XSeries-forum

After Getting my hands on this spare X5 for breaking I took the lights which was the main thing i wanted off it but they where in a really bad state infact they were probably the worst set Ive seen on an X5.

So after removing them I set about cleaning them up, strapping them to the top of the wheelie bin to hold them down and started wet flatting them with first 600 grit then 800 grit then finally 1500 grit then polished them back up to a showroom shine with the machine polisher first with the course compound and hard polisher head then with the soft head and fine compound and they now look great IMO.

some pics

Tools and bits used to clean them up


Before


After wet flatting


After machine polishing


A quick comparison close up before and after



Now all I have to do is CUT them as there post 2002 to open them up to fit the SMD rings from my old lights then bond and seal them back up then there ready to be fitted

looking like new

Nice job.  A few folks have had this problem in the past and now they can see how to fix it......

As always excellent job. Did you not just think of polishing your existing ones?

fantastic job mate!

didn't u do this on your original lights as well?

[quote="jaynana"]
fantastic job mate!

didn't u do this on your original lights as well?
[/quote]

Yeah I think he did actually.

I did in deed but these are obviously the the factory xenon's mine are the factory halogen which look dated and not as efficient.

Today I chopped them up ready for the SMD rings to go in also going to do away with the orange side reflector at the same time.

Great job as always! Looking forward to the finished pics!

Another fine job.

You will have to stop posting your mods soon as you are showing the rest of us up )


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[quote="dpbayly"]
I did in deed but these are obviously the the factory xenon's mine are the factory halogen which look dated and not as efficient.
[/quote]

Ah cool. Makes sense now.

All finished and very happy with how they've turned out.

After cleaning up the lenses I set about chopping the lenses off as I wanted to refit the SMD rings from my old lights.

All chopped up:



When fitting the rings I test fitted them from behind the lens as I wanted them hidden but unfortunately with them on the lenses distort the pattern.

from behind:



In front



So after deciding to stick with them on the outside of the lenses my next step was to rid the orange side reflectors seeing as there apart thought silly not too.

Masked up:



blown over with satin black



Another little upgrade was to the Xenon bulbs, I went with 8000K as I like the slight blue tinge:



Fixing the lenses back in place I used a glue in places then used a silicon sealer to seal the whole way round  (done this way in case I ever need to take them apart again) cut where I had cut it with the lights installed there's no sign at all they have been buchered.

Some pics fitted:











A little comparison

How it looked when I bought the X to the tinted with CCFL rings to tinted with SMD rings to now.






The SMD rings are now super bright (camera struggled to capture a good pic so bright) and perfect as my DRLs

Top job mate.

Congrats dp,

That looks like a lot of hard work but the finish justifies it as the result is excellent.

Don

Freshened the front end right up. The black grilles helped too.

looking lovely mate. How did you fit the xenon's tho, people say they are extremely difficult to fit to non xenon cars.

Can I drive to yours for you to do my lights??  lol

[quote="Jamee"]
looking lovely mate. How did you fit the xenon's tho, people say they are extremely difficult to fit to non xenon cars.

Can I drive to yours for you to do my lights??  lol
[/quote]

Fitting the lights is really simple the ballast sits in a little cut out below where the light sits (needs a bracket to hold it down or another means of holding it in place) then the connector that normally goes to the dip beam bulb plugs into the ballast and then all the other plugs go where they did on the old lights, It that simple no messing about to do at all.

Bit of a long drive otherwise I'd say sure pop over.