F10 Interior LED Conversion
 

Looks good

Looks great but I've always found LED lighting brings out just about every single imperfection in your car's interior.

Anyone install them yet?

Not to mention the glare, especially the aftermarket interior LED which doesnt have the correct lense. Its better suited for areas such as the trunk, glove box, foot well and puddle light.

No thanks. I like a chill atmosphere in my interior. More mellow, the better for me

Pricing? Any advantage to your LEDs vs the ones found all over the net and ebay? I know Bimmian claims to have superior chips and material in their bulbs.

I agree that a full interior LED swap is too intense (for me). I like the pleasant and warm halogen bulbs for most interior lighting.

I would like to change the bulbs on the lower part of the door (that lights the exterior ground when opened). I also would like to have a bright white LED bulb for the reverse bulbs. They are barely noticeable with the whimpey halogen bulbs, which I feel is a safety hazard.

I just installed a set of these LED's and I'm sure there are plenty of people that are waiting for some meaningful comments, but my jury is still out.

I never thought that the incandescently light interior looked right with the LED white angle eyes and door handle lights. Yet, I knew my cinnamon interior was going to suffer from the lack of red in the spectrum if I changed the interior lighting to LED's. But I went ahead and did it and now, I'm ambivalent toward the result. Perhaps I'd be more pro-LED if my interior color were black, gray, or some color that was more cool to begin with.

Really - it's a personal choice thing. If you like, you can try to imagine your interior as light by sunlight or moonlight. If you think that you would like moonlight, then I encourage you to make the change to LED's. If you like the idea of your colors by sunlight, then I don't think you are going to be happy.

I'm going to live with it for awhile and see if I feel the need to go back to the stock lamps. Time will tell.

I have to agree. On my previous M35 I did a complete change over to LED bulbs. I found them to be too cold and sterile on the interior (and that was with an all black interior). After a few weeks of trying them out I ended up switching back to the incandescent lights. I did really like them for the door puddle lights, the trunk and back-up lights. I may look into swapping those out on my 550i but will leave the interior alone.

But as you say, it is all personal choice. Some folks love the look and feel of the LED's.

I'll skip. My car is fine from the factory.

Agreed. I had a loaner with all LED interior lighting and felt it was very harsh.

Changing the interior lighting to LED is like putting on a HID kit in a reflector headlight housing, the result is bright, but lots of glare. My last car has all factory interior LED lighting, the lenses are all frosted or projection type to minimize glare, a clear lense such as the one in the 5 series will produce too much glare.

The amber ambient lighting serves a purpose through thoughtful design.

Put the over-used LEDs away. They are not the correct lighting to use for all situations, especially interior accent lighting.

Might work in a Hummer stretch limo.

I can't imagine they would do anything to enhance my gray interior.

OK ECS Tuning, it is time for ya to chime in :).

Can you give us a price for the door/ground LED lights, and also the trunk light:

http://c1552172.r72.cf0.rackcdn.com/290720_x800.jpg
http://c1552172.r72.cf0.rackcdn.com/290723_x800.jpg

http://c1552172.r72.cf0.rackcdn.com/296074_x800.jpg

Also, do you have LED bulbs for the reverse signal??

BTW, in-case anyone wants to just google or ebay some LEDs, here is the bulb replacement chart:

https://www.sylvania.com/en-us/appli...el=157&make=12

The Ziza LEDs are code free, fade in and out properly, etc. Also we test the LEDs in cars here at ECS to insure they indeed fit as they are designed to (no hacking up your housings to fit them) and that the electrical systems in the car works properly with the LEDs. Some of your lesser LED will work great for a short period of time, then suddenly fail due to the power systems in today's modern cars. As for pricing, currently you're looking at about 99.95 shipped for the full kit. HERE is a link to the kit.


That's a great way of describing the difference in lighting color.


The puddle lamps? They are included in the kit, separate the run about $34.95. The trunk kit runs $18.95 currently, it is also included in the full kit. HERE is a link that will pull up the kit as well as avaible "brake downs" of the kit. As for the reverse lights, not at the current time, I've bounced the idea off my Ziza contact a few time and they tell me "we're working on something for you" but I haven't seen it yet.

Thanks.

Last night I removed the door-floor light and the trunk light to see if it would throw a code or bulb out warning. It did not! So, that means any led that will fit properly should work just fine.

I just ordered these from Ebay and will let you know how they work out. I took a gamble in ordering this extra long 9-SMD LED 2825 door bulb. The door bulb-holder seemed to have a lot of length space to spare. If these work, this should yield A LOT more light output. I will keep you all posted.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/220903260543...S:3160&vxp=mtr

The more appropriate option would be:
http://www.amazon.com/2825-5-SMD-Whi.../dp/B005ETCIO8


I ordered this for the trunk:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/220913228052...S:3160&vxp=mtr
This 39mm length matches the 6411 bulb that is the replacement.

BigDeep1, some pictures after the install will be greatly appreciated.

You got it!

I do want to say that what I will be trying are cheap ebay LED bulbs. The products that ECS puts out will be better quality, with even better customer service. Their prices are also comparable. Sorry to hi-jack this thread. I will create another thread with an update, but will keep place a link here. Thanks.

Here is my whole LED quest with lots of PICS:

https://picasaweb.google.com/PHