E8x Non-LCI Tear down, CF Eyebrow and Rings DIY Thread

hassan_hamdan

Specialist
Aug 1, 2017
74
12
0
Ride
135i M package
First, let me say, im no professional by any means, and figured I would try my hand at creating a solution for a problem that isn't really addressed.

In the fall had hit a hard enough pothole without paying attention, and although the 1er was alright, the inner grey ring for the adaptive headlight (driver side) was flopping around. My passenger headlight xenon was not working, when I had the car inspected at BMW they stated that water got into the light and I need a new headlight (not really up for dumping $1400 on one headlight). Since the car was going to be apart over the winter, and figured that I needed to open up the working light anyway to figure out why the grey ring was loose, and since I was not up to paying for a new light, I figured I would open up both lights, understand how they work, see what parts I needed, and order a used working headlight but broken tabs off Ebay, and swap parts around (DIY video of tear down of head light using the heat gun method will be uploaded soon as you cant simply bake these headlights). I also figured that since they are open, lets upgrade the rings!

I loved the idea of going 3/4 rings however with the E8x the headlights are wider than the E9x, so the 3/4 looks great however I feel like they are "empty" when looking head on during the day, at night the would look sweet, however since I plan on having this in multiple car shows, I didn't want to have it look like "its trying to hard". I decided to go with the Full DTM rings instead, they fit the E8x lights better. So I order them in.

Now for the eyebrow. My 1er is Non-LCI, it does not have the Led eyebrow. All I could find was either LED eyebrow upgrades, but since my car would not be able to use them the next option was cheap looking exterior eyebrows such as cf eyebrows that you would stick to the outside lens on the top, or even, a frosted decal. While some people don't mind these, I would rather have the rings alone and no eyebrow than either of these options. There is one fella on the 135i Fb page selling Cf eyebrows, however, they are part of the housing.. and wants £500+shipping... That is a lot of money... Like alot and being in Canada our peso of a dollar will bring me close to a grand for that... Im good.

So what if I could make a CF eyebrow, that i could retrofit to the housing? I will attempt it. My cousin Eric is nice enough to help print out some plastic molds which I will make a CF eyebrow out of. Now I may make a CF eyebrow and it may look great, or I may do it and it will be horrible, so im all ears to anyone with any suggestions or tips.

I will post up the DIY video on how to tear apart the head lights, then when the rings come in ill have a video on installing them then resealing the headlight. To top it off ill write about my experience building a CF eyebrow!

Here is the current headlight apart, and the first mock up of a printed eyebrow,

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Last edited:

doublespaces

Administrator
Oct 18, 2016
9,303
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AZ
Ride
2009 E93 335i
I'm a fan of the LCI headlights, so for me, I'd personally go with something like this:
iPiOc5m.png


The black seems to blend in with the rest of the housing a bit too much? Also feels like it breaks the lines of the car a bit.
 
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ASquared

Corporal
Nov 6, 2016
119
34
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Las Vegas
Whats everyone using to reseal these headlights
I had cut my e90 lights open when I did mine. The build thread is on here and I showed how to seal them. I ran a thin line of butyl tape and then clamped the lens to the housing. Then after that dried, I ran two clean beads of RTV silicone around the entire light to ensure it filled and sealed properly. I’m a neat freak with OCD so I made it look clean and I’ve been leak proof for months now.
 
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Slowvert135i

Corporal
Oct 24, 2017
112
43
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Shelton, ct
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08 135i e88
I had cut my e90 lights open when I did mine. The build thread is on here and I showed how to seal them. I ran a thin line of butyl tape and then clamped the lens to the housing. Then after that dried, I ran two clean beads of RTV silicone around the entire light to ensure it filled and sealed properly. I’m a neat freak with OCD so I made it look clean and I’ve been leak proof for months now.

Ive been thinking about about buying a roll of the headlamp sealer to try when my bavgruppe halos show up
 

hassan_hamdan

Specialist
Aug 1, 2017
74
12
0
Ride
135i M package
So for lenses, there was a fellow on bmw 135i fb page by the name of zimi i believe selling lenses, however they will run you 150ish pounds.

For sealent, you can get the same stuff from bav grup but a Canadian site, ill post the link below. Get the butyl 4m sealant, get the gel packs, and get the 3m Goretex Patches, they let air out but not in.

They are the same stuff bavgrupp sells, however they are cheaper, and in Canadian.. they will honestly save you way more money then Bavgrupp.

links for parts as follows.
https://winnipeghid.ca/product/3m-goretex-patches/
https://winnipeghid.ca/product/silica-gel-moisture-packs/
https://winnipeghid.ca/product/morimoto-retrorubber-butyl-glue/

With any luck the first video will be posted tonight or sometime this week.. super busy building the whole car up hahaha