Current State of Aftermarket Headlights
 

For those in the know, are there any current aftermarket headlights that are great in both looks and quality...
Kinda hard to judge over the internet pics vs. real life
Checked out all the offerings on fleabay - nothing kinda stood out saying those look ok to put on the car.
The shrouds on the Depot (which many seem to favor) look cheap.

Looking for a set.

Don't really get into much, but my custom modded dual projectors, etc, etc - I'm looking to replace these.

Bump.

Like he said

The quality of the O.E. ones are just plain superior to the aftermarket ones. While some have gone the aftermarket route many encounter failures in the forms of leaks, condensation, premature burn outs of the led headlight ring, etc. After all that happens your stuck again replacing/repairing the headlights. Its just not worth it in my opinion and for this reason I choose to stick with an OE units. You can find used ones that need some lens restoration at 1/3 of the cost of new ones.

I just wish my X5 with adaptive headlights were brighter. I restored the lenses but its still the weakest headlights on all the vehicles I own.

Sad when xenon's are 1/4 as bright as the normal headlights in my 323i. I even bought the osram night breaker hid bulbs for them. Still horrible light output.

If the headlights came apart like my factory 323i headlights do I could find out if the reflectors were bad but no luck there since they are sealed.

If I can find new xenon capsules that I know for sure I can swap out on mine if I get the guts to try to open them up I might restore them.

But at the going rate I may end up putting in aftermarket headlights. Im not a fan of them either but if it wasn't for the led bulbs I put in my driving lights I would be blind at night in the thing.

Given the age of the vehicles, it would be a hard pressed call to just buy used OE headlights via Ebay. Micro fractures/crazing can occur when polishing the lenses, etc, so - that only a discernable eye inspection can reveal.

In my particular scenario, while my headlights are truley one of a kind on the E53 platform (OE dual projectors, inner/outer hid, etc)....etc....I've got issues with them that quite frankly, I'm not looking to spend time or money into...

I put some chrome Spyder projector units on my 2001 five years ago and have had about zero issues and they still look fine. They were not particularly expensive, and you can change the bulb/HID kit independently, which is easy. BTW, you can't do that on more modern cars...like MKV jettas...that have computer control of everything. Very annoying. Nothing but hate for computers. I digress.

I never hooked up the halos. I never hooked up the extra leds. I just wanted headlights, and that's what they are. I used some cheap HIDs from ddmtuning, and have changed the bulbs once because I didn't care for the color temp, and was looking for max throw (I changed to 4300k). That was pretty good.

They suck... sorry nothing else to contribute. Spyder/Depo are your two only real options for "quality" units... and they are far inferior to OEM units.

I wish someone made replacement lenses for the facelift X5 (I think someone did at one point)... then I could just install those on my units and have a perfect set of headlights IMO.

I found a few Chinese sites claiming to have new lenses for the facelift lights but I never could find a link on how to order them. If I ever find something or actually rebuild mine I will post what I find.

I will eventually have to do something since mine are so dim the way they are now.

If I do go aftermarket I will rebuild the ones I have now for sure just to know what happened to them. I just don't want to be without headlights is the only reason I haven't tried taking them apart yet.

There is a set of replacement lenses but quality has yet to be confirmed......
The lenses are not cheap at $150 so it just might be the same level of lenses you find in a $200-$350 complete set. ALL of which is on fleabay.

Visually, currently, my headlights are still one of a kind....have yet to see something comparable on the forums in all these years of a similar mod. There are just some fundamental issues I don't want to ~put more money~ into these already ~ expensive paperweights~

brummmmmp.

If anyone knows of a good reliable retrofitter (reliable) being the VERY key word, feel free to PM. Not looking to flame anyone here in the post....