OEM Xenons or OSS Designs Depo

JubyJudy · 03-12-2013, 10:01 PM

I have a AW '08 128i and I'm trying to decide between OEM xenons or OSS Design Depos.

Option 1
I will be able to get OEM xenons for $1,035 and LTMW charges $60 for coding (not sure about installation price yet)
I don't like how OEM xenons have golden yellowish angel eyes.
Can OEM xenon's be cracked open and have V4's installed?
My bfs e46m3's umnitza orion v4's were about $300 I believe.

Option 2
I LOVEEEE the look for OSS Design's modified Depos and I think it adds up to about $1,200 for the paint jobs and the V4($600)... I don't know what kind of V4's they use but is that over priced?

I'm in Cali, OSS is in Florida.
I don't even want to think about the shipping and I'm not sure where I can get this installed yet, maybe EAS. I'm thinking the OSS design's option would almost hit $2,000 roughly.

Or does anyone know someone in the west coast that is doing what OSS design is doing to the depos? Thanks!

MLSavage · 03-13-2013, 05:59 AM

I can't specifically answer your question on V4s and the OEM Xenon's but I know we can get into the headlight assembly relatively easily. I was planning on getting LED bulbs for my angel eyes to get rid of the gold-ish tint to them as well. I don't see why the V4's would be much different to installing a different LED brand.

And* installing the V4's without the lights already attached to the car makes their install that much easier. You eliminate the worst step, getting into the light assembly to make the change.

Maeiourk · 03-13-2013, 06:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JubyJudy

Or does anyone know someone in the west coast that is doing what OSS design is doing to the depos? Thanks!

BavarianX in California does this, but a little different from OSS.

Here's a sample picture of amg135i's car.

Website: http://www.bavarianx.com/

I'm not sure if they still do it, I just know they have done it in the past.

WPG D33Z · 03-13-2013, 08:17 AM

I think OEM look best.

JubyJudy · 03-13-2013, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WPG D33Z

I think OEM look best.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love the oem xenons, it's just the gold tint of aes that I'm not a fan of because I'm trying to monochrome look (: I've seen nice euro oem xenons but I can't find any for sale ):

JubyJudy · 03-13-2013, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maeiourk

BavarianX in California does this, but a little different from OSS.

Here's a sample picture of amg135i's car.

Website: http://www.bavarianx.com/

I'm not sure if they still do it, I just know they have done it in the past.

Thanks for your help! Mch appreciated! Ill get on that

JubyJudy · 03-13-2013, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MLSavage

I can't specifically answer your question on V4s and the OEM Xenon's but I know we can get into the headlight assembly relatively easily. I was planning on getting LED bulbs for my angel eyes to get rid of the gold-ish tint to them as well. I don't see why the V4's would be much different to installing a different LED brand.

And* installing the V4's without the lights already attached to the car makes their install that much easier. You eliminate the worst step, getting into the light assembly to make the change.

How would I essentially just get rid of the yellowish tint and make the AEs brighter ? Are V4's the only option? I'm not too knowledgable of what I can do.

I've seen euro oem xenons on harlequin's car and they look great. But I couldn't find any for sale ):

Thanks for your help!

MLSavage · 03-13-2013, 12:42 PM

There are various brands of LED lights where the components all essentially look like this. (option 1) The differences are the prices and the ballasts. The ballasts are a, hopefully, flat rectangular box that you stick inside the headlight housing. The ballasts themselves control the light. Something similar to this: "An HID must have a ballast to work. They provide a very high voltage spike to ignite the lamp itself. From there they maintain the arc and are at very high voltage and frequency."

I hope they are rectangular and have a flat as that makes them much easier to fit in one place and stay there over time. I know one brand has changed their ballasts to a concave shape which has caused problems with the ballasts coming loose causing them to not work properly.

aacabriolet · 03-13-2013, 12:56 PM

OEM xenons, with LUX H8 white bulbs. That's what I have and I'm happy with it. Keep's the stock look, completely get's rid of the yellow tinge in the angel eyes.

Having said that:

1) LUX aren't cheap, but they are a quality piece of kit, fit inside the headlight housing (don't have to drill holes etc like the HID angel eye solutions), with no modification.

2) They aren't as bright as stock, but are the brightest, simplest white LED bulb swap I know of, and I think many would agree. If you want to go brighter there is a lot more fiddling involved such as HID ballasts etc for HID angels, and they come with their own issues..

Other solutions require modification to the headlights which I'm not a fan of. e.g. with the HID solution from what I have read, people have had ballasts fail time after time, moisture enter the headlight from the drilled hole, etc.

Do not bother with any other brand of LED bulb replacements from what I have read...they all make claims, but are not as bright as LUX..LUX or nothing..

Also, the link posted above look like clones of the LUX. The guy who created the LUX angel eyes distributed them through a company that reverse manufactured his product, and cloned it and started selling it under their own name.... Not cool. I would therefore support LUX directly.

MLSavage · 03-13-2013, 01:26 PM

Oh wow, those are expensive! I would certainly hope they are plug and play with a super easy install as they are over 2x the price of every other brand I've seen.

I definitely wasn't planning on paying that amount for my angel eye upgrade.

And every single LED product on the market that I've seen looks like a reverse engineered LUX [your phrasing aa]. If we want to start discussing such topics almost every product evolution is a reverse engineered job of a competitor. This alone doesn't make them subpar.

LUX's better be the pinnacle of the LED lights with that price point regardless of whether they were first or not. [looks like they are]...just out of stock. :P

aacabriolet · 03-13-2013, 02:32 PM

Not at all saying that it makes the other clones subpar, but i'm sure loads of R&D went into the product, and Marc is a fellow member here on the forum (i don't know him personally), so I would rather support a fellow BMW enthusiast who came up with the idea in the first place.

Unfortunately with regards to the cloning - that's life for you as you say. I can't comment on how the clones compare to the original LUX, but I can share my experience with the LUX which has been very favourable.

To be totally honest with you they were out of my price range for a bulb replacement too, and I actually picked these up from a friend on another forum that bought the LUX for his car shortly before selling his car, so he had a brand new pair of bulbs going for a discounted rate which tipped me over. I had previously done a lot of research on angel eye bulb replacements though and came to the above conclusions.

Satalite · 03-13-2013, 03:17 PM

You can also ship OSS your OEM Xenon headlight and have V4s installed and painted.

For the DEPO set your talking $1200 back in your hands. With V4s, paint theme, and Morimoto HID kit Shipped to your door.

psmitty95 · 03-14-2013, 09:30 PM

The V4's are basically a newer version of the usual rings OSS uses which are Umnitza V2. The LED's are basically spaced closer together to give it less of a beaded look. Here's my review thread on e90post if you want to check it out. I posted up tons of different pics of the lights in different lighting conditions

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=805499

mechavore884 · 06-11-2013, 02:06 PM

Hey granted this is an old thread what route did u take....I have OEM XENONS and I wanted the angel eye effect so I was able to get LEDS for the inner rings (closest to girille) but I wasn't able to see how to access the outer rings?

mechavore884 · 06-11-2013, 02:08 PM

LOL gives me sort of a full circle then empty circle kinda look LOL

MGallop · 06-11-2013, 02:21 PM

i'll be dropping off my lights at the end of this month to get v2's installed w/ blacked out & painted eyebrow, and mayyyybe clean lenses swap... im super exited

Bmwbreed · 06-12-2013, 04:19 AM

It's easy enough to change the angel eye bulbs for a brighter appearance And then they won't have a yellow tint. Take a look at some of my cars pic threads and you will see what I mean. I used the alpine MS v3 xenon angel eye conversion kit. Also had my headlight covers drilled for a small hole for the wires to pass through with a rubber seal installed around them. This way you can locate the ballast outside of the headlight and don't run the risk of it interfearing with your adaptive motors that move the lights and wind up getting an error. Also. Not trying to make a sale really but if you're interested I have a set of lci oem xenon headlights from my 2013 135i I recently took them off and installed the euro lci headlights with the clear blinkers so I have my USA orange spec set. They have the led brow at the top also.

Riley1524 · 06-12-2013, 12:53 PM

I'm in no way knocking the depot lights but they don't come close to the output of the OEM headlights. My friend went that route and while they are brighter than the stock halogen headlights, they just don't come close to my headlights. I think he's running the depots with 4500k 55w ballast and I'm running the osram CBI"s ( the best hid bulb you can buy) . Really, even the stock OEM hid's suck compared to my 370z and the s2000 I had.

JubyJudy · 06-12-2013, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mechavore884

Hey granted this is an old thread what route did u take....I have OEM XENONS and I wanted the angel eye effect so I was able to get LEDS for the inner rings (closest to girille) but I wasn't able to see how to access the outer rings?

I got the Oem xenons... But I waited 7 weeks for the part and I took it to eAs in California. It was missing ballast and bulbs and they still need to code the ballast to see if it would work. And I got 6000 watt LEDs for the angel eyes. Still waiting to get installed

I've waited too long for this haha

mechavore884 · 06-12-2013, 04:51 PM

ouch LOL....

MGallop · 06-25-2013, 11:56 AM

Check out my conversion!

Orion v4's ... I think i am the 1st in the country to have this installed!!

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...=838687&page=2

MightyMouseTech · 06-25-2013, 12:01 PM

Instead of replacing the H8 bulbs with an LED version, why not just install a whiter Halogen replacement bulb like these?

http://www.piaa.com/store/p/53-H8-XT...gen-Bulbs.aspx

This is what I am going to try, have seen too many horror stories about the LED ballasts getting in the way.

03-12-2013, 10:01 PM	#1
JubyJudy Private 17 Rep 68 Posts Drives: 2008 128i Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: OC, California iTrader: (0)	OEM Xenons or OSS Designs Depo I have a AW '08 128i and I'm trying to decide between OEM xenons or OSS Design Depos. Option 1 I will be able to get OEM xenons for $1,035 and LTMW charges $60 for coding (not sure about installation price yet) I don't like how OEM xenons have golden yellowish angel eyes. Can OEM xenon's be cracked open and have V4's installed? My bfs e46m3's umnitza orion v4's were about $300 I believe. Option 2 I LOVEEEE the look for OSS Design's modified Depos and I think it adds up to about $1,200 for the paint jobs and the V4($600)... I don't know what kind of V4's they use but is that over priced? I'm in Cali, OSS is in Florida. I don't even want to think about the shipping and I'm not sure where I can get this installed yet, maybe EAS. I'm thinking the OSS design's option would almost hit $2,000 roughly. Or does anyone know someone in the west coast that is doing what OSS design is doing to the depos? Thanks!
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03-13-2013, 05:59 AM	#2
MLSavage Second Lieutenant 22 Rep 277 Posts Drives: 2010 135i AW 6MT Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Jacksonville, FL iTrader: (0)	I can't specifically answer your question on V4s and the OEM Xenon's but I know we can get into the headlight assembly relatively easily. I was planning on getting LED bulbs for my angel eyes to get rid of the gold-ish tint to them as well. I don't see why the V4's would be much different to installing a different LED brand. And* installing the V4's without the lights already attached to the car makes their install that much easier. You eliminate the worst step, getting into the light assembly to make the change. __________________ 2010 N54 135i - Alpine White - 6MT - M-Sport - LCI Blacklines - 1M Mirrors - PSS - Powdercoated Black 261M SELLING MY CAR
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03-13-2013, 08:17 AM	#4
WPG D33Z First Lieutenant 23 Rep 316 Posts Drives: 2008 135i vert Cobb Stage2 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Winnipeg, Canada iTrader: (1)	I think OEM look best. __________________ 2008 SGM 135i Cobb Stage 2 FBO 2008 TS X3 MSport KW V2
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03-13-2013, 12:42 PM	#8
MLSavage Second Lieutenant 22 Rep 277 Posts Drives: 2010 135i AW 6MT Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Jacksonville, FL iTrader: (0)	There are various brands of LED lights where the components all essentially look like this. (option 1) The differences are the prices and the ballasts. The ballasts are a, hopefully, flat rectangular box that you stick inside the headlight housing. The ballasts themselves control the light. Something similar to this: "An HID must have a ballast to work. They provide a very high voltage spike to ignite the lamp itself. From there they maintain the arc and are at very high voltage and frequency." I hope they are rectangular and have a flat as that makes them much easier to fit in one place and stay there over time. I know one brand has changed their ballasts to a concave shape which has caused problems with the ballasts coming loose causing them to not work properly. __________________ 2010 N54 135i - Alpine White - 6MT - M-Sport - LCI Blacklines - 1M Mirrors - PSS - Powdercoated Black 261M SELLING MY CAR
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03-13-2013, 12:56 PM	#9
