To clear or not to clear
 

One of the mods I have been considering is euro clears like are on my E39. I have been back and forth on it since I like the contrast of the orange and blue colors. Difficult to explain, but I do.

Well, since I got the silver StopTech calipers, I am starting to give a little on the idea of clears bc they could provide sort of a silver/blue 'theme' for the X. Here's a quick photoshop... What say ye?

I've never minded the orange and still have on my E36. My preference is orange, but whatever you do, match the front and rear. What does your rear look like? Ahahaha….

I have a silver / blue theme on my E53, I just swapped the wood trim for Titan silver, have silver turn signal bulbs, Titan grills, etc. My last piece of the pie is to update my headlights to have clear turns, that will be done with my headlight retrofit, I am actually going to trim the pre-facelift turn signal section to look like facelift shape, and wrap that in 3M brushed aluminum vinyl, close enough to clear as I can get lol.

I say GO FOR IT!

This is the rear. I would not ever (never) go full clear on the back. Tooo... Lexus/Inifinity for me. :shakehead:

http://www.my02.com/images/4.8is/rearblur.jpg

I think he meant what bulbs on the rear, looks like you have the stealth bulbs so it would match nicely.

I don't think any of us meant "all clear" tails as that is a travesty

Voted clear - flows really nice with the color combo you have, and is subtle. The amber gives the car a too much of a "rainbow" color scheme.

I like that the amber adds a little bit of color. But both look good.

How do I vote if I like the clears AND pie??? :dunno:

Now that you've shown the back, it seems like clear is the way to go, if you're trying to match. It matches nicely.

but the OE amber looks good too, adds that colour which is nice.

I'm kinda partial to the amber corners. I know that's pretty much blasphemy around here but all clears just look like they're missing something for a NA market car.

Stick a stealth bulb or an led bulb that has a white body (one that still lights up Amber!!!) and it changes the look of the corners enough. With all clears upfront those red tails are really going to stand out as well.

http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps8940e8c3.jpg

I like clear too but I am not going for clear, since if I take the car out of country and then back, the US customs will not let the car back in the US. Last time, when 4.6 came to US, they marked the paperwork with country of origin Germany, in compliance with the US regulations. We all know, country of origin is here... Lol...

So, I keep it amber, even though prefer clear. Stealth bulbs is way to go - the BMW has part number for "blue" light bulbs, you would need to go into Euro version of the car in RealOEM and search for the bulbs...

Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk

<P>if they're anything like the euro clears on my e39, its just a single filament bulb that flashes amber.</P>

I order Stealth bulbs thru here......

StealthBulbs.com - Invisible Turn Signal Bulbs For Your Car

I never noticed that before, it does make a subtle difference. Makes the front corners more defined instead of a mass of orange. Will be doing this too, thanks! :thumbup:

ETA Oh, and I do like the clears more whch is what I voted for, but it is too much of a hassle for me to mod my housing just for that, and not worth the price for me to source euro lights just for the clears. I'll just do the stealth bulb front corners instead.

Definitley clears.

One thing we know for sure is that bianca98 likes pie

I sprayed both the front and the rear bulbs on my E39 with high temp silver paint about 13 years ago. They've worked ever since. I even made a lil graphic about it way back then bc folks were saying it wasn't bright enough. :rolleyes: I think I may still have the silver paint. :rofl:

We even did this on my nephew's 740 when he got new tails last year. Still working great.

http://my02.com/images/amber/bigfrnt.jpg

http://my02.com/images/amber/reara.jpg

Here are some higher res images with the same bulbs about 5 years after those old pics:

http://my02.com/images/07/acs5.jpg

http://my02.com/images/07/acs2.jpg

Are you suuuuuure? :D

I DO also like amber on black, but black, silver and white are my three faves for clear corners.

As per my vote...YES, IMO... AMBERS > euroClears. **flamesuit on!!**

I've always tried to maintain an OEM-level appearance with any mod I do on any vehicle....the Clear corners have always looked too aftermarket to me to stick on my ride. They're nice...don't get me wrong...but need to be matched with appropriate theme (front, rear, paint & wheels dependent) to pull off the look. If I'm completely honest, the only X I've EVER come across that pulled off the look was an Imola Red 4.8is with HRE's (probably a former member here).

Without the ambers to break up the front end it just looks too washed out to me.

Either way you could get a set of bulbs for $30 and see what you think....if its not your style, feel free to drop them Benji's on the Euro's!

This is the pic I was originally trying to find:

AMBER CORNERS FTW!!!!!!:rofl:

http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/t...e.jpg~original




EDIT: TermX5, You can get your X back into the country with clear corner headlights so long as you have an amber reflector (with the proper FMVSS/SAE/DOT markings) on the side of the vehicle.

