headlights

[gloege91]

so im doing some little miscellaneous repairs on my e39, and i noticed the previous owner who wired in the angel eyes, did a horrible job and somehow ended up screwing up the headlight assembly. he broke a hole in it for the wires, my adjusters are shot, headlight bulb is melted to the assembly, and the angel eye wiring is a disaster. so now i am stuck with buying or finding new light assemblies for it.

what do you recommend?
i would like to keep it under 250 or 300..

been looking on ebay found a few different ones i like
anyone tried or have anything to say about these?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190861592394?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271392056889?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/400669136990?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2648

or..

find some stock ones, buy a new angel eye kit and wire it in the correct way and use my existing headlight covers that arent ruined which have the clear corner lenses that i want.

just looking for some opinions here
thanks

[cwise12]

All of those will look like crap on the car (probably the depo would look the best out of the three, but it still will look "off" from how it should) and all three will have terrible light output compared to stock.

Your 1998 was not meant to have angel eyes, but you can easily add them. My vote is CERTAINLY for OEM lights with a decent quality HID kit. If you get pre-facelift lights, you can certainly get them for that price range. May be hard to find a set of facelift lights for that price, though.

[gloege91]

yea, i was worried about how those would look, having a hard time trying to picture them on my car. needed someone elses input.

i do like the angel eyes though and definitely would like to replace them again, so OEM with HIDs and angel eyes. and i can probably use my covers if i cant find any with clear corners

but.. i am new to the e39 world... so this may be a dumb question, but whats with the facelift lights, whats the difference?

[cwise12]

yea, i was worried about how those would look, having a hard time trying to picture them on my car. needed someone elses input.

i do like the angel eyes though and definitely would like to replace them again, so OEM with HIDs and angel eyes. and i can probably use my covers if i cant find any with clear corners

but.. i am new to the e39 world... so this may be a dumb question, but whats with the facelift lights, whats the difference?

For the 2001 model year, BMW changed some aspects of the e39. One of the changes was the headlights, changing from this style:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3090/2610550740_e9879b9788.jpg?v=0

to this style (first car with Angel eyes)


http://static.cargurus.com/images/site/2010/05/25/16/09/2007_bmw_530i-pic-651389008420998579.jpeg

Parts are not interchangable between the two styles. It is possible to get facelift (01+) angel eyes with clear corners, but they're pricey.

[BavarianE31]

Projector39 + FX-R retrofit from Umnitza are really good I hear. No need to get angel eyes or Xenon I guess if you are on a budget.

Oh, and since you are new, the FX-R projectors are among the best in the market (especially when they were introduced). You'll have modern headlight seeing distance. It's a very good upgrade. Don't buy used OEM headlights for the same price.

[Mannyf540]

Umnitza oem Hellas are the best imho, couldn't be more please with the fit and finish !!

[gloege91]

yea, those umnitzas look nice, I'd love to put em on the car, but I'm not really sure I want to dump 600 dollars in headlights right now. I'm just gonna end up buying some pre-facelift and an aftermarket angel eye kit.

Thanks for the input guys

[RLJett]

I bought the depo ones for my 2002, but paid for the UHP LED angel eyes. Those ran quite a bit more that the version you had in your second link. The angel eyes should be the only difference. Looks like same projector used. Light output is much better than what I had before. Of course I had broken adjusters and a hazy lens so almost anything would be better. But there are way too many folks out there that will immediately bash you for not sticking with Hella. Whatever. Get what you can afford and what you think will look good on your car.

[umnitza]

If you have a 1998, we can offer you a very solid set of lights for only about $450 with xenons, our Orion V2 angel eyes, and the headlights of course

[BimmerBreaker]

Not sure why people go with aftermarket lights on these cars anymore...

OEM angel eye setups can be had easily for <$400 and even <$200 if you are diligent with looking for them and negotiating on prices... you would be surprised how many junkyards across the US are sitting on excellent condition headlights worth $800 that they cant get rid of because nobody knows they have them. Find that junkyard and you can grab em for $200. www.car-part.com is your friend :)

[BavarianE31]

Hella (OEM) brand is great. No one doubts that. No leaking problems and one of the pieces on the E39 that's actually well engineered! But they are at least 10 years old if buying used. Aftermarket headlights will probably always have better output (due to original headlights having burnt bowels/foggy lenses/normal wear and tear). The silver reflective bowls WILL degrade with use and heat. If I were to replace headlights I'd go with the FX-R retrofit by Umnitza.

[repandpresent]

Find yourself a pair of dj autos. These are simply the best after oem. Once on your car they are nearly identical to oem, the only difference is the tiny dj auto stamp on the lens. You could always retro fit other projectors into the housing but I don't think you need to if you want to save money.

My headlights have fx-r projectors and my friends dj auto headlights compare very well. My cut off line is sharper but if I wasn't such a diy guy I would have just went with the dj autos.

They could be found for under 300.

Summary.

Dj autos
Cheap lifetime warranty hid kit
Enjoy.

If you have any questions pm me.