aacabriolet Major 118 Rep 1,002 Posts Drives: '14 435i Coupe Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: SA iTrader: (0)	OEM xenons, with LUX H8 white bulbs. That's what I have and I'm happy with it. Keep's the stock look, completely get's rid of the yellow tinge in the angel eyes. Having said that: 1) LUX aren't cheap, but they are a quality piece of kit, fit inside the headlight housing (don't have to drill holes etc like the HID angel eye solutions), with no modification. 2) They aren't as bright as stock, but are the brightest, simplest white LED bulb swap I know of, and I think many would agree. If you want to go brighter there is a lot more fiddling involved such as HID ballasts etc for HID angels, and they come with their own issues.. Other solutions require modification to the headlights which I'm not a fan of. e.g. with the HID solution from what I have read, people have had ballasts fail time after time, moisture enter the headlight from the drilled hole, etc. Do not bother with any other brand of LED bulb replacements from what I have read...they all make claims, but are not as bright as LUX..LUX or nothing.. Also, the link posted above look like clones of the LUX. The guy who created the LUX angel eyes distributed them through a company that reverse manufactured his product, and cloned it and started selling it under their own name.... Not cool. I would therefore support LUX directly.
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03-13-2013, 01:26 PM	#10
MLSavage Second Lieutenant 22 Rep 277 Posts Drives: 2010 135i AW 6MT Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Jacksonville, FL iTrader: (0)	Oh wow, those are expensive! I would certainly hope they are plug and play with a super easy install as they are over 2x the price of every other brand I've seen. I definitely wasn't planning on paying that amount for my angel eye upgrade. And every single LED product on the market that I've seen looks like a reverse engineered LUX [your phrasing aa]. If we want to start discussing such topics almost every product evolution is a reverse engineered job of a competitor. This alone doesn't make them subpar. LUX's better be the pinnacle of the LED lights with that price point regardless of whether they were first or not. [looks like they are]...just out of stock. :P __________________ 2010 N54 135i - Alpine White - 6MT - M-Sport - LCI Blacklines - 1M Mirrors - PSS - Powdercoated Black 261M SELLING MY CAR
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03-13-2013, 02:32 PM	#11
aacabriolet Major 118 Rep 1,002 Posts Drives: '14 435i Coupe Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: SA iTrader: (0)	Not at all saying that it makes the other clones subpar, but i'm sure loads of R&D went into the product, and Marc is a fellow member here on the forum (i don't know him personally), so I would rather support a fellow BMW enthusiast who came up with the idea in the first place. Unfortunately with regards to the cloning - that's life for you as you say. I can't comment on how the clones compare to the original LUX, but I can share my experience with the LUX which has been very favourable. To be totally honest with you they were out of my price range for a bulb replacement too, and I actually picked these up from a friend on another forum that bought the LUX for his car shortly before selling his car, so he had a brand new pair of bulbs going for a discounted rate which tipped me over. I had previously done a lot of research on angel eye bulb replacements though and came to the above conclusions.
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03-13-2013, 03:17 PM	#12
Satalite Colonel 166 Rep 2,926 Posts Drives: 128i Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Georgia iTrader: (9) Garage List 2009 128i [10.00]	You can also ship OSS your OEM Xenon headlight and have V4s installed and painted. For the DEPO set your talking $1200 back in your hands. With V4s, paint theme, and Morimoto HID kit Shipped to your door. __________________ Last edited by Satalite; 03-13-2013 at 09:38 PM..
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03-14-2013, 09:30 PM	#13
psmitty95 Brigadier General 578 Rep 4,393 Posts Drives: '23 M340i xDrive Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Boston, MA iTrader: (11)	The V4's are basically a newer version of the usual rings OSS uses which are Umnitza V2. The LED's are basically spaced closer together to give it less of a beaded look. Here's my review thread on e90post if you want to check it out. I posted up tons of different pics of the lights in different lighting conditions http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=805499 __________________ < Click picture for photoshoot E90 335i xDrive 6spd, Nav, Prem, Cold Weather, & Sports package - Msport Conversion Mods: JB4 + MHD, Doc Race ST, Pure 6266, AD-Eng PI/Mounts, Fuel-It st. 3, Custom Exhaust, Tuned by TwistedTuning More Pictures: Build Thread /// 683AWHP/675AWTQ
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06-11-2013, 02:06 PM	#14
