Where is best to get OEM E39 Angel Eye headlights?

[sparks_E39]

Not particulary fussed about Xenons but at the right price I'll have a look- bit worried about buying used as I know the adjusters are fragile. Best price new so far is about £370 by the looks of things. I've got OEM clear rear lights (non celis, I'm not drilling holes in the car) and an Alpina splitter (hopefully if all goes well) on the way and I'm going to look at some style 32's on Saturday- giving the old girl a facelift as I can't bear to part with her- but I really want a fresh oem look and now Christmas is out of the way I'm on it, luckily I have a shadowline trim model. The alternative is buying a 530 SE or Sport- but I really don't want the ballache of replacing everything that goes wrong on these cars again! Cheers.

[Digger]

I bought mine from CA Automotive along with a pair of Ice Predator Angel Eye 'bulbs' to match the color temperature of the xenons. See my garage.

. . . be right back.

The angel eye bulbs are slightly less bright in real life than as shown below. Just checked the price of the headlight units on their website. Seem to have gone up in price since i purchased mine. £745!! Ouch.

Edited by Digger on Tuesday 24th January 18:24

[sparks_E39]

Cheers mate, did they throw any errors?

[Digger]

Actually yeah they did throw errors, but wire in a couple of those resistor thingies cured that. I think they came with the lights, although at that price i'd hope they include them regardless!

See edit above.

[sparks_E39]

Your car is stunning- however at that price I think I'll stick to the halogen angel eyes!!

[Digger]

Aah . . . I didnt even read the first sentence in your post properly!

You could try some breakers, or classifieds on bmwland etc?

[sparks_E39]

I'm hunting all over the place. Seeing the car won't look right without the other bits on first I was intending on leaving it till last but I'll keep an eye out.

[Rabbo]

Don't forget you need headlight washers and a self-levelling system come MOT time if you want to retrofit Xenons. You could use Partsgateway or 1st Choice to track down the parts you need. I've never had bad service from any breakers on their books. Also, bmminiparts are likely to be cheapest for new, OEM parts.

[sparks_E39]

I think I'll avoid Xenons for the time being to avoid that issue.

[Fox-]

You don't need headlight washers or self levelling suspension for the MOT. If you are worried, read the MOT test manual where the situation is exactly clear. There is a LOT of misinformation and misunderstanding on this issue, partly perpetuated by a DFT press release about a year ago pre-empting the effect of the new MOT changes BEFORE the manual was confirmed. The DFT really wish retrofit Xenons were illegal (mostly because it seems they've not realised the difference between the wrong bulbs in a reflector lense, which is the problem, and projector lenses, which isnt) hence the slew of press releases giving the departments 'view', but its a grey area with no legal precedent, which is why you will find nobody who has had an issue.

The bottom line is that cars fitted with Xenons *MAY* (it specifically says MAY) have self levelling devices and headlight washers. IF FITTED (it specifically says this as well) they must work. Thats it.

Not fitted? No problem. The new legislation is only a problem for people who have:

a) OEM Xenons

AND

b) A defective headlight washer (The manual concedes its very hard to check the operation of the leveling device and advises benefit of the doubt).

Moving on..

Most of the cost of the OEM BMW Xenon headlighs is the ballasts and bulbs. The actual angel eye headlight housing itself is the same whether you've got Xenons or not. You've even got the mounting pounts for the OEM Ballast brackets should you wish to fit them. The headlights have a projector for main beam and once fitted with OEM specification 4300K bulbs, only the lack of washers will give away the fact it was retrofitted from the outside of the car.

[Deano_BMW]

see if you can find some headlight units that come without ballast packs. the E39 uses exactly the same ballasts as vauxhall Omegas. I paid 220 for a pair of second hand headlights with no ballasts and then 35 quid for the ballast units themselves. Gave the headlights a thourough polish and they were as good as new and saved me a lot of money

[sparks_E39]

Hymen said:

I replaced mine as they had bad road rash and the adjuster was broken on one of them. I got a pair of genuine Hellas from here: http://www.motormec.co.uk/e39wl.html

They come with the adapters for upgrading your old style lights too, which I still have laying about somewhere!

