Old Depo projector headlights: Useful?

[funcrew]

Doing a little decluttering. Found some DEPO projector headlights made in Taiwan. My E30 is a '91 ragtop with sealed beam lights. The sealed beams are nice in that when a gravel truck cracks a light, it's eight bucks and ten minutes to install a brand new complete headlight. Downside is they're a bit ugly and don't actually, you know, illuminate the roadway much.

DEPOs are complete expect for one little plastic clip that anchors the ball end of the low beam aiming rod to the headlight housing.

Question: I've heard underwhelming things about this unit. Should I invest any more labor into getting them working, or just chunk them and chalk it up to youth and foolishness?

[Northern]

They're straight replicas of the Hella smileys, and most (if not all) parts on them are interchangeable. They do have issues leaking for the lowbeams, and the exteriors of my highbeams are rusting, but they've been installed and outdoors on the east coast of canada for ~8 years now.

They took some playing with the adjusters to get them to sit right, they protruded out from the grilles too much when I first installed them.

[nando]

I'll take them off your hands if you don't want them.

In retrospect - they have flaws, but they're actually really high quality reproductions. The later ones got really cheap.

Funny enough, the Depo tail lights I got for our X5 are actually made way better than the original BMW ones, which failed because they are made as cheap as possible.

[funcrew]

They're straight replicas of the Hella smileys, and most (if not all) parts on them are interchangeable. They do have issues leaking for the lowbeams, and the exteriors of my highbeams are rusting, but they've been installed and outdoors on the east coast of canada for ~8 years now.

They took some playing with the adjusters to get them to sit right, they protruded out from the grilles too much when I first installed them.

I live in the desert southwest US, so leaking is not really an issue. I believe I will install them just because they are nicer than the OEM sealed beams. Appreciate your post.

[funcrew]

I'll take them off your hands if you don't want them.

In retrospect - they have flaws, but they're actually really high quality reproductions. The later ones got really cheap.

Funny enough, the Depo tail lights I got for our X5 are actually made way better than the original BMW ones, which failed because they are made as cheap as possible.

Nando, you are a bit of a legend on this forum. I'm going to install them and see what happens. Thanks for your input!

[nando]

I would throw on some clear silicone caulking around potential leak areas (outdoor variety of course). Even if you live in the desert, you still have to wash your car sometimes - that was the only time I really had water issues.