I have had the distinct pleasure of running 5 different Angel Eye setups on my E92. I have used the following thus far:
- Stock Angel Eyes
- GP Thunders Angel Eye Bulbs
- RD Sport LED Angel Eyes
- LUX H8 Angel Eyes
- camaross305 HIDs Angel Eyes
The fact that I have tried so many angel eye solutions should really tell you a lot. Some had some strengths, some were terrible, some looked good a night, some were good during the day, others had very uneven light dispersal, and finally all of them looked very inconsistent from the side angles. The side angles always had some odd refracting/scattering of the light causing odd colors to appear at times. All in all, I felt I had to choose between the best that was available and for me that was camaross305 HID angel eyes. Having tried basically everything on the market, I just felt why stop here... I wanted to finish the shootout and OSS Design LED Angel Eyes were the uncharted territory for me. I felt it was worth reviewing for the forum and decided to make the jump. My experience has been unbelievably good with Mike@F1Autohaüs so I knew exactly who to order from.
I also wanted to eliminate some of the nasty orange appearance of the sidemarkers on the front headlight as well, so I ordered the black out option. I wasn't really sure what to expect here, but I trusted Mike and figured if I was going to do it now was the time do it because the headlights would be open.
What I want to discuss in this review is the process of how you get OSS Designs LED Angel Eyes, some of the options available, and ultimately results. In some senses this will have some shootout characteristics as I will show the two best I have tested to date... LUX H8 and camarros305 HID, then the OSS Designs LED Angel Eyes.
Experience with OSS Designs and Mike@F1Autohaüs
Mike@F1Autohaüs has really been a please to order from in all my experiences thus far. Mike sends some bubble gum or sometimes New Orleans Moon Pies with your order and while this may seem like such a small detail, I think it really speaks volumes to what Mike@F1Autohaüs is attempting to do. To me it is clear, he wants happy customers and will go to any length to insure that. I for one appreciate his customer satisfaction attitude and he has made the experience awesome. His organization as a vendor and shipping has been superb and continued in this order.
I was also fortunate enough to speak with Luis at OSS Designs. I wasn't sure what to expect with Luis because I know he is a busy man. A lot of times, some of these busy shops lack good customer service. I found Luis of OSS Designs to be the exact opposite. He is a very nice guy and took time to share a number of things with me. Throughout the process if I ever had any question, Luis made himself available to answer my questions. Like Mike it is clear Luis of OSS Designs wants happy customers and that means a lot to me. Luis really is an artist and I want to show you the creation now.
When you purchase the OSS Designs LED Angel Eye upgrade, you will find it is complete. The purchase price includes:
- The OSS Design LED Angel Eyes upgrade
- Installation fee
- FedEX ground shipping both ways
You will need to remove you headlights (I will cover that later in the DIY section), bubble wrap the headlights, and box up the headlights. I am not positive but I believe Mike@F1Autohaüs suggested a 23x23x12 box that I got for $7 at OfficeMax. I also purchased bubble wrap and cushioning peanuts to line the box. All was about $20. After you have everything boxed up, Mike@F1Autohaüs will email you the prepaid FedEX label to be affixed to the box and you can schedule a pickup or drop the package off at a FedEX location. You will be asked to ship the headlights directly to OSS Designs on a Monday and Luis should ship them back to your by the following Monday. It is really a very smooth process Mike has set up.
This is what the box looks like when you send it and receive it back from OSS Designs.
The box came back exactly as I sent it. I received tracking info when the box was on it's way back to me so I could plan for the re-install. When opened, here is how well Luis from OSS Designs repackaged everything. You may notice some Phillips D1S bulbs as well, but that is for a different review.
Luis takes the care to seal the headlights in a plastic bag, then re-wrap the headlights in bubble wrap.
Once I un-wrapped things, I was very happy to see Luis took such good care of my headlights.
The face of the headlights looked exactly the same as when I sent them. You can see the reflection from the flash in the OSS Design Angel Eyes. That made me want to see these that much more. LOL!
The sealing process looks very clean. It was important to me that these headlights looked as good as stock.
Here is a good look at the passenger's side headlight and blackout sidemarker. The black out looks incredible!
Here is a closer look at the black out corner.
Here are a couple of pictures without flash, so you can see what the headlights will look like when the car sits with the angel eyes off.
The process was very organized and streamlined by Mike@F1Autohaüs. The headlights went out and were returned safely and everything looked great. I just couldn't wait for the install!!!
Installation
You take full responsibility for any work you do on your car. This is simply a documentation of the installation/removal process I used.
The removal and installation process both are pretty easy. You have to remove the bumper and there is no way around that. There are tons of DIYs for the front bumper removal and I will simply defer to them.
The next thing you need to do is remove the headlights. There are two torx bolts on the top of the headlights that need to be removed. They are impossible to miss.
Next you will remove the two torx bolts on the side of the headlight frame toward the kidney grills.
There is another torx bolt facing the outside of the car that needs to be removed.
This next bolt is the toughest to get to in my opinion. You have to turn your tires all the way in one direction so you can pull the fender liner back a bit (or you can remove the fender liner). With the fender liner pulled out of the way, remove the torx bolt closest to the fender liner shown below.
Now, you can maneuver the headlights around a bit. This can allow easier access to the final bolt holding the headlight to the frame. Remove this last both and carefully remove the headlight. I used a long socket extension and a universal socket joint to get to this bolt. Just use a little patience here.
After you have the headlight out, you can remove the headlight frame by simply detaching the wires running along it for the fog lights. I am not sure there is an advantage of having the frame out or not to be honest.
To install the headlights, simply reverse the process.
One thing to note, if you are coming from the HID angel eyes, it may be wise to replace the trap door (part 4) on the top of the headlights shown in the picture below.
