Club Touareg Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Garage Forums

Headlight Angel Rings install

Tags
disassembly headlight
Jump to Latest
62K views 90 replies 28 participants last post by  EndSupremacy  
#1 ·
Hi all,
I always wanted the BMW halo rings look, so I got a used headlight from eBay ($50 shipped) to try it on. I also have those spider cracks in the driver side headlight, so I was hoping to get a clear lens with the eBay one. Well, I did. :)
I have to mention that the used headlight is halogen and mine are HIDs.
I believe the bucket is same, so the clear lens should fit.
I tried to follow the bake method, but the sealant is not very pliable at 250 F. It does soften a bit, but it doesn't allow for the two half's to be pulled apart.
Image


Image


The heat did help to soften the black plastic rim that I ended up lifting up with flat screwdriver and bending it back on itself until it broke off. I need to expose the end of the clear lens, so I could get under it to pry it off the bucket. It was hard, with multiple trips back to the oven I finally gave up and used heat gun instead.
Image


Working the long sides first I worked the screwdriver under the lens until it separated. All that while heating it with the heat gun.
The good news is that this clear lens is a lot more forgiving than the rear lights and doesn't crack easily. The only thing to watch out for is to not to deform it much.

Image


When it finally came apart I cleaned of the sealant since it can't be reused and the final assembly will have to be done with silicone.

Image


Image


The silver shroud comes off once I released it from more of the goop in the bucket.
I took measurement and the silver ring around the outer light, its 108mm OD and 74mm ID.
Ideal size of the ring would be 95mm. Most of the LED type rings are in full sizes (80,90,100,..), but I found 95mm cold cathode rings and ordered it today. I wasn't sure if I wanted the LEDs or CCFL rings, but I think the CCFL will look better.
We shall see.

To be continued ......
 
#3 ·
Great job, as usual. Did you have to remove the bumper :cool: .

As you, I wasn't successful with the oven method for the front reflectors. Look forward to part 2...

siberian
 
#7 ·
I KNOW that Yeti... if there's ANYONE here that knows about headlight removal it's me having done it 1000 times trying to convert the CFO's halogens to HIDs. I mentioned that ironically as Krak seems to take body parts off everything and I'm allergic to it and try to find other alternatives...

siberian
 
#8 ·
Got the rings today.
Couldn't help myself and did temporary setup to see how it looks.

Image


Very bright . I see I will be spraying the silver shroud as I thought before. Just not sure if I should go with black or body color (offroad grey).
On weekend I'll put it on the car for some more pictures.
I will also be puting in LED strip at the bottom of the headlight, it's 430mm long, so it will take 52 piranha LEDs (26 white and 26 yellow), I'm sure you get the idea what I'm going to do with them.
The white 0.5w piranha LEDs I just got are so bright they might replace the LED DRLs I got now. We'll see.
Cheers.
 
#10 ·
Krakonosh said:
Got the rings today.
Couldn't help myself and did temporary setup to see how it looks.

Very bright . I see I will be spraying the silver shroud as I thought before. Just not sure if I should go with black or body color (offroad grey).
Click to expand...
I've never been a big fan of the Angel eyes. It looked cool on the Beemers, but all the dodgy copies and rip-offs gave it a bit of a bad wrap.

THIS however, is probably the best I've ever seen!!! And please paint the inner body colour so that I can see what it looks like in off-road grey... ;)

Well done Krak.
 
#9 ·
Nice...

The white 0.5w piranha LEDs I just got are so bright they might replace the LED DRLs I got now.
Click to expand...
You'd have to drop the front bumper again (darn...) and replace the grill you cut out no? The piranhas are side emitting if I follow where you're going with this...

siberian
 
#15 ·
Pretty much invisible. I wouldn't get rid of the lower LEDs... or... use the side beaming LEDs inside the housing ala Audi and sell the angels

siberian
 
#16 ·
That's my next step, I'll be fitting in row of LEDs at the lower edge of the housing.
I was going to use these ring as accent lights only.
But I should finish my tail lights first.
With the brightness, the ballast has a polarity protection diode on the input, that drops 0.6V and I have both rings on one ballast, so I'm going to remove the diode to see if it gets brighter and also I'll try this again with the truck running.
 
Ü
#17 ·
I am surprised at how little light they actually put out... I had to actually take a second to figure out if they were on, and which side it was etc.

