Quote:
Originally Posted by X5SND
Suck it up, open your housings and swap some good projectors in there along with some angel eyes while you have them open. 
There are (IMO) a couple causes for concern with these &/or the Depo units. First off if you're only after esthetics then these may be an 'upgrade', but if you're after some quality lighting....I'd steer clear. You'll find plenty of Bimmer guys who order sets of Depos, then immediately proceed to a projector swap --- what does that say?? Nothing would disappoint more than grabbing new headlights and having to upgrade them off the hop. There are plenty of comparos kicking around on the web of factory Depo outputs vs ones with various projectors swapped in....you may be surprised at what you come across. Secondly is that listing itself.....they're pre-facelift housings---why do they show a facelift X edited with what looks like MS Paint?!
RB, yours are permasealed housings right? Why not snag a set of housings that can be easily opened and swap in what you want? A swap on a prefacelift is simpler as they don't use E55 projectors with the proprietary igniter/bulb mount....not requiring you to swap ballasts like I was forced to --- you can reuse your existing ballasts! |
you're absolutely right mine are permasealed and I do have issues with the quality of aftermarket projectors! I guess I was just looking for information purposes on why for 335 + shipping from German ebay you can get the same headlights on American ebay for double the price pretty much!
And yes you're right I could get a spare set that are "bakeable" and make my life infinitely easier, the problem I have is finding a spare set that are "bakeable" and have lenses in pristine shape like mine are. I never had to use sandpaper on my headlight lenses to buff/polish them (I am not a fan of this method as it removes the protective UV coating), and they honestly look close to brand new for being almost 10 years old.
I wouldn't want to spend good money on a spare set that I am going to have to spend time reconditioning, and at least all the sets on ebay I see are going as individual lights for 200+ per light, then I run into the problem with one being in better shape than the other, etc.
I may do a WTB thread to see if someone has a spare set laying around that are "bakeable" and would like to recoup some of their cost, but they would have to be in excellent shape for me to buy them, as opposed to just growing the balls and pioneering an upgrade for permasealed pre-facelift guys.
X5SND, I have heard of the Hella projectors being superior to most offerings out there for stock xenon, so I probably wouldn't change them. (do you know any "bolt on" replacements that are superior in light output?) I remember you recommending doing a ZKW-R lens in another thread, I would definitely consider that, as you know, I also want to dremel out the orange, or perhaps take the clear corner off completely, and respray the chrome bowls to a Titan silver color. I would definitely want to re-use my ballasts, leveling motors, etc, and maybe get a fresh set of 5000k bulbs (Morimoto as my flavor of choice
)
Obviously if they are open I would definitely entertain installing a set of angel eye rings as well
Basically would love to hear your thoughts of what you can do to the stock lights "if they are open" to give some upgrades but not necessarily at the extent that your project went to!