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      01-28-2023, 06:53 AM   #1
Eddles
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Best interior LED bulbs?

Hi all,

My current interior bulbs are halogen, and would like to upgrade to LED bulbs. However, the Philips LED bulbs I bought for my last BMW were a bit so-so. It is a bit flickery when dimming on and off, but fine when fully on. It also glows a little bit when turned off. Furthermore, it also generated a number of bulb failure errors when downloading codes from the ECUs. I feel the official BMW LED bulbs are a bit pricey, at about £80!

What would be a reasonable equivalent, please? Thank you!
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      01-28-2023, 07:20 AM   #2
Redd
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Bought my interior LED kit off AliExpress. Going on 7 years, zero issues.
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      01-31-2023, 03:40 PM   #3
P1
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Think twice about LED bulbs. The aftermarket ones tend to look like bright white/daylight as opposed to soft white, which is what I prefer.
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      01-31-2023, 04:25 PM   #4
rbryantaz
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Quote:
Originally Posted by P1 View Post
Think twice about LED bulbs. The aftermarket ones tend to look like bright white/daylight as opposed to soft white, which is what I prefer.
I thought I liked the 2700k soft white for a long time but I have finally decided that the 4k really does look better on almost everything. I currently like the 2.7k is on over my dining room table where blue doesn't set the right mood and for my yard lighting. I think the preference for 2.7k for general lighting was really more based on growing up with them.

The bright white (as long as they aren't too bright) really makes my 2007 and 2008 BMWs look much more modern. When I changed them my brutally honest wife pointed out how much better it looks now. Several coworkers also mentioned that the 335i and e70 X5 now look more modern like the later model BMWs. Of course it is all personal preference!

I highly recommend this seller: https://www.ebay.com/str/ledfootligh...75.m3561.l2563

The description sold me and it was worth an extra $10 to just get proven LEDs:

Quote:
Originally Posted by ledfootlighting
I am a BMW owner/aficionado and an electronics engineer (20 yrs) by trade. I had looked for a reasonably priced LED lighting kit for some time and was not successful, so I decided to source my own. I found suppliers that make the proper sized lights and the proper dimensions, etc. It took me quite a bit of time to find all the best lamps, now you don't have to spend your time doing the same thing - and I'll give you a good price as well!
I have his kits for the e70 and e90. It is definitely possible to order very similar LEDs from aliexpress but these are tuned for our cars.

I did make a custom kit for my e46 with some leftover LEDs and it also worked well but I did have to enlarge some light housings in one place and get smaller than normal LEDs in others. It is worth it to just order the proven kit IMO. I have not had any issues with the kit at all.

I did order a separate trunk LED (that is a replacmeent native LED not a LED inside of the stock housing) for my e90. I find that full replacement LED puddle lights (and e70 hatch lights) are also better because the cover always seems to eventually come off from the OEM ones.

The 335i has BMW logo puddle lights which are cool but a bit cheesy. I stayed with non logo LED puddle lights for my X5.

-Rich
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Last edited by rbryantaz; 01-31-2023 at 04:42 PM..
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      01-31-2023, 09:43 PM   #5
Coconut
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Diode Dynamics. They are probably are made in China however they implement quality standards that their suppliers must abide by. You can pic the bulb type, brightness and color temperature.
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      01-31-2023, 11:11 PM   #6
StradaRedlands
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I am very happy the the SiriusLED bulbs. First thing I do with my cars. Zero problems and no failures over the years.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0186P1MUW
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0939Z9Q7J
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MRCK23E
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B093B262XH
Looks like Amazon UK has them. Some combination of the above will do all the lighting including license plate. I forget which ones specifically, but some combo of them with a few leftover.

Also did my side markers FWIW: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08211VKR4
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