BMW WARRANTY DOES HEADLAMP BULB CHANGE INVALIDATE WARRANTY?

[MerrickCampbell]

I read this month's RIDE headlamp survey and immediately bought Philips extreme Zenon gas filled H7 bulbs for my 1200 GS. They promise 80% better brightness! If I had any electrical problems, could BMW argue my warranty is invalid? Any comments would be appreciated.
PS. I was so keen on the brightness, I bought another 2 sets for my BMW car and today the BMW main dealer advised me not to fit them as it would invalidate my warranty and if the control unit were damaged, that could cost me over £1,000.
I hope changing headlamp bulbs would be unlikely to cause such a disaster but any technically minded people giving me their opinion would be great. Maybe the main dealer just didn't like me not spending money with them!

 

[Beemerman59]

Not unless you break something in the process of changing the bulbs. You won't damage anything replacing an H7 with an H7.

 

[Bear]

The whole point of these bulbs (Philips, Halfords, whoever else sells them) is that they are electrically and mechanically identical to the originals. The two things to worry about are how much ultra-violet light the bulb emits as it's alleged to damage plastic headlights, and how long they last. I fitted Halford's superbright bulbs which were better than standard but didn't last long, although neither does any other bulb. I wouldn't worry about it as long as the bulbs you fitted are 55 watt H7s and not the 100 watt version sold for off road use only.

 

[MerrickCampbell]

headlamp bulb change and warranty

Not unless you break something in the process of changing the bulbs. You won't damage anything replacing an H7 with an H7.

Thanks BM bike dealers are a nicer bunch than some of the Car dealers. I wll do the change on the bike and car. As you say I am changing an H7 for an H7.

 

[MerrickCampbell]

headlamp bulb change and warranty

The whole point of these bulbs (Philips, Halfords, whoever else sells them) is that they are electrically and mechanically identical to the originals. The two things to worry about are how much ultra-violet light the bulb emits as it's alleged to damage plastic headlights, and how long they last. I fitted Halford's superbright bulbs which were better than standard but didn't last long, although neither does any other bulb. I wouldn't worry about it as long as the bulbs you fitted are 55 watt H7s and not the 100 watt version sold for off road use only.

Thanks I am happy to change them on the bike and car now I have had a couple of replies. yes they are the 55 watt ones.

 

[littleredrooster]

You'd do better to convert to HIDs. Best mod I've ever made to a bike.

 

[GSmonkey]

littleredrooster is right. I went down the route of special bulbs for a while. You'll find that the extra light is generated by extra heat through thinner filaments. These thinnner filaments don't really go down well being installed on a vibrating GS and fail fairly quickly. The only solution is to fit HID.

 

[Slowdown]

The downside of these high output halogen bulbs is that their life span is significantly reduced.

HID is the way to go. Take a read of HID50.com...

 

[WindyChuffer]

I read this month's RIDE headlamp survey and immediately bought Philips extreme Zenon gas filled H7 bulbs for my 1200 GS. They promise 80% better brightness! If I had any electrical problems, could BMW argue my warranty is invalid? Any comments would be appreciated.
PS. I was so keen on the brightness, I bought another 2 sets for my BMW car and today the BMW main dealer advised me not to fit them as it would invalidate my warranty and if the control unit were damaged, that could cost me over £1,000.
I hope changing headlamp bulbs would be unlikely to cause such a disaster but any technically minded people giving me their opinion would be great. Maybe the main dealer just didn't like me not spending money with them!

Is this a joke?

Electrical circuits in vehicles / houses / offices are protected either by a fuse, or other means that serves the same purpose (i.e. electronic fuses). The GS has electronic fuses that auto-reset (except for the fog lights).

If you want bright lights, forget incandescant bulbs and go for HIDS.

 

[Beemerman59]

I to have gone the HID route with Dip, Main and both Aux lights now fully kitted up. However, I have also fitted Hella FF50 Driving lights and currently running the Philips Xtreme Xenon bulbs in these. Reason being is that I hate the main beam delay with the HID and wanted instant light when I press the switch. This I now get with the FF50's and when the Main HID catchs up there isn't a great deal of extra light. The main beam reflector is not great in the first place so I'm going to roll this back to Halogen and keep the Ballast hardware fitted on the bike as a spare for the dip beam. The Hella's are fitted on a Migsel light bar which is rubber mounted so time will tell with longevity.

 

[Wapping]

I hope changing headlamp bulbs would be unlikely to cause such a disaster but any technically minded people giving me their opinion would be great.

Switching an H7 for any other make of H7 will not invalidate your motorcycle's warranty, any more than switching makes of tyre will. It is what I believe is called , a 'generic product'. One is the same as another. Do you even know who made the H7 bulb on your motorcycle? That's not a provocative question, or a request for you to go and look. It was only made to highlight how nobody will object to you changing H7 for H7.

Fitting HID's might but only in as far (and if) BuMW can link your tinkering to the failure. So, for instance:

(a) The HID's would not be covered, unless fitted by a BuMW dealer, and then for only the guarantee period of the HID's not the (possibly) longer period of the unexpired manufacturer's warranty relating to the rest of the bike.

But, though the repairs might be made by the BuMW shop who fitted the HID's you would not be making a claim against BuMW's warranty, you would be making it against the HID's own guarantee.

In a similar way, if you bought and fitted the HID's yourself and they failed in, say, a month, your claim would be against the supplier / manufacturer of the kit, not BuMW.

(b) If you (or BuMW) fitted HID's and your final drive failed, the drive would still be covered under the warranty as the HID's are in no sense linked to the drive.

In case of doubt. I have had HID's (Les W of this parish) fitted from near enough day one and my final drive failed at 22,000 miles. BuMW honoured its warranty, no question.

PS If you want good lights, HID's from Les are a very good way to go. Lots of happy customers on this site and others. Buy with confidence.

There have been some tales (real or imagined) of bods melting or distorting their lamp housings when swapping bulbs. But none, that I can recall, from HID usage.