Smoked LED tail lights
 

Yes, yes, another thread about LED tail lights. :tsk: I'm a moderator so you can't :repost: me. :nanana: Seriously, the reason I am creating this new post is because there are so many LED tail lights posts already that I couldn't pick one to resurrect.

I had the "Check Rear Lights" and "Check Brake Lights" errors from my OEM tail lights so I did the soldering fix to repair the burned/pitted spots on the circuit board. That didn't really help as I think the circuit board itself was bad. (Great design BMW!) I got tired of it and did not want to spend the time hard wiring in each bulb so I opted to get rid of them altogether.

I took the opportunity to upgrade to LED tail lights. I read the many posts here and decided to go with eBay seller "zomkspeed". There are many, many other sellers on eBay selling LED tail lights for our X5s and truth be told, I think there are some that are duplicate sellers using different accounts. I went with this one due to positive experience with members here. My experience was also positive. They shipped the next day and since I am in SoCal where they also are, I got the lights in a day. Anyway, prices vary quite a bit but they should cost you about $155 before shipping. They can be advertised as "Euro" or "uses Philips Lumileds". Some sellers mention a brand name. Previous posts have brought up different brand names so I'll clear that up a bit here.

Zomkspeed does not advertise a brand but they sell "Spyder" a.k.a. "Sonar" brand. I have seen people use either name. They are one in the same. I have read that Spyder is the US importer of Sonar lights. Here is the box that the lights were (drop) shipped in. They came very well packaged!

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d...ights/box3.jpg

Here are the labels on the box.

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d...hts/box1-1.jpg

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d...hts/box2-1.jpg

And here is the back of one of the pieces showing the "Sonar" name.

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d...ghts/sonar.jpg

What I think is that just about any of the eBay sellers selling LED tail lights advertising "Philips Lumileds" or "Sonar" or "Spyder" or versions that look like mine are selling the same thing so go with whatever seller you like.

I opted for the red/smoked LED tail lights. There are red/clear, black, and crystal versions too. There are actually also red/smoke and red/clear non-LED versions for quite a bit less money but I wanted the look and function of LED. Link to post by pezho405.

I apologize for the iPhone photos and the fact that the photos aren't that great but I wanted these things on immediately and it was dark out when I installed them. Here are some comparison photos with the stock lights so you can see the degree of smoke on the new ones. I wanted something a little different from OEM but not smoked too dark. These are PERFECT. :thumbup: They have just enough of a tint to look different and cool. They are a huge improvement over the OEM lights and look far more modern. It really updates my X5 and looks awesome on Steel Gray.

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d...ts/corner2.jpg

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d...ts/sides-1.jpg

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d...ts/corner3.jpg

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d...ghts/rear2.jpg

Technical notes:

They were plug and play and I have no errors nor flickering. My X5 is a production date 03/02 so I expected no problems since the only problems reported are with '03 and newer X5s, if there are problems at all. I did not disconnect my battery prior to installation. The only small issues were with one of the plugs where I had to fiddle with the pins a bit and then kind of force it to plug with the X5's wiring harness and the light's wiring harnesses are off the center of the light so they don't run through the best hole in the X5 and requires you so tuck some wires and squeeze them down when installing the corner lights.

The brake/rear lights are nice and bright red LEDs and look terrific. The signal light is also LED and is a yellowish orange and is also quite bright. The reverse lights uses your original incandescent bulb or you can swap that out for the appropriate LED bulb. These are wired for Euro rear fog lights but you have to do other wiring to get it to work.

Bottom line: I am very happy with these. They look great, update the rear of the X5 so much, and for $195 shipped/tax, totally worth it. The best part is no more annoying errors. :D

NEXT MOD:

This is a genuine xoutpost.com license plate frame. We also have laser cut vinyl decals. Contact LeMansX5 for yours!

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d...ateframe-1.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6092/6...c4552e48_b.jpg

Hi,do want to sell your old hatch back lights?,I'm looking for those.

Pm sent

You're the only other X I've seen with a Remus. How do you like it? Also let's get some pics with the lights on! :)

Great review, those look great on your X! I'm completely sold on them, and had the same stock tails as you, I just can't decide whether to get the red/smoke or the red/clear ones! I have a Topaz Blue X, wheels are stock silver sport wheels, but I have tinted windows all around.

So if i am correct your turn signal is still a halogen bulb that you swapped from your old tails? I have a chrome 7507 I would like to use with a new set of tails if that is the case.

I wish someone could post pics of the red/clear LEDs on their car...

Awesome, thank you for the info. I have been looking too, and was confused over some of these points. I'm pleased that there is a Euro rear fog light provision.

Leaning towards the crystal version for our gray green beauty up here.


Questions:

1 - How many LEDs in the signal? Is there a diffuser for their light or do the individual LEDs show? The ebay photos never show that.

2 - There have been posts of the pin count/position being different in MY X5's. Which pin position were used on their plug? Does it look easy to move them if needed?

I just installed these exact same lights on my black 2002 4.6is, plug and play,took less than 45 minutes to install. I think you're mistaken about the turn signals, you reuse the old orange bulb, the turn signal is not LED.

I dont know if mine are Spyder or Sonar but I DID purchase mine from the same seller Zomkspeed way back in 2009 or maybe even 2008 i dont remember. The only difference between my and your purchase is mine came with regular non-led turn signal bulbs. I installed the stealth silver bulbs that eliminate the orange color filling the housing when the blinker is off.

I decided to contribute because I wanted to say that two years later all my leds are still fully functional (unlike some other crap u see on the back of ppls cars). I DID try a LED turn signal bulb and they worked great for over a month and then somehow the electronics must've awakened and instituted the fast blink/bulb out error syndrome.

There was some gap/fitment issues with the way the taillight assembly mounted on the car met up with the assembly mounted on the tailgate. The gap was really big but it was remedied with a little drilling/hole widening.

Good luck and enjoy. They look great on your car!

http://www.xoutpost.com/attachments/...z_p5100007.jpghttp://www.xoutpost.com/attachments/...l_p7060076.jpghttp://www.xoutpost.com/attachments/...hpej4kpaam.jpg

nice writeup - they look awesome. you're definitely right about updating the look of the X.

turn signals are regular incandescent bulbs - two new ambers are included. I would recommend also buying some silver coated amber invisibulbs for turn signals and a pair of superwhite invisibulbs for the reverse lights at the same time. add some LED license plate bulbs and the ass of your X looks practically new.

not worth the money u can hardly notice the difference between stock and aftermarket..:thumbup: