Multi Coloured Headlights - Help Needed

[Titan-S]

Hi all, Progress is good on the project 4.4 X5 That I posted up a while ago, 2004 Facelift 4.4 Sport Auto

Both bumpers are now painted along with the Hood (Bonnet )

Wheels have had a full refurb along with new rubber all round (Michelin Diamaris). But I need some advice if you please before I post some more pics..

I'm completely confused over the Headlights Side lights (Angel Eyes) one side is dimmer than the other, and they are a distinct yellowish tint as opposed to the bright white I'd like to get.

Dipped beam is super bright white.. Happy with that
Main Beam One light is white (dipped bulb) and the Main is Yellowish too..









So are these a) Halogen, b) Xenon, and c) What are the options to upgrade

I've looked at Hid kits but have no idea what I'm looking at . the kits seem to sell both Dipped , and Main seperately and seem expensive.. And are they just plug and play or is further wiring necessary

Can I get a kit that will make the whole light white

Any help in simplifying this would be appreciated

[upallnight]

The white headlights appear to be a projector lens so that would probably be a HID bulb, the yellowish headlight are probably halogen or regular incandescent bulbs and that would explain the yellowish color.

[Clockwork]

so you have three distinct lights here.
Angel Eyes
High Beams
Low (Dipped) beams.

Dipped beams seem to be the D2S bulb in a projector housing. They are most likely factory.

the High Beam is a Hallogen H7 bulb in a reflector housing

Angel eyes(aka coronal rings) are old technology using a light bulb and plastic ring. You have to determine if it's the bulb thats gone bad (most likely) or the plastic rings that have broken somehow and therefore are not allowing light to flow like they should (mind you you can NEVER EVER get them to be as bright as the new Bimmers since they have a toootally different system for angel eyes). Don't waste hundreds of quid on LED bulbs promissing to make the e53 angel eyes as bright as the newest Bimmers rings... its not possible. Anyone here who has upgraded can attest to this. You can get whiter (increased kelvin temp), but not brighter (no increase in lumens).

[Titan-S]

Originally Posted by Clockwork

so you have three distinct lights here.
Angel Eyes
High Beams
Low (Dipped) beams.

Dipped beams seem to be the D2S bulb in a projector housing. They are most likely factory.

the High Beam is a Hallogen H7 bulb in a reflector housing

Angel eyes(aka coronal rings) are old technology using a light bulb and plastic ring. You have to determine if it's the bulb thats gone bad (most likely) or the plastic rings that have broken somehow and therefore are not allowing light to flow like they should (mind you you can NEVER EVER get them to be as bright as the new Bimmers since they have a toootally different system for angel eyes). Don't waste hundreds of quid on LED bulbs promissing to make the e53 angel eyes as bright as the newest Bimmers rings... its not possible. Anyone here who has upgraded can attest to this. You can get whiter (increased kelvin temp), but not brighter (no increase in lumens).

Thanks Clockwork, so it seems that in short, I'll have to spend a fair bit on replacing all the bulbs seperately, i read the thread on just the Angel Eye upgrade at $150, plus a $120 set of Main bulbs...

[Ricky Bobby]

D2S bulbs are around $100 - you can get whiter H7 bulbs for about $40-50 and angel eye bulbs in whiter color for $50-60 - so about $200 for all approx

[wpoll]

Just to be clear though - there's nothing "wrong" with your current set up. It seems to be all working as designed. Looks exactly the same as my '05 euro-spec 3.0d. (oops - see edit below...)

The camera does some odd things with colour temp. etc. but it looks pretty normal to me.

BTW, be wary of cheap (eBay) halogen replacement lamps for the angel-eyes. I got some from somewhere (Hungry I think) that were basically crap. Very low output. I have modified my AE reflectors to allow me to change just the bare halogen lamp (BA9 12v 10w halogen) and finally found a local supplier that got me a set of Osram lamps that fit/work.

I considered replacing them with LEDs but as I wasn't ever going to be able to make them brighter, just whiter, I thought it was not worth the $$.

*edit* Just re-read you OP and realised you said one AE was dimmer than the other - that's what I had with the crap AE lamps. Maybe yours is the same? All four AE match now with decent Osram lamps.

[Titan-S]

Originally Posted by wpoll

Just to be clear though - there's nothing "wrong" with your current set up. It seems to be all working as designed. Looks exactly the same as my '05 euro-spec 3.0d. (oops - see edit below...)

The camera does some odd things with colour temp. etc. but it looks pretty normal to me.

BTW, be wary of cheap (eBay) halogen replacement lamps for the angel-eyes. I got some from somewhere (Hungry I think) that were basically crap. Very low output. I have modified my AE reflectors to allow me to change just the bare halogen lamp (BA9 12v 10w halogen) and finally found a local supplier that got me a set of Osram lamps that fit/work.

I considered replacing them with LEDs but as I wasn't ever going to be able to make them brighter, just whiter, I thought it was not worth the $$.

*edit* Just re-read you OP and realised you said one AE was dimmer than the other - that's what I had with the crap AE lamps. Maybe yours is the same? All four AE match now with decent Osram lamps.

Thanks Wpoll.. I think I'll go find some better quality bulbs and see where that takes me before I invest in D2S

[Clockwork]

Titan, from the look sof things, the ONLY problem you have is your angel eye rings are not the same, so your bulbs are at different stages of life perhaps. your D2S bulbs have NOTHING To do with the brightness of the Angel Eyes...
ONLY change them out if they too are tired (not lighting up the road well like mine anymore).
Buy from powerbulbs.com they just had a smoking sale on the Osram D2S bulbs that offer more lighting (lumens) than the OE bulbs (not crazy, but anything helps)...

PS: 20% off bulbs now at www.powerbulbs.com and they are in your own country.

[johnlacson]

Any one have any experience with these 60w halo LEDs? https://www.beyonddrivenauto.com/bmw...E63-E64-E53-X5

[THE VEIN]

Originally Posted by johnlacson

Any one have any experience with these 60w halo LEDs? https://www.beyonddrivenauto.com/bmw...E63-E64-E53-X5

not worth it, just get some $20 off ebay/amazon