Ebay EURO ELLIPSOID SMILEY HEADLIGHTS

[backtrail69]

They leak water into them Every depo lense I have seen leaks and looks like shit with condensation or water inside the light. E30 Smilies, e36 angle eyes, e36 fogs, e36 smoked tails...

[erik325i]

So what makes them bad ? They aren't made out of plastic, but glass right ?

Sure, the lense is glass, but everything else isn't. The housings leak water, and they are overall just poor quality.

-Erik

[LINUS]

I've seen a set on a car personally, and the owner said they leaked water into the lense area from the day they were installed. He tried a few times to patch the seal with RTV, but in the end had to take them all the way apart and strip out the old silicone and start over. I haven't talked to the guy in ~3 months, but he had just finished doing the rebuild last time we talked.

Sounds like you better be prepared to take them all the way apart if you own these. Might give you a reason to do the M. Needler style smoke job, but only if you are comfortable ripping these things apart.

[Jean]

I've seen a set on a car personally, and the owner said they leaked water into the lense area from the day they were installed. He tried a few times to patch the seal with RTV, but in the end had to take them all the way apart and strip out the old silicone and start over. I haven't talked to the guy in ~3 months, but he had just finished doing the rebuild last time we talked.

Sounds like you better be prepared to take them all the way apart if you own these. Might give you a reason to do the M. Needler style smoke job, but only if you are comfortable ripping these things apart.

That's a valid reason not to get them if they leak out of the box. :up:

[mikeedler]

I imagine that they ALL dont leak, but I have a set of cheapo ebay "euro"lights on my 1997 Chevy truck "ellips." the truth be told, the light pattern isnt aimed for crap, and the light output seems to get lost somewhere. let alone the plastic they are made from is absolutely the most brittle thin stuff in the world.

[micahbertoli]

wow, i wish i would have seen this thread earlier. i just bought these smiley's off ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-E30-3-SERIES-83-92-EURO-ELLIPSOID-SMILEY-HEADLIGHTS_W0QQitemZ150080284396QQihZ005QQcategoryZ33710QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

i'm guessing they're of the same poor quality as the ones referred to above. any opinions on this kind? i already bought them, so "don't buy them!" is kinda out of the question.
thanks

[nando]

the worst part about them is the lighting quality. the cutoff on the lowbeams is terrible, and the high beam's focus is way off. and yes, lots of them end up leaking (mine did), and they are made of very cheap plastic.

[bwh13]

I just installed a set of the Depo smileys and did the preliminary aiming tonite. The patterns look fine to me with nice cut-off like they should on low beam. High beams will be aimed later. Since I live in AZ I'm not too concerned with the leakage issue.

The plastic actually looks fine to me, it's a heavy guage ABS or something similar, and doesn't look like it will be failing any time soon.

The only issue I had with them was the wiring hraness adapters the seller included with them, but nothing a little wire and shrink wrap couldn't fix in an hour.

I installed a separate circuit to run the lights with individual circuit breakers and heavy guage wire in case I want to run 80 or 100 watt bulbs(trying to run those through the headlight switch will probably melt the solder inside the switch, that happened to me years agon in my 240Z). The only concern I have is the plug in connectors for the H1 bulbs in the housing. I ordered some BMW connectors that I think I can modify to fit in there so we'll see...

[JasonC]

I just installed a set of the Depo smileys and did the preliminary aiming tonite. The patterns look fine to me with nice cut-off like they should on low beam. High beams will be aimed later. Since I live in AZ I'm not too concerned with the leakage issue.

The plastic actually looks fine to me, it's a heavy guage ABS or something similar, and doesn't look like it will be failing any time soon.

The only issue I had with them was the wiring hraness adapters the seller included with them, but nothing a little wire and shrink wrap couldn't fix in an hour.

I installed a separate circuit to run the lights with individual circuit breakers and heavy guage wire in case I want to run 80 or 100 watt bulbs(trying to run those through the headlight switch will probably melt the solder inside the switch, that happened to me years agon in my 240Z). The only concern I have is the plug in connectors for the H1 bulbs in the housing. I ordered some BMW connectors that I think I can modify to fit in there so we'll see...

Do the depo's have the __/ __/ cutoff?

[erik325i]

the worst part about them is the lighting quality. the cutoff on the lowbeams is terrible.

I agree.
I just installed a set of HIDs into a customer's e30 m3 and while aiming them, I saw how shitty the cutoff is.

-Erik

[e30frosh]

speaking of cutoff...my smoked ellips do this __X__ did I get some swapped lenses?

[JasonC]

speaking of cutoff...my smoked ellips do this __X__ did I get some swapped lenses?

mine was like that too. they are adjustable, just unscrew the 3 screws that hold the elip. on and turn it so the cut off is __/

[erik325i]

speaking of cutoff...my smoked ellips do this __X__ did I get some swapped lenses?

ha, you need to rotate your passenger light. There are three little screws, and then you can move the light one notch over.

-Erik

[bwh13]

My low beam cut offs are _/ for both lights just the way they should be.

[Fidhle007]

My low beam cut offs are _/ for both lights just the way they should be.

Congratulations! Someone get this fellow a cookie. :D