Next on the list is lights... (You'll see I'm doing a lot of these out of order, but that's just the way time and resources worked out).
Goals for this piece of the project were to
- Maximize light output and quality
- Minimize wiring changes to stock harness
- Look as stock as possible, not leak or fog
- Keep costs reasonable
...and I might be the outlier here, but I don't like aftermarket angel eyes on the 1 Series... I think they emphasize the already narrow look of the front end and make it look more like a squished E90. Also, having just completed an OEM BiXenon retrofit on an E46 I wasn't eager to do that again... the costs look really high for the E82 and the wiring (to do it right anyway) looks like a huge project.
So I went with a kit from
The Retrofit Labin the Netherlands. They do pretty complete kits for reasonable prices. I got the LED projector units, and they include all the shrouds, wiring connectors and butyl to complete the retrofit- plus they have actually tested on the E82 and confirm that everything fits.
Pulled the headlights, tossed 'em in the oven at 250 F and used a panel tool to pop them open. The permaseal was a PITA. Each headlight took 3 rounds of heating to get them all the way open without damaging anything.
The hard part was getting the headlight lenses off. Once that was done, it was easy. You pull the halogens, the projectors fit right in their place and the kit comes with all the wiring pre-done. Warm them back up in the oven, soften the butyl and reassemble.
The light output is fabulous, I love the instant-on of LEDs and not having to deal with ballasts, igniters or bulbs is pretty nice.