Hey Guys,
So sorry for talking forever to reply back on this. Have been slammed at work and travelling around (EDC Las Vegas)
. Excuse the length, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
Background: I have an 08 X5 with heavily clouded, pitted, and cracked lenses. No matter the polishing or other methods I employed, the headlights looked terrible-- in spite of my otherwise pristine looking car! I did not want to do the LCI conversion due to cost and the headaches with coding, etc.
My headlights have AFS= "in automotive field, means Adaptive Front-Lighting System. It can continuously accommodate head light to adapt to current steering angle so as to ensure the light direction can be always in accordance with auto driving direction"-- basically, the headlights swivel left and right. Usually found in Xs with premium package, I think.
The extra electronics involved with this prevented me from wanting to bake or apply heat.
Lets start with the lenses I purchased:
For BMW 2008-2013 X5 E70 Car R&L Lens Lampcover Headlight Cover Lampshade Bright | eBay
Video I used to help with cutting open headlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhrEq2NL0DE
How my headlights looked after removal from vehicle
:
https://ibb.co/ch59TQ
I started cutting the lenses as shown in the video above. I used a hair dryer on the seals when trying to pry the piece of plastic lens out. That was enough heat to get the plastic to separate and not damage anything!
With the headlights now opened, I decided I wanted to give them a unique look, since mine are Pre-LCI. I took inspiration from the X5M headlights:
https://ibb.co/iq09TQ
I'm missing pics from these steps (phone memory corrupted), but I used silver metallic paint and taped off eye brows and eye liner on the inside of the headlight and dusted with 2 coats. Since I have M wheels, M style grilles and other M accessories on the car, decided to purchase some M decals on ebay to fit in the headlights for decoration. Most modern headlights have wording in them "led active technology, light precision, adaptive technology, etc", and this is my own play on that.
Now the big issue besides the lenses: the outer ring on my headlights was too dim Despite buying some of the best H8 led bulbs, I was also plagued with the dim outer ring. to counter act this, I decided to buy an LED ring to slide behind the outer ring to provide more light output.
140MM HALO RINGS LED ANGEL EYES SMD LED XENON WHITE 7000K DAYTIEM RUNNING LIGHT | eBay
The size of the outer ring I purchased is 140mm-- slightly smaller than the ones fitted to our vehicle, but were easy to slide in and out for install. You can buy any 140mm ring (CCFL, Plasma, LED). I chose LED for the color output. I simply spliced the wires into the H8 connector on each headlight so that they turned on with the stock Halos.
stock ring: 1 aftermarket led: 2
https://ibb.co/i2knF5
Finally, I vacuumed the headlights out and fitted the lenses. I used high heat sealant to reseal the headlights. Have not had any condensation issues since install (5 months now)
Here's some pics of the headlights. I have not manipulated the light output at all. These halos look great and almost-oem when on the road. I hope this gives you guys a little help, and feel free to contact me for further information!
https://ibb.co/kCwPTQ
https://ibb.co/jxAJoQ
https://ibb.co/ic5jTQ
https://ibb.co/dHC9v5
-Antonio