[335i Pal]

I bought some aftermarket AE a few years ago and they are starting to flicker more and obviously about to go out. I have noticed the newer e90's have the LED lighting their AE instead of the old yellow color mine originally came with.

Will these new OEM LCI AE's fit my 2007 pre-LCI e90? Pnp?





Sorry if this has been answered before, but google-fu wasn't bring anything conclusive up.

[rollinstone157]

Originally Posted by 335i Pal

I bought some aftermarket AE a few years ago and they are starting to flicker more and obviously about to go out. I have noticed the newer e90's have the LED lighting their AE instead of the old yellow color mine originally came with.

Will these new OEM LCI AE's fit my 2007 pre-LCI e90? Pnp?

Sorry if this has been answered before, but google-fu wasn't bring anything conclusive up.

OK, so confusion here:
1. the OEM E90 LCI AE bulb used in the E90 LCI will not fit in the pre-LCI E90.

2. The OEM E90 LCI AE bulb is a $10 halogen H8 bulb, just like the E92 Pre-LCI, not a custom-LED bulb. The OEM E92/E93 LCI AE bulb is a LED unit that costs hundreds to replace. It is a custom design, and will not fit in any car not designed for it, no exceptions.

3. If you have a Pre-LCI E90, your best options for an AE upgrade are the HighPerformanceBulbs.com 6W AE's ($50), the MTEC V3's ($150ish), and the venerable LUX 5.1's ($250).

[335i Pal]

Thanks for the info! That helped clear up alot, but still a little confused. The bulb that I replaced for my angel eyes looked custom to me and NOT a H8. I do have HID standard headlights, not sure if that matters.

It looked identical to this bulb here:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=283059


Still can't believe that BMW would make the AE's different between e90's and e92/93, seems like a waste of R&D.

[Ruhnie]

Originally Posted by rollinstone157

OK, so confusion here:
3. If you have a Pre-LCI E90, your best options for an AE upgrade are the HighPerformanceBulbs.com 6W AE's ($50), the MTEC V3's ($150ish), and the venerable LUX 5.1's ($250).

Apologies for the possible newb question, but I've been looking around for something like this and don't quite understand all the options. Will bulbs like the one you mention from HighPerformanceBulbs.com just plug and play with the OEM harness/wiring/etc. of the pre-LCI E90s? I have the ugly stock yellow AEs still and last time I looked into this, you had to buy a whole new wiring harness and stuff that looked difficult to install. I suck at electrical type work so I just gave up my search. If I can just drop in new bulbs that would be amazing!

[El Cheapo Loco]

All 3 pre-lci options mentioned by rollingstone are plug and play, no need to replace wiring/harness.

[mashimarho]

Some of the new LCI e90s are still yellowish. I don't know if you're talking about the e92 LCIs. Those are bright white.

[rollinstone157]

Originally Posted by 335i Pal

Thanks for the info! That helped clear up alot, but still a little confused. The bulb that I replaced for my angel eyes looked custom to me and NOT a H8. I do have HID standard headlights, not sure if that matters.

It looked identical to this bulb here:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=283059


Still can't believe that BMW would make the AE's different between e90's and e92/93, seems like a waste of R&D.

True, the bulb you replaced was a custom designed part. However, it's an aftermarket part. The BMW halogen bulb is a custom design yes, but unlike ones used in other headlights. AFAIK, the Pre-LCI E90 is the only one that uses this style of bulb. And having the factory xenons makes a huge difference, unlike the E90 LCI, the E90 Pre-LCI only has angel eyes if you have the factory xenon headlights.

Originally Posted by Ruhnie

Apologies for the possible newb question, but I've been looking around for something like this and don't quite understand all the options. Will bulbs like the one you mention from HighPerformanceBulbs.com just plug and play with the OEM harness/wiring/etc. of the pre-LCI E90s? I have the ugly stock yellow AEs still and last time I looked into this, you had to buy a whole new wiring harness and stuff that looked difficult to install. I suck at electrical type work so I just gave up my search. If I can just drop in new bulbs that would be amazing!

Yup! Easy plug-and-play job.

Originally Posted by elcheapoloco

All 3 pre-lci options mentioned by rollingstone are plug and play, no need to replace wiring/harness.

[Ruhnie]

Much appreciated for the replies! Those MTEC V3s are looking mighty fine, may have to pick some up and finally get rid of these yellow AEs