Maybe at night it will look much better, hopefully

Edit: just saw your post, maybe with a few simple changes they will in fact be brighter, keep us posted
 
#19 ·
I get a lot more light out of my side reflectors :cool:

Unless you have a weak battery, I don't think it will make much difference whether the truck is running. But removing the diode will help somewhat. Keep us posted, I'm still trying to find out why I get the P2004/5 DTCs...

siberian
 
#21 ·
Like the CCFL over the LED.. I went with CCFL when I have my BMW too.. I think the LED rings look.. broken I guess? I saw an Audi A4 yesterday with the strip of LEDs in his headlight housing, and far away looked cool, but as he approached they looked super cheap. Really looking forward to your progress!
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#23 ·
I did more playing on the bench and found that running the rings on separate ballasts gives more brightness and also that they get brighter as they warm up, like double the intensity.
Will have to do more outdoor tests on the weekend.
Cheers.
 
#24 ·
FWIW, as far as the LEDs go, I think Porsche has nailed it with the Panamera. Their white strip of light on the front looks so much better than Audi's, or especially Mercedes' (theirs is the worst - I hate it so much on the new E class).

On the Panamera it almost looks like a neon tube, rather than individual LEDs, whereas everyone else's are clearly individual LEDs. It would be pretty cool if you could figure out how to get something more similar to the Panamera's light strip, incorporated into the egg.
 
#26 ·
bradski said:
FWIW, as far as the LEDs go, I think Porsche has nailed it with the Panamera. Their white strip of light on the front looks so much better than Audi's, or especially Mercedes' (theirs is the worst - I hate it so much on the new E class).

On the Panamera it almost looks like a neon tube, rather than individual LEDs, whereas everyone else's are clearly individual LEDs. It would be pretty cool if you could figure out how to get something more similar to the Panamera's light strip, incorporated into the egg.
Click to expand...
Is this what you're refering to?

Image


Looks like they used difuser on front of the LEDs.
 
#28 ·
My CCFLs had to warm up. I bought a newer style eventually that took less time to warm up, but on the BMW forums there was a whole thread in the winter of us colder climate people with headlights that looked like Terminators (one ring on one side) or otherwise dimmed/ lit combinations.
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
V
#29 ·
Krakonosh, what did you end up sticking with the headlight angel rings?

I'm trying to decide what would look better. A quality S6 style integrated in the bumper air intake cutout, or the rings in the headlights as you posted on the previous page.



 
#32 ·
I say also go with the DRLs as these rings are not bright enough for daytime.
It's going to be just for a show.
I haven't progressed any further with it as I got the tail light to finish first and the cold temps in the garage are not helping.
But on the bright side, I fixed my Kessy today with two new MOSFETs.
volkswagendude said:
Krakonosh, what did you end up sticking with the headlight angel rings?

I'm trying to decide what would look better. A quality S6 style integrated in the bumper air intake cutout, or the rings in the headlights as you posted on the previous page.
Click to expand...
 
#33 ·
As Krak said, go with the DRLs we installed - note you can do it the easy way and drop the entire front end of the car up to the rear passenger doors as Krak did or work from underneath and leave the body as is :cool:

siberian
 
V
#34 ·
Ok thanks for the advice. I'm waiting for a member overseas to sell me his S6 LED's that should fit nice and snug on the bumper air vent cut out. Not the fanciest of looks, but looks nice 'n' tidy enough to look OEM :cool:.



 
Ü
#35 ·
volkswagendude said:
looks nice 'n' tidy enough to look OEM :cool:.
Click to expand...

Its funny for me if a modification looks "like it could have come like that" thats the highest compliment I feel like it can receive. For instance, your 20's with the quad tips and hatch spoiler all look really well together and I could totally see VW releasing a model a few years back that was a sportier treg with those parts... know what I mean? So in my quest to find the best led approach (for the front) trying to make it look OEM will be my highest priority :)
 
#36 ·
The only advantage (I see) in the ones Krak and I got is that they are clearly NOT Audi lights and are somewhat easier to align.

If you get the S6 LEDs it will be difficult to align them properly as the body curvatures on the Audi and Treg are not the same and the LED assembly needs to follow it.

I agree with you UberV10 to the point of it not being "a copy from". The idea yes, but the entire fit needs to add some "individuality". Will be interesting to see some pics once you install them

siberian
 
Club Touareg Forum
posts
787K
members
106K
Since
2003
Club Touareg Forum is a forum community dedicated to Volkswagen Touareg owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about VW Touareg Sport Utility Vehicles and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
General Maintenance & Repair Australia & New Zealand Brakes, Steering, Suspension, Wheels and Tires Mobile Electronics and In Car Entertainment General Touareg Discussions