What did you do to / for your E53 today??

[Jungerishere]

bcredliner, Looks great. And nice job on the turn-signal housing. But not feeling the LED strips on the bumper opening.

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

HOLY SH!!!!!T MAN THOSE LOOK AWESOME!!!

The mounting of the rings looks spot on, the dremeling of the turn signal looks BEAUTIFUL, and I really like the spray painted shroud on the low beam, very good flow with your Black on black on carbon theme!

Excellent work Bryan, I have a set of LED rings in my basement to do a set for myself in the coming months as it warms up.

Talk about a hell of an upgrade man, I'd venture to say those look better than the Depo's!

Where did you run the angel eye connections to exit the housing? I was going to feed them through a hole and just use a grommet/silicone it.

Thanks for compliments

Other than time consuming the angel eyes were not difficult to install. I drilled very small holes at 12-3-6 and 9 in the housings as you suggested. I stripped the insulation from some small wire I had and then twisted just two strands through the holes and around the AE to hold them in place. I super glued the tab at the top of the AE to the housing and then put a drop of superglue on each of the wires.

I drilled 2 holes in the topside of each of the housings just large enough to pull the connectors through. I had some 'plugs' left over from the roof rack delete that I cut the sides off and then siliconed in. Grommets would be better but it will probably be necessary to cut a slot to get the wires in the center because the connectors on the angel eyes may not pull through the grommet.

When you get ready for your AE project let me know. I have some tips to avoid the problems I had or caused myself.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

Thanks for compliments

Other than time consuming the angel eyes were not difficult to install. I drilled very small holes at 12-3-6 and 9 in the housings as you suggested. I stripped the insulation from some small wire I had and then twisted just two strands through the holes and around the AE to hold them in place. I super glued the tab at the top of the AE to the housing and then put a drop of superglue on each of the wires.

I drilled 2 holes in the topside of each of the housings just large enough to pull the connectors through. I had some 'plugs' left over from the roof rack delete that I cut the sides off and then siliconed in. Grommets would be better but it will probably be necessary to cut a slot to get the wires in the center because the connectors on the angel eyes may not pull through the grommet.

When you get ready for your AE project let me know. I have some tips to avoid the problems I had or caused myself.

If you could highlight your problems that you faced/caused yourself I can address, what happened?

Sounds great, the AE's look perfectly mounted, I will be doing the same. My rings are on my basement bench I am just waiting for my EvoXR projectors and new shrouds, my finished product will look slightly different than yours but you definitely have set a benchmark.

Did you polish/sand the lenses or are they just in awesome shape all the time like that?

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by Jungerishere

bcredliner, Looks great. And nice job on the turn-signal housing. But not feeling the LED strips on the bumper opening.

I am not sure I like them either. I installed them so they can be easily removed. The way they are positioned then can be seen in the daytime. I haven't seen them at night but I suspect there will be some light behind the kidney grills also. Since the kidney grills are a BMW trademark it might look nice. If the don't blend, look like something the factory might have done or are not subtle they will be gone.

I'm trying them out for three reasons. I wanted to do something a little bit different, I had them and I have noticed a fairly new trend of LEDs associated with the headlights and also somewhere else on the front. Everything else I have done on either the inside or the outside has been subtle or ties in with something that came from the factory. I have no interest is mucking that up.

[squidzilla]

I put in a new windshield for 177.00 installed. OEM with rain sensor.

Now I am wondering if the passenger side windshield trim/molding needs to be tightly sealed against it. The driver side is pretty good but the passenger side has some small gaps. Hmmm

[X5nHI]

Put in the AFE Stage 1 Didn't get a chance to run it around but sounded good revving in the driveway.

Looking at those upgrade LED bulbs for the AE as another quick fix. The dim yellow rings look out of place with the bi-xenon (not to mention the yellow flash to pass inners). Or the fogs. Yep, going down the rabbit hole now.

Later on:
Swapped in the late model lighted shifter knob. Very cool looking, I likes.

Then got a quote to straight pipe the rear - $440 wtf.

edit: No way not going to do it. Went to the competition down the block and they listened to me - got quote to replace the mufflers with bullets and tips, which is what I wanted in the first place. They did talk me out of Borlas saying why pay for brand name they are all just glasspacks. Appt. next week and I can't wait!

[SlickGT1]

Replaced front brakes. OE rotors and Axis Deluxe pads. Still need to bleed system, and bed the pads after the insane coating rubs off where the pads touch. New pad sensor. New rotor retention screws. And swapped my 20s back on while at it. Air tools and 2 floor jacks made quick work of it all. 35 min driver side, 20 min pass side.

By the way. Brake sensor error reset is stupid easy. Key in egnition pos 2, driver door open. 45 sec later take out key and try again. No more error. I had to start the car and turn the wheels to make life easy while the sensor was disconnected.

[SlickGT1]

Replaced front brakes. OE rotors and Axis Deluxe pads. Still need to bleed system, and bed the pads after the insane coating rubs off where the pads touch. New pad sensor. New rotor retention screws. And swapped my 20s back on while at it. Air tools and 2 floor jacks made quick work of it all. 35 min driver side, 20 min pass side.

By the way. Brake sensor error reset is stupid easy. Key in egnition pos 2, driver door open. 45 sec later take out key and try again. No more error. I had to start the car and turn the wheels to make life easy while the sensor was disconnected.

[X5SND]

BC, the lights look sharp! I like how you carved out the amber reflector! Huge improvement over stock nonetheless!

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

...I am just waiting for my EvoXR projectors and new shrouds.....

I'm working on it! Lol! Currently doing the sway links on the sisters LS then Im'a kick it out pull the bumper off the X to FINALLY get you them projectors! Mark my words, they will be shipped THIS week!

[X5nHI]

Polished the lenses today! Then a road trip to the defunct Kalaeloa / Barbers Point area searching for my old back roads onto the beach. Unfortunately now all chained up or gated off so no joy. The good news is the roads still deserted so got some good stomping in. The X5 has got the get up and go