Good quality corner/turn signal white LEDs?

[NickZHP]

Does anyone here have white LEDs for their turn signal lights? Do you like them? I am thinking of buying some to replace my amber lights but I am looking to buy a quality set, any suggestions?

[Vas]

My suggestion is from here
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/led-lighting.html

[Cadeez]

Yes... I have them, love em, got them from Umnitza with the rest of my clear signals

[NickZHP]

My suggestion is from here
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/led-lighting.html

This is actually where I checked first because I got my xenon bulbs from them and think they're great but I have 7507 bulbs in my corner lights right now and I believe that 1157 lights have the same 180 degree socket but is it ok to use 1157 instead? What is the difference?

[Vas]

Just the base is the difference iirc. Should be able to use them but not the 1157 but the 1156 ones.

[danewilson77]

You can hit the amber bulbs with silver paint and it works perfect I believe. Done.

"No flamesuit required"

[az3579]

CREE LED bulbs is where it's at. 25W or higher will have equivalent light output to factory LEDs on the new BMWs, which are BRIGHT.
I have them in my front corners and rear turn signals, though mine are amber. I will be replacing the somewhat anemic LED bulbs in the brake light housings with CREE down the road as well.

IMPORTANT: Make sure the bulb you buy is a CANBUS bulb, meaning it will not have any light out errors or hyperflash.

[GE Geoff]

CREE LED bulbs is where it's at. 25W or higher will have equivalent light output to factory LEDs on the new BMWs, which are BRIGHT.
I have them in my front corners and rear turn signals, though mine are amber. I will be replacing the somewhat anemic LED bulbs in the brake light housings with CREE down the road as well.

IMPORTANT: Make sure the bulb you buy is a CANBUS bulb, meaning it will not have any light out errors or hyperflash.
Where did you get the Cree Bulbs? I'm thinking it's time for RCR's but I want LED's atthe same time?

[NickZHP]

CREE LED bulbs is where it's at. 25W or higher will have equivalent light output to factory LEDs on the new BMWs, which are BRIGHT.
I have them in my front corners and rear turn signals, though mine are amber. I will be replacing the somewhat anemic LED bulbs in the brake light housings with CREE down the road as well.

IMPORTANT: Make sure the bulb you buy is a CANBUS bulb, meaning it will not have any light out errors or hyperflash.

Thanks for the info! Looks like the 1156 Morimoto XB Bulbs (http://www.theretrofitsource.com/led-lighting/morimoto-xb-led-1156-bulbs.html#.VN69hCvF98E) may be what I'm looking for.


Where did you get the Cree Bulbs? I'm thinking it's time for RCR's but I want LED's atthe same time?

If you look here http://www.theretrofitsource.com/led-lighting.html many of these lights are Cree as you can see in the descriptions.

[GE Geoff]

^ Thanks!

[az3579]

Where did you get the Cree Bulbs? I'm thinking it's time for RCR's but I want LED's atthe same time?

I opted for Genuine BMW RCR's with CREE bulbs. Looks way better to me than anything aftermarket, in my opinion, not to mention the higher quality of OE BMW parts. To each his own, and is personal preference. If you like both then you have a tough choice on your hands. The aftermarket solution is definitely the cheaper route.

[NickZHP]

I opted for Genuine BMW RCR's with CREE bulbs. Looks way better to me than anything aftermarket, in my opinion, not to mention the higher quality of OE BMW parts. To each his own, and is personal preference. If you like both then you have a tough choice on your hands. The aftermarket solution is definitely the cheaper route.

Where did you buy Genuine BMW RCR's?

[NickZHP]

Well turns out I actually have the 7506 150 degree socket instead of the 1156 180 degree one.
18087
The last digit just determines if it is single(6) or dual(7) filament.

So are there any quality 7506 LEDs out there? Or should I just go and buy 1156 sockets instead? If I just removed one of the contact points from an 1156 bulb would the light still fit correctly or would it be loose?

[danewilson77]

I opted for Genuine BMW RCR's with CREE bulbs. Looks way better to me than anything aftermarket, in my opinion, not to mention the higher quality of OE BMW parts. To each his own, and is personal preference. If you like both then you have a tough choice on your hands. The aftermarket solution is definitely the cheaper route.
ULO?

"No flamesuit required"

[az3579]

Where did you buy Genuine BMW RCR's?


ULO?

"No flamesuit required"

Mine are Genuine OE, whatever came from the E46 in the UK from the factory. I bought mine used from eBay UK off a totally stock E46 that was wrecked. I bought used because I didn't want to pay $400+ for a new set; I ended up paying about half that by piecing it together.

I know Turner sells new kits that are labeled as OE, but I remember hearing or seeing somewhere that they aren't actually OE parts but instead an OEM part, meaning a supplier for BMW but not the actual Genuine BMW part. I can't verify this anywhere so I don't know whether to believe that information. Regardless, I would still consider the Turner product because in a case like that, the OEM product is just as good as the OE product in my eyes.

[danewilson77]

Yes. They are ULO. The ones the TMS sells.

The friendliest forum on the planet.

[az3579]

Yes. They are ULO. The ones the TMS sells.

The friendliest forum on the planet.

Do you know if they have BMW part numbers on them?
It looks like ULO does make them for BMW (based on numerous searches I just did with this new info), so the ones Turner sells are either OE or OEM. Both should be of similar quality.

The direct quote from Turner's website is below. Who knows what you'll get when you order from them:



We source our lights only from European manufacturers like Hella, ZKW, ULO, Bosch, and others...

[danewilson77]

Do you know if they have BMW part numbers on them?
It looks like ULO does make them for BMW (based on numerous searches I just did with this new info), so the ones Turner sells are either OE or OEM. Both should be of similar quality.

The direct quote from Turner's website is below. Who knows what you'll get when you order from them:

[/FONT][/COLOR]
I'll look.

"No flamesuit required"

[NickZHP]

Do you know if they have BMW part numbers on them?
It looks like ULO does make them for BMW (based on numerous searches I just did with this new info), so the ones Turner sells are either OE or OEM. Both should be of similar quality.

The direct quote from Turner's website is below. Who knows what you'll get when you order from them:

[/FONT][/COLOR]

I got mine from Turner and they were ULO.

Referring back to my previous post, does anyone know if removing a contact point on the bulb is ok?

[az3579]

I got mine from Turner and they were ULO.

Referring back to my previous post, does anyone know if removing a contact point on the bulb is ok?

One of my LED bulbs arrived with one pin shaved off. It functions just fine.
The pins are there purely for alignment purposes so that you don't try to insert the bulb into the incorrect type of socket.

Mine is a mismash of different types of bulbs. I've tried so many different kinds of LED bulbs; that's why nothing is uniform in the back. I'm slowly working on making them all the same type...

The pair I use for the brake light housings is the one where the bulbs have one alignment pin shaved off, so they fit (and function) in any of the sockets on my bulb carrier.

The bulbs I use for my turn signals are 1156/7506 bulbs... that I fit into the 7507 socket. Somehow I was able to finagle them in there.

BTW, E46 facelift sedans do not use dual filament bulbs in the tail lights.


For reference, the stock bulb carriers for my amber lights have all 1156/7506 sockets. On my euro carrier that came with my clears, for some reason, I have a mix of 1156/7506 and 7507 sockets (the 7507 sockets are for my turn signals last I checked).

I would just order whatever is specified for your car. In the case of 7506, you should be able to use 1156 with no ill effects.

[az3579]

I just did some more research. It looks like 1156 actually has a different spec than 7506.
1156 bulbs are 12.8v / 27W while 7506 is 12v / 21W.

If you have a euro carrier, chances are the bulbs used are 7506/7507. I've done so much research on this the past half hour that I now have not a single clue what type of bulbs our carriers are actually supposed to use, as in 7506 or 1156? Or, 7507 or 1157? It's really damn confusing.

I'd be inclined to think that we'd use the 7506/7507 bulbs instead. I'm going based on logic; why would the european ones be different than the US ones? They're essentially the same bulb carriers from what I understand...

[NickZHP]

Ok so shaving off a contact point from a 1156 should be fine then, thanks.

I did some more research and found the contact points for each type of these bulbs:

The 7507 (BAU15s) has 150 degree contact points. The 1156/7506 (BA15s) are the same and have 180 degree contact points.
18095



1157 is dual filament and has 180 degree contact points but they are not at the same vertical height.
18096

So 1156/7506 (BA15s) are interchangeable.
7507 is the only one with contact points at 150 degrees and is NOT interchangeable with the dual filament 1157 bulbs.

It seems most e46 came with 1156/7506 sockets for the corner lights and a few with the 7507 like mine. So I think I will end up just shaving off a contact point from the 1156 bulbs so they will fit. I was confused what the differences were so just in case anyone else was confused I wanted to post this.