"whatheheck" LED upgrade mod GROUP BUY - Page 22 - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

Lunker325 · 16th July 2009, 17:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by ultraman206

hurry up and start the map lights group buy already... LED light upgrade is like an addiction... I need the fix.

You aint kidding! I got it bad too! There isn't an area of the car I haven't thought about sticking LED's. I've even thought about putting them in the house...

timmay77 · 16th July 2009, 18:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by ultraman206

hurry up and start the map lights group buy already... LED light upgrade is like an addiction... I need the fix.

Easy tiger.... We are just wating for Brian to verify which bulbs we need FOR SURE so we don't go through the same confusion as last time, which was my fault.

ultraman206 · 16th July 2009, 20:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lunker325

You aint kidding! I got it bad too! There isn't an area of the car I haven't thought about sticking LED's. I've even thought about putting them in the house...

Quote:

Originally Posted by timmay77

Easy tiger.... We are just wating for Brian to verify which bulbs we need FOR SURE so we don't go through the same confusion as last time, which was my fault.

Hi, my name is ultraman206 and I am an L-E-D-aholic...

timmay77 · 16th July 2009, 20:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by ultraman206

Hi, my name is ultraman206 and I am an L-E-D-aholic...

+1

gherardini · 16th July 2009, 21:00

Big thanks for chasing this lunker. I was getting ready to just order a set in as well seeing as since I'd only need about 4 bulbs, losing a GB discount won't kill me. I'd've gotten the wrong bulbs as well.

I really hate that the map lights and the C pillar bulbs aren't white LED, the incandescent amber-ish glow y just don't match the super-white LED which makes the ///M look so clean at night.

For others considering doing this interior light mod, the appx. $200 to redo all the cabin door and trunk lighting and make it a clean, pure white light is well worth the minimal cost for the transformation it does for the ///M. Most of these are simple replace or easy-modification bulb replacements, if I had to redo all the bulbs right now, all 20 or so of them in the doors, trunk, map light, c pillars with a bag of bulbs in hand, it might take me 30 minutes.

As the ad says... Just DO it!

Hdhntr23 · 16th July 2009, 21:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by ultraman206

Hi, my name is ultraman206 and I am an L-E-D-aholic...

I am an L-E-D addict too... BUT

If you truly want to transform your car. Add some LEDs to your footwells. Tim and I did this (well Tim did it I just "helped"... momma made shake n' bake an I helped!!!) anyway, we ordered some OEM trunk light housings. We took down the top panel of the foot wells and "Dremel'd" out a hole big enough for the housing. (make sure you measure so you get them in the middle from left to right) Put the LED in, Tim will have to tell you which size. We fished the wires from the drivers side to the passengers side. He wired them together and connected them to the wire housing on the passengers side.

I really liked the LED upgrade before but now... my car looks TOTALLY different with these in at night than without. This mod is absolutely amazing. Like I said, I really liked the LED's before, say on a scale of 1-10, I liked it an 8 or so. Now its well over a 10. It makes that much of a difference.

Im sure Tim will chime in and give exact specifics and details but I wanted to brag about how effing hot these look. The best part about it is it looks TOTALLY stock. We are now trying to figure out a way to light up the rear foot wells.

Pix to follow soon.

THANKS TIM!

Lunker325 · 21st July 2009, 20:18

Alright, so the bulbs are in and we have winners.

The Superbright LED bulbs that look like a circuit board work well in the C pillar.
The Autolumination bulbs are perfect in the dome light map lights, couldn't be happier.

For the C pillar maps, I checked out the output in the dark, and the circuit board bulbs seemed to put out better light than the Autolumination bulbs. The Autolumination bulbs do work in the C pillars, but for some reason they didn't seem as bright. When I installed the C pillar bulbs, I made sure that the face of the led was towards the lens, so that I got the max use of the bulb, even if it wasn't fully locked into the fixture. Just bend to bottom tab up so that there is more pressure on the bulb and it won't go anywhere. I also bent the mounting bracket a bit so that it was angled more towards the lens.

The map lights in the dome area turned out very good. Nice and bright, no need to turn on the dome light(and every other light in the car) to see. The circuit board bulbs will work here too, but the Autolumination bulbs were brighter.

This probably doesn't help with a group buy with two different companies, but at $30 for all four bulbs, not sure how much we would save anyhow.

Go get your fix, LED addicts!

Hdhntr23 · 21st July 2009, 20:43

Next up vanity lights!!!! (unless youve covered this too and I just glossed by it)

firehire · 21st July 2009, 20:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lunker325

Alright, so the bulbs are in and we have winners.

The Superbright LED bulbs that look like a circuit board work well in the C pillar.
The Autolumination bulbs are perfect in the dome light map lights, couldn't be happier.

For the C pillar maps, I checked out the output in the dark, and the circuit board bulbs seemed to put out better light than the Autolumination bulbs. The Autolumination bulbs do work in the C pillars, but for some reason they didn't seem as bright. When I installed the C pillar bulbs, I made sure that the face of the led was towards the lens, so that I got the max use of the bulb, even if it wasn't fully locked into the fixture. Just bend to bottom tab up so that there is more pressure on the bulb and it won't go anywhere. I also bent the mounting bracket a bit so that it was angled more towards the lens.

The map lights in the dome area turned out very good. Nice and bright, no need to turn on the dome light(and every other light in the car) to see. The circuit board bulbs will work here too, but the Autolumination bulbs were brighter.

This probably doesn't help with a group buy with two different companies, but at $30 for all four bulbs, not sure how much we would save anyhow.

Go get your fix, LED addicts!

Order complete.

timmay77 · 2nd August 2009, 05:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hdhntr23

I am an L-E-D addict too... BUT

If you truly want to transform your car. Add some LEDs to your footwells. Tim and I did this (well Tim did it I just "helped"... momma made shake n' bake an I helped!!!) anyway, we ordered some OEM trunk light housings. We took down the top panel of the foot wells and "Dremel'd" out a hole big enough for the housing. (make sure you measure so you get them in the middle from left to right) Put the LED in, Tim will have to tell you which size. We fished the wires from the drivers side to the passengers side. He wired them together and connected them to the wire housing on the passengers side.

I really liked the LED upgrade before but now... my car looks TOTALLY different with these in at night than without. This mod is absolutely amazing. Like I said, I really liked the LED's before, say on a scale of 1-10, I liked it an 8 or so. Now its well over a 10. It makes that much of a difference.

Im sure Tim will chime in and give exact specifics and details but I wanted to brag about how effing hot these look. The best part about it is it looks TOTALLY stock. We are now trying to figure out a way to light up the rear foot wells.

Pix to follow soon.

THANKS TIM!

I finally got around to taking some pics of the footwells. Thanks to Lunker325 for the guidance on tapping into the cars wiring. He gave me the idea, I just went a bit farther and ordered some BMW parts to make it look completely stock. I ordered 2 BMW trunk lighting asemblies exactly like the one in my trunk lid. I popped it out and got the part number that was printed on it. It is a 44mm bulb housing. I put in the 44mm LED bulbs we ordered from the GB. I then measured the hole it sits in and cut that size hole in the panels above the pedals on the drivers side and the footwell on the passenger side.

Above the panel on the passenger side is a connection box for wiring. I tapped into the brown wire for my ground and the red wire with a blue stripe which feeds the rest of the interior lights for my 12v+. VIOLA!! You have footwell lights.