Good Source For LED Tail Lights?
 

At first I didn't have the feel or intrest with those LED Tail Lights but today.... lets just say I saw an E53 with them in front of me and I fell in love lol....


I was just wondering, wheres a good source we can purchase a good set, I looked at some on eBay but i fear that what I purchase from eBay isn't what I saw today. I was wondering if anyone could be kind enough to give me a direct link to an ebay page where they have decent tail light sets?

Thanks~!

I would personally say eBay

I have purchased several sets of LED tails for different vehicles on there and never once had a problem. Look for the seller zomkspeed.

+1...Look for Zomkspeed,racerunion is one company. mine been three years and still working good.

Can you get them for an 06 4.8is?

I bought mine off ebay, but the thing is i have a 2000 x5 and on ebay it says from 01 to 06, will these fit on mine?

you should be fine. Tail lights will fit. The only thing is the flicker of the LED in 04-06 models.

But Both my taillights had problems with working when the brakes were applied after 2 years of owning them.

I've been searching, but all I could find was something about adding a capcacitor to handle the irregular power to the LEDs on 04-06s. Does anyone know the definitive fix for this and where this "capacitor" goes on the taillight setup?

:confused: can anyone help this ^ guy i am in the same boat.

So its just a matter of removing the three bolts or so on the current tail lamps and connector plug and put in the new ones and that's it or is there more to it to make sure the cluster doesn't send a message....due to it being LED

FML. I just ordered tail lights and didn't know there was a LED version. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

yes, its still the e53 chassis and +2 for zomkspeed on ebay i have em and love em

yes it may be the same chassis but we have single filament bulbs in the tail lights, totally different then the pre facelift.

I searched for them also, any links would be great.

There are so many on ebay.

I purchased from zomkspeed as well and no issues so far (shy of a yr).

01 02 03 BMW X5 E53 RED CLEAR LED TAIL LIGHTS LAMPS : eBay Motors (item 190391422197 end time Apr-30-10 11:55:05 PDT)

Just keep an eye on the tails...I have the smoked ones from Zomkspeed and I had to fix them as they would not light up properly under braking...

Do you have to add a capacitor so it doesn't throw off error codes?

Yes 04-06 models

Ill check with Zoom to find out where to mount the cap. Thanks all! :D

I bought mine from GT Racers on eBay.

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 BMW X5 LED TAIL LIGHTS 4P : eBay Motors (item 310211843940 end time May-05-10 18:06:38 PDT)

I bought the capacitor as well and it just connected to the existing factory wiring and tucked into that corner easily. It's about 6" long. Mine have been on since October of last year and hadn't had an issue yet.

I'm not sure if Zoom would know, but I bought my capacitors from Lightwerkz (he's a member on this forum). His kit has instructions to place them on the LED light wire side...not the factory wire harness side.

Whoops my bad about capacitor location. I was going from memory (Which was wrong)! :)

No sweat 4MoJoe. I think the idea for putting on the LED-side wire harness is twofold:

1. Regulate the current coming into the LED wires from the source
2. Not to mess up the factory wires if you need to troubleshoot any wonkiness and to prevent the dealer for blaming you for tampering with electrics.

I checked mine this morning and that is how mine is installed. I got my capacitor from Lightwerkz as well. I really love the look of the new lamps and the tailgate replacements make it look a bit more updated. Kind of a crappy picture but an idea.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...p64/x5rear.jpg

Bought mine too from zomkspeed about a year ago - they work great! Very easy to install and simple plug and play on my 2002. The one thing that really intrigues me about these tails is the ruby-red color they give off at night - very sexy. The OEMs were a tinge on the reddish-orange color. :confused:

Question....installing the capacitor is only relevant to the 04-06 models right? I have an '02 and was look at get one of these set.

thx.

That is right capacitor is only need for 04 >

I have searched and spoke with Zoom, they are not aware of a set up for the 06.. If anyone has a suggestion, I am all ears.

