Headlight modification questions and concerns

Hey all, relatively new to the forum and this will be my first post...

Been considering doing some work to my headlights and have done some minimal research on it. In particular I was contemplating installing angel eyes. I'd like to know from those of you out there who have taken your headlights apart:

-have you had any issues pulling them apart?
-after putting them back together, have you had any leakage with them at all? I doubt serious leaks could occur but I can imagine water condensing on the inside of the lenses.

Have any of you installed angel eyes? I've seen some pictures that look pretty sweet. Which kits are the best in terms of brightness and bang/buck? I'd like a kit that's bright, like you see on the BMWs (clear even in the daylight), however, I don't want to spend a fortune.

any other tips, concerns or whatever are welcome as well

Thanks for the input

subbing to this thread. ive been wondering also

Here's a pic of mine.



Did the install myself. Here are the instructions I followed: http://krystmsgarage.com/?page_id=16
Take your time, don't rush. Luckily for me I have a spare set of headlights and was able to do this mod w/o sacrificing my car for the day.
I do have some condensation in one of the headlights and will have to re-bake them and give it another strip of silicone to seal it up.
In regards to price, it depends on your budget. I got mine for $40 off ebay and have had no issues (its been almost 3 yrs now).

thanks YearOfTherat. Great link with a lot of other useful guides. The car looks great!

krystm's guide is definitely a good one.

For halos most people have had good luck with the cheaper ebay kits. Alternately there are forum vendors who sell the raptor or predator versions (basically the same thing). There's a newer and far more expensive set of halos which are LED instead of CCFL and which are apparently far brighter. Just depends on how much you want to spend.

I've had the raptors from therpmstore for about four years. I had one halo go dead literally 24 hours after installing them. I removed that one and sent it off for replacement, but didn't end up reinstalling the new halo for about a year. For that time I just disconnected the low beam one on the other side and just rolled with my high beam halos.

As far as opening the housing it's pretty easy. I used the oven method. Of the three times I opened the housings (initial install, removal of dead ring, replacement of new ring) two of the times I had a second person helping me, the third time I did it myself.

A few notes and suggestions on the install.
-when pulling the light apart have a second person with a utility knife cut the sealant as it stretches between the two pieces. Think of it like super gooey cheese on a slice of pizza. Cut it as it starts to stretch and it won't end up making a huge mess.
-install the halos to the light using clear RTV silicone. It goes on easier than epoxy, is easier to remove, and doesn't yellow. I initially installed with epoxy which was about an hour long process as halos kept popping off while it dried, also it took about 45 minutes to pry the dead ring out.

I didn't use any additional silicone when resealing, I just made sure the original sealant was even across the edge of the housing. Put the light back together, heated it up, pushed it together hard and reengaged the clips, heated it up again and held it together hard for about three minutes for it to cool. Never a single leak. Others have just purchased a tube of the OE sealant and used that to make sure they had a good bead of it.

As far as comparing to BMW's remember that most of the newer models have glass tubes which are lit by a really bright lamp inside the light, so they tend to be very visible.

well thought out response, thanks for the input and tips for install. i did notice that the newer LED ones seem to come in around 225, compared to at some reasonably priced CCFLs at 60. With a gap like that, I couldn't help get a little bit concerned. It seems people are liking their CCFL kits though. I have also seen a guide around somewhere on making your own halos. It looks fairly involved, but not unfeasible. Essentially, two LEDs are inserted into a clear silicon type tubing which is then shaped however you desire. I'm curious as to how these hold up compared to the LED kits (pricing is probably closer to CCFL, although you gotta put in the extra handi-work).

I suppose you could maybe get some sort of reflective tape to put on the back side of any kit you buy that might help magnify it as well. Unless of course they already come with that..

I had it done for a while on my 3 and i did it myself, baked the headlights. Followed the Krystm website tutorial. Just make sure you scrape out the old glue otherwise the headlight lense wont seal properly and you will have leakage.