Here is a factory clear corner on E70 - took this picture about half an hour ago outside of my office... the car is not for the US distribution, this is a Euro model that underwent some changes at our office... I am going to make a little thread for this car, i have snapped a few pics...

@ SND - I know about ambers for the front quarters of the car, but in my situation, it would have to be a stick on or something to that effect - and since the car is traveling for a month or two and is in who-knows whose hands all that time, I am risking a chance that the stick on would fall off the car before the custoomes get to see it... I never had problems with foreign customs, only with the US - last time I brought back my OWN booze that i bought in the US, took it with me, and some of it came back (I don't drink much, but like my cognacs, armagnacs and the rest to follow me), the US customs charged me the entry duty of a couple hundred bucks... I'd rather not get in pissing match with them... lol... :D

I can live with either. Maybe I'll just get stealth bulbs for the front or spray paint them as you did, Propellerhead. I like the ACS on your E39.

Here is the OE part number for the front turn signal on the E53 - 63217160897.

The part is called SILVER BULB, when in hands, looks yellowish/silverish, once installed, the corner looks bluish... I've had it on my E39 for years - back then you could not buy it from US dealer, so I got it in France, cost me like 50-60 Euros for 4 of them... Now you can get them from a local dealer...

The BMW of Fairfax has them for $11 apiece...

I will snap a pic of my tails later today and post here...

Here are the pictures of those french bulbs on my E39... you can see the egg yolk on one and the bluish tint on the other one... And naturally, the clear euro corners... :nanana:

link to original location - www.midnightstar.com/bmw

I'd say it's not really a "to clear or not to clear" question as much as a "do you have $2400 bones to drop on new headlights just to have clear corners".

The euro lights are not cheap by any means and stealth bulbs at 20 bucks will give you a heck of a refresh for the money.


But if you have the coin then by all means go for it. Prop I love your E39 btw

^^ Rockauto actually had them at one point for $900 a side..not sure if they still do but IIRC ECS lists the pair for $2400ish. Look, they're a bargain now!:bustingup

I'm loving my clears with amber bulbs for the egg yolk effect. Keeps some amber around but doesn't pop out that much like amber corners would.

On a facelift X5, they look modern enough that they could pull off clear corners just fine. On something older, like a prefacelift car, some amber would be welcomed with the fluted lenses.

Let me get my Amex out on that one! At the same time I might as well just buy a facelifted front end to do the full conversion lol

I always look at the latest trends in high end vehicles and especially the X series. OE headlights don't look dated or in need of an expensive cosmetic upgrade until a new trend is established.

That said, I don't always go the new trend route because in the end it is all about personal preference. I just finished updating my headlights. I reduced and reshaped the amber portion but I did not eliminate it because I like the way the amber defines the front end (as previously mentioned) and I don't think there is a clear new trend other than to reduce the size of any amber styling highlights.

A thought:

How ab using the early non-sport amber turn signal on the front quarter? They would just snap in place temporarily of the clear ones, have the right stamping, and then you could just swap them back to clear when you are reunited. Trying to get you to spend money. :D

:rofl:

Yeah, Euro clears on the E53- or any BMW def can't be considered a new trend. The Euro look has been desired by those who prefer it since BMW started complying with DOT-mandated 5mph 'baby buggy' bumpers and amber lenses in the 70's. Since then, euro ellipsoid lights became the rage through the 80's, the 90's brought HID retrofits, and in 1996, the euro clear debuted as an option there on the E39.

I *really* like the clears on my (any) silver E39. The more and more I look at the photoshop above, I am growing more and more into it. I'll let the tail light errors pass and then revisit the mod. Stay tuned.

Here is factory tail light, with factory SILVER BULB installed... you can see bluish tint to it... there is also yellowish hue in the picture, but in real life, you don't see much yellow there...

the factory bulb is cheaper (at $11 a pop) than the aftermarket stealth solutions... or, so it seems...

Is that SNOW? :yikes:

yeap, snowing outside as i type this

it,s amber for a reason,for safety,look at the side of a x5 there are no light to see,someone could,nt see the car at night and side swipe your car.

Actually, it's not amber for safety. It's *reflective* for safety. The silver/clears are also reflective. They're amber only bc the US DOT says that they should be.

Edit:

Or at least DOT mandates that *some* reflective amber be visible. I am sure there are minimums, but this is an example of how BMW answered the regulation with OE clear signals and the req'd amber for my co worker's 3 series.

I even would go a step further - it is not just the "amber" portion that identifies you as a car to side traffic, but the lights shining to the side of a car - in the US, the colors shining to the side are red in the rear and yellow in the front... The passive reflectors have the same color scheme, they reflect red in the rear and amber in the front...

the clear corners in the front have the same reflecting properties as the amber corners, they just reflect in silver...

deleting the front corner lights via programming may present a higher risk to being side-swapped than having silver passive reflectors...

on the other hand, if somebody can't see a 2.5-ton truck to their side, i don't think a little bit of the lights will matter much at that point... it would have been helpful to have the lights, but not as much...

