Aftermarket Headlight Reccomendations

[Chucklez]

Okay so Ive been thinking about doing this upgrade for a while now and I just had both of my angel eyes go out (one went out a while ago never got around to fixing it because it was the dead of winter) and I am thinking of just replacing both headlight assemblies with aftermarket ones. If I could I want some headlights that have built in LED Angel Eye's that are as bright as the newer BMW's have. Anyone have any idea on some or even good ones?

[Zulu95]

Very happy with the DEPO's I got from fishcake32(?) on ebay. Bought them four or five years ago.

[lo_jack]

I bought some ebay Spyders about seven years ago, and they were a massive upgrade to stock halogens. I never wired the halos, but with a relay and a fuse it's not difficult. I crammed some DDM warranted ballasts and bulbs in there at 4300k, and it was a huge improvement. I did a ton of night driving at that point, so it was easy to tell, once I got the aiming right.

[Overboost]

Originally Posted by Chucklez

Okay so Ive been thinking about doing this upgrade for a while now and I just had both of my angel eyes go out (one went out a while ago never got around to fixing it because it was the dead of winter) and I am thinking of just replacing both headlight assemblies with aftermarket ones. If I could I want some headlights that have built in LED Angel Eye's that are as bright as the newer BMW's have. Anyone have any idea on some or even good ones?

If your X has adaptive headlights you may want to keep that stock. I used the WeissLicht LED halo bulbs and made a huge difference in brightness and color of the halos.
On a scale of 1 - 10, the new BMW (E70, F15) halos set to full brightness is a 10, my LED conversion is a 7 and stock was about a 3.

You will need to code out the side lights cold check function in the LCM to avoid the 3 second flickering when you first turn on the ignition.

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by Chucklez

Okay so Ive been thinking about doing this upgrade for a while now and I just had both of my angel eyes go out (one went out a while ago never got around to fixing it because it was the dead of winter) and I am thinking of just replacing both headlight assemblies with aftermarket ones. If I could I want some headlights that have built in LED Angel Eye's that are as bright as the newer BMW's have. Anyone have any idea on some or even good ones?

While there are a few folk out there selling replacement headlight assemblies for the LCI (facelift) X5 E53, most seem to be a like-for-like replacement, not an upgrade. I don't think I've seen an upgraded aftermarket replacement for the LCI - only for the pre-facelift cars.

[Chucklez]

Originally Posted by Overboost

If your X has adaptive headlights you may want to keep that stock. I used the WeissLicht LED halo bulbs and made a huge difference in brightness and color of the halos.
On a scale of 1 - 10, the new BMW (E70, F15) halos set to full brightness is a 10, my LED conversion is a 7 and stock was about a 3.

You will need to code out the side lights cold check function in the LCM to avoid the 3 second flickering when you first turn on the ignition.

Thanks for the recommendation. I did buy a pair of LED bulb replacements before but off ebay (yeah I know... lol) and they just were not that bright. I figured it had to do with how the light is shining to the halos and it was losing a lot of light that way. Really thats what I want is as close as I can get to the new BMW halos so I will definitely check those out!

Originally Posted by wpoll

While there are a few folk out there selling replacement headlight assemblies for the LCI (facelift) X5 E53, most seem to be a like-for-like replacement, not an upgrade. I don't think I've seen an upgraded aftermarket replacement for the LCI - only for the pre-facelift cars.

That seems to be the problem, no one makes replacement headlights for facelift E53's/later models. Oh wells I think I will give what Overboost said above a shot!

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

[fishhouse4]

I recently picked up these replacement LED bulbs on eBay for my halos (from a recommendation from another member here):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/YITAMOTOR-W...72.m2749.l2649

SOOOO much brighter and better looking. Literally no comparison. Can't speak to their longevity but for $11 it was a no brainier.

Now I just need to have my DRL coded off. And then I'll wire the halos to run all the time. Still looking for a easy-to-follow "how to" on doing that...