E39 prefacelift upgrade question?

[Hellrot]

Hi Guys. I was thinking about it now. Say for example a person buys a 2000ish prefacelift E39, how difficult would it be to change a few things or parts to later model spec. Eg, the steering wheel, headlights, tail-lights, etc.

I assume it might be straight fitting parts or are there differences and software/wiring updates needed?

 

[anton-sa]

2000ish isnt really pre-facelift. it is facelift. you cannot judge this JUST by the indicators being clear or not.

look closely at the rear lights, is the lense like a "diamond-ish" pattern.
then its facelift... available with orange lense and clear lense in this.

front light, has it got angel eye rings? then it is facelift. BUT. there are 2 lights
one has the orange indicator on the corner and one is clear.

this change came about sometime mid 2001. remember not the year model of the car but the actual manufacture month and date is what determines its fitment.

there are some other differences:
panel with dsc/asc/rearblind. there are a variety of difference versions of these.

facelift has a revised design window mechanisms which is much more reliable.

m54 engined e39's. e.g 530i and 525i. are ONLY available in facelift.

pre-facelift M5 also has clear rear lights. but its more of a frosted generic clear (does not have the diamond type pattern)

there are some other differences, steering wheel. facelift wheels have what they call dual stage airbags.
you cannot fit a single stage to a dualstage and vice versa.

there are some modules that differ. light control module. abs module...
also. even headlights and .. tailights specifically require some minor mods to retrofit e.g facelift into non-facelift.

 

[RAArmstrong]

2000 is still pre facelift here. Why? Because Flash Gordon has a 2000 528i. Thats Pre Facelift. I havent seen a 2000 Registered Facelift E39 in SA.

 

[anton-sa]

i have a 2000 facelift. but the date of manufacture is 11/2000.

i suspect the changeover is 10/2000

 

[DieselFan]

It's not only year specific also month. Like I have a 2002 e46 face lift. That was manufactured in 11/2001

Sent from Samsung S5

 

[anton-sa]

personally i dont care what year the clowns and their enatis registered the car. to me the year of manufacture is the model year.

a car built in feb 2014. is to me a 2014 model.

 

[RAArmstrong]

I agree with the above.

 

[ChefDJ]

The EASIEST way to tell if it's a facelift or not is to look at the fog lights on the front bumper.

Large and rectangular, pre-facelift.
Small and round, facelift.

Other stuff can be changed to make it look facelift, such as rear lights.

 

[anton-sa]

+1 what chef said

 

[prado]

Hi Guys! Been a long time since I visited.

My car is a pre-facelift that was upgraded to the facelift look. I didn't yet change the steering wheel but the changes I made are the front bumper complete with the new round spotlights, wider chrome 'kidneys', the 'angel eye' lights and brighter rear lights, side and rear bumper mouldings/beadings and side (fender) indicators lights.

Here is a pic before - I already had the new side mouldings/beadings colour coded. The original pre facelift is black with a chrome strip on top.



The front lights were in bad shape! I had the facelift chrome 'kidneys' fitted already.



With the facelift bumper and 'angel eyes.'

 

[RAArmstrong]

Interesting to note that my Facelift E39 actually has a prefacelift steering wheel.

 

[ChefDJ]

The other was an optional extra on the facelift IIRC.

 

[RAArmstrong]

Prefaclift - I have this

Facelift... Design is fairly similar though. I actually prefer the prefacelift one TBH :fencelook:

 

[ChefDJ]

I have never seen that "facelift" one on any E39 in SA.

 

[S1NGH 911]

Every year there were changes on the E39's. Facelift IIRC - 2002 had the newer steering, direction for gear leaver on the auto's ( + & - ) where switched around, heated steering wheel option was introduced, 2003 - clear indicator and tail lights, minor improvements on the audio system....


Sent from a tikkie box using Tapatalk

 

[anton-sa]

Every year there were changes on the E39's. Facelift IIRC - 2002 had the newer steering, direction for gear leaver on the auto's ( + & - ) where switched around, heated steering wheel option was introduced, 2003 - clear indicator and tail lights, minor improvements on the audio system....


Sent from a tikkie box using Tapatalk

yes and no my previous e39 was a 2001 525i in manual with msport suspension, it had the clear indicators and tail lights (diamond lense) and clear fender indicator lenses. think its build date was march 2001 build date 04/2001.

my current e39 which is a 530d, also manual. has a build date of 11/2000.
it has the ORANGE indicators etc.. taillights are the new diamond lense design..but orange lense.

 

[Willy]

And the other thing to note on the side mouldings, I have a facelift Touring with black side trim, But that is shadow line trim.

 

[ChefDJ]

And the other thing to note on the side mouldings, I have a facelift Touring with black side trim, But that is shadow line trim.

The black trim usually indicates m-sport model, doesn't it?

 

[Clownshoe]

Good luck getting facelift headlights... and if you do find get me a set as well.

 

[ChefDJ]

Good luck getting facelift headlights... and if you do find get me a set as well.

You missed a set that went two weeks ago.