E60 Headlight Help - HID? - Halogen
 

Hello all,

I own an E60 2004 5 Series, I've recently bumped it a little and I need to replace the front bumper and Headlights, I've been wanting to upgrade my headlights for a while and this seems like a great opportunity!
I have the Pre-LCI Headlights with the Halogen fitment, this means my headlights look like this:

Attachment 155519
Image from google/bmwland, no credit to me, not my image (too dark outside ;P)

As you can see, I have no projectors only reflectors, and all bulbs are Halogen!

What I want to do is swap the headlights out either for some after-market Projector headlights with HID lights and either LED or CCFL rings, or see if I can look at fitting OE.

I understand there are a few things about BMW headlights and headlamps in general I need to be wary of:

• HIDs - in the UK can't be more then 8,000k, I need to have auto levelling (my car does it currently, not sure if that's to do with the headlamp or if its done externally)
  I have headlight washer jets.
• Halogen Fitment - my current set up is Halogen, I have H7's in my main ring currently and no ballasts module or anything like that, not sure if this matters if I am using an after-market kit
  or if the headlights have it all built in
• RHD - as a UK driver I know that its important to choose RHD headlamps
• Low quality - Its important that these lights look the part, I've seen a few about and though I am not sure what's possible, I do want to make sure that whatever the solution It looks good!

So my question to you guys is.. Is this possible, how easy is it to do, do you recommend any after-market headlights, can you suggest other options?

My budget for the lights is roughly £500, although I am willing to buy headlights for £500 and spend another £100 on a separate Kit if required.

Thanks in advance!

You can do 4 things
1) Pre-lci halogen to LCI halogen (easiest from what I've read in the discussion)
2) Pre-lci halogen to LCI xenon (most difficult and probably most expensive)
3)Pre-lci halogen to Pre-lci xenon (there's probably a pdf that shows you how to do it + what parts you need)
4) Pre-lci halogen to some other aftermarket headlight ( frowned upon amongst the community)

Hi. All these subjects have been covered individually very recently. A quick search through this forum will reveal all the answers you after.

If you want to upgrade your halogen light, my personal opinion is to stay away from after market headlights as they don't have the look or the quality of oem. If you want lci halogen lights then you can do this by following this post:

https://5series.net/forums/e60-parts...ersion-103684/

You will need either an adaptor to plug from the car harness to the lci headlight or hard wire it by cutting the wires coming from the car and solder it to the lci headlight harness (thats what i done)

For HID's putting any thing above 7k is silly as it will be very blue imo and it won't be as bright as the 6k and lower. I also have a 2004 car with halogens, i upgraded to lci headlights and added a 6k hids. My car doesn't have any auto levelling nor light washer but had no problems passing the mot 2 months ago.

And £500 is a very large budget if you want to buy a good used lci headlights with decent hids. I bought my headlight for £200 off ebay.

CALIC's right, best option is to go for lci halogens and then slip in a HID kit which you can get for 50 quid from the likes of hidsdirect. I've put my OEM xenons next to an E60 with that set up and you can't tell the difference AT ALL. 6000K or 5000K are fine, OEM is 4300K.

If you get both LCI headlights and taillights, consider an LM2 (light module 2) too, this gives you welcome lights and the taillights then become plug and play with the right cable and some coding. :)

https://5series.net/forums/diy-do-yo...nstall-140607/

Voila all solved.

DDMTUNING.com Order (5000k) has a TOUCH of blue looks stock, get the capacitor canceller if you don't know how to do coding. Literally a hole here, a zip tie there and there, and plug and play.

Less than 80$USD

Thats awesome,
Thank you all for the advice, I am looking at a eBay link sanjsanj gave me for Halogen Headlights and LED Tail lights Lci (projector style) for £300!
I've ordered a cable kit from eBay (I think I had the last one) for the plug and play headlight.. From what I understand is its hit and miss whether it just plugs and plays, the module is only needed for the headlights if you have the adaptive style (ones which turn as you turn steering wheel.) so there is a small chance I will need the light module..

Apparently some coding is required if I install the module, one to enable the module itself, and the other to get rid of error codes created by the angel eyes (apparently sometimes the case) and if you have the adaptive style headlights..
I don't believe auto-leveling (the added extra which uses sensors to determine the weight vs level of headlights, which in-turn adjusts the suspension slightly) is affected by any of this..

I believe if I do install the tail lights (which I may in future) then the module is defiantly needed (correct me if I am wrong.)

So I am eagerly awaiting my M5 mod bumper to arrive next weeks so I can sort that and make perpetrations for my head light install, I think I will try the cables on the headlights and shout back if its worked!

Ill keep you all updated, feel free to share any additional information you may have, or corrections for this post :D