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Clear Corner Tail Lights

3K views 11 replies 10 participants last post by  BaLAnCe17 
#1 ·
I'm scouting out replacements for my factory tail lights on my E36 convertible.

I've found three styles and I'm hoping people who have bought them or have htem on their car can comment:

Clear
BV Auto Clear Tail Lights
These appear to just be Euro style tail-lights that remove the amber. Nice and basic. However from all my reading the quality of anything from bvauto is pretty high.

Diamond/Crystal Style
Ebay Diamond Cut Tail Lights

These seem to give some of the LED look but I'm concerned about the quality, especially given the general unfavorable quality reputation of parts bought via Ebay. However, they look cool. Anyone bought/have these on their car and care to comment?

LED's
BMW-Forums post on LED tail lights
Has anyone done this and have pictures of them on an installation to share?

Commentary and Feedback is greatly appreciated! Thanks much in advance.

-RJ
 
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#4 ·
i got an ebay pair, OEM style. $68, fit perfectly
 
#7 ·
First off, IMO, you can't spend too much on these. When replacing the front markers, I bought cheap the first time, and found out why they were so cheap. OEM quality is the way to go. Especially in the rear, as you not only have fit an operation to worry about, but the light bulb sensor that is so finicky when it gets older is something else to worry about. I think a cheap set of tails would undoubtedly cause probs with this down the line.

I am currently facing the same dilema. I want those LED's as you had picture from link I posted a while back, but would really like to see what they look like on a car first. FK Automotive now carries them, and they are a good quality company.

Let us know what you come up with.
 
#8 ·
Im interested in the Diamonds cuts......... though I wouldn't buy them of ebay.

They are borderline ricey, but its looks like they would update the look of the rear to more current gen 3's then they would a civic.

NL
 
#9 ·
I have the clear ones... not the smoked ones... they seem to match everything else pretty well.. I just need to get some others to match.. I'm a little slow when it comes to working on the exterior... but yea.. I got them off of ebay.. and havnt had a problem with them.. they were cheap.. but made rather well... I guess its probably a 1 in 100 chance of getting a good marker from ebay.. I'm the 1 in 100 ratio...

Bavo auto have some good stuff.... look around.. there are plenty of places that sell the stuff.... Turner sells them... AA sells them... ect...

Les
 
#10 ·
A report back on what I ended up doing:

I went with the "diamond-cut" style tail-lights. I'm not quite to the point of buyers-remorse, but it's been more hassle than I would have expected.

I bought them from ebay (I know, I know, I know). But they arrived on time and in one piece. They looked good, and are not much lighter than the factory one's.

I immediatly modified them a little though. Based on others experiences I immediatly disassembled the surround and siliconed it to make sure that there was no possible leak or fogging possibilities. I also took the rear external surround from the OEM lights and used that on the replacements as it was a high quality rubber versus a foam-style surround.

Mounting these could not be easier. But I noticed when I removed the others that the replacements do not have the same circuitry as the OEM's. That is, each light is not wired, so you lose the computer's ability to tell you whether or not the tail-light or turn-signal is out.

This is no big deal with the turn-signal, as if one is out, the signal-speed jumps up and you know you have a problem. I'll miss it (vaguely) for the tail light.

I am worried that if the whole system is a closed-loop that I've now disabled the entire onboard computer's ability to diagnose other issues though. Anyone know if this is the case?

Finally, to avoid the egg-yolk effect I also ordered some new silver-faced bulbs. Unfortunatly the replacement kit uses a different style bulb. Instead of the common 1157 it uses 7507's. Finding silver 7505's is proving a bit of a pain-in-the-ass, but I have found them on bavauto, so I'll order them tomorrow.

In summary, I've had them on the car a weekend now, and they look great. But, if I were to do it again, I would likely go with the bavauto. They don't look as good, but I imagine the hassle factor would be a lot less.

-RJ
 
#11 ·
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