What headlights to fit to my E39 ?

[crossj3]

Hi Guys,

I am currently rebuilding an e39 to showroom condition.
The headlights in the car are very cracked and faded so I will need to upgrade these.
Is there any particular brand or style of light that look well in the car?

The reason I ask this is some of the headlights on Ebay can be bought for very little money and then other sets are really expensive.
I'm not sure why this is?

What should I look out for and what is the best looking style in an e39?

Thanks for your help

[lesguy]

Many options here as you've found out. Low end is Ebay high end is OEM original. I went with something in between from Umnitza a year ago and have been pleased.
Others will chime in with their input

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Ahhhh here we go again....OEM Factory Hella.

[JaxPlanet]

+1 OE Hella FTW! Best pricing I found lately is at http://www.schmiedmann.com/.

[Perern]

OEM Hella Xenon with Bi-Xenon twin projectors, and Orion angel eyes
13391272_705959139536246_249951512_n.jpg

[JPR10]

Might be worth it to source some OE Hella that need some work -- refurb w/ new adjusters, and maybe resurface, and you're good to go.

[Dking078]

When saying showroom condition, only oem will suffice.

Ebay sourced replicas are inexpensive for good (bad?) reasons. Primarily of which, they will never perform / last like OEM units do.

Now, enhanced oem with proper and quality work invested is a totally different ballgame.

[philly98540]

I think the Umnitza lights are likely very similar, if not the same, as the Hella look a like ebay lights with new projectors and EA's.

Taking old Hellas with good tabs and a case that isn't crumbling, and doing a full redo on them is not cheap. Old beat up pairs still go for good money.

[Solo12]

With the headlights you usually get what you pay for.

OEM Hella Xenon with Bi-Xenon twin projectors, and Orion angel eyes

I agree the Bi-Xenon projectors are the way to go.

If are a diyer you could polish your current lenses (buy new lenses if yours are totally shot) and drop in some new adjusters. If you have xenons already then you could also install bi-xenon projectors while you have the lights open (EVOX-R projectors drop right in).

If you don't have xenons and want them you could pick up a set of oem xenons on ebay, drop in some new adjusters and bi-xenon projectors.

if you don't want to do the work yourself you could buy a bixenon setup from someone like umnitza, just keep in mind I am fairly certain they are going to use aftermarket assemblies on the bixenon setup. Some say their aftermarket assemblies are better quality than OEM others say they are not as good. I don't have any personal experience with those assemblies so all I can say is do a bunch of research and figure out if they make sense for you.

[crossj3]

Thanks everyone for the responses.
Sorry for the delay in responding to you.
I would like to re-condition the original lights in the car but the problem is all the internals of the light unit are just falling around inside.
Is there any part of the light you can buy to put this back in place?
Thanks

[Perern]

Thanks everyone for the responses.
Sorry for the delay in responding to you.
I would like to re-condition the original lights in the car but the problem is all the internals of the light unit are just falling around inside.
Is there any part of the light you can buy to put this back in place?
Thanks

96-00: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E39-5-Se...sAAOxyVaBS6iJZ
00-03: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E39-5-Se...QAAMXQlgtS6iTB