X5 55 plate lighting upgrade

X5 55 plate lighting upgrade

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Raven Flyer

Original Poster:

1,642 posts

225 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
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Has anyone retro fitted HID/Xenon gas discharge lights to one of these?

My other half has had one for years and I have just bought a new A6 with Martrix LED's.

She now thinks her lights need some serious upgrading.

Raven Flyer

Original Poster:

1,642 posts

225 months

Wednesday 11th November 2015
quotequote all
Thanks Denis.

I have ordered an HID kit. The car has projector lenses so I am hoping the beam pattern will be acceptable without changing the light housing.

This is purely to improve the light output and cosmetics don't come into it so I ordered 5000K. Is that sensible?

Raven Flyer

Original Poster:

1,642 posts

225 months

Monday 16th November 2015
quotequote all
Just an update. Fitted the kit at the weekend and it was an easy job. I used a Dremel to cut the holes required in the water proofing caps and the new leads and grommets fitted perfectly. The X5 has brackets that are perfect for the ballast packs and probably hold the OEM ones, if they were specced from new.

The whole job took around 40 minutes. The only fiddly bit is getting the bulbs in with the supplied carriers. These weren't as robust as the ones on the halogens and this was a faff. Once done, I bent the tabs across for a bit of extra security to the bulb fit.

As a note re the MOT thing (I know it troubles some people) the E53 already has self levelling headlights and has self levelling suspension. Either are acceptable means of headlight levelling for an MOT. It also has headlight washing systems.

Job done and the light output is in a different class to the standard halogens. Thanks for your help and advice.