Hella Angel eye lights and Bottom Eye Lid

[writeb]

The HAEK is Prohibitively expensive. But I drool every time I look over an Ebay auction or online catalogue with the Hella Celis Angel Eye Unit for the e36 on it. Someone once said with careful bidding they were able to find it for $400 bucks. I have personally only witnessed them going for no less than $400 with the usual $55 dollar or more shipping, or no less than a $525 Buy it Now price before shipping. Whats reasonable retail for these things anyways? And If i go to Germany this summer, how many Deutch Marks do you think I'll have to part with? (or are they on €'s yet in Germany?)

What type of lights do the Hella Ballasts take??

Since the e46 came out, I have had nothing but headlight envy, due to the shape of the headlights, but the advent of the Angel Eye rings in the M5, just took it over the top. So I think the coolest facelift would be to install the Hella Kit into the car, and then obtain a BOTTOM mounted (double scooped) Eye lid kit, and the facelift would be pretty complete. (not to mention installing a e46 M3 bumper cover on the e36....)

I have looked over a variety of Angel Eye Kits, ranging from the least expensive all in one kit at procarparts, to the ones at Umnitza, to the ones through Ebay, which involve the favorable upgrade to Euro Ellipsoids and H1 lights, then retrofitting Angel eye Ring kits into the car.

The Euro Ellipsoid upgrade seems to be the most favorable upgrade, because it upgrades the light output from regular stock, plus glass lamp covers instead of plastic, and if you get the real ones, you can install the daytime running lights that are housed in the High Beam reflector, as well as setting the groundwork for a potential upgrade to HID beams. The pricing for the Euro Ellipsoids are starting to be a little more modest, although I can not identify OEM quality at this juncture.

Does anybody have any direct impressions of the Hella Unit, or the Ellipsoid w/ angel eye retrofit??

Thanks!

Writeb
'98 Artic Silver Base

[grail]

for fun and practicality--get the diy kit (ellipsoid or whatever you call it).
for convenience and 100% assurance--get the hella ones, just bolt on.order the 4 doors though.

[writeb]

Thx for the reply grail.

Can you tell me about your AE Kit? Also, how did you find a chrome gear surround to fit the Ti?

Thanks!

------------------
'98 318TI, Clear indicators all around, Arm Rest, Chrome interior accents & Interior Door handles, Doubled Brake Lights, //M trim on sides, 16' Z3 5 Spoke wheels, Alpine 3 disk in-dash changer. Coming soon: Repaired Window!, 1.9 Z3 Short Shifter, Brake Job, Fogged Airbox, AEKit, Bumper cover, Supersprint.

[grail]

chrome gaiter--got it from bmtown.co.uk.there should somewhere in the states to get it from.they do international delivery.
angel eyes---these are composed of rings, LED bulbs and wiring looms. and are fitted over the headlight inner lenses.need to take out the side lights completely for the wiring to light up your rings.or you can do your own---http://students.washington.edu/ashis/Creating%20Custom%20Angel%20Eyes.htm
-are also available in different wiring, were you need a seperate light box which uses halogen bulbs(i think)
goodluck!!

[J!m]

The Z3's had the option for a chrome shifter boot surround which I believe will fit the ti as well.

I have not tried it, as I don't like the look (too "70's muscle car" for a BMW to me), but there is also headlight knobs (I think) and lock buttons- all factory parts, not Pep-Punks crap.

The chrome gage rings can be applied to the ti cluster, with a bit of crafting (seen on eBay a while back). I'm not sure if these are 'Genuine' BMW parts or not, but does it matter for a gage trim ring??

Anyway, FYI...

[writeb]

Well, I decided to go with the Euro Ellipsoid route, with the Angel Eye (or DDE yuk yuk...) retrofit. Found an offer I couldnt refuse. I threw some Phillips Blue Vision (I know I know.. couldnt resist though), bulbs in there, that actually got decent reviews for light output. (see my post on H1 bulb help) With the bluish tint on the Halo Rings (I had the option for regular incadecent white or the simulated hid blue-white), so I went with the blueish tint. Plus I think it looks cooler at night and sets the car apart more when I'm sitting around in parking mode. (grin).

Impressions; I love it. I feel I didn't do the greatest job in mounting the halos inside the light though. If you walk up to the car you can find the wires if you know what to look for. But to the ignorant bystander they're usually floored by the effect. Its rather cool how so many people even out here in affluent Palo Alto haven't seen this much on the gazillion 5 series being driven around here. My ring set is powered by LEDs, and the bottom most arc of the rings are not as illuminated as the led contacted parts, and some parts of the ring seem to not reflect as much light if you come real close to the headlights. When I turn on the low beams, The halos pretty much dissappear altogether into the light, unfortunately even the halos in the high beam area. I know other halo technologies exist that will light up the rings more, and perhaps that will be an option later down the line.

Visibility of the halo during the day is pretty non existant. On a rainy day, or dusk (when you can still get away with driving without lights on), the halos are a neat effect. I get the coolest reaction when waiting outside at night in a parking lot or something.

The H1's in the Ellipsoids make a huge difference. Aiming them is kind of tricky though, make sure you aim them. When I first installed mine the dang things were lighting up tree tops in the neighborhood! I dont think the aiming is perfect yet, but I'm planning on getting it done professionally once I get the fogs installed. (maybe i'll have one of the independant dealers around here do it for me when they get me for my window repair!!!! ).

ON to the next project: getting this window repaired.... AGAIN... bushings popped out and I'm positive the regulator arms are finished about now...... this sucks! (but at least the car looks good. hahah)

[rated///M]

finest angel eye retrofit kit i've seen is Umnitza's DDE Lightning with ZKW euro ellipsoids...they're incredibly bright they really show up, even with headlights on and dont look bad when off like inpro's angel eye headlights, etc.

www.umnitza.com ...for reference.