bmw e46 angel eyes

[thugstyle]

hey guys, bought myself a e46 2005 320cd convertible. i really want angel eyes, but having the facelift model the headlights are glued shut.
i tried to heat em up as most people do but. a) my oven is tiny b)using a heatgun burnt the plastic.
now money aint an object but i cant seem to find anyone local who can do this for me.
i found one person who dos provide a fitting service but they are located it hounslow!
me being from oldham i did want sum1 closer.

can n e body help?

thanks in advance

[FunBusMk2]

Have you thought about buying new, complete light units?

[thugstyle]

i have.. but they all come with the standard yellowish rings.. not the hid white

[sparks_E39]

The E46 didn't have them if I recall correctly. Any aftermarket ones will look crap tbh, although better than crispy genuine ones I suppose

[thugstyle]

na they didnt com as standard. but i must admit iv seen people put the after market rings n an it looks mega!

[sparks_E39]

I'm sure you can get them cheap on eBay. Tip. Keep the originals for when you sell the car.

[thugstyle]

yep iv got the rings already. jus finding som1 2 put em on is the hard bit.like i mentioned earlier dnt wanna travel 2 hounslow if n e 1 knows som1 closer 2 home

[FunBusMk2]

I would avoid opening the sealed units to fit them though. They're sealed for a reason surely?

[thugstyle]

yep, ur correct sir. but after they r opened the original glue is re heated n the headlights r once again sealed shut

[roofer]

Get a bigger oven?

[thugstyle]

lol, na id rather pay sum1 to do it heheh

[DivideBYZero]

I had an e46 M3 for six years and I never did like the retrofitting of the Angel Eyes. Factory look FTW!

[CypherP]

DivideBYZero said:

I had an e46 M3 for six years and I never did like the retrofitting of the Angel Eyes. Factory look FTW!

[wfalenta]

I'm a newbie, just bought an E46 320Ci sport a couple of months ago, and I really want the angel eyes and HID lights, so would I need to replace the entire light fitting?? I'm learning as I go along, so the lights to be a complete sealed unit is a new one for me!
Could anyone with experience offer some suggestions/advice?
Thanks

[FunBusMk2]

My honest advice to anyone would be don't bother. I had the projector, non-xenon units on my E46 and thought they looked fine. I think all this aftermarket tat can (not always) look naff.

[wfalenta]

PS could someone explain what 'projector' lights are?
These are mine:




please could someone tell me what kind they are? cheers!

[Mr-B]

Those are projectors in your photo. The dipped beam is what is being referred to as projector, it has a solid glass lens the bulb sits behind.

[wfalenta]

thanks Mr-B
do you how difficult it would be to fit HID lights and angel eyes?

[Mr-B]

Bloody difficult. I have looked at this myself and involves melting the glue holding the light unit together so you can split it open, fit the angel eye rings then reglue the unit back together again. (using your domestic oven to melt the glue seems to be the favoured way of melting the glue) The HID's and are a bit more plug and play but to be fully legal you have to have automatically adjusting levellers and headlight washers. I beleive they are changing the MOT rules on this this year to specifically fail any "aftermarkets" that don't fully comply.

[wfalenta]

Would swapping out the entire light be an option? I've seen some websites which sell them as a whole (angel eyes and HID lights), granted they aren't cheap, about £350...??

I'm just not keen on the yellow halogen look, especially as more and more cars on the road now have nice clear white lights