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.
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?
They are the diamond/crystal euro style, but not from Ebay..May be the same as in Ebay but not sure. From that site there is 6 month warranty in case u think they suck..
I got the ones from Bavauto.com and they are sweet.. they fit nice and look even nicer, made my car look a little newer without the amber piece. $250 a pair though.. the only set back, but definitely worth the dough!!!!
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.
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...
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.
ya im not down w/ the diamond cut or the leds. those leds are lame. like said b4 oem is the way to go!
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