I thought the stock halogen powered angels eyes on my 2005 X5 were pretty boring and they pretty much disappear when the OEM HID headlights are powered on. A lot of the newer BMWs have nicer LED angel eyes and I wanted an updated and cleaner look to my E53, so for the price, I thought I’d try the WeissLicht LED Angel Eyes. I purchased them through StealthAuto.com for $149 on sale ($3 shipping). You can also get them from other online sources:

WeissLicht LHUXX1W2Y (ultrabright version 2; each bulb has two 3W CREE LED bulbs)



http://www.stealthauto.com/Products/...-ANGELEYE.aspx

Inside the box were 2 LED bulbs and 2 extra harnesses. I did not need the extra included harness adapters. LED bulbs are on a nice, solid aluminum heatsink base. Seems to be of very good quality. No error light codes in the car.

IMPRESSION: Subjectively, about 3x brighter than stock halogens. Color is a whiter light than my OEM 4300k HIDs, as expected, but still matched well. Would match great with 6000k HIDs based on the color, I would guess. As I haven’t messed with the factory wiring, these LED angel eyes only come on when the headlights are on. I would imagine it could be rewired as your daytime running light, but that’s a different topic on Xoutpost.

DIFFICULTY: 1/10 [mostly driver’s side panel access that makes it difficult]

PARTS AND TOOLS NEEDED:

• WeissLicht LED Angel Eyes upgrade kit
• 10 mm socket and wrench

INSTALLATION PROCESS

Passenger side installation [4 minutes]

1. On the backside of the passenger headlight, there is a plastic panel that is situated near the medial side (nearest the midline of the car), you only need to push the tab down and the whole cover can be lifted out.



2. Directly inside, you will see a brown ceramic light bulb. First, twist the whole bulb counterclockwise about ¼” and then gently pull it out. When you pull out the bulb, take note of the indents as it will help you install later (one square one (it will point directly towards the passenger fender panel), and 2 angled ones). Disconnect the wiring harness (held in by friction). See picture below of the stock halogen bulb indents.



3. Connect up the WeissLicht LED Angel eye to the harness.
4. On the angel eye LED bulb take note of the square indent—point it directly toward the passenger fender panel—and slide it in place. Slightly wiggle the new bulb to seat the 3 indents. Once it’s in the proper position, you can then twist it clockwise about ¼” to lock in place.
5. Test out the bulb by turning on the parking lights. If it’s working, congrats, and replace the backside headlight access plastic cover.


Driver’s side installation [15 minutes]

Unlike the passenger side, the driver’s side on my 2005 is covered by a bracket that holds the reserve coolant tank and the power steering fluid reservoir. The bracket needs to be loosened and pushed up to give access to the backside medial headlight access plastic cover on the driver’s side.

1. Remove the 3 bolts to the bracket that holds the coolant reserve tank and PS fluid reservoir (see pic). Use a plastic quart oil bottle to hold up the bracket so you can work in the space to replace the bulb on the driver’s side.



2. To replace the bulb, follow steps 1 to 5 as described for the passenger side. The square bulb indent should still pointed towards the passsenger fender panel during installation.
3. Once you’ve tested it out, and it works, replace the backside cover and then put the metal bracket (that holds the PS fluid and reserve coolant tank) back in place with the bolts.

Installation Note: The above was written is for my 2005 X5 and probably applicable to 2004-2006 MY E53s.


COMPARISON IMAGES

Passenger side (LED upgrade) vs. stock halogen angel eyes [Parking lights on]

LEDs are significantly brighter than the dim stock halogens. Nice, updated look. Easy install.


Passenger side (6 watt LED upgrade bulb)


Driver's side (stock 10 watt halogen bulb)