Thanks.

mine is a 2003 & i had to get the capacitors because they were flickering !
i've had them on since july 2009 & just about a month ago i started having issues with the driver side , 2 of the leds will start to flicker when i turn the lights on for about 5-7 minutes & then they will just go out !!!
i sent an email to zomk asking if there is a fix or any waranty 2 days ago & still no reply !!!!
anyone else had a issue like this ? & if so is there a fix ?
thnx guys.

I received a response from gt-racers, they are not aware of any source for model year 06!!! Crap!:dunno:

Many of 06 owners on this board have these LED's rear fitted to their car too.

Do LEDs ever burn out? What do you do if one of the LEDs burn out?

Ambro

Well sure everything has a life cycle, but LED's are suppose to last a long time, so assuming you don't have your care for more than 10 yrs or so, you should be ok. However, if they did blow, I think you would just replace the whole assembly.

How did you do the wiring for capacitor any pics or how to?????????
and how many capacitor did you need one each side or one for both lights???

But no one is comming up and showing how to add the capacitor that sucks.

did you order your capacitors from Lightwerkz? i dunno how there suppose to look like but i ordered mine from his and it seems very simple. One per side and his instructions says to Tap the Green Wire with red and tap 1 of the two black wires with the Black wire. In addition Tap only your LED tail light harness not the BMW harness. I unfortunately dont have my lights in yet cause zomk sent me the wrong ones, but i guess ill snap some pics of what i do and post them.

LEDs should last a whole lot longer than blubs. however, the prob is more often than not poor contacts along the way which lead to flunctuating or decreased voltage that causes the tail lights to dim. having the capacitors should help keep the voltage constant but key issue is still to clean the contacts... sand off the carbon that formed over the years.

and how do i find this zomkspeed on ebay? just throw it in search?

i have 2 LED'S on the driver side thats out , when i first turn lights on they ok for a few minutes , then they start to flicker for a few min. then they are out , i've had them on since july 2009
is there a fix ??????

yea that would work

And zomkspeed has their own online store website Aftermarket taillights, headlights, projectors | Racer Union

06 is no different than 05. It's when aftermarket guys sell BMW parts and make these statements that makes me worry about what I'm really getting.

I will say one thing, I never understood why BMW never made an LED rear light retrofit kit for the E53 X5. They certainly made one for the E36 BMW's.

Check the Resistors box underneath the lamp/light one of them may have gone bad.

well, look for black soot. this is a tell tale sign of bad contacts or something that may have gone bad. usually after some arching, the carbon soot is formed. the black carbon add to electrical resistance and eventually cuts off the voltage supply. LEDs may flicker due to flunctuating voltage supply which in turn can be due to intermittent electrical contacts.

thanks guys but how would i know if the Resistors are bad ?

one of the ways to know whether resistors are ok or not is to use a cheap pocket multimeter. after isolating the power supply, measure to see if it has any finite ohm values. it has short-circuited if value is zero ohm or open-circuited if value is infinite ohm. any burnt marks may be tell tale signs of a problem though. good luck.

ok thank you sir

Does any one knows what kind of capacitors i will need for that flickering broblem, or is there somewhere DIY instructions for that?

Holy thread resurrection batman! I've been reading that caps are only needed for 04-06 models when installing LEDs, but then there are a few people that are having issues with 2003 models.

I have a 2001, will LED tails from ZOMK be plug and play? No flickering/errors etc? Thanks guys. This is my first mod to the X5, and I want to get it right!

I have an 01. Zomkspeed worked fine on mine. Disconnect battery before install

Thanks jst. I'll be sure to do that. I hadn't even thought about it. Did you buy the clear or smoked ones?

http://www.xoutpost.com/members/mrbm...5252010461.jpg
check out my user page load of pix inside....
http://www.xoutpost.com/members/mrbm...-userpage.html

I bought the stock color(red with clear directionals. The smoked only looks good on black, but you can get tickets for them

Mrbmw, did you buy smoke side markers too? I'm poking around ebay and bimmian, but I want to make sure they will match the tails. If you did, could you tell me where?

jst, they ebay description said they are dot approved etc. They don't look terribly dark. Hopefully I wont have any issues.

got them from here...LED Smoke side markers BMW E53 X5 99 - 03 NEW Black - eBay (item 250571333270 end time Jan-23-11 12:11:13 PST)

How was wiring them? Its not plug n play huh. no errors?

not plug n play,,,, you need to tap the wires.no error

Well, its settled. I bought the LED red smoke tails and a set of smoke side markers off ebay.

