2012 E70 Front Turn Signal Bulb Replacement
 

Can anyone provide direction on accessing the front turn signal bulbs on a 2012 X5? I'm thinking about replacing the OEM amber bulbs with some of the new WeissLicht Spektrum bulbs they're selling at Bimmian.

While I'm here (and if you happen to know), accessing the fog lamps? I noticed my passenger-side lens is cracked (apparently a common thing). Found a replacement for $60 at Amazon. If I'm tearing this thing up, I may buy the matching Spektrum fog lamps and do it all at once. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

A quick thanks to those who provide sound advice at this forum. I bought some GRP caliper covers last week and after reading a ton of great reasons NOT to put them on, I was able to cancel the order before they were shipped. Was looking for a quick fix to the brake dust. I guess I should just be fortunate to have such a problem (cleaning brake dust off a beautiful X5), right?

Turn signal just open the hood and follow behind the headlight there are 2 twist off cap in the back. The large of is for the angel eye and other access. Go further towards the outside and there is a small one. That is a small cap and the bulb is actually attached to it so be careful when pulling it out. For the fogs you remove the lower putter mesh grills by pulling them forward. Reach your hand upwards.
Make sure the replacement lights are for
The LCI 2011-2013 as
The 2008-2010 are different

Search through BMW's TIS - it is somewhere in there:
BMW Workshop Manuals > X Series E70 X5 3.0Si (N52K) OFFRD > 2 Repair Instructions > 63 Lights > 13 Turn Signal Indicator Lights > 1 RA Removing And Installing_replacing Front Left Or Right Auxiliary Direction Indica

Thanks for the responses. That was too easy, feel stupid. Glad to see they made this a little more user-friendly than with past year-models. Very much appreciated!

As mentioned, the bulbs are different from 2011-2013. Be careful in that you get the bulb seated in there correctly.

On my 2011 I had switched out the normal bulb for an Amber LED, HUGE mistake!!!

First off the Amber LED bulbs are garbage and they don't put out anywhere near the light of the stock bulbs. Secondly getting the bulb in there are making sure that the contacts were just right was a P.I.T.A. and I'm super careful when doing things.

Long story short I was so unhappy with the Amber LED bulbs that I ended up pulling them out after two days and put the original bulbs back in.

I put an amber LED in mine and couldn't be happier.
It's way brighter and reacts faster. And works with euro blinking.
You just got the wrong bulb. Had no fitment issues in my LCI
2X PY24W 5200s 30W LED Amber Bulb for BMW Mercedes Audi Front Turn Signal Lights | eBay
I also like the fact that the bulb is not visually Orange inside the housings when off

The bulbs I have coming (front turn signal and fog bulbs) are the new Spektrum bulbs. Supposed to be the latest & greatest. We'll see! I'll be sure to post my thoughts after I get them installed. Thanks again everyone for their input.

Update on Lamp Replacement
 

Thanks to the help of other members, I was able to change the front turn signal bulbs and fog lamp bulbs in about 10 minutes (including cleaning out some oak leaves stuck under the hood). The changeout was easy, no error messages and looks great. The signal bulbs are noticeably brighter, but still the same color so not overly-exciting. What looks really nice, however, is the lack of amber reflections inside the lens, as well as the overall appearance of the bulb (it's a spacey-looking cylinder instead of a regular old bulb). What really made this purchase worthwhile was the fog bulbs. I didn't much care for the look when they were on, as the yellowish light from the filament bulb clashed with the xenon light and the super-white LED angel eyes (basically, three different colors & types all at once). Big difference now. My fog lights are bright white, matching closely to the others (which brings everyone a little closer to the same color). A nice bonus, they also fade (for when you're turning a corner or in & out of reverse and your fog lamps activate). I was going to explore coding to turn that auto-feature off, but now I'm leaving it on. Very, very happy. It's a minor tweak for about $180 total, but worth it if you're as into the lighting on your X5 as I am.

You are absolutely correct that I purchased the WRONG bulbs. This was actually a lesson learned on my first X5 (2011) in which the newer bulbs were not available yet.

These are similar if not exact to what I had purchased back in 2011 and the lighting output was horrible, so much so that I pulled them back out and put the factory bulbs back in.

These were the bulbs I purchased back in 2011 PY24W LED Bulbs

Could you please post the bulbs that you replaced yours with, I'd be interested in seeing what you replaced your Fog Light bulbs with.

I've long been using a 'whiter' 5000K bulb (not LED) and while better than the factory Yellow it's still not that white LED look that I'd like to get to.

I'd really like to see about changing out the current Fog Lights for the new LED units on the newer BMW's but I'm not sure if they'd fit, and I'd have to guess that the cost would be up there!

I had done a quick search to see if anyone has done it yet, but I didn't really get the results I was looking for.

Thanks kindly and congrats on a job well done!! :thumbup:

Spektrum Bulbs
 

I feel your pain (BMW007). I bought similar bulbs for our 2009 328i. The bulb looked nice and had the quick on-off of an LED, but not bright enough (almost dangerous). If you go to Bimmian.com, you'll see the links to the Spektrum bulbs. They aren't cheap, but worth it for what I was trying to accomplish. A couple of camera-phone pics attached for you. Here's the bulb page:

WeissLicht LED Turn Signal Bulbs For E70 - BMW X5 and X5M SAV - 2007-2013 From bimmian.com

I was moments away from starting a new project in the office parking lot, but decided not to get into all of that before starting my work day. I went to Lowe's last night, bought a floor jack, pair of stands, a torque wrench, and a 17mm socket to have at the wheels. I'm going to pull each one, clean everywhere (wheel, well, etc.), add a dab of anti-seize compound, and paint the calipers & rusted areas of the rotors with some Hammerite. As mentioned before, I bought caliper covers and backed out before they were delivered (due to all the bad reviews). I did this a few years ago on the 3 and it turned out nice, not too much, but noticeable if you're looking at detail. I'll post some before & after pics.

Thanks for the pictures and explanation of things, I was looking around last night after I read your post and noticed PY24W LED Bulbs upwards of 80w in clear, which I figured would be WAY to bright for the turn signal lights.

With that said, how do you like the brightness of the bulbs that you used, would you go with the same again? I'm guessing that they have a dimmer setting for the parking/running lights and then are brighter when flashing.

Similar to you, the first bulbs I bought for my 2011 were SO dim they were bordering on being dangerous so I took them out.

I also hear ya about taking the wheels off and doing a really good cleaning under there. We are in the Chicago area so after the snow stops and things warm up a bit, I want to do the same thing.

I actually want to do the fender flares extension and get a set of 20" wheels and tires for the summer.

Painted Calipers-Front Wheels Done
 

To answer your question, yes, I do like the brightness of the new bulbs. Just right, actually, and they do have a dimmer setting when not flashing.

Agreed, being in Chicago, would probably be a good idea to get all that road salt & Winter whatnot out of there. Our X5 has only been in Florida and it's still pretty boogered up. Speaking of, I got the front wheels done before work this morning. Some pics attached. Very subtle detail in the end, but worth it to me. I can't stand seeing rusty calipers & rotors on a 3-year old BMW. Tackling the rear wheels tomorrow.

You have a very sharp looking X5, but I'm a sucker for those big wheels. If you're thinking about the 20s, I'd say go for it. It makes a big difference in the look & stance of the vehicle (squatty, stable, and like there's no way it would ever tip over). The wider wheels and super-white DRL angel eyes were my only two must-haves when shopping. I think you'll like the upgrade!

Did the exact same with mine, but in red. Really stands out nicely with the 20" Y-spoke rims.

I bet that looks nice. Yes, love them 20" Y-Spokes! It makes the vehicle, in my opinion. Looking forward to finishing the rear wheels in the morning. I'll post a few pics when done.

Thanks for the pictures, post some when you do the rears as well, I love seeing before/after shots as well as work in progress.

I'm jealous, you did this before work this morning, you know what I did before work this morning........ took the dogs outside in the 18F Snow while they were looking up at me like "why don't you strip down and go out here". :rolleyes:

I was looking at the bulbs last night on the link you provided. I was actually wondering if anyone has replaced the rear bulbs with clear LED's to provide a full LED experience all the way around.

It also got me thinking of replacing the front turn signal lights on my Ford Raptor.

Love the look of the LED's, quality LED's that is!

And as far as the wheels go, I'm trying to find a nice set of take-offs or something that I can use for the summer and put the wider fender flares on.

Back Wheels Done
 

Yikes, that's cold! Was chilly here this morning, but not like that. Back wheels done this morning, went a little faster than yesterday. It think it was a combination of having two under my belt with not being as meticulous with the back-inside of the wheels (they'll be dirty by the weekend, I'm sure). Overall, turned out nice. It's one of those things 99% of the people who happen to look directly at my wheels will not even notice, but I know the rust is gone, anti-seize compound is on, and the devil is always in the details!

Speaking of rust, I can't say enough about Hammerite paint, as you can spray it right over the rust, dust, and whatever else. I did a very lazy wipe-down before spraying, but otherwise, the Hammerite took about an hour per-wheel off the project time.

Agreed, quality LEDs make a huge difference. I'd bet a good portion of Audi's boost in sales over the last few years had everything to do with how cool their headlights have looked. I know my head turned! LEDs will look great on the Raptor. Post some pics if you take the plunge!

Looks fantastic, and don't kid yourself, more people (like me and a ton of other's on these forums) notice the attention to detail.

I'll be doing mine come spring (it's going to be 7F tomorrow morning), so now when it gets above freezing I take it by the pressure washer and clean things out as best as possible just to keep all the crap out of there.

It's absolutely amazing how the road salt gets into every little nook, nothing is safe and there's nothing you can do about it, so she gets a good bath once a week just for good measure.

I think I'm going to order the LED's tonight. I looked around a little and there is cheaper stuff out there but I like stuff that's going to last as well as look and perform good.

I think I'm going to do the LED turn signals in the 30W Amber and then the H11 Fog Lights in the wattage that they recommend.

I think I'll do the front Raptor turn signals as well, the stock yellow bulbs reflect quite a bit of Yellow from the light housing when they are off, so I think these will be a nice improvement all the way around.

As well, the Raptor uses LED marker lights, 3 in the center and 1 on each side (Amber in the front and Red in the rear). Each LED unit has 4 LED's in it and they look awesome when they are on so I think the LED turn signals will complement them well.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5482/...e642b0b0_z.jpg

The Raptor is very sharp looking. I've been really impressed with what Ford has come out with lately. I owned two Expeditions in the early 2000s (built on F150 platform). Great trucks. Love the markers all over the Raptor. You don't see them very often, and sure enough, there was one behind me on the way to work today. Turn bulbs will look great, I'm sure!

Hi - are these turn signal bulbs that you purchased Error Free ? Curious cause they are 1/3 the price of the WeissLicht turn signal LEDs ?