Why are my headlights so shit?

[miniman]

E39 (pre-facelift) - I have fitted "lovely jummbly super bright white bulbs" but they are frankly dire. Drove my wife's Fabia to work today and whilst clearly it's a decade newer, the lights are massively better. The problem with the 5 seems to be exasperated by the lenses getting really really dirty very quickly.

Do they all do that, sir? Or is there something I can do to make them better, short of switching them for Angel Eyes which I'm not inclined to do as I have three other more interesting cars to spend money on.

[MitchT]

You must be truly exacerbated

[miniman]

MitchT said:

You must be truly exacerbated

F U C K S T I C K S

[belleair302]

Did you just renew the bulbs, or did you renew the reflectors and have you ever polished the lenses to remove any scratches and marks etc.

An HID (Xenon) kit is not expensive and will throw out a much more concentrated light when set up correctly. No need for angel lights, just a good dipped beam kit.

Guys like CA do some top stuff.

[miniman]

Just the bulbs, and no, I haven't polished the lenses so I will give that a go, thanks.

What is "CA"?

[gizlaroc]

http://www.autogeek.net/lenshowto.html

[miniman]

gizlaroc said:

http://www.autogeek.net/lenshowto.html

thanks! Any idea where to buy similar stuff in the UK?

[gizlaroc]

I used ScratchX on my E Class with some great results.

Halfords.

[VerySideways]

As has been said, first step would be to polish the headlamp covers.

A decent HID kit is a worthwhile invest, you're only looking at £100 for dipped beam and the difference is huge! Try to stick to something between 4100K and 6000K colour temperature.

[phelix]

Have seen an article somewhere that talked about wet sanding the headlamp covers with 1500 grit paper (lots of water), then with 2000 grit and then with polishing compound. Can't recall where though?

[belleair302]

miniman said:

Just the bulbs, and no, I haven't polished the lenses so I will give that a go, thanks.

What is "CA"?

CA Automotive are a superior supplier of BMW performance enhancing products including illumination and HID / Xenon kits.

[Digger.]

I replaced my pre-facelift (2000 540i) non Angel Eyes halogen lights with Hella Xenon Angel Eyes from CA Automotive. Added Predator Ice V2 to the Angel Eyes. Not cheap but made a real impact and am sure helped me to sell the car a few weeks back.