BMW5Stiles

I just upgraded my "yellowish" AE's to LED AE's.
I think it turned out great!
The only issue is now my Halogen Headlights are too "yellowish"
I upgraded those to PIAA lights, which are whiter but still yellow compared to LED's
Take a look.

First is the old "yellowish" AE

Second is the new LED AE's

Third is both complete!


It was a pain getting the headlights back in.....took a little bit of "convincing" but they go back in.

acefuture

Looks good in your photos!

Your car has halogen headlights. Is the car an LCI car?
Are you pleased with the new bulbs? I know they are whiter, but are they brighter or at least as bright, as the original AE bulbs?

The bulbs you bought replaced the original H10 bulbs, correct (assuming it is an LCI car)?
What LED bulbs did you install? Where did you get them?

I have a 2008 528i with halogen headlights. I replaced the low beams with a 4300k HID kit from TRS. That new xenon kit made a huge difference in visibility and appearance of my car. Highly recommended.

However, I still have the original halogen AE bulbs. Been looking and searching for replacement AE bulbs, but have gotten nothing but confused. I'm looking for a simple Plug 'n Play bulb replacement for my original AE bulbs that offers the best brightness and white color. I'm not interested in cutting open my headlight assemblies and installing Orion angel eye replacements..

Thanks,

BMW5Stiles

acefuture, thanks for the feedback.
Yes, I have the halogen LCI model and have been looking for a good AE solution. I purchased these:
BMW E60 LCI E61 LCI HALOGEN LED Angel Eyes 10W No OBC Error 2008~2010 free shipping by Fedex-in Angel Eyes from Automobiles & Motorcycles on Aliexpress.com

They appear to have a good heatsink and were plug and play. The only difficult part was getting the headlight back in. It took a little bit of haggling with the light but it gets back in.
The Low and High Beam bulbs I replaced were PIAA's H7's

Question for you...the HID kit you installed...do you have any current issues? meaning, any of the wiring melting? how long have they been installed?

530dE60

I'm also looking at getting the HIDs and the angels to LEDs. If you want the halogen bulbs to look like HIDs without going HIDs then these Mtec Cosmos blue white are the best ones out there. I have tried lots and these are the best bang for buck solution if not having HIDs.

MTEC 12v 55w COSMOS BLUE HID CLASS UPGRADE BULBS - HIDS DIRECT LTD Store

Trying to work out what power hid kit to go for. 35w vs 55w and bulbs 4300k vs 5000k vs 6000k.

tonyb635

Looks very nice and the price, not bad at all. I am curious why you removed you headlights. On the LCI you don't have to remove them to install bulbs. Well, that is if the bulbs that you got are larger or something.

Booyaazaa

The lci halogen ae lights are huge compared to the bi-xenon ones. So I imagine you have to remove the lights since it was a tight fit with my old lux lights.

BMW5Stiles

Yes, it was a tight fit...
I tried to do it without removing the lights but my hands are too big.
it wasn't bad though. Gave me an opportunity to examine the light assembly..

acefuture

The HID kit I bought was this one:
H7: Morimoto Elite HID System - HID Systems from The Retrofit Source Inc

I bought the 35w ballasts, the 4300K bulbs, and the Standalone Can-Bus harness.

I got the 4300k bulbs because that is what BMW xenon headlights come with. Also 4300k produces the maximum number of lumens (brightnesss) of all the different color temperature bulbs. This translates into the farthest projection of light and maximum visibility for the driver. The 35 watt ballasts were chosen because that also is what BMW and other german makes use in their oem xenon lights. I know 55w ballasts and bulbs can produce even greater lumens, but I did not want to blind other drivers or have some cop stopping me about my headlights. Also 35 watt ballasts and bulbs draw less current and produce less heat than a standard H7 halogen bulb. Sometimes 55 watt ballasts can put too much stress on the car's wiring harness and the 55 watt bulbs produce more heat than a normal H7 halogen bulb. Didn't want to risk burning / ruining the reflectors in my factory headlights.

As you found out getting the headlight assemblies on and off the car can be tricky and a pain in the butt. That's why I went with this Morimoto brand from the Retrofit Source. They have very good reviews for qualilty of components and service. Sure there are cheaper places like DDM with a supposed lifetime guarantee. However, you have to send the parts back to them before they send you a replacement. Also you have to pay return shipping costs. But most importantly I'd rather get a high quality set
that you only have to install once (hopefully) rather than pay less and have to swap out replacement bulbs or ballasts once a year or so. To me it's worth it.

I've had these lights installed for about a year now. No problems at all. No iDrive or dashboard bulb warnings. No flickering lights when turned on. No wiring problems. Very fast start-up to full brightness, just like factory xenon lights.

They were pretty much plug and play. One adjustment had to be made to the HID bulb in the kit. It has to be "notched" so that the return wire in the bulb is on the bottom when it is mounted in our headlight assemblies. Very easy to do. A dremel and 5 minutes of time is all it took. Making this adjustment gives you pure light with no return wire shadows in your headlight beam.

Highly recommended.

530dE60

^^ good heads up and information on the hid kit you bought. Any pics of where you put the ballasts on the headlights and the look with the lights turned on ? How does it compare to the e60 OEM xenon look...I mean can one tell from the appearance that these are aftermarket HIDs (especially as I keep reading about how halogen projectors don't function the same as ones which are factory intended to take oem Xenons). Basically I too am after the best hid kit out there as I don't want to keep taking out the headlights. Oh and did you drill the holes in the back covers for the wires to pass through ?

acefuture

Sorry, I didn't take pictures of the ballast locations. However, once you remove the headlight assemblies (and you will have to do this to install an HID kit), you will see several possible locations on support structures behind the lights. I attached my ballasts with both heavy duty double sided foam tape from 3M backed up with zip ties ( belt and suspenders concept).

The kit itself gives the car the light output, color and appearance of factory xenons. Of course the headlights don't have cornering lights nor are they self-leveling like the factory xenon headlight assemblies. The halogen projectors in our cars are very, very good and they handle the HID kit very well, giving excellent light output, beam pattern and cutoff.

Yes, I did have to drill the holes in the back covers. However the silicone plug/gasket that is supplied with the kit, provides a snug tight seal around the wires and fills the drilled hole very well.

One key thing you should do after installing the HID kit is get the headligts aimed correctly for optimum performance. Rather than paying some place to hopefully aim the headlights correctly I used the information and explanations from this website (highly recommended with good information) to get perfect, spot on aiming:

Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

Need to follow the directions exactly. Measure, make your marks on a wall, etc.
Once everything is measured and lined up, our headlights are very easy to aim as they only have a screw which adjusts the vertical aim of the lights. No horizontal adjustment screws.

EDIT: Imprtant. I just noticed you're from the UK. Given that, I'm not sure the aiming information from the website I cited above would be applicable to you. Also your headlight adjustment screws may differ from those supplied in the US. That being said, I would still strongly advise you to get your headlights aimed according to British regulations and standards in order to achieve optimum performance.

I'd say the aiming is just as important as the kit. After I'd installed the kit I was really happy with the results. But then aiming them correctly just made the results outstanding. After correct aiming, I have never been flashed by an oncoming driver in almost a year, yet have superb color temperature and downroad distance visibility.

Night driving is a real pleasure now. Much more confident, comfortable, and relaxed. Huge, huge performance improvement over the halogen lights. You won't regret this upgrade one bit.

Good luck!