[Pre-LCI-E90]

Hey everyone, new to the forum (and my E90).

I have a 2007 Pre-LCI E90 and I'd like to get angel eyes on them. I believe I have the Pre-LCI halogen headlights, which means I probably need to get the LCI halogens, and then throw the LUX E90 LCI Halogen V4s on there. Not a fan of the aftermarket DEPO ones.

Let me know if that sounds right, TIA

[KhaosKid]

Thats right. The pre-LCI halogen headlights did not come stock with angel eyes unfortunately. You could upgrade to pre-lci xenon's or LCI xenons or LCI halogens to get angel eyes. You may have to do some coding to set angel eyes to DRL with LCI halogen headlights.

You can also potentially go to those places that modify headlights to add bright angel eye rings.

In my opinion, Lux makes the best (brightest, longest lasting) angel eyes so good choice going with them. I believe there was an issue with the xenon's angel eyes where one ring would be bright but the other would be noticeably dimmer. Although it may have only been an issue with the coupe's. Definitely look into that if you are going to go with xenon's.

I have LCI halogen headlights with Lux V4 (gold/amber - 2021) and i used to have Lux V2 (white - from 2015) and the V4 is a lot brighter and look really good because of that. Can't go wrong with Lux tbh.

I also have Philips xtreme ultinon (Gen 1) H7 bulbs for low beams as they produce a cutoff similar to the stock halogen bulbs, and they have a fan to circulate the air in the housing. However, modification to lightbulb retaining bracket is necessary, it just barely fits with the cover on. I wonder if you buy those headlight h7 bulb adapters if it would still have room to fit without modifications to the retaining clip or back cover? Would be nice.

[tcphoto]

Halogen

[Pre-LCI-E90]

Originally Posted by KhaosKid

Thats right. The pre-LCI halogen headlights did not come stock with angel eyes unfortunately. You could upgrade to pre-lci xenon's or LCI xenons or LCI halogens to get angel eyes. You may have to do some coding to set angel eyes to DRL with LCI halogen headlights.

You can also potentially go to those places that modify headlights to add bright angel eye rings.

In my opinion, Lux makes the best (brightest, longest lasting) angel eyes so good choice going with them. I believe there was an issue with the xenon's angel eyes where one ring would be bright but the other would be noticeably dimmer. Although it may have only been an issue with the coupe's. Definitely look into that if you are going to go with xenon's.

I have LCI halogen headlights with Lux V4 (gold/amber - 2021) and i used to have Lux V2 (white - from 2015) and the V4 is a lot brighter and look really good because of that. Can't go wrong with Lux tbh.

I also have Philips xtreme ultinon (Gen 1) H7 bulbs for low beams as they produce a cutoff similar to the stock halogen bulbs, and they have a fan to circulate the air in the housing. However, modification to lightbulb retaining bracket is necessary, it just barely fits with the cover on. I wonder if you buy those headlight h7 bulb adapters if it would still have room to fit without modifications to the retaining clip or back cover? Would be nice.

Thanks for the great response. I've heard that the halogen to xenon conversion is complicated (and expensive) so probably not going that route. Wish I had gotten a model with xenon in the first place. Does the Lux V4 produce better visibility than my stock setup? That would be another reason to justify it to myself

[Pre-LCI-E90]

Originally Posted by tcphoto

Halogen

Thanks for confirming!

[KhaosKid]

Originally Posted by Pre-LCI-E90

Thanks for the great response. I've heard that the halogen to xenon conversion is complicated (and expensive) so probably not going that route. Wish I had gotten a model with xenon in the first place. Does the Lux V4 produce better visibility than my stock setup? That would be another reason to justify it to myself

The lux v4, although bright, don't really project much light forward, if thats what you mean by visibility then no, they dont improve visibility but no angel eyes do that with any of the headlights so its not a big deal.

But i have a thread i posted with pics of my angel eyes with the lux LEDs both old and new that you can check out to see how bright they are. I took pics in bright direct sunlight so you can see how they look in worst case scenario lighting.

And yes I think you are right that it will be a lot easier and inexpensive to change to halogen LCI than any xenons. I believe you will have to code angel eyes as DRL for them to come on during the day, but there are threads that go over what you have to code in the FRM module. The angel eyes should come on with the low beams at night though without coding for sure. They should also come on when unlocking the car with the headlight switch set to auto as well.

[Pre-LCI-E90]

Originally Posted by KhaosKid

The lux v4, although bright, don't really project much light forward, if thats what you mean by visibility then no, they dont improve visibility but no angel eyes do that with any of the headlights so its not a big deal.

But i have a thread i posted with pics of my angel eyes with the lux LEDs both old and new that you can check out to see how bright they are. I took pics in bright direct sunlight so you can see how they look in worst case scenario lighting.

