I was driving my moms X5 a few nights ago, and as i was coming up the hill to my subdivision, a squirrel ran out infront of the car, so i hit the brakes, and noticed that as i did, the headlights tilted up, so then i tried again, and played around for a little...I knew the car has self-leveling Xenons, but did not know it was a constant self-leveling system...in other words....hit the gas, and the lights tilt down, brakes = up....up hill, the lights aim down, down hill they aim up....you get the idea....

Does anyone know how this works, and if it is something which can be transplanted?

If it is a ballast with a level of some sort, can that be removed and placed in the S??

Thanks,
John

The reason i brought this up is because 8 people flashed me tonight in the S on my way home....it was a 10 minute drive!!!

 

nope sorry to tell you can't be done to the US cars the Euro cars and jdm s2000's do have self leveling. i myself have an X5 4.4i. it basicly works like this. there is a little level inside the headlights with senors in it. it has liquid inside the housing, when the liquid moves one way the lights move to compensate and same the other way. the thing is that is considered old tech on the bmw's and most high end cars. the new age ones are called bi-xenons in terms meaning not only does the light adjust up and down but it also move left to right when you turn the wheel to compansate for the car turning. the result being you light up the road where you are turning too.the only bmw's to have that right now is the new 7 serious and the m3. my 911 twin turbo has this too but its called bi-litronic. where all the other porsche just have litronic . hope this helps

 

Yeah, I get that all the time. Just flash them back then they feel dumb I have fun with it

 

Ehhh...it's passed DOT as far as safety. I've thought about this time after time and think that it wouldn't be worth it...even though it can be done. Plus with the movement of the headlights, driving at night is a helluva lot more fun - seems faster too on the backroads.

 

Actualy I think most BMW's now have the BI Zenon. I work for bmw and so i'm pretty up to date. The vision with the headlights is great although I have notice plenty of people being blinded by them. I think the adjusting sytem is either to sensitive or something.

 

Aus S's have self level but it's not active. It just senses the level of the car when you start and adjusts to that.

One owner I know has cut into the servo control and has the ability to manually adjust his lights. Stops him being flashed by angry drivers.

 

thats awesome ausS2000.....can you find out how he did that, maybe Rick can come up with something?!?!

The nice thing about the bi-xenons are that the Highbeams are also xenon...if you pull the lever back, it is regular highs, if you push it away, the xenons are the highbeams...my friend with an 02 m3 does that to me sometimes, and its bright as hell~!

 

oh yeah....ours here in the us are also self leveling on startup...all xenons are, acura, honda, bmw, mb, nissan, etc...

 

???
Can you explain?

 

if you look at the lights when you turn them on....they kind of flicker up-down-up or something to that effect, just a self level/check system....most if not all xenons have them