I KNOW It's Been Asked A Hundred Times, But..

[One-Way]

Ok. I KNOW, I KNOW, there have been hundreds of threads about Xenon's, but I have a question.

Long story short, my car was a gift, and I didn't get Xenon's. Didn't really know what they were until a few weeks later. At first I didn't mind, but ugh, everyone on this message board has pics in their sigs with their DAMN angel eyes, and it makes me so mad I don't have any!!

Ok. Anyway. After reading those hundred threads, I got confused.

Is there, or isn't there, a way to get angel eyes put on my car? I have it as a lease and it'll end in 3 years, that's why I'm not stressing too much. If I bought it, no matter how much it was, I'd add them on. This is also why I'm not getting Blackline's.

I'm sure there is some way to get the Angel Eyes, but I'll be looking at a couple thousand, correct? Is there another way to do it? Buy it somewhere, do it myself. I probably won't be able to do it myself.

I think this was more of a vent, but yeah, answers are appreciated.

One more time, let me cry.


Thank you.

[cdheaven]

it MIGHT almost be a good thing you didnt get xenons. maybe.... i KNEW i wanted xenons when i ordered my car, so i ordered them. and i was hoping i would be able to clear them out. i ordered my car before i found this site. after i paid money for my xenons, and found out i couldnt clear them, i considered ordering euro xenons. and selling my xenons, but i would lose money on my xenons and have to dish out quite a bit for the euros. but since you didnt spend extra money on the xenons, its almost like you saved money towards euro xenons.
PLUSSSSS if you order the euro spec xenons and save your lights, when your lease is up, you can sell the euro specs(take a little bit of a loss, but thats inevitable with modding cars) and put your stocks back on.
this is exactly what i would do. ask someone like e90 fleet or anyone else on this site that is smarter then me, exactly how much you should be looking to spend, and any other details i forgot.

[db17k]

Originally Posted by cdheaven

it MIGHT almost be a good thing you didnt get xenons. maybe.... i KNEW i wanted xenons when i ordered my car, so i ordered them. and i was hoping i would be able to clear them out. i ordered my car before i found this site. after i paid money for my xenons, and found out i couldnt clear them, i considered ordering euro xenons. and selling my xenons, but i would lose money on my xenons and have to dish out quite a bit for the euros. but since you didnt spend extra money on the xenons, its almost like you saved money towards euro xenons.
PLUSSSSS if you order the euro spec xenons and save your lights, when your lease is up, you can sell the euro specs(take a little bit of a loss, but thats inevitable with modding cars) and put your stocks back on.
this is exactly what i would do. ask someone like e90 fleet or anyone else on this site that is smarter then me, exactly how much you should be looking to spend, and any other details i forgot.

after you buy the balasts, wiring harnesses, etc & the housing, you're still not saving any money

[One-Way]

Euro Xenon's are better? But it's the same type of look right?

I'd wanna know how much it is.

[deutschmann59]

I bought aftermarket xenons for my old cavalier. First of all, the ballasts were completely corroded/rusted after a little less than a year, and you lose normal functionality (such as no more high beams). Not only that, but you couldn't replace the bulbs if they ever burned out...they were connected to some kind of wiring harness.

I've stories here about aftermarket xenons for their E90s and they get error messages on the dash. Maybe if you were able to get OEM xenons and try to install them like they were installed from the factory (if that's possible) then I'd say that's the only way to go. For as nice as they are, I wouldn't risk screwing up the car.

[db17k]

$ 2,995.00 for the retrofit

http://search.ebay.com/search/search...non&category0=

$1,699.95 for just the housing

http://cgi.ebay.com/BMW-E90-Genuine-...QQcmdZViewItem

after installation charges, it'd be about the same if you had U.S. xenons and then bought euro specs.

the only difference in the euro specs is that they have clear corners

[One-Way]

Sometimes I wish I would have stumbled upon this site before buying my car.

