Lark, Kat and the Wingman Compare Angel Eyes
 

Sometimes all one has to do is ask. That is my take home lesson.

Today, I had the pleasure of meeting two of our ‘festers LarkHouston and Wingman335. They graciously lent their beautiful 335i coupes and a bit of their time to me to compare OEM 2009 vs LCI 2011 vs aftermarket LUX H8 Angel eyes.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Bottom line, is the LCI Corona Rings are just awesome.
http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/z...carcomparo.jpg

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/z...Wingman-NK.jpg

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/z...ouston-rev.jpg

Best part of it was finally getting a chance to meet two local Bimmerfest members. In spite of a rainy morning which turned into a hot and humid afternoon, these two great guys brought their cars out so we could have a 15 minute meet, greet and then indulge me in some shutterbug time.

Both 335s are just stunning. Lark has his TiAg coupe very finely tuned ;) and enhanced with beautiful wheels. We followed him out of the picture taking venue and OMG what a growly beast it is.

Wingman’s Le Mans Blue 335 is absolutely beautiful. From pics posted on the fest I thought it would be lighter (I guess I had it confused with Montego Blue). Nevertheless, with its M-Sport package and Oyster interior it’s an absolute beauty. :thumbup:

Standing 12 -15 feet away with all three cars idling while I took pics was a special experience for this viscerally tuned girl. The vibrations were just awesome.

My little plain jane gray 328 kind of paled in comparison to these beautiful beasts. Thank goodness we were only comparing angel eyes!

Your car is no slouch either. Love the Lux H8. Just got mine a week ago.

How good the lights look from left to right: LCI=:wow: Lux H8=:cool: OEM2009=:yawn:

It was a fun meet, NK! It was great to finally meet two local BMW enthusiasts that care about their car as much as I do, if not more. As Lark had predicted, your car was definitely the cleanest (including the wheels). :thumbup: I have no idea how you managed to keep it that way with the rain soaked roads.

The reflector delete mod makes your car look even better, and it's now on my list of things to do.

Hey guys,

Can you give us more info on the LCI? Are those stock BMW? Or aftermarket? And if aftermarket, link to the vendor?

Thanks

Yes, they come stock on 2011 E92/93s.

I took NK's advice and got the Lux angel eyes. They replaced the PIAA bulbs that I had previously used to replace the stock lights. I am very pleased.

I'm liking mine as well. If I can't have the OEM version this is a pretty good approximation. As an aside, Friday on my way home from work one of our newer members, Nathand passed me coming off the freeway, then as I pulled up to the stoplight, he unrolled his window and introduced himself. Interestingly, he told me that the LUX H8 lights are very noticeable :thumbup:

Wingman, it was a pleasure to meet you as well. I meant to ask you, did you ever get your split armrest install completed? My secret regarding the clean wheels? That would be not driving till the roads dried out. ;) It took me twice the time it usually takes for me to do my wheels on Saturday thanks to the nasty stuff that BMW Collision "graciously" put on the tires when the car got "detailed" before they handed it back to me after the rearending repair.

The Armor-all wheel protectant is amazing at protecting the wheel against brake dust. I cleaned my wheels 2 weeks ago and there barely any dust...except for small areas where I missed spraying.

Nice pictures! The OEMs appear brighter and "thicker" if that makes any sense. But still, if you'd drive by on the road I figure few could tell the LUX are aftermarket and not OEM.

Beautiful cars, everyone!

It was a pleasure to meet NK (and her infamous SO) and Wingman. Even if I am the whipping boy in this comparo. I think I came in a distant third because I wasn't able to wash my car. I think the dirt on the headlight covers altered the light spectrum thereby creating the illusion that my angel eyes are not as bright. Yep, that's it, that's the story and I am sticking to it. :thumbup: Looking forward to seeing you guys around town again. Thanks for setting this up.

Awesome pic. Thanks for the comparison.

Let me know Next time when you guys have a meet... would love to meet local Enthusiasts

I love the LCI brighter angel eyes (have the same on mine). It really stands out in a crowd.

the LCI angel eyes look real good on that lemans blue and probably monaco as well. i saw them on a vermillion red e92 a month or two ago and the blue/white hue just clashed with the paint

Photographing multiple angel eyes simultaneously is easier said than done. One thing I will say about the OEM pre LCI halogens vs aftermarket LED's is that when sitting in the driver's seat and looking at their reflection in the tailgate of an SUV in front of you, they don't reflect back in the same manner as the OEM halogens appear to. You have to sort of look for the light. Part of that I think has to do with them being very close to daylight, vs the halogens being much warmer.

And for the record, Lark - For driving halfway across town after it being rainy - I didn't see any water spots on your TiAg finish. Of course, based on the throaty growl - I'm guessing you can pretty much outrun most of the raindrops if you so choose.

Have any of you tried the NOKYA arctic white 7000k_55W H8. I am trying to get the coronas on my 2008 335I to look as close as possible to the new 2011 coronas. I was thinking about just ordering the 2011 lights from the dealer then found out they are $1200 a piece.

Thanks

Hey thanks a lot guys. I wonder how much the OEM LCI cost. They are not possible to install on a car like mine (or prohibitively expensive to retrofit or something), because of something about being an older style of "fiber optic headlights"?

In this pic, I am not sure that I would say the LUX H8 are brighter, at least on my monitor. I definitely agree the color temp is cooler, and the OEM are warmer.

Perhaps being there in person as opposed to seeing it on a monitor shows the aftermarket to have a more discernible contrast of some sort?

These are some good comparison photos, and three great looking cars!

The cost to retrofit will be very high.
Not only are the coronas and light source different; the entire headlight assembly between LCI and pre-LCI is shaped different as well, so it is not a direct replacement.

This will mean, you'd have to buy an LCI headlight assembly; rip out the angel eye set up and retrofit them into the pre-LCI headlight assembly. Do-able but expensive. I've not yet heard of anyone who has done that.

Yeah that's just what the parts guy at the dealership told me. Going to try out the Silverstar or PIAA bulbs if they don't satisfy me then I'll get the LUX H8 they look nice and clean.

Since i just burnt out the passenger side AE, I've ordered the ARC Angel bulbs from Terry (BMS). I thought about the GP Thunders, but I hear they don't last long, and I've got no patience/time to deal with that.

If I were to go with LED conversion - these HID AE are interesting albeit more money than the Lux H8. http://www.alpinemss.com/category_s/1.htm

Actually, presuming the price listed is for a set they are cheaper than the LUX H8's. I looked at just about every version on the market, and the one thing I didn't want is to get too blue. The LUX H8s are listed at 6500K. Many of the lights spec'd at 8000K.

I used a GP Thunder 6500k(or was it 6200k) set up for about 6months. They are white and not blue like the 8500k model but rather dim. While it looks okay at night, they are very washed out in the daytime.

What I really disliked about them is that dim into a yellow color when the xenons are on. The Lux keeps bright and white when the xenons are off or on.

Yes, I did install my split armrest and stainless steel pedals. I must tell you that installing the armrest builds character. It was very difficult to take off those pins, and it was testing my patience! But I was able to get it done in the end.

As for the pedals, the accelerator was an easy swap. But the brake pedal cover was very temperamental. The darn thing simply wouldn't fit into place! Finally after using loads of Isopropyl alcohol, I got it installed.