Alternative to Pre-Facelift Depo lights on Ebay for 600 bucks?

[Ricky Bobby]

NINJA UPDATE: Page 8 has some really nice alternatives if you want to take your own Depo set and install LED!!



Just browsing Ebay.de today and if you look up "e53 xenon scheinwerfer" you come up with results like these, anywhere from 260-280 Euro:

BMW X5 E53 XENON SCHEINWERFER ANGEL EYES SCHWARZ D2S/H7+WEISSE BLINKER NEU 99-03 | eBay

These are basically the same as the Depo units sold on American ebay right? At 260 euro thats about 330, so almost 300 cheaper than what we can find in the states.

Only thing is they are standard angel eye rings (no LED xenon look) but those should have small LED's which might be removable and switchable for a crisp white version?


Now I'm not even really considering these, since my factory xenon are in mint shape and I have repair items and others to consider before I considered swapping my headlights, just wanted to hear what others thought and why the sold in America Depo P53 headlights range from 550-700 bucks? Is it because sellers are paying enormous fees to import them?

[Lowblock]

What are you looking to accomplish by doing this? If you have the factory HID then really the only thing your missing are the rings correct? Can Angels be retrofitted?

[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!

[Ricky Bobby]

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!

[X5SND]

I know some guys over on HidPlanet will restore the lens, get them clear coated (on the exterior), then apply the clear bra material over top. From what I understand that prevents them from ever hazing again. I'll probably be doing this as well in the next little while as well so Ill keep you posted on how it goes. So honestly I wouldn't be overly concerned with picking up some lens' with a bit of wear...obviously the less the better though.

As far as projectors/lens swapping etc....the beauty of any Hella projector is that they all utilize the same mounting points. Here's a bit of a comparison between yours with a clear lens and the ones I'm using (EvoX-R). Being that a set of ZKW lenses from TRS are $40, and the Evo's are $150 (and already come with the ZKW's installed) to me the decision is a no brainer...they blow the E39's out of the water. I'll be completely honest here: swapping out the lens in any of the Hella units scares me. They have 4 tabs that look like they need to be bent out of the way and a pretty hefty snap ring that needs to be removed.....all without making a scratch on the lens. Maybe it isn't all that hard, I don't know...but seems like a big risk to me.

Remember our convo (at least I think it was you?) about why the bowls may have only been a semi-mirror finish? It's apparent in this picture (albeit exaggerated; mine are no where NEAR this streaky)...the combination of clear lens with the mirror finish bowls produce the streaks you see on the EvoX foreground.




If you really want throw in some style.....TRS now has the ability to laser engrave logo's/designs onto the lens. I'm entertaining the idea of a BMW logo (Maybach does their logo on their lens') on the next pair this summer as it doesn't appear to affect the output too much. It's $50/pair. Link to pics here: laser engraving

EDIT: So in theory, you could get away with just swapping the projectors (and what ever corner amber trickery you want)...then sealing them back up.

[TwinsPoppa]

When did pre-facelift headlights get to be so expensive!? Were depo lights always $600 bucks?!

I always thought they were around $300-$400.

[Lowblock]

Ok, im curious, at what point did the lights become unopenable? there was only what 3 years of pre facelift? Mine is an 03 and I would like to add rings. They are factory HID so I just assumed I was getting the best headlight BMW put in it, are you saying that the projectors need to be swapped out? I bought a set of zkw's? for my e39 and I really dont see much of a difference between the X and the e39. If im putting in rings would it be wise to do anything else while I am in there?

[papasmurf]

The halogen rings suck. They use about 6 T5 bulbs per ring and it just looks spotty. +1 to baking and making your own.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by Lowblock

Ok, im curious, at what point did the lights become unopenable? there was only what 3 years of pre facelift? Mine is an 03 and I would like to add rings. They are factory HID so I just assumed I was getting the best headlight BMW put in it, are you saying that the projectors need to be swapped out? I bought a set of zkw's? for my e39 and I really dont see much of a difference between the X and the e39. If im putting in rings would it be wise to do anything else while I am in there?

mid to late 2002 I believe is when hella started using the permaseal so the conventional 10 mins at an oven and easy job prying them open with black goopy glue was over.

As far as I know the projector used in our headlights are great and not low quality although there is always something better on the market, I personally don't think I will swap them, I may try to swap to a clear lens at 25 bucks for ZKW-R, but my light output to my eyes looks good. Unless there is an affordable option to get superior projector light, and its easily swappable (literally bolt on and go), I would just keep what I have.

It would be wise if you are putting in rings, to perhaps remove the amber portion on the corner if you have sport package like me, or to remove the turn signal portion completely and perhaps spray the corner section matte silver, to me when the turn signal is removed completely on the pre-facelifts and left exposed chrome it screams that something is missing from the headlight.



I sent basically these exact questions to The Retrofit Source to see if they have any tips on opening these lights (their website says 220 for 20 mins and diligent prying techniques to open permaseal) as well as their professional opinion on what projectors plug and play and what type of upgrades you can do to our headlights to improve what we already have installed from the factory.


PS anyone know what size rings we need on our headlights? I know they are two different sizes for low and high beams.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by X5SND

I know some guys over on HidPlanet will restore the lens, get them clear coated (on the exterior), then apply the clear bra material over top. From what I understand that prevents them from ever hazing again. I'll probably be doing this as well in the next little while as well so Ill keep you posted on how it goes. So honestly I wouldn't be overly concerned with picking up some lens' with a bit of wear...obviously the less the better though.

As far as projectors/lens swapping etc....the beauty of any Hella projector is that they all utilize the same mounting points. Here's a bit of a comparison between yours with a clear lens and the ones I'm using (EvoX-R). Being that a set of ZKW lenses from TRS are $40, and the Evo's are $150 (and already come with the ZKW's installed) to me the decision is a no brainer...they blow the E39's out of the water. I'll be completely honest here: swapping out the lens in any of the Hella units scares me. They have 4 tabs that look like they need to be bent out of the way and a pretty hefty snap ring that needs to be removed.....all without making a scratch on the lens. Maybe it isn't all that hard, I don't know...but seems like a big risk to me.

Remember our convo (at least I think it was you?) about why the bowls may have only been a semi-mirror finish? It's apparent in this picture (albeit exaggerated; mine are no where NEAR this streaky)...the combination of clear lens with the mirror finish bowls produce the streaks you see on the EvoX foreground.




If you really want throw in some style.....TRS now has the ability to laser engrave logo's/designs onto the lens. I'm entertaining the idea of a BMW logo (Maybach does their logo on their lens') on the next pair this summer as it doesn't appear to affect the output too much. It's $50/pair. Link to pics here: laser engraving

EDIT: So in theory, you could get away with just swapping the projectors (and what ever corner amber trickery you want)...then sealing them back up.

Well if the Evo projectors you have are 150 with clear lens already and are a straight swap that isn't a bad idea, plus I'd get bi-xenon functionality right? I saw TRS sells 9005 male pigtails which connect to the 9006 connector of the bi-xenon solenoid, so in essence I could use those and have stock halogen high beam light up along with the bi-xenon function of the Evo projectors at the same time? Holy light Batman!


Definitely more interested in amber removal/corner light modification and seeing what upgrades I can do to the projector if I open them up than necessarily angel eyes. I would rather spend 150 on better projectors with bi-xenon function than 150 on angel eye rings if I had to choose between the two! (most seem like they are about that much if they are LED rings)