***PIX OF MY X5 LIGHTING MODS***

[C's Bimmer]

Lately, many folks have been asking me about the lighting mods that I did on my E70. They also requested that I post pictures. Before I go into detail, I wanted to let you know that my car is filthy and I haven't been able to wash it. So please forgive the dirty car.

Here's what you are looking at:

1. White LED License Plate Bulbs (Cost: $6.99 for each bulb from autoillumination and $1.99 for the pair of resistors from Radio Shack (50 Ohm, 10W Resistors). This is a much cheaper and better alternative to the LED's that sell for $25-$50/set. For one, these are MUCH brighter. The resistor prevents an error from being thrown up in iDrive. I've had this set-up on my M5 forever. It works GREAT!

2. GP Thunder 8500K White Angel Eyes. Cost: $15.98. I considered doing LED's for the Angel Eyes or even HID's for the Angel Eyes, but didn't feel it was worth the $200 cost. The GP Thunders work great, especially during the day when they act as my daytime running lights. Much better than the stock, amber color bulbs. In the pictures below, it appears that my headlights are on. They are NOT. Unfortunately, the reflection from the xenon headlight housing is so reflective, that it appears my headlights are on. They are not, so you'll have to use your imagination. Feel free to edit the picture if you want to block out that part of the light, so you can get a better idea of what the "halo's" look like white, instead of amber.

3. 6000K HID Xenon Fogs. They make such a difference in lighting up the road, compared to that of the stock Fog bulbs. Plus, these are much more white than the stock, amber fog halogens. I also like having them, as I get very concerned about the potholes, here in NY. Having these fogs help make it much easier to see what lies ahead on the road in front of me. With the 20" 214's and low profile tires, I get very concerned about damaging these wheels. Again though, I did the best I could with these pictures. Some may appear a bit over or underexposed.

4. Since it was pointless to show, due to overexposure, I've also upgraded the xenon stock headlights to 6000K. These now match the Fogs. The stock xenons on the E70 and E53 are 4300K, in case you didn't know.

Feel freel to let me know if you have any questions.

Enjoy!

/C



LEFT = LED WHITE / RIGHT = Stock Halogen Amber