Shooter,
You don't need to "pull them off" to check the date. Just lift the bonnet and look at the top of the casings. Check pics below to locate where the date stamp is.

From my exhaustive research on h/lights and the h/light casing openings issues, you can not cut, dremel, slice, bake, roast or fry them open if they are manufactured after Oct 2002.
RR is on the right track, follow his lead :thumbup:

Or you can do what Weasel did and buy a 2nd hand pair from a wrecker and work on those (if you don't have the correct date stamp). GL

Actually that is what got me in trouble... I saw the date code on top like that and thought I was good as it was within range. It wasn't long before I realized I had the new glue and found the date code on the back of the headlight to be several months different than the one on the top trim piece.

I am actually going soon today to get some of the RTV silicone dissolving stuff from Home Depot to try tonight... fingers crossed.

nice your gonna try and dissolve the glue?

I just don't understand why if everyone is melting (baking) the glue to open these things, why can't I just dremel/saw/cut/destroy the glue (not the lens or casing) holding the lens on. If I used new glue and sealed them properly what could possibly happen? Seems like a glue type is an awfully small obstacle to overcome for all the mod crazy X5 fans out there?????

Weasel just made a good comment re inner casing date being different to the outer. Maybe Shooter might want to check the inner casing date as well. It's located just above the main beam socket, it's best viewed with a mirror (Pic below)

And Shooter's comment on glues being not that much of an issue rings true however given the number of guys having attempted to cut or melt them open unsuccessfully is reason to believe they can't be opened (thus far) with the stronger glue post Oct 2002.

I'll be very interested to hear how Weasel gets on with melting them. If anyone can do it, he can. GL and don't eff up your lights.

Well I bought a set of old glue style lights to mod for mine so I was able to take my time... and they came out great! The ones in question are my original ones with the new style glue that feels like an RTV or urethane. I went to home depot earlier to get a caulk and RTV glue eater/dissolver to try releasing the glue........... the bastards were out!

And as far as trying to cut away the glue, there is no way to even get to the glue with a tool without destroying the housing/lens. It is fully encapsulated in plastic and there is as much on the inside half of the channel as the outside half of the channel.

If MRBMWX5 achieved this, http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...=elephant+ears

....I'm sure you can manage to cut the lens open and reglue them back when you're done AE'ing. (but then again MRBMWX5 is insane) If I had that problem I would probably go for it. :thumbup: