DIY: LCI HID Angel Eyes V2
04-10-2010, 08:51 AM
#32
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Location: St. Louis Burbs, USA
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My Ride: 2007 530i. Purchased 6/28/07. Titanium Silver Metallic, Black Dakota Leather, Dark Poplar Trim, Steptronic, Premium Package, Cold Weather Package, Bluetooth, Adaptive Control Xenons. 10/30/07 Added OEM 124s with 245/40/18 & 275/35/18 Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires. Installed red Cal Covers� from BavAuto. 11/21/07 Added OEM all-weather floor mats (for winter, carpet in summer) and coat rack. 6/26/08 installed M5-style rear spoiler. 6/30/08 put on red reflectors. 8/22/08 Euro turn signal stickers applied. 3/20/09 Installed Shadowline Trim. 3/27/09 Added Matte Black Kidney Grilles from Trinity. 4/03/09 Installed Bimmian Shadow Matte Black 530i Badges. 4/04/09 Installed LED license plate lights from Trinity. 5/01/09 Installed Brabus Interior LED Kit and White Angel Eyes. 5/02/09 Put in Brabus 6K Fogs. 5/14/09 Removed charcoal filter. 5/15/09 Installed light smoke LED side marker lamps from Trinity. 5/21/09 Sprint Booster. 6/12/09 Painted exhaust tips flat black. 6/13/09 Pulled red Cal Covers and painted calipers low gloss black. 6/27/09 RPI Ram Air Scoop from Trinity. 8/15/09 Installed Brabus's silver invisibulbs front and rear. 9/24/09 Installed R-Dash license plate LEDs from Brabaus (John).
Nice writeup, John. 
11-06-2010, 04:32 PM
#38
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I just finished this mod on my 2008 M5. It looks great, but the install is a pain on that car. Here are some tips/writeup to help the next guy. Use the pics John posted and these instructions to augment his:
Note: Forward is the front of the car. Rear is the back. Lateral is the "outside" of the car, away from the centerline. Dorsal is towards the center of the car (like a dorsal fin on a dolphin). Driver's side means the USA driver's side.
1) Remove the two front weather strips under the hood
2) Remove 2x 30mm torx bolts on the top of each headlight. One is on the outside (lateral) of the headlight, and one in the inside (dorsal).
3) Remove the 2x 15mm torx down deep on each headlight. DON'T drop them, or you will NEVER find them again. This goes for the entire install. Be really careful not to drop any bolts into the front bumper area because it's sealed and you'll never get them back.
4) Pull the headlights out just slightly, then tape up your paint around the lights. Getting the lights in and out is a nightmare, and you're almost guaranteed to nick the paint. Tape, tape, tape.
5) Remove the headlights. It's a pain, but these tips should help. First, pull the assembly forward about an inch. Then unscrew the large round disk that contains the angel eyes bulb (it's the one you'll be drilling a hole in later). Then work the rear of the headlights out first. The tricky part is a rubber vent hose that needs to be tweaked to sqeueeze past the fender. Once that hose is out, you're gravy, and the getting the front out is fairly simple. You'll also need to disconnect the wiring harness from the lateral-rear side of the headlights before they come out very far.
6) Once the headlights are out, you should install the balasts. Start on the driver's side. There is a bolt you can use to attach the balast in one of John's pictures. He calls it the "bolt right in front of you". On this same bolt, you'll also need to attach the ground wire of the supplied harness that has the SHORTER power lead (the driver side harness). The relay can be threaded up towards the power connector, then ziptied in place. I installed the black box with a self-tapping screw onto the raw aluminum front-bumper (forward of the ballast).
7) The passenger side has much more room under the headlight. I installed the ballast on the dorsal-side bolt. I had to trim the mounting plate on the ballast to make tht work. I also grounded the passenger side harness ground on the same bolt.
8) I installed the black box forward of the ballast with a self-tapping bolt into the raw aluminum bumper.
9) I ziptied the relay in the under-headlight area, as well.
10) Go and replace the headlight bulbs with the supplied bulbs per John's instructions. The only tips I have here are that you need to remove the outer casing of the bulb (obviously), then remove the clear plastic and white plastic rings that are still attached. You'll need to cut through the clear piece. The white piece is already cut.
11) Take your new headlights and plug them into the harness. Start by taking the connector that comes FROM the relay and plugging it into the extra spot on the ballast. Then take the three connectors on the light and plug them into the matching connectors on the harness - they only fit in one place.
12) Run the power leads up to the battery terminal.
13) Turn on the car/lights to make sure everything is connected properly.
14) Disconnect the lights, then spend some time routing all of the wires out of the way. Try to stay along the factory harness. Use zipties to hold everything together. The only tricky one was the power lead from the passenger side. I ran it behind the radiator, following the hood release cable.
15) Put it all back together. To reinstall the headlights, unscrew the disc that you drilled the hole in. That makes it much easier. Then put the dorsal side of the headlight in first, followed by the lateral side (again, that vent hose is the only part that should be a tight squeeze). Don't forget to connect 4 cables to each headlight - 3 from the new harness, and the 1 original factory harness.
16) Replacing the 2x small torx in each headlight is tricky. If you drop them into the car, they're GONE. I used a magnetic pickup tool to get the bolts started. That made it MUCH easier.
17) Get a beer - you've earned it.
It took me about 4 hours start-to-finish, mostly because I tried mounting the black boxes in a couple of places that didn't let the headlights fit back onto the car. Once I found the right spot, it went pretty smoothly.
It looks fantastic now that it's done. No error codes, and the 8000k HIDs I got from John match the 6000k stock headlight bulbs really well. I have noticed that the inner ring is a bit brighter and whiter than the outside ring. The outside almost seems to have some green tint to it. Both rings are driven from the same bulb, so I don't see how that could be fixed.
Thanks, John! I love the new look on my car!
Note: Forward is the front of the car. Rear is the back. Lateral is the "outside" of the car, away from the centerline. Dorsal is towards the center of the car (like a dorsal fin on a dolphin). Driver's side means the USA driver's side.
1) Remove the two front weather strips under the hood
2) Remove 2x 30mm torx bolts on the top of each headlight. One is on the outside (lateral) of the headlight, and one in the inside (dorsal).
3) Remove the 2x 15mm torx down deep on each headlight. DON'T drop them, or you will NEVER find them again. This goes for the entire install. Be really careful not to drop any bolts into the front bumper area because it's sealed and you'll never get them back.
4) Pull the headlights out just slightly, then tape up your paint around the lights. Getting the lights in and out is a nightmare, and you're almost guaranteed to nick the paint. Tape, tape, tape.
5) Remove the headlights. It's a pain, but these tips should help. First, pull the assembly forward about an inch. Then unscrew the large round disk that contains the angel eyes bulb (it's the one you'll be drilling a hole in later). Then work the rear of the headlights out first. The tricky part is a rubber vent hose that needs to be tweaked to sqeueeze past the fender. Once that hose is out, you're gravy, and the getting the front out is fairly simple. You'll also need to disconnect the wiring harness from the lateral-rear side of the headlights before they come out very far.
6) Once the headlights are out, you should install the balasts. Start on the driver's side. There is a bolt you can use to attach the balast in one of John's pictures. He calls it the "bolt right in front of you". On this same bolt, you'll also need to attach the ground wire of the supplied harness that has the SHORTER power lead (the driver side harness). The relay can be threaded up towards the power connector, then ziptied in place. I installed the black box with a self-tapping screw onto the raw aluminum front-bumper (forward of the ballast).
7) The passenger side has much more room under the headlight. I installed the ballast on the dorsal-side bolt. I had to trim the mounting plate on the ballast to make tht work. I also grounded the passenger side harness ground on the same bolt.
8) I installed the black box forward of the ballast with a self-tapping bolt into the raw aluminum bumper.
9) I ziptied the relay in the under-headlight area, as well.
10) Go and replace the headlight bulbs with the supplied bulbs per John's instructions. The only tips I have here are that you need to remove the outer casing of the bulb (obviously), then remove the clear plastic and white plastic rings that are still attached. You'll need to cut through the clear piece. The white piece is already cut.
11) Take your new headlights and plug them into the harness. Start by taking the connector that comes FROM the relay and plugging it into the extra spot on the ballast. Then take the three connectors on the light and plug them into the matching connectors on the harness - they only fit in one place.
12) Run the power leads up to the battery terminal.
13) Turn on the car/lights to make sure everything is connected properly.
14) Disconnect the lights, then spend some time routing all of the wires out of the way. Try to stay along the factory harness. Use zipties to hold everything together. The only tricky one was the power lead from the passenger side. I ran it behind the radiator, following the hood release cable.
15) Put it all back together. To reinstall the headlights, unscrew the disc that you drilled the hole in. That makes it much easier. Then put the dorsal side of the headlight in first, followed by the lateral side (again, that vent hose is the only part that should be a tight squeeze). Don't forget to connect 4 cables to each headlight - 3 from the new harness, and the 1 original factory harness.
16) Replacing the 2x small torx in each headlight is tricky. If you drop them into the car, they're GONE. I used a magnetic pickup tool to get the bolts started. That made it MUCH easier.
17) Get a beer - you've earned it.
It took me about 4 hours start-to-finish, mostly because I tried mounting the black boxes in a couple of places that didn't let the headlights fit back onto the car. Once I found the right spot, it went pretty smoothly.
It looks fantastic now that it's done. No error codes, and the 8000k HIDs I got from John match the 6000k stock headlight bulbs really well. I have noticed that the inner ring is a bit brighter and whiter than the outside ring. The outside almost seems to have some green tint to it. Both rings are driven from the same bulb, so I don't see how that could be fixed.
Thanks, John! I love the new look on my car!
04-06-2011, 11:47 PM
#39
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Location: Hawaii
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hey guys im new here got a 2008 535i that mod looks amazing can u tell me a price for shipping it to Hawaii? from your chart at the ending of the first pagee you said that 10k hid would appear as 8k. what about at night would it still look 8k or 10k?
06-12-2011, 02:11 PM
#40
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My Ride: 2007 Black Sapphire 535i
John,
Many thanks again for the new Xenon's 6000K D1S bulbs and ballasts along with the 8000k HID Angel Eyes to match 6000K Fogs I installed last year. I posted a few pics in the forums here. The install went exceptionally well!
https://5series.net/forums/topic/114...8#entry1351938
Many thanks again for the new Xenon's 6000K D1S bulbs and ballasts along with the 8000k HID Angel Eyes to match 6000K Fogs I installed last year. I posted a few pics in the forums here. The install went exceptionally well!
https://5series.net/forums/topic/114...8#entry1351938