I no longer want. Between the failure rate and the high cost to repair....I'm done with them. So my question is how do I go about swapping in non adaptive? Is it just a matter of swapping in new headlight housings and lights then code it, or is it more in depth? If there is already a thread on this I apologize, I have searched for a while before posting this and came up with nothing.


Thanks in advance for any help.

[MORTON]

Originally Posted by boostedbusa

The adaptive lights have proven to be something I no longer want. Between the failure rate and the high cost to repair....I'm done with them. So my question is how do I go about swapping in non adaptive? Is it just a matter of swapping in new headlight housings and lights then code it, or is it more in depth? If there is already a thread on this I apologize, I have searched for a while before posting this and came up with nothing.


Thanks in advance for any help.

Yikes I have no idea man.. what seems to be the issue with yours? They are very expensive to repair so I've heard on here.. I noticed the other day that my DRL turn off during the day not sure if the previous owner coded that out but him being old I doubt it..

[boostedbusa]

Mine have failed twice and it's not a daily driver. So I've decided to get rid of them all together and just go HID. Now before I get flamed I know when working properly the adaptive headlights are a safety feature, but I've been driving for many, many years without them so I don't really need them lol.

[WilliamS]

Originally Posted by boostedbusa

Mine have failed twice and it's not a daily driver. So I've decided to get rid of them all together and just go HID. Now before I get flamed I know when working properly the adaptive headlights are a safety feature, but I've been driving for many, many years without them so I don't really need them lol.

I hear ya man! I understand the benefit, but not a requirement to drive! There are a million things lately people must have that haven't existed in the billions of cars that have been built before it. Im the Auto business and man its annoying when a 40 year old man must have a power adjustable lift gate, or it must have a parking curb sensor.

[Asianoak]

So glad to see your post. I've been wondering about the same thing, we'll sort of. I don't want to actually get rid of mine by I typically keep my headlights in the off position and manually turn them off and on. I got in the habit of this in my Z after reading that the auto on headlights can shorten the lifespan of xenons due to short on off periods when going through tunnels in the day and things like that. Figured with BMWs stellar reliability rating with all things electrical I better be safe than sorry. Seems like by doing this I may be losing out on other features too though. So if there is a way to code them out I'd love to know... Or maybe a fuse like the headlight washers?

[BeastMode335i]

I actually kinda like the Adaptive feature, that's crappy that you're having issues..

[CrippledLucifer]

Strange, I kind of wish I had them on my car but reading up on the issues makes me kind of happy mine are standard non-adaptive xenons.

I do however hate how narrow the lighting cone is on the front of the car when compared to other cars which is probably a problem not noticed by those who have adaptive headlights.

[Squark]

Originally Posted by MORTON

Yikes I have no idea man.. what seems to be the issue with yours? They are very expensive to repair so I've heard on here.. I noticed the other day that my DRL turn off during the day not sure if the previous owner coded that out but him being old I doubt it..

You can turn the DRLs on and off in the settings using the turn signal stalk. I don't have iDrive, so the setting might be somewhere else with it.

[MORTON]

Originally Posted by Squark

You can turn the DRLs on and off in the settings using the turn signal stalk. I don't have iDrive, so the setting might be somewhere else with it.

I did not know this thanks man!

[VTECaddict]

You can just code out the adaptive feature instead of swapping headlights.

[ny325]

Pothole took out both xenon. Replacement cost was $3,500. $1,300 per plus install. Thank god my insurance covered the cost.

[Supra2k6]

you can code them out without swapping headlights.

[Needbmwpartzz]

Adaptive lights are a cleverly marketed safety feature that I believe aren't that significantly better to HIDs in overall performance,so I would not want this feature on a car out of warranty as if anything goes wrong it's just another system within a multitude of other complex systems that will fail leaving you to foot the bill.
Sometimes simpler is better......however if your one that sells a car once the warrant is up or just don't care about maintenance costs,the adaptive lights are of little consequence and may be the safety feature that keeps you safe and sound.
Happy motoring guys,girls

[boostedbusa]

So I can just put in HIDs and get it coded is what your saying?

[Herakles]

Originally Posted by ny325

Pothole took out both xenon. Replacement cost was $3,500. $1,300 per plus install. Thank god my insurance covered the cost.

wow what year vehicle?

[boostedbusa]

That's any of the models that have adaptive headlights. Those suckered are costly

[alfazrus]

What exactly goes wrong with these headlights? I've driving my car with the headlights on auto position since I bought it and never touched it for 2.5 years. I've been hitting potholes hard left and right here in DC, nothing. How could you lose both xenons with a pothole? When you say pothole took both xenons, what exactly happened that you needed new headlights? You can get them from several vendors brand new for about $ 1300 for both. Here and from overseas. Maybe I should consider myself lucky not having problems with them yet (knock on wood).

[boostedbusa]

Your very lucky, from what I've read a lot of issues. I can only speak from my experience though, mine just up and stopped working twice now

[AllBlackBimmer]

Is there any preventative maintenace or a way to open them up and re-grease or lube them? I'm actually not exactly sure of the mechanics, but assume there is some grease or something that dries up or fails,after,years,of,the car being used? Maybe I'm wrong?

Say they do "break"... Can you manually re-aim them and code the feature out and still have the OEM xenons?

I have adaptive xenons and plan on keeping my car for years to come...

[buzzard]

Some of the people on here think you're talking about the headlights automatically coming on when it gets dark outside. If you're talking about just disabling the function that causes the xenons to move left/right, up/down, you can simply remove the control unit (not to be confused with the larger ballast) and then the headlights will stay where you set them. There are adjustment screws easily accessed to adjust the aim. Removing the control unit will not cause an error in my experience and you can access the control unit by loosening the fender liner and pulling it back. The control unit looks like this.

[buzzard]

If you're set on replacing the adaptive lights with the lower cost HID headlights, I'm fairly sure you will only need coding.

[arlovarri]

what about just turning your headlight control to the right which just uses the regular non-swiveling low beams with high beams available using the stalk? on my car the left-right swivel adaptive fanciness only happens when I turn the control to the left. I only use that feature on particularly twisty country roads, the rest of the time I find regular low beam more than adequate. My car has no DRL enabled and due to the July 05 build date it's only dealer programable so I have complete manual control of what lighting I use. Maybe your car is different ?