And yes I think you are right that it will be a lot easier and inexpensive to change to halogen LCI than any xenons. I believe you will have to code angel eyes as DRL for them to come on during the day, but there are threads that go over what you have to code in the FRM module. The angel eyes should come on with the low beams at night though without coding for sure. They should also come on when unlocking the car with the headlight switch set to auto as well.

That looks great, and wow they really got alot brighter from the V2s. I just bought a set of LCI halogens from this forum and I can't wait. Now the question is if I have the patience to wait for Lux's Black Friday sale.

I haven't looked much into coding the DRL yet, is it fairly straightforward as coding goes?

[Pre-LCI-E90]

Starting to fall down the rabbit hole of lighting now

Which bulbs should I buy to match the Lux Halogen V4s? Lux themselves seems to recommend the MTECH Super White 4350K H7, but Phillips CrystalVision Ultra H7 also seems to be popular.

[smatanovic]

Originally Posted by Pre-LCI-E90

Starting to fall down the rabbit hole of lighting now

Which bulbs should I buy to match the Lux Halogen V4s? Lux themselves seems to recommend the MTECH Super White 4350K H7, but Phillips CrystalVision Ultra H7 also seems to be popular.

I made this switch as well. I am running morimoto 2stroke 3.0 H7 bulbs in both the regular and high beam housings. They're expensive, but the light output is terrific.

[Pre-LCI-E90]

Originally Posted by smatanovic

I made this switch as well. I am running morimoto 2stroke 3.0 H7 bulbs in both the regular and high beam housings. They're expensive, but the light output is terrific.

These look great, too expensive for my blood though. Do you have any pics?

[Pre-LCI-E90]

The dream is dying...

When looking into coding the angel eyes, I found out I need a FRM2 or FRM3 to be compatible. Unfortunately my E90 has a production date of 2007-02-12, and FRM2 came out in March of that year, just a few weeks later. A replacement used FRM2 seems to cost about $60-100 on ebay, but then I also need to buy some $80 app (ProTool by BimmerGeeks) to code the CAS to accept the new FRM2.

[smatanovic]

Originally Posted by Pre-LCI-E90

The dream is dying...

When looking into coding the angel eyes, I found out I need a FRM2 or FRM3 to be compatible. Unfortunately my E90 has a production date of 2007-02-12, and FRM2 came out in March of that year, just a few weeks later. A replacement used FRM2 seems to cost about $60-100 on ebay, but then I also need to buy some $80 app (ProTool by BimmerGeeks) to code the CAS to accept the new FRM2.

I bought a FRM2 here in the classifieds for less than $100; swapping it out for the FRM1 was straightforward. For coding, I already have Carly for maintenance/diagnostic purposes, and did the coding right in that app.

[Pre-LCI-E90]

Originally Posted by smatanovic

I bought a FRM2 here in the classifieds for less than $100; swapping it out for the FRM1 was straightforward. For coding, I already have Carly for maintenance/diagnostic purposes, and did the coding right in that app.

Do you feel like Carly is worth the $119 annual subscription? I have access to a basic code reader, I'm not sure if I can justify Carly.

[smatanovic]

Originally Posted by Pre-LCI-E90

Do you feel like Carly is worth the $119 annual subscription? I have access to a basic code reader, I'm not sure if I can justify Carly.

I paid less than that, but yes, so far it's been worth while for me. It's the only code reader I use, and Ive employed it for diagnostic/maintenance tasks, as well as coding things like lights, locks, mirrors, etc.

[KhaosKid]

You can get a copy of inpa, tool32, ncsexpert with the e90 daten files from bimmergeeks I believe for free. They also sell the coding cable. If you have a spare laptop it makes sense to go this route because you can code and do diagnostics.

However if you aren't that tech savvy you can get something like carly. Personally I have a laptop with ncsexpert, inpa, tool32, which is all you really need. I also have ista too though.

Regardless of which route you take, I highly suggest you do the coding with your car running otherwise if your voltage drops too low it will "kill" the FRM and required a programmer to revive it. Aka reflash the corrupted firmware which is a lot of work and required a soldering iron. Or you gotta pay someone locally to do it for you. So avoid that by coding with car running so your battery voltage doesn't drop too low and corrupt the FRM module.

The coding is straightforward. There are guides and DIY's on how to get started. I believe you'll only need to code a few lines in the FRM module (from nicht_aktiv to aktiv, and change DRL to drl_s if I remember correctly.) It will all make sense after reading the coding DIY or just use carly if youre lazy.

[smatanovic]

Originally Posted by KhaosKid

just use carly if youre lazy.

I'm hardly lazy. I just don't have the time to inclination to tinker, and since this is my only car and daily driver, I can't afford to make a mistake. Carly gives me peace of mind, and that, to me, is more than worth the cost.

[Pre-LCI-E90]

Thanks everyone, I found someone local to code the angel eyes for me for $25, I think this works best for me since I don't plan on coding anything else. He said he's coded cars with FRM using Bimmercode and I wouldn't need the FRM2. This seems contrary to everything I've been reading online, even Bimmercode's own documentation. Is this possible?

[Pre-LCI-E90]

Originally Posted by smatanovic

I'm hardly lazy. I just don't have the time to inclination to tinker, and since this is my only car and daily driver, I can't afford to make a mistake. Carly gives me peace of mind, and that, to me, is more than worth the cost.

+1 to this. I'm a software engineer, while I could probably do it the hard way, it's just not worth it to me and worry about messing anything up. It's a little like how chefs say they don't like to cook at home

[smatanovic]

Originally Posted by Pre-LCI-E90

Thanks everyone, I found someone local to code the angel eyes for me for $25, I think this works best for me since I don't plan on coding anything else. He said he's coded cars with FRM using Bimmercode and I wouldn't need the FRM2. This seems contrary to everything I've been reading online, even Bimmercode's own documentation. Is this possible?

I do not believe that it is possible with FRM 1. I certainly couldn't get it to work.

[KhaosKid]

Originally Posted by Pre-LCI-E90

+1 to this. I'm a software engineer, while I could probably do it the hard way, it's just not worth it to me and worry about messing anything up. It's a little like how chefs say they don't like to cook at home

Well if thats what's stopping you or anyone else you could go on this website called fiver and hire someone to setup everything for you. Then you could even pay them to for example code a module for you. People on there are from poorer countries (like eastern europe). They don't charge that much, and they just use team viewer to do everything while you watch.

Edit: also a heads up. Carly (as well as ISTA) has been known to brick FRM modules if used when the battery voltage is low and drops below 11.8volts or so. My solution is to only use ISTA with the car running now. I’ve bricked my module twice, but thanks to the forums I was able to fix it. I did need to but a 100$ programmer though unfortunately. It probably helps that im in school for computer engineering, but the DIY’s are super helpful on here and other sites for our cars. Also, I learned to use NCS/INPA well before i got into engineering, everything is possible .

Also NEVER code with front windows down, unless you want them to be stuck down when the frm bricks. In the winter. Ask me how i know LOL.

[Pre-LCI-E90]

Originally Posted by KhaosKid

Well if thats what's stopping you or anyone else you could go on this website called fiver and hire someone to setup everything for you. Then you could even pay them to for example code a module for you. People on there are from poorer countries (like eastern europe). They don't charge that much, and they just use team viewer to do everything while you watch.

Edit: also a heads up. Carly (as well as ISTA) has been known to brick FRM modules if used when the battery voltage is low and drops below 11.8volts or so. My solution is to only use ISTA with the car running now. I’ve bricked my module twice, but thanks to the forums I was able to fix it. I did need to but a 100$ programmer though unfortunately. It probably helps that im in school for computer engineering, but the DIY’s are super helpful on here and other sites for our cars. Also, I learned to use NCS/INPA well before i got into engineering, everything is possible .

Also NEVER code with front windows down, unless you want them to be stuck down when the frm bricks. In the winter. Ask me how i know LOL.

Thank you for the heads up! Honestly if I had more spare time and this wasn't my only car I think this would be a fun and interesting project to do. I never go that low level into software so I would be a little out of my element but I think it would be fun. And good luck on your computer engineering degree, the problem solving skills and patience you've picked up so far will definitely help in your career. There's alot of money in software if you're ever interested in a switch

I'm currently looking into local shops (I don't want to buy the cable for a one time job) and trying to get quotes for this. If I bricked my car I would basically be f*cked

[KhaosKid]

Originally Posted by Pre-LCI-E90

Thank you for the heads up! Honestly if I had more spare time and this wasn't my only car I think this would be a fun and interesting project to do. I never go that low level into software so I would be a little out of my element but I think it would be fun. And good luck on your computer engineering degree, the problem solving skills and patience you've picked up so far will definitely help in your career. There's alot of money in software if you're ever interested in a switch

I'm currently looking into local shops (I don't want to buy the cable for a one time job) and trying to get quotes for this. If I bricked my car I would basically be f*cked

Fair enough. Theres a wisdom in not doing more than you are comfortable with and messing things up. My car isn't as crucial to me because I don't really NEED it that bad. I can get by for a week or two if things go south.

Thank you for the well wishes. I'll try my best. And yeah I know software has a lot of jobs, so I will probably go that route to be honest. But we shall see. I chose comp for that flexibility, and because I love computers and tech.

Anyways if you ever need any help or advice or just want to discuss car stuff feel free to PM me.