Thanks, cheapest new so far!

[Origin Unknown]

I think I read on another thread that you were planning on changing the bumpers for sport/alpina bumpers? Given the cost of that plus the cost of angel eyes, would it not make sense to flog your SE and buy a Sport?

Just a thought

[sparks_E39]

Origin Unknown said:

I think I read on another thread that you were planning on changing the bumpers for sport/alpina bumpers? Given the cost of that plus the cost of angel eyes, would it not make sense to flog your SE and buy a Sport?

Just a thought

I could do that... but I've spent so much money on all the E39 problems I don't want to do that again on a new car. I know my E39, it's worth keeping imo. Also I purchased a mint genuine Alpina splinter for less than a tank of fuel (just has to be painted and fitted) and OEM facelift rear clear facelift lights for similar money. All in all all the changes are costing me far less than it would to upgrade to a sport, plus it will be a bit different to the other E39's on the road whilst maintaining an OEM image.

[sprouting]

Dont mean to add to your spending spree, but a nice sport rear bumper would go nicely with that Alpina front

[sparks_E39]

sprouting said:

Dont mean to add to your spending spree, but a nice sport rear bumper would go nicely with that Alpina front

I know Going rate is £300ish painted in good nick.

[Fox-]

sprouting said:

Dont mean to add to your spending spree, but a nice sport rear bumper would go nicely with that Alpina front

I disagree, it would look odd. Needs to be all Sport or all Alpina

[sparks_E39]

Fox- said:

I disagree, it would look odd. Needs to be all Sport or all Alpina

Yeah, I'm not mixing and matching however I'm not buying Alpina wheels, I would if I could justify £1500+! I'm not too keen on the big boot spoiler Alpina's have, however the sport boot lip spoiler looked like an option as I've seen one or two pictures of them so I may do that instead. Also it was possible to spec a 528 with the Alpina bodykit from the factory. There is a purple one on turbines around Poole with those headlights between the original and Angel Eyes, looks

[Mustard]

Fox- said:

You don't need headlight washers or self levelling suspension for the MOT. If you are worried, read the MOT test manual where the situation is exactly clear. There is a LOT of misinformation and misunderstanding on this issue, partly perpetuated by a DFT press release about a year ago pre-empting the effect of the new MOT changes BEFORE the manual was confirmed. The DFT really wish retrofit Xenons were illegal (mostly because it seems they've not realised the difference between the wrong bulbs in a reflector lense, which is the problem, and projector lenses, which isnt) hence the slew of press releases giving the departments 'view', but its a grey area with no legal precedent, which is why you will find nobody who has had an issue.

The bottom line is that cars fitted with Xenons *MAY* (it specifically says MAY) have self levelling devices and headlight washers. IF FITTED (it specifically says this as well) they must work. Thats it.

Not fitted? No problem. The new legislation is only a problem for people who have:

a) OEM Xenons

AND

b) A defective headlight washer (The manual concedes its very hard to check the operation of the leveling device and advises benefit of the doubt).

Moving on..

Most of the cost of the OEM BMW Xenon headlighs is the ballasts and bulbs. The actual angel eye headlight housing itself is the same whether you've got Xenons or not. You've even got the mounting pounts for the OEM Ballast brackets should you wish to fit them. The headlights have a projector for main beam and once fitted with OEM specification 4300K bulbs, only the lack of washers will give away the fact it was retrofitted from the outside of the car.

In deed, old man has been running retro fitted genuine ballasts & modified bulb holders for the last 5 years and never had an issue, yesterday I had a chat with an MOT tester about the changes and he said it will still be fine as long as the SLS works (it's a touring so factory fitted) no need to worry about the HLW as it doesn't have it fitted