This is cheap insurance to help guarantee a properly sealed top to the headlight. They cost about $8.00 each.
The part numbers are:
- Driver's side - 63117182393
- Passenger's side - 63117182394
The install process is not hard at all and a novice should be able to do it. If you are worried about your bumper, just get a friend to help take it off after all screws are removed. The total time to install and remove together took maybe 2 hours depending on your skill and patience.
Results
I promised a shoot out style, so I wanted to show you first the camaross305 HID kit and LUX H8 on my car. I felt these were the two best options for our car thus far by a long shot.
IN MY OPINION...The HIDs were by far the brightest, but some felt too diffuse at night and the outer ring was also a little dimmer than the inner ring. The LUX were dimmer during the day but some felt they looked more defined at night. The dimmer LUX meant that outside ring could really be dim from a lot of angles. Both products looked best when you viewed them head on. Both products created odd colors from an angle and the light was invisible on the outer ring from almost all high angles. If you weren't looking straight on, then both were just ok, but what else was available? Having tested everything under the sun, I think I really needed to at least try the OSS Designs LED Angel Eyes so I could give my opinion on really every option out there.
We will start with daytime shots. You can see these are shot in direct sunlight. I shot from a ton of different angles both day and night so you can get a real feeling of what they look like. You can also see in many ways how superb the blackout on the sidemarker looks!
Shot head on.
Head on looking down.
On the plane of the headlight from an angle standing away from the car.
On the plane of the headlight from an angle standing toward the middle of the car.
Slight angle away from the car looking down toward the headlights.
Head-on.
Head-on passenger side.
Head-on driver's side.
Now for some late afternoon shots.
Head-on.
Slight angle on the plane of the headlights.
Head-on looking slightly down.
Directly head-on.
Finally here is HD video in as direct sunlight as you can get.
What I want to note here is during the day they are very visible and sharp. Each halo is equally bright from all angles. There are no bad angles whatsoever with the OSS Designs LED Angel Eyes. In my opinion, these have zero weaknesses whatsoever during the day.
Nightime Shots
The OSS Designs LED Angels are nothing less than stunning at night. They show their true icy blue color too.
Night head-on driver's side.
Night head-on passenger side.
Driver's side on plane with the headlight standing away from the car.
Passenger side standing in front of the headlight looking down.
Passenger side high angle.
Passenger side slight angle.
Night directly head-on.
Night with slight angle looking down.
Night with high angle from the side down.
Finally, some HD video at night.
What you notice is the OSS Designs LED Angel Eyes look incredibly sharp from all angles. There are simply no bad angles whatsoever at night. They look very crisp under all circumstances.
Another item that should be addressed is the turn on/off and how the OSS Designs Angel Eyes operate as welcome lights. They turn on/off smoothly and do not strobe. They also fade as the stock incandescent bulbs do. If anything maybe there is a slight flicker when they fade on but in person it is very difficult to say yes or no? I shot some HD video to show how they look during fade on and off.
Conclusion
In my opinion, the OSS Designs LED Angel Eyes out perform any E92 Angel Eye I have ever seen bar none and to be honest by a significant margin. The OSS Designs LED Angel Eyes are crisp and sharp during the day and dusk. Both rings are equally illuminated and defined. The individual LEDs give the halos a sharp and defined look never seen before on any BMW. Overall they out perform every other angel eye I have tested in the day.
At night, the OSS Designs LED Angel Eyes are terribly crisp and brilliantly bright. The individual LEDs look remarkable. The icy blue color is exactly what I was looking for. At
all angles, the halos light is spread evenly among both rings. They are so sharp that it is almost impossible to describe. This is the way BMW should have sent the car to us from the factory.
To be honest, I wasn't surprised that the OSS Designs LED Angel Eyes look so good. I was surprised that it is impossible to find an angle or external lighting situation where the OSS Designs LED Angel Eyes don't look good. These stand alone by an enormous margin as the best looking E92 angel eye I have ever seen period.
The black out corner adds so much more class to the headlights as well. Now with the ugly orange appearance to the side marker gone, your focus is drawn to the OSS Designs LED Angel Eyes where it should be. It establishes the color flow that I think should be there in the headlights.
Conclusions
Mike@F1Autohaüs has an attitude that is very clear... make his customers happy. His approach is really something I appreciate. When I ordered the OSS Designs LED Angel Eyes, Mike explained the process very well. The price is all inclusive including the shipping. Mike@F1Autohaüs will email you the shipping label and keep you informed through the process.
Luis at OSS Designs is not the "lack of customer support" kind of shop we can encounter at times. Luis is really customer friendly and will go out of his way to make you happy. I enjoyed every conversation I had with him and he really made a positive impression on me.
The OSS Designs "Black Out" sidemarkers look incredible. The headlight appearance flows so much better now and has such a mean look. The work is clean and looks beautiful. The black color doesn't create and odd color from the sidemarker, but simply mutes it.
Finally, the OSS Designs LED Angel Eyes are crisp, exotic, and bright in all light conditions. There are no angles whatsoever where you can make the OSS Designs LED Angel Eyes look bad. The individual LED design is unique and elegant. If there was ever a "neck breaker" mod to on coming vehicles, this is it. I was floored with how good these look in all conditions. I said it earlier, but let me say it again...
I wasn't surprised that the OSS Designs LED Angel Eyes look so good. I was surprised that it is impossible to find an angle or external lighting situation where the OSS Designs LED Angel Eyes don't look good.
There is no doubt for a single second that I would do this again knowing everything I know. Huge thumbs up to Luis as OSS Designs and Mike@F1Autohaüs for not stopping at the ordinary but pursuing perfection.