[redEYEjedi]

First off, thanks to LBimmer for finding these.

Since I was relatively local to the seller, I dropped by today at their warehouse to pick up a set of the "tinted" style to test for the rest of the forum.

Exterior:
The tail lights themselves are decent quality considering they are made in Taiwan. They weigh about the same weight as the OEM Hella units and the the build is pretty solid.

Fit:
Installation is a simple swap with no strenuous deduction, splicing, soldering etc. When actually fitted onto the car itself, the lights are a pretty close fit to OEM, though its not perfect perfect.

Wiring:
None needed. Just swap 3 out of your 4 OEM bulbs are you are set.

Errors:
None as of yet.


Questions from the peanut gallery:

turboawd, on Dec 7 2009, 09:52 PM, said:

it looks like the lights are wired so that the inner bulbs are on with the rods too. this is probably done to avoid errors, and avoid using resistors.
do the rods and bulbs get brighter together when the brakes are applied?

When the brake lights are applied, only the bulbs increase in brightness. I looked at the edges of the tubes and on each side is an LED unit, though they are not the brightest I've seen (ie those being sold by Brabus) Hence, as the picture below indicates, the bars are not lit fully.

Alpine White Girl, on Dec 7 2009, 09:57 PM, said:

thank you.

after this i dont think i will be getting the smoked. any way of shutting off the lights behind the bars?

Unfortunately there is no way, as of now, that the lights behind the bars can be shut off.

More to be added..


Pictures:
Driver's side with headlights/taillights on


Passenger side with headlights/taillights on


Both lights installed, with lights on in dark
Notice that the passenger side looks very similar to the LCI with the bars, but the drivers side looks closer to the pre-LCI's


Orange LED blinkers




Additional pictures to come as they are uploaded.

[tex_phil]

I don't think I'll be getting these, the lights behind the bars is a deal breaker, and it doesn't look like the bars look like OEM

[vlad_b]

i just wish the bars would be more in contrast

as for errors, did you look on idrive screen: "check control messages"? that's were the errors are shown if any

so far, they do look nicer then pre-lci but not as nice as lci. kind of like hybrid

[Alpine White Girl]

tex_phil, on Dec 8 2009, 02:24 AM, said:

I don't think I'll be getting these, the lights behind the bars is a deal breaker, and it doesn't look like the bars look like OEM

i feel the same way as you here. the light behind the bars is a deal breaker. Could you remove that light behind the bars and put a resistor to not get errors? Damn....i was really hoping these wouldnt have the light behind the bar. There has to be a way to get ride of that light. One of the bulbs has to be for the leds and one has to be for the back lighting, correct?

[bimmer530iguy]

tex_phil, on Dec 8 2009, 01:24 AM, said:

I don't think I'll be getting these, the lights behind the bars is a deal breaker, and it doesn't look like the bars look like OEM

+1 Wish they looked more like the OEM LCI

[redEYEjedi]

Alpine White Girl, on Dec 7 2009, 10:41 PM, said:

i feel the same way as you here. the light behind the bars is a deal breaker. Could you remove that light behind the bars and put a resistor to not get errors? Damn....i was really hoping these wouldnt have the light behind the bar. There has to be a way to get ride of that light. One of the bulbs has to be for the leds and one has to be for the back lighting, correct?

I actually tried removing both bulbs in the "background" to see how bright the bars are. They're ok.. not as vibrant as the OEM LCI's. I think the problem is that the LED's on the sides of the bars are just not that strong!

[redEYEjedi]

As a quick summary, the lights themselves are pretty good quality for the price but I think overall people may tend to be turned off on the fact that the bars are not lit as much as they would like due to the 2 bulbs in the background that stay on continuously.

As someone had mentioned in the original thread, these are good as hybrid lights between the pre-LCI and LCI's. These would be an interesting project for someone to play around with and rewire in order to better simulate the LCI look and functionality.

I have yet to drive with the lights and see if they cause any unforseen problems.

[Alpine White Girl]

redEYEjedi, on Dec 8 2009, 02:05 AM, said:

As a quick summary, the lights themselves are pretty good quality for the price but I think overall people may tend to be turned off on the fact that the bars are not lit as much as they would like due to the 2 bulbs in the background that stay on continuously.

As someone had mentioned in the original thread, these are good as hybrid lights between the pre-LCI and LCI's. These would be an interesting project for someone to play around with and rewire in order to better simulate the LCI look and functionality.

I have yet to drive with the lights and see if they cause any unforseen problems.

i agree with the part where someone should tear these apart and see what they can do with leds.....we have some led freaks around here. i think their handy work is needed here!

[Igor180°]

redEYEjedi, on Dec 8 2009, 01:56 AM, said:

I think the problem is that the LED's on the sides of the bars are just not that strong!

It's not the LED's that are not that strong, it's the way those bars are prepped. If you look closely at the OEM rods, they have small cuts in them, those cuts help transfer the light across the entire rod easier, when there's no slits or cuts, the light gets dispersed and only makes it a few inches away from the source.

If anyone took these apart, all they would need to do is add little slits/cuts into the rods and they'll be 100x brighter. Using a brighter LED in that case will help too.

Like everyone said, they're good alternative to hybrid lights, something between the Pre-LCI and LCI taillights, although the LCI taillights are still far more superior.

[bruce_miranda]

Depending on how they have wired those LED rods, I should be able to build cables that brighten those LED rods and turn those break light bulbs off unless you break. Everything should be plug and play as well. This solution should still work out cheaper over-all in case people want a cheaper option.

[LBimmer]

bruce_miranda, on Dec 8 2009, 05:18 AM, said:

Depending on how they have wired those LED rods, I should be able to build cables that brighten those LED rods and turn those break light bulbs off unless you break. Everything should be plug and play as well. This solution should still work out cheaper over-all in case people want a cheaper option.

Please do I bought these and if those pesky lights can be shut off that would be great...thanks redeye for the review I know everyone really appreciates it

[nigxdoof]

I definitely feel that you can redo the wiring to have the Rods just light up.

I was planning on buying this and taking it apart, changing the turn signal LEDS to white and then see if I can change the LEDS on the Rods brighter and do more cuts like Igor said. (Very good idea btw).

Is there still a group buy price? or should I just get it now?

[richard313]

Thanks for the input guys, hopefully a DIY can be done to make these a little bit nicer.

[bruce_miranda]

LBimmer, on Dec 8 2009, 01:25 PM, said:

Please do I bought these and if those pesky lights can be shut off that would be great...thanks redeye for the review I know everyone really appreciates it

Well someone is going to have to send me pictures and details of these lights so that I can make up a cable for this. The first one to help gets the prototype for very cheap.

[LBimmer]

bruce_miranda, on Dec 8 2009, 09:09 AM, said:

Well someone is going to have to send me pictures and details of these lights so that I can make up a cable for this. The first one to help gets the prototype for very cheap.

Ok I'll be getting the lights in a few days for some reason my tracking # isn't taking...tell me what you need and I will send pics/descriptions