[timzerofive]

My suggestion are to not buy aftermarket Xenons, but to buy an used set of factory (BMW, Benz, Porsche, Audi...) xenon bulb/ballast from ebay. Find a seller with more feedbacks so you can ensure you don't get a crappy set. I've purchased a few sets off ebay and they were perfect. One set came with a defective ballast but the seller sent out a replacement one right away. They worked perfectly. You can even try to buy a brand new set of Hella aftermarket ones, they are great. No retrofitting will be required for those as they are plug and play. I had a set of bi-xenons from Hella, I switched it out cuz it was too purple though. Make sure you get the desired temperature. I don't think you will run into too much problem, since no splicing will be required.

[One-Way]

And how much will that be about? And it has the same look as the Xenon's that come with the car?

[timzerofive]

A set of used on ebay shouldn't be more than $350. A new set from Hella probably runs around $600. No, it will not give you the same look. You can come pretty close though by buying a complete headlight assembly from an used BMW, say a 540. Rip out the projector and halos and retrofit that into your housing, price should around $700 for an used set. OR, you can spend $2000 buying just a complete set of e90 assembly from ebay.

[RedStripe]

Originally Posted by cdheaven

it MIGHT almost be a good thing you didnt get xenons. maybe.... i KNEW i wanted xenons when i ordered my car, so i ordered them. and i was hoping i would be able to clear them out. i ordered my car before i found this site. after i paid money for my xenons, and found out i couldnt clear them, i considered ordering euro xenons. and selling my xenons, but i would lose money on my xenons and have to dish out quite a bit for the euros. but since you didnt spend extra money on the xenons, its almost like you saved money towards euro xenons.
PLUSSSSS if you order the euro spec xenons and save your lights, when your lease is up, you can sell the euro specs(take a little bit of a loss, but thats inevitable with modding cars) and put your stocks back on.
this is exactly what i would do. ask someone like e90 fleet or anyone else on this site that is smarter then me, exactly how much you should be looking to spend, and any other details i forgot.

Wow! This is a great idea, it makes complete sense and it's really smart. I wonder if anyone else ordered their cars without xenons so that they could order the Eurospec ones.

For the OP, the only way to get the Angel Eyes (halos) effect is to buy a BMW oem part, be it US spec or Euro spec. Buying the ballasts and bulbs, in other words doing a retrofit, will give you HID lighting, but not the angel eyes.

Also, this topic has come up plenty, and I think I've read somewhere that you also need other equipment or software update for the xenons. So if you simply buy the BMW oem xenon headlamps, it won't necessarily be plug-and-play. If you do a search, I'm sure you can find some more technical details on this.

[cdheaven]

im sorry, im sorry. im confused. how much does it cost in NA to upgrade from the regular headlights to the xenons?
And how much does it cost to puchase eurospec xenons that are just as good as the NA xenons but with the clear corners?
annnnd what exactly would be so hard to instal? wouldnt the just plug right into the the factory wiring harness?
thanks

[db17k]

Originally Posted by cdheaven

im sorry, im sorry. im confused. how much does it cost in NA to upgrade from the regular headlights to the xenons?
And how much does it cost to puchase eurospec xenons that are just as good as the NA xenons but with the clear corners?
annnnd what exactly would be so hard to instal? wouldnt the just plug right into the the factory wiring harness?
thanks

on a 325i it costs $800 to upgrade to xenons when you are "ORDERING" the car. If you have halogen and want to upgrade to xenon, the dealership will charge you up the ying yang.

It's not just plug & play unfortunatly, if you check out that ebay retrofit kit it'll tell you all the extra parts you need to convert to xenon

Xenon wiring harness
Rear level sensor wiring harness
ALC wiring harness
Connection cable
Right headlight (shown)
Left headlight (shown)
2 x level sensors
Rear control rod
Front control rod
Rear holder
Control rod holder
Front holder
4 x Allen screw M5 x 10
2 x Expanding nut M6
2 x Hexagonal screw M6 x 16mm
3 x Hexagonal nut M6
Collar nut M12 x 1.5
20 x Cable ties 200 x 3.6mm
2 x Warning stickers
2 x Miniature connectors