Another Headlight question.

[Dreamacre]

Will these work on a 2002?

LED Halo for 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 BMW E39 528i 540i Black Projector Headlights | eBay


The Halo part doesn't matter to me, but it looked like a great price.

Opinions?

[DrDaveMA]

There have been numerous threads on headlight replacement, search them out. It looks like these should fit, but like all E39 BMW headlight replacements, your coach will probably need some rework, maybe dragging a hole or work on the fiberglass. Unless someone has the same coach as you (year/model) and used these replacement parts, no one can tell you for sure, the prior threads cover a lot of the issues/options. Remember WRV liked to use up parts before they implemented a change. My 2005 Limited has a 100 gallon fuel tank, the brochures show it has 115 gallons. Not much of a difference, but none the less, different. I replaced my headlights with a set similar to what you are proposing in 2009, thus far they are great, I have posted pictures and comments about the change you will find in your search. All I had to do was drag a hole.

[Dreamacre]

Thanks for the reply.
I guess I'll keep what I have and try to not drive at night. LOL
It gets awfully confusing. I would think the front clip would be the same for all models.

[DrDaveMA]

WRV was not like that, they made changes when they ran out of inventory. From what I have seen thus far the front clip does not appear to have radically changed, but it is hard to see hole placement, brackets, etc. best thing is if someone who has your year, model has done it, that would indicate you have a high chance of success.

[MFortie]

I just installed these in my 2000 36' mid-door a couple of weeks ago.

HID Xenon + 97-02 BMW E39 5-Series Angel Eye Halo & LED DRL / Signal Projector Headlights - Gloss Black

I had to trim the light mounting bracket just a little (minor fitment issue) and figure out wiring for the halo ring, but all in all, they went in easily.

[Old Scout]

The short answer is YES! The BMW, 5-series, E39, 97 thru 03 worked for my very early 03 --that looks a lot like an 02. The drivers side cap radius is a perfect match for the new light assembly, the passenger side is slightly different so some minor shaping of the opening might be needed/desired to get the best fit. Alignment of the after market light is also different from the OEMs used by WRV so the mounting holes on the inside of the cap may need some enlarging to optimize the aim. None of this is very difficult to do.

What you do need to pay attention to is the wiring harness. Luckily, you rig is a pre-vansco so the headlights are a plug and play, you will need to decide how the haloes get powered and when [eg running lights, low beam/high beam, etc]. Again not difficult to do. However, depending on which one of the many E39 assemblies on Amazon/Ebay that you chose, the wiring for the turn signal/running lights will be different. Example: the option you are looking at has non-lit orange side reflectors and a separate bulb socket for turn/running light. Your year of Alpine uses a two filament bulb to combine turn signal and running light. Many BMW apps only use a single element bulb for turn signal only--accordingly, you may have to swap out the single filament socket for a 2-element socket to accommodate the Alpine wiring config--again, not a big deal. Good luck....

[SC Alpiner]

Dreamacre, as stated in the other replies to your question, they will fit and work but they will not work as BMW designed them to. I checked the info on the link you provide and the lights on that link are the Angle eye version. BMW designed the Angle eye version, so that when the high beams are turned on the low beams stay on. The problem with using these in a pre-Vasco Alpine is that the head light circuit is set up for conventional head lights and the low beams will turn off when the high beams are turned on. I just went through this with my 2001 and have fixed the problem so that the low beams stay on. I started another thread concerning this issue and I have not had a chance to update with my results, but will be doing so shortly. It was a somewhat simple and inexpensive fix and having all 4 lights on makes a big difference with visibility. I believe that the Angle eye lights were introduced in 2000 or 2001. The E39’s prior to that did not have angle eyes and I am guessing that they used the conventional low-high beam switching.

[Dreamacre]

Thank you all for this valuable information.

[Koop]

Is that the price for both sides? If so, I would think it would be worth having to do a couple of work-arounds to make it right.