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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > Cosmetic and Lighting Modifications (exterior/interior) > CUSTOM Clear Tail light lens (PICS) HOW TO?



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      11-05-2017, 10:17 PM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blueeyesredpanda View Post
3W should not throw a code, i thought those aftermarket tail lights are error free

Which OEM tail lights do you have?


Just wondering what you can customize for Pre lci tail lights

I found a company that makes Clear tail lights cover. So i will let you know if they are willing to make BMW cover.
Yeah, that's what they state. The code was thrown after I installed them, but could've been something else like LED license plate lights that I also installed around the same time. Will do some investigating later lol. And I have the ones on the left. And that's great, keep me updated! I am so excited for this.
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      11-05-2017, 10:47 PM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stellarbaboon View Post
Yeah, that's what they state. The code was thrown after I installed them, but could've been something else like LED license plate lights that I also installed around the same time. Will do some investigating later lol. And I have the ones on the left. And that's great, keep me updated! I am so excited for this.
What modification do you have in mind for the OEM tail lights?
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      11-06-2017, 07:37 AM   #25
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Originally Posted by Blueeyesredpanda View Post
What modification do you have in mind for the OEM tail lights?
Hopefully I can switch out the clear lenses, and I also plan on finding a way to make the center strips brighter (as similar to the Pre-Lci E92 Tail lights with the LED center beams). We'll see where it goes after that, hopefully it'll look really saucy. What do you wish to do to the LCI's?

I'd also like to mess around a bit and see how the tail lights look iced out like in your original picture.
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      11-06-2017, 12:00 PM   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stellarbaboon View Post
Hopefully I can switch out the clear lenses, and I also plan on finding a way to make the center strips brighter (as similar to the Pre-Lci E92 Tail lights with the LED center beams). We'll see where it goes after that, hopefully it'll look really saucy. What do you wish to do to the LCI's?

I'd also like to mess around a bit and see how the tail lights look iced out like in your original picture.
Like this one?



I am rying to make it as OEM as possible.

F10 style
Clear Lens + Pure White strip + Black background + Orange turning singal (euro)

F30 style
Clear lens + Red strip + Black background + Orange turning singal (euro)
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      11-06-2017, 12:25 PM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blueeyesredpanda View Post
Like this one?



I am rying to make it as OEM as possible.

F10 style
Clear Lens + Pure White strip + Black background + Orange turning singal (euro)

F30 style
Clear lens + Red strip + Black background + Orange turning singal (euro)
Sounds nice. And yeah, I am trying to make it like that one in the picture. The OEM tail lights I have right now already have the strips in the middle, but they aren't bright at all. I'll put the clear lens on and try to see what it looks like after lol, then make a decision on what to do.
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      11-06-2017, 08:06 PM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stellarbaboon View Post
Sounds nice. And yeah, I am trying to make it like that one in the picture. The OEM tail lights I have right now already have the strips in the middle, but they aren't bright at all. I'll put the clear lens on and try to see what it looks like after lol, then make a decision on what to do.

Pre lci x F10 lens, i see i see

After 20 emails to different companies, i finally found one who is willing to check out the lens to see if it's possible to reproduce a clear one.
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      11-06-2017, 08:40 PM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blueeyesredpanda View Post
Pre lci x F10 lens, i see i see

After 20 emails to different companies, i finally found one who is willing to check out the lens to see if it's possible to reproduce a clear one.
NO WAY!!! Are they going to inspect your F30 tail lights or your E90 LCI's?
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      11-06-2017, 09:17 PM   #30
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Originally Posted by stellarbaboon View Post
NO WAY!!! Are they going to inspect your F30 tail lights or your E90 LCI's?
E90 LCI's, i have two sets of those.
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      11-06-2017, 09:49 PM   #31
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Originally Posted by Blueeyesredpanda View Post
E90 LCI's, i have two sets of those.
Sounds good. How can I help?
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      11-06-2017, 10:44 PM   #32
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stellarbaboon View Post
Sounds good. How can I help?
Just check out the aftermarket ones, see what kind of bulbs it have to make white strips and clear cover appears in red. Either Red halogen or LED bulbs or SMD leds.

The LCI tail lights should be on its way to my door from the states tomorrow.
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      11-07-2017, 04:34 PM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blueeyesredpanda View Post
Just check out the aftermarket ones, see what kind of bulbs it have to make white strips and clear cover appears in red. Either Red halogen or LED bulbs or SMD leds.

