Headlight Upgrade - Halogen to Xenon
 

Hey Guys,

Ok took delivery of the new car and its all too exciting, absolutely love it.

Anyhow, the only option in hindsight I wish I ticked was the Xenon lights, my e53 had them and didn't realize how great they were until I went back to standard Halogen. (Xenon aren't standard in Australia)

I have read a heap of posts on here about upgrading Fog and Angel Eyes to HID but it doesn't look like anyone has tackled an aftermarket xenon upgrade, there are some decent looking kits but they seem to be just driving lights and then rely on the halogen high beams.

Has anyone upgraded their lights from Halogen to HID, what do i need?

Cheers,
Mason

Ok, seems like I'm going to be the test case on this one.

Is there a step by step guide on removing the lights?

They seem almost impossible to access in the car.

Cheers

Mason,

G'day mate, you wont be the first to try this and probably not the last either. I had the same problems and even tried removing most of the front of my vehicle to get at the lights. After 8 hours of work carefully removing what I could on one side of the car I found that the main angel eyes would need to be changed from the halogen bulb to an LCD type fitting and i gave up trying to convert the lights myself.

Local dealer wanted about $1,500 to change over the halogen to xenon type lights and will charge a minimum of 4 hours labor per light to do the changeover job.

Good luck If you manage to do it yourself but let us all know how you did it.

Cheers,
Bozz.

I managed to change the dipped halogen with an h7 HID bulb without taking the car apart. However, this was extremely difficult and calls for some contortionist
moves and scraped and bleeding hands afterwards. IMO it was well worth it in the end though as the standard halogens are so pathetic At night. My Toyota echo from 7 years ago did a much better job with it's halogens.

I never did manage to work out the angel eyes part though.

I managed to change the dipped halogen with an h7 HID bulb without taking the car apart. However, this was extremely difficult and calls for some contortionist
moves and scraped and bleeding hands afterwards. IMO it was well worth it in the end though as the standard halogens are so pathetic At night. My Toyota echo from 7 years ago did a much better job with it's halogens.

I never did manage to work out the angel eyes part though.

Have you seens this:

Bimmian HID Retrofit Kit for BMW X5 SAV - 2007+ E70

Yes I have seen their site but they dont provide proof that its possible to retro fit Xennons in place of the Halogens on an E70. I have requested detailed fitting or change over instructions but have not received a reply from them with specific detailed instructions of how its done.

Bozz.

I sent the guy I deal with an email. Hopefully he will get an answer back to us soon. They are a very highly rated company and ship internationally, so it may be a good option for you Mason.

Thanks for the referral Kirkinner.

I have been in correspondence with a few of you in terms of finding some instructions on how to do a bulb replacement for an E70 with halogens.

I had offered my services in terms of taking apart my E70 and give detailed instructions with pictures, however my E70 has Xenons and would be of no use.

The last person I was speaking with, I told him that I would keep looking for some instructions for this and will keep you guys posted when I find something.

If anyone has any questions you can reach me here:

Stephen Gulab
Sales Manager
Bimmian International
[email protected]


USA 646.827.3465 x15
Canada 647.722.3432 x15
Fax 416.352.5569

The biggest problem I see is the shipping charges, I've had good luck and gotten great prices from either www.ddmtuning.com and/or www.hidextra.com (coupon code "besthid-m" and make sure to ask for their free resistor kit when ordering) on both my E53 X5 and E38 740iL. The bulbs and ballasts are simply plug and play nowadays, so it's super easy to upgrade anything from your car down to your riding lawnmower.