Once the weekend rolls around I'm painting X5 Badge black and sanding/painting grill black.

Thanks for the help everyone! It's great to be part of a new forum

Where can I find instructions on how to remove the old tail lights and replace with new LED tail lights?

Really! Instructions for removing tail lights? ;)
*Disconnect Battery*
1. remove both storage panels in the cargo area
2. grab an 8mm socket and remove the three nuts (tap them loose first and then just use the socket to remove the nuts the rest of the way... kinda tight working space)
3. Disconnect old light and remove
4. Insert new light and connect wiring
(Tailgate lights)
5. Remove to screws on either side of the tailgate
6. Remove the center plastic covering on the tailgate (use a flathead screwdriver on the side closest to you to pop it up. Should be 4 snaps.)
7. Remove third screw which is under the foam padding
8. Connect and then test lights before buttoning everything up
* Note: take a look at the where the screws are on the new lights so you have an idea where to find the screws of the old lights inside your car*

Hope that helps!

When removing the tailgate lights, make sure you have someone or something holding the lamp after the screws are unscrewed. You don't want the lamp falling out!

Also, tighten the screws evenly to get the best fit. You don't want to tighten one screw all the way while another is completely loose. Just basic tips... I'll snap some photos of mine as soon as the weather cleans up.

Went for the same LED red smoke tails off eBay and they look awesome =) took a buddy and I all of 45 minutes to disassemble the trunk area and reassemble with new tails in place. Ended up pulling the "subwoofer" and 6CD changer for easier access, and cleaned up the grounding point for the CD changer to hopefully clear up the "CD Error" issue I get every time it automatically changes discs...

So besides filling the recycling container this Friday, what good are the old OEM taillight housings? I can't sell them here (no premium membership), but if there's a market for them, I'd consider going for it...

E

Any pics yet?

I'm thinking of getting these also, partly to update the look of the car, partly to cure my intermittent problem with the left turn signal not working.

I've seen people on here say that they are plug-and-play, but on the website from Zomk it says the difficulty level is 4 out of 5. Is it really as simple as unplugging the old assembly and plugging in the new one? Or do wires have to be tapped, etc.?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
John

Install is straight forward. If you have a DSP Sub you'll have to remove that first. And then remove the 3 bolts I think from each original assemblies and remove them. Wiring is plug in to OEM. If you have a 2004+ you'll need the capacitor fix which goes on the LED electrical wires. Mine had been on for 2 years when I sold it 4 weeks ago and I never had an issue with it...and didn't have to futz with the stupid bulbs burning out which seemed like an ongoing issue.

Also, they do change the rear of the cars looks and it's a nice update.

This isn't the greatest picture...
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...p64/x5rear.jpg

Had the same problem, too. I got the LED's last year but had to return them. When I got them, I disconnected the connector plug only from the existing tail light housing and plugged it to the new LED tail light housing. Immediately, the dash computer flashing "CHECK TAIL LIGHTS" and won't turn off. When I step on the brakes, there were no bright red LED's turns on, in fact the tail light gets dimmer when I step on the brakes because the parking lights are already on (in the garage). So, I returned them. Did I miss something there? I just wanted to plug and play! I didn't wanna fool around with the electronics...

4MoJoe, dude, your tail lights looks good, man. what i bought last year was the all black tail light housing with LED's to match my black '03 4.6is. I just had problems connecting them. I didn't wanna remove my old ones and find out that it will not work out. I need someone that already have LED's on their '03 4.6is to tell me where they got them and how they installed them. Post please if you can!

On my wife's X5. Bought them on eBay for $200 shipped. Very happy with the purchase.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...5/c10a8e5c.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...5/41b4d955.jpg