mechavore884 Lieutenant 35 Rep 528 Posts Drives: the fat mobile Join Date: May 2013 Location: NOVA iTrader: (3)	Hey granted this is an old thread what route did u take....I have OEM XENONS and I wanted the angel eye effect so I was able to get LEDS for the inner rings (closest to girille) but I wasn't able to see how to access the outer rings?
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06-11-2013, 02:08 PM	#15
mechavore884 Lieutenant 35 Rep 528 Posts Drives: the fat mobile Join Date: May 2013 Location: NOVA iTrader: (3)	LOL gives me sort of a full circle then empty circle kinda look LOL
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06-11-2013, 02:21 PM	#16
MGallop Major 49 Rep 1,072 Posts Drives: 12' 135i Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: San Jose, California iTrader: (1) Garage List 2012 BMW 135i [10.00]	i'll be dropping off my lights at the end of this month to get v2's installed w/ blacked out & painted eyebrow, and mayyyybe clean lenses swap... im super exited __________________ Matthew Gallop: '12 N55 Mods: JB4 Flex ISO \| iCarbon DP \| VRSF 5" FMIC \| BMS Intake \| ER Charge Pipe \| Race Axleback \| ST Coils \| Alufelgen CS7's \| iCarbon 3 fin Diffuser \| Blackline LCI \| CarbonFiber Spoiler \| Orion v4 AE's \| 30% tint \| red+blk roundels \| Cyba Scoops \| H-Style front Lip \| WeissLicht LED Smoked Sidemarkers \| Matte Grills \| Coded \|
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06-12-2013, 04:19 AM	#17
Bmwbreed Major 60 Rep 1,198 Posts Drives: 2013 BMW 135i Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Rota Spain (US Forces) iTrader: (3)	It's easy enough to change the angel eye bulbs for a brighter appearance And then they won't have a yellow tint. Take a look at some of my cars pic threads and you will see what I mean. I used the alpine MS v3 xenon angel eye conversion kit. Also had my headlight covers drilled for a small hole for the wires to pass through with a rubber seal installed around them. This way you can locate the ballast outside of the headlight and don't run the risk of it interfearing with your adaptive motors that move the lights and wind up getting an error. Also. Not trying to make a sale really but if you're interested I have a set of lci oem xenon headlights from my 2013 135i I recently took them off and installed the euro lci headlights with the clear blinkers so I have my USA orange spec set. They have the led brow at the top also. __________________ 2013 BMW 135i Alpine white/coral red JB4 stage 2/ AFE stage 2 sealed intake box/ VRSF 3.5 inch catless dp/ Dinan exhaust/ Alpine V3 6000k HID angel eyes/ JB speed AW rear lip spoiler/ OEM mud flaps. ER charge pipe/ VRSF 7 inch FMIC forge star CF5s 19x8.5 and 19x9
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06-12-2013, 12:53 PM	#18
Riley1524 Captain 63 Rep 638 Posts Drives: A Slow Ass BMW Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Atlanta, Ga. iTrader: (4)	I'm in no way knocking the depot lights but they don't come close to the output of the OEM headlights. My friend went that route and while they are brighter than the stock halogen headlights, they just don't come close to my headlights. I think he's running the depots with 4500k 55w ballast and I'm running the osram CBI"s ( the best hid bulb you can buy) . Really, even the stock OEM hid's suck compared to my 370z and the s2000 I had.
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06-12-2013, 04:51 PM	#20
mechavore884 Lieutenant 35 Rep 528 Posts Drives: the fat mobile Join Date: May 2013 Location: NOVA iTrader: (3)	ouch LOL....
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06-25-2013, 11:56 AM	#21
MGallop Major 49 Rep 1,072 Posts Drives: 12' 135i Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: San Jose, California iTrader: (1) Garage List 2012 BMW 135i [10.00]	Check out my conversion! Orion v4's ... I think i am the 1st in the country to have this installed!! http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...=838687&page=2 __________________ Matthew Gallop: '12 N55 Mods: JB4 Flex ISO \| iCarbon DP \| VRSF 5" FMIC \| BMS Intake \| ER Charge Pipe \| Race Axleback \| ST Coils \| Alufelgen CS7's \| iCarbon 3 fin Diffuser \| Blackline LCI \| CarbonFiber Spoiler \| Orion v4 AE's \| 30% tint \| red+blk roundels \| Cyba Scoops \| H-Style front Lip \| WeissLicht LED Smoked Sidemarkers \| Matte Grills \| Coded \|
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06-25-2013, 12:01 PM	#22
MightyMouseTech Major General 4338 Rep 6,196 Posts Drives: 13 135i 6MT LeMans Blue MSport Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Ottawa, Canada iTrader: (0)	Instead of replacing the H8 bulbs with an LED version, why not just install a whiter Halogen replacement bulb like these? http://www.piaa.com/store/p/53-H8-XT...gen-Bulbs.aspx This is what I am going to try, have seen too many horror stories about the LED ballasts getting in the way.
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