I just installed some cyclops low and highs on my 2018 RT. I read everything here and did my research. Still this bonehead went ahead and started to install with headlight in place. I started with the highs. I made it to the low beam, with mangled fingers, anger issues and a bit of salty language. I felt like a hero, with one more lamp to go. I figured I would post here how I installed all three and never took off the light assembly. Well my world fell apart when I lost the low beam retainer to the bowels of the light assembly. Could not fish it out, I even had paper towel stuffed in the housing to prevent this. So I began to dismantle as per instructions found here. Wow. Was that ever easy to do. I only recommend taking it apart and installing the lights. So much easier and you can see everything. No salty language, or anger. Once I started to take it apart and put back together with a supper break included it may have been 6 hours total. I took my time. Thanks to all who posted advice here.
Lol, I tried initially to do with without the full front end dismantle, well, because I'm "special" and I don't have to do it the way everyone else does it. 🙄😏 However, on the first LH bright, after the disassembly process, I was trying to rig some sort of tie on the retainer (i.e. the sleeve that comes on the LED light, which is installed with the clips, and then the LED light slides into it), to ensure if I lost it, I could pull it back. I mean, how hard could it be to tie a piano wire to that sleeve, and then pull the knot to release it after the two clips are secured. I think SOMEONE could get their smaller hands in there to do that, but I finally figured out that (a) not getting that sleeve ain't gonna get fixed in there on the first attempt, or second, or ... many others, and (b) there was no way to tie a wire to it to prevent it falling into the BMW OEM light globe. AFTER I disassembled/reassembled the front end, and completed the install, I also figured out that wiring the LED lights I bought would be nearly impossible without the headlight globe off the bike. I've written (kind of too exhaustively) on my experience, but the bottom line is that the LED connectors stuck out at a 90 degree angle inside the light figure, resting up against the (off-center) plastic port. I had to use wire extensions, and rig the connectors so that the OEM harness would connect to the LED's.
Anyhow, it sounds like you had a whole lot more fun than I did with my install. It was just yet another reminder that while I have some mechanical aptitude, and CAN wrench, it's just not something that rings my bell. Every project like that feels like a death march, with 101 unexpected "problems" to solve.
