XSeries-forum

Excuse my stupidity but is there a simple / economical way of making E53 headlights look like E39 headlights? Is it possible to swap the inards somehow? I have the lights that level when i switch them on but no rings around them like my old 5 series. Anybody have ideas/ experience of this?

I might be wrong, but think the Angel Eyes were only fitted to the facelift E53 models.

What age is yours?

Pre-facelift cars need complete replacement light units.  Look for 'Depo' kits, assuming they are still available.

[quote="themoog"]
Excuse my stupidity but is there a simple / economical way of making E53 headlights look like E39 headlights? Is it possible to swap the inards somehow? I have the lights that level when i switch them on but no rings around them like my old 5 series. Anybody have ideas/ experience of this?
[/quote]
You must have a pre facelift. If you put your car details in your signature it helps other members see what year/ variant you have. So it's more likely you will get a reply with rage correct info.
You can either buy some Depo  headlights of EBay. Or there is halo rings you can fit into your original head lights.
Do a search on the forum. You have to remove your headlights and remove the lenses with a hot blade to cut through the glue sealant holding the lenses on, then re seal the lenses.
( edit , forgive the repeat comments from the above post. x5 Sport types a lot faster than me

Sorry, yes mine is a 2001 model. I just saw a 5 series E39 like what I used to own driving toward me today with just the halos on and it looked mean. I don't have an issue taking the lights apart if thats what it takes. Makes a project more fun..

I have seen some very effective & bright halo rings on FleaBay that you can simply fix Inside the lamp units, that will definately look good in normal daylight....

presuming you are good at DIY and can re-seal the lamps back up securely..

The early version headlights can be 'baked' to soften the glue so they come apart with a little help.  That changed in the first couple of years or so to a different glue and those lights can only be parted by more 'brutal' means - a fine saw/dremel - making rebuilding a bit more challenging.

I think there are threads on here about it but if not check Xoutpost in the US for info. 

[quote="X5-D-Sport Salisbury"]
I have seen some very effective & bright halo rings on FleaBay that you can simply fix Inside the lamp units, that will definately look good in normal daylight....

presuming you are good at DIY and can re-seal the lamps back up securely..
[/quote]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/252062461023
These are the sort of rims available, just randomly picked these off EBay. So take a look at all the adverts before choosing also some aftermarket units for around £189
https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/361321074397

Are the halo rings easy to wire in without any error codes,  I'm quite happy to attempt splitting headlight and installing halo rings but I'm not 100% with wiring without a dummy's guide 

If they say can us error free they will have an inbuilt load resistor that simulates the original bulb rating, this fools the can us bulb check into believing there is a normal element type bulb at the end of the wires.
The wires/ plug that normally feeds the original sidelight bulb would be taken and used to power the view Angel eye rings instead. A simple 12 v live and negative to each headlight location

Re wiring & error codes etc
PM me if you need an easy to read wiring diagram.

To prevent error codes, you may need a ballast resistor for each headlamp unit to give the circuit some load, and possibly a 4700uf capacitor to prevent flickering when the vehicle does it's diagnostic checks occasionally...

It's all easy to do.
A pair of ballast resistors will come from Flea-Bay, and two big capacitors from Maplins.
Everything is wired in PARRALLEL.

The Capacitors & the Halo rings will be polarity sensitive, other than that it is a sinch.

Hi x5-D-Salisbury, yes will def pm you for guide, the only capacitor I'm aware of is the flux one on the delorian (back to the future) and I don't want that one installed, when I hit 88 mph who nows were ill end up. Haha.  )
I will do bit research into getting capacitors and ballast resistors,  even tho that means nothing to me!

If you look closely at the photo on the eBay advert they have plugs on the wiring and a box, which will be a load resistor and possibly an LED driver, so are plug and play/ idiot proof as far as the wiring goes, splitting and revealing the light unit is the hard part

Cool, sounds good, so in layman terms just tap into side light wiring and bingo wiring done (pretty much)

First thing i did after curing the squeak (rear ball joint) was fit angel eyes and xenons