If the E53 silver reflectors and clear indicators by Hella are anything like the ones from them on my E39, they don't actually light as 'parking lights'. On the E39, the signal socket fits a single filament bulb that lights only when the turn signal is activated.

Can any one with clears on an E53 comment on whether their function is similar to the E39? :dunno:

Well turn signals on E53 are dual filament bulbs which light up in dimmed brightness in parking light function and brighter filament when turns are activated.

I imagine function is the same whether the lights are euro spec or NA spec?

Correct. There are minimums, which all laid out in the FMVSS standards documents. IIRC 108 or 109 deals with front end lighting. Everything from minimum height off the ground they need to be to the min/max lumen values and at which angles lights need to be visible is all in there. If you want to find out just what you can "get away with" legally, it's definitely the resource you should consult.

You'd have to see if they'd 'versand nach USA' but the facelift euro clears seem to be a lot cheaper on ebay.de?

BMW X5 E53 Xenon Scheinwerfer links AKL AHL Kurvenlicht 6311 7166815 | eBay

Bi Xenon Scheinwerfer rechts BMW X5 E53 Bj. 2005 Facelift | eBay

-Carter

That's true of the US OE lights (with amber lenses), but it is *not* true of the euro clear Hella lights that are on my E39. Let's be clear: The E39 was face lifted in the 2001 MY for the US to include 'angel eyes' and the different signals. The clears offered from 1996-2000 in Europe- and indeed the ones I had for a time on mine before I updated to >'01 'halo' or 'angel eye' lights- actually DID light with dual filament bulbs.

Confused? :confused:

Thus the question to the audience of E53 Hella clear lens users.

You can actually see it here- Note the angel eyes are illuminated as the parking lights are active, but the amber bulbs are not. They do not until activated by a turn signal or hazards.

http://my02.com/images/07/acs2.jpg

I get what you're saying, I guess we'll have to message one of our friends with a facelift E53 in Europe then? Off the top of my head I am trying to remember screen names lol.

That would be pretty cool if the Euro clear facelift lights were wired like your E39 lights were from the factory, headlight switch in position 1 - angel eyes only, position 2 - angel eyes and low beams.

Corner lights only light up when hazards or turn signal is on, that is the most desirable way IMO to have the angel eye lights function.

EDIT: Searching RealOEM European database, looks like it is a single filament bulb on the Euro clear lights, 21w. I would bet my bottom dollar that you are right and in Europe they are supposed to operate like that.

18Longlife bulb12V 21W263217160790$2.38

Now the caveat here, is that I think if you just put the Euro lights on your X, you would have to disable the "turn signals as parking lights" line in the LKM, as I think this is a US coded item. Otherwise, the Euro lights would light up their turn signals with the key in position 2, its just the way the module is coded on this side of the pond.

Make sense?

It does. :thumbup:

I have rec'd some PMs ab the function of these lights in the US. For the person who wrote to me, they act just the same as the OE amber corners with a dual filament bulb. He had the amber 'parking lights' coded off to accomplish the look of my E39. I really don't have a preference between the two. :dunno: I think a lot of folks are passionate one way or the other, but I have never been bothered by the function before I upgraded my E39, and I was not terribly infatuated with the function after.

One thing is for sure, it's a bridge I'll cross when the time comes. :popcorn:

Seems to me this is mixing what is OK in different countries?

Since I am in the US and assuming I am interpreting this properly, if the E53 headlights are updated or modified to eliminate the amber portion of the lens, the vehicle is technically illegal since there is no reflective amber at the front of the vehicle?

You have it right with one exception. Individual states are responsible for enforcing their own laws. A DOT regulation for manufacturers is not a law per set, and could not be enforced at the local level. It would be up to the state, but more likely, the municipality to enforce a law theyve put on their books.

Bingo. I know in NJ you cannot be cited for "not having reflective amber" as there is no statute tied to it on our books. You would have to check your state to see if such a statute exists, in my opinion in the Free Republic of Texas, there is nothing illegal about it.

The People's Democratic Republic of California? I'm sure it's probably illegal to have all clear up front lol.

Years back, you could have failed inspection for "safety" in NJ if you did not have an amber reflector on the front as that is DOT mandated, similar to having DOT markings on your headlights, but since NJ made their inspections "emissions only" back in 2011 that no longer applies.

Certainly agree with the exception, that's why I used the work technically.

I doubt there is a law in Texas but I suspect even if there is it would not be the primary reason for being stopped. It might be one of those piled on tickets if I asked a Texas Ranger where he got that hat or where his horse is.

$900 ??? I bet those not adaptive xenon unit..