So you want brighter Angel Eyes you say?

[X5SND]

True enough!

The clips I was referring to are made of metal and are shaped like a shallow "U" that latch from the lens to the housing body.... They need to be removed. The raised piece of plastic (to which the clips attach) on each side is what you need to keep intact (or build back up afterwards). Im not sure if these clips are facelift housing specific or not though.

[Ricky Bobby]

hoping this Lightwerkz guy can come through for me, I pm'ed/emailed for a quote, hes in Jersey too. His quote from the LED tail light thread "permasealed lights are no problem we can take care of those for you"

[XCUSM5]

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

hoping this Lightwerkz guy can come through for me, I pm'ed/emailed for a quote, hes in Jersey too. His quote from the LED tail light thread "permasealed lights are no problem we can take care of those for you"

Cesar's a good dude. He is also brilliant when it comes to headlight assemblies. Whatever you want he can do.

[Ricky Bobby]

emailing him back and forth now seems like a nice guy!

[X5SND]

He's got a good rep over on HidPlanet as well!

[X5SND]

Ok how about this....

For those of you who want to open your 2004+ headlamps, but are unsure of how to go about it for fear of breaking/screwing something up this is for you.

First: This is not the only way to open them; as XCUSM5 and myself each did it differently than what I'm about to describe... BUT, as far as a relatively 'easy' for the average DIY'er and (IMO) the only way to get a proper seal with the butyl afterwards this is the safest, and least destructive route.

TO OPEN FACELIFT HOUSINGS (the average DIY'er guide)

***This is only a guide. So please read it through BEFORE you begin.***

Dremel w/ cutting thin cutting discs OR a thin hot knife
Torx set
Flat Head Screwdriver(s)
Sharp Thin Blade
Roll of butyl
Some kind of structural adhesive

First step is to strip down the housing to make it easier to work.

1) Remove the weather stripping that runs along the top and down the side.
2) Using a flat screwdriver pry off the metal clips highlighted in orange in the pic below. There are some on the back side of the housing, not shown in the pic.
3) Remove the small torx screws that hold the lens; Highlighted by the orange box....there is also another on the back side (not shown in pic).
4) Ok, now this is where things get interesting....using a dremel or hot knife, cut along the edge of the housing (marked by the green arrows) all the way around. Its easiest to start with area in the bottom left corner of the pic below, and work your way around slowly. You only need to cut the top of the black bit that covers the sealant the lens was pushed into...DO NOT CUT TO DEEP! Once you get all the way around, make one cut perpendicular to the cut you just made (labelled by big green arrow) to split the lip piece. Just work your way around underneath it carefully with screwdrivers and the knife to cut the sealant, and you should be able to get it off in one piece.
***Pay attention to the corner by the side marker light (specifically around the screw holes)...you may need to go AROUND the screw holes, NOT behind them like I showed in the diagram!***
5) Here's the difficult part that may require an extra set of hands...you need to cut the sealant underneath the lens. So using a long thing blade you should be able to get a spot started, and work your way from there. Once you're able to get the blade underneath you're basically home free as far as opening them up.

Putting them back together
Once you do what ever it is you need to, before you seal them up you need to do a couple things first.

1) Make note of where the sealant was placed from the factory around the marker lamp area, as you need to put it in about the same place.
2) Remove ALL traces of the old sealant from both the housing (including the first piece we cut off) and the lens. The key here is we want a nice clean surface for the butyl to adhere to.
3) Running along the top face of the housing trim piece, you'll see 2 small gaps. Cover them with a piece of foil tape the width of the butyl. This is only as a precaution, to prevent the butyl from potentially 'drooping' on/into those spots (one of which sits over the projector).
4) Run a single length of butyl around the housing against the backing of the housing. (It may help to test fit the lens here to see what I mean). The goal is to create a bead that once warmed the edge of lens will push into, essentially creating a water tight seal all the way around. Try not to stretch or change the diameter or the butyl when placing it; we want a bead as uniform as possible.
5) Oven Time! Using some common sense here, we want the butyl soft, but not to run....in and around the 225-275F range for a couple mins should do'er. Again...be careful here, but dont pull it out too early! It needs to be soft enough so when it comes time top push the lens in, we get a nice seal. If You've never worked with this stuff before, it may be a good idea to put a test piece on some foil to get an feel for the temp and duration needed.
6) Once you have the lens on, before the butyl cools, press the lip piece we cut off back on. Key here is to do everything while the butyl is still sticky.
7) Once cool, use some plastic structural adhesive to fill in any gap left from the cut you made. You want something that will be hard/rigid when dry.
8) Re-attach clips/hardware.



Like I stated before, this isn't the only way to get them open....but as far as a method that can be done by the average person, and provide a leak-proof & worry free seal (for any climate) this is the way to go.

Hope this helps everyone!

[Ricky Bobby]

very helpful, hot knife and blowtorch is also another good method, perhaps longer taking but a bit less messy than dremel!

Waiting on lightwerkz to get back to me on how much to open mine up, if he doesnt get back to me I may end up taking the adventure myself when its warmer out

[X5SND]

So I finally had some time last night to grab some output shots of my lights. The drivers side projector gave issues from the get go with its shield shape & cut off....and while 'convincing' certain areas of it, I sort of buggered it (hence the odd shape). Needless to say, while they're ok for now, it drives the OCD in me nuts; so I'll be ordering another pair and keep these as spares.

Anyways here's the good stuff:

Out the sunroof


Go the distance!!! (Yes, I know I could probably take the crown for filthiest X here with this one!)


Cutoff



Here's the artsy fartsy shots of the color flicker you get when transitioning across the cutoff. Notice how Even though I get some intense color, the light below always remains white? We Ain't got no 8000k or 10000k ricer nonsense here. These are just the factory phillips 4300k bulbs with a whole lotta physics goin on!!

[TerminatorX5]

X5SND - need your advise and/or help...

Here is another thread dealing with the headlights and I was wondering if you could shed some light onto the issue (no pun intended!!! lol)...

Do you have Adaptive headlights? If you do...
When you opened your headlights,

was there only ONE stepping motor for vertical light adjustment, or

was there two stepping motors, one for vertical and one for lateral adjustments?

WE need your expertise in this thread: http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...t-trouble.html

[pnoyako85]

Originally Posted by X5SND

Never fiddled with those, I thinnk pnoyako85 Frankenstein'd a pair of those....the problem isnt so much a brighter source as it is heat removal.
The heat produced by the amount of light you need push into the FO of the factory AE's to get a bright result will most certainly melt the housing or bulb holder.

just thinking about doing the upgrade..and read this...hahaha...

RIGHT now i gave up on AE's ....5 pairs blew on me...lasted about 1-2months each pair...now thining about the painfull upgrade...lol....

but Frankenstein wasnt enough i guess ...lol