[VRSCDX]

My rear taillights have some minor/moderate condensation inside the housing. How big of a deal is this?

[1QuikWS6]

No big deal till the lights fail - if the water builds up high enough you can put goldfish in there for 'different unique' look

Good excuse/justification to install LCI tailights

You won't believe how much nicer the LCI tails will make your car look

[VRSCDX]

Thanks for the quick response. I've seen (after you said that) some threads that say the LCI taillights are slightly different shape and won't fit. Have you done it?

[1QuikWS6]

Do you have E92 or E90?

If E92 - the E92 LCI Tails are PnP swap with included wiring harness adapter. The tails themselves fit perfectly - I have them on my 09' E92

IDK about E90 version...

[VRSCDX]

Originally Posted by 1QuikWS6

Do you have E92 or E90?

If E92 - the E92 LCI Tails are PnP swap with included wiring harness adapter. The tails themselves fit perfectly - I have them on my 09' E92

IDK about E90 version...

I have the E92. I thought I even saw smoke ones. Are yours smoked out or original?

Thanks so much for help spending my money. Always appreciated!

[VRSCDX]

This it?

http://www.bimmian.com/LED-Rear-Lens...r-E93-3-Series

[1QuikWS6]

Well you are good to go then - absolutely no problems with mechanical fitment or wiring (as long as you have the adapter harness that is always included with tails if bought from a vendor) if you buy the tails from a private seller, make sure the harness is included - all though even if it is not, you can pick one up for like $75...

IDK who stated they wouldn't fit - but they are definitely full O' crap This is one of the more popular mods that is done all the time.

OEM tails (Pre-LCI or LCI) will not be smoked - if you want the smoked out look, you can either go with the tinted Laminex (they have both Light & Dark tint), or spray with Nightshades.

Personally, I would go with the Laminex - I did use the Light Smoke version on my stock tails & there was never a problem - lights could be seen just fine even in daylight. The Dark version is REALLY black.

I did NOT tint my LCI tails - tinting them would hide/ruin the beauty of the tail design (which is why I wanted them to begin with) IMO...

[1QuikWS6]

Originally Posted by VRSCDX

This it?

http://www.bimmian.com/LED-Rear-Lens...r-E93-3-Series

Guess you could use those but I don't have any experience with them as they are aftermarket.

All my comments were referencing replacing with OEM BMW LCI Tails - which will be more $$ new, but you can pick up OEM's used on the forum for around that price, and then of course you would also have to tint them on top of that


All though it appears these are Depot brand, which usually have fairly good quality products...

[VRSCDX]

It says Depo or Eagle Eye...I'll look around for OEM though, although wouldn't that need to be coded? These say they guarantee they're plug and play.

[1QuikWS6]

Also, I should mention since it looks as if you are new to the forum & possibly to BMW - while the:

• OEM's are mechanically PnP (& so are the aftermarket ones as stated by Bimmian)
• OEM's won't throw Error codes (& neither will the aftermarket as stated by Bimmian)

Nothing is ever quite that EZ when dealing with BMW

Your car has incandescent bulbs stock, & probably an NFRM2 Module (module that controls all the lighting on the car). Our cars have a built in 'Bulb Check' system that shoots a tiny current thru the entire system to check for any burnt out bulbs - (1) Cold Check/(1) Warm Check. While this works fine for incandescent bulbs, LED's need very little current to excite (light) - so when the bulb check runs either time, the LED's will flicker - once at startup & once after car is warm. The LED Turn Signals will also 'hyperflash' (flash VERY quickly & not as you would want them to).

To remedy this you have (3) solutions:

1. Also buy an NFRM3 Module (which is made for LED Exterior lighting), swap it in for your NFRM2 Module, then code the module to your car. This will cost you an xtra $300 for the module, and then if you have the dealer code it to your car - prolly another $200-$300 for that (or you could code it yourself with proper cable & free NCSExpert software download - see Coding Section of forum, or you could have someone local code it for you that knows what they are doing)
2. Code all Rear Light Cold/Warm Bulb Checks to 'nicht aktiv' (not active) yourself using cable & software download
3. Have someone local Code all Rear Light Cold/Warm Bulb Checks to 'not active'

Of these:

Option #1 is most $$ and totally unnecessary
Option #2 will cost you $100 for the cable, and time spent learning how to Code using forum tutorial - but it will allow you to always have the capability of coding yourself whenever you want, & there are lot's of other niceties you can code)
Option #3 will be cheapest if you know someone (maybe $20, beer, or free )

Personally I chose Option #2 so I can Code anything, any time I want.

Coding out the Cold/Warm Bulb checks will also get rid of the turn signal hyperflashing.


**Note: I also Code out all the Error Messages for any lights I am replacing with LED for good measure. Any exterior lights that you change out to LED will need this coding done & each light has it's own separate lines of code that will need changed. Interior lights are not checked, so they can be swapped out for LED without any coding needed...

[VRSCDX]

Thanks, you're right, new to BMW. Coming from a Honda Element...Way less electronics!