The LCI tail lights should be on its way to my door from the states tomorrow.
I just checked, as far as I could go without completely baking open the tail lights. They appear to be SMD LED's. Where the bulb's (on an OEM tail light) socket normally is, there are two wires running into the illuminated area. This illuminated area seems to be a flat pad from the back, which I assume to be SMD LED's due to their even appearance when the lights are on.
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      11-07-2017, 04:45 PM   #34
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Name:  IMG_2764.jpg
Views: 1836
Size:  134.4 KB

Unfortunately, the LED's I ordered will not fit in the original positions... I should've checked this before. Too bad BMW makes parts that are completely unfriendly to aftermarket mods
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      11-07-2017, 05:36 PM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stellarbaboon View Post
Attachment 1717717

Unfortunately, the LED's I ordered will not fit in the original positions... I should've checked this before. Too bad BMW makes parts that are completely unfriendly to aftermarket mods
That's the wrong bulb. PY21W should be the right on.

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      11-07-2017, 05:55 PM   #36
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stellarbaboon View Post
I just checked, as far as I could go without completely baking open the tail lights. They appear to be SMD LED's. Where the bulb's (on an OEM tail light) socket normally is, there are two wires running into the illuminated area. This illuminated area seems to be a flat pad from the back, which I assume to be SMD LED's due to their even appearance when the lights are on.
Thanks for looking into that! Is your aftermarket's signal red or orange?

I wonder if a Red halogen/led bulb can emit light evenly like the SMDs... that's a hard one.

The aftermarket tail lights have the same design as the F10 tail light, as you can see on the diagram (PIC 1), there's two halogen bulb, one is reverse light, the other one is the rear red fog light. Which is why the inner tail light (PIC2) has a bright red area. In (PIC3), the outer tail lights have a dark red too.

PIC 1
Name:  Screen Shot 2017-11-07 at 5.45.40 PM.png
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Size:  562.9 KB


PIC 2


PIC 3
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      11-07-2017, 08:26 PM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blueeyesredpanda View Post
Thanks for looking into that! Is your aftermarket's signal red or orange?

I wonder if a Red halogen/led bulb can emit light evenly like the SMDs... that's a hard one.

The aftermarket tail lights have the same design as the F10 tail light, as you can see on the diagram (PIC 1), there's two halogen bulb, one is reverse light, the other one is the rear red fog light. Which is why the inner tail light (PIC2) has a bright red area. In (PIC3), the outer tail lights have a dark red too.

PIC 1
Attachment 1717730


PIC 2


PIC 3

My aftermarket signal appears red, and it is even in brightness (which leads me to believe it is SMD. During the day/morning, the lights appear pink (very weird) and at night, they appear a brilliant red. During cloudy days, they seem orange. I have no clue which to consider as true, maybe the night time one.

And to be honest, I also think that my aftermarket tail lights are slightly different than the F10 specific aftermarket tail lights. Mine DO in fact have the plug-type style sockets where a bulb would normally go, but instead (as I stated), there are two independent wires in each socket leading to the surface mounted diodes. There is no red tint visible whatsoever, even deeper into the structure.
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      11-08-2017, 11:28 AM   #38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stellarbaboon View Post
My aftermarket signal appears red, and it is even in brightness (which leads me to believe it is SMD. During the day/morning, the lights appear pink (very weird) and at night, they appear a brilliant red. During cloudy days, they seem orange. I have no clue which to consider as true, maybe the night time one.

And to be honest, I also think that my aftermarket tail lights are slightly different than the F10 specific aftermarket tail lights. Mine DO in fact have the plug-type style sockets where a bulb would normally go, but instead (as I stated), there are two independent wires in each socket leading to the surface mounted diodes. There is no red tint visible whatsoever, even deeper into the structure.
pink > red > orange
A bit confused, so the plug type sockets where bulb would normally go doesn't have bulbs on it then??
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      11-08-2017, 05:54 PM   #39
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blueeyesredpanda View Post
pink > red > orange
A bit confused, so the plug type sockets where bulb would normally go doesn't have bulbs on it then??
Haha that's absolutely correct. Don't know why, but that's what it is. I'll upload a picture tomorrow so you can see.
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      06-04-2024, 12:09 PM   #40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cheeseforlunch View Post
Haha that's absolutely correct. Don't know why, but that's what it is. I'll upload a picture tomorrow so you can see.
its been about 6 years since, have we gone forward in the world and have clear taillights or did we find it impossible?
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