What headlights?

[duval7]

Can someone give me a breif discription on headlight options? I have an 88 so it has US ellipsoids from what i can tell. I would like to get a smoked headlight look but i still want factory quality. What should i get and how much should i look to spend? I found these but most of this stuff is crap so that why i am asking you guys. http://www.ebay.com/itm/84-91-BMW-E3...#ht_5861wt_932

Thanks for the help.

[blazinxpk]

you will not get factory quality from "replacement" lights, such as the DEPO ones that you posted.

you have a few options:

1) smoke the current lights you have.
-use smoked lamin-x film. this method will decrease light output by some percentage due to a film now being in front of the lens. this decrease might be very minimal, and possibly not visible.
-use this method to smoke the lights: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=94540 though i am not sure if this method works on non-smiley lights.

2) buy actual hella smoked lights. this option will be the most expensive. real oem smoked light are a lot of money.

3) buy the depo lights you posted. they have the smoked look, but have slight visual differences compared to euro-smileys. this option will not have the factory quality that you are looking for, though many people do use this option because they are fine with the quality.

[FLG]

As stated, you basically have 3 choices, live with the ones you have and smoke them. Spend 500+ on OE new lights, or cheap out and buy DEPO's

I have depos and HID's from miromoto. I always get asked how they are...well theyre nowhere OE quality, but theyre no where OE price. They work good enough for me, though if i had the cash id have went with some new hella's but its a track rat anyways so it really didnt matter.

[bmwguy325is]

Im glad I bought my smokes when I did. I got them for $300 from turner a long time ago........

[duval7]

My headlights have "Hella" printed on them. Are they the H4 Hella upgrades that I have read about? Are they the middle of the road and the euros with the smiley considered the best option? I may just try the tinted film and see how it turns out.

[Holland]

Hella and Bosch make OEM lights. If they have the ellipsoidal housings, then they aren't H4's.

[blazinxpk]

projector/ellipsoids:
-US
-Euro

Reflector:
-sealed beams
-H4 conversion

so you either have projector or reflector housings. and within those categories it would be one of the two.

[yahh]

I'm running the depos but retrofitted with morimoto h1 projectors. Amazing light output but pretty expensive.

[duval7]

I'm running the depos but retrofitted with morimoto h1 projectors. Amazing light output but pretty expensive.

I googled these and didnt come up with anything for the E30. Do you have any links? So from what you guys are saying i have the US spec elips. which are the worse option as far as light out put?

[Holland]

I googled these and didnt come up with anything for the E30. Do you have any links? So from what you guys are saying i have the US spec elips. which are the worse option as far as light out put?

US Ellipsoids are probably among the best if not the best option. Although I hear Hella H4's are a bit better. Worse option are US sealed beams.

The difference between US and Euro are the beam cut off patterns.

[MPLFoster]

I'm running the depos but retrofitted with morimoto h1 projectors. Amazing light output but pretty expensive.

pics of retro/output?

[yahh]

Pics of lights in my project thread. I'll get some output picks when I get a chance.

[ELVA164]

Another possible option is to make your own cross-hatch and install it into the buckets OEM-style. There was a thread somewhere about how to do that...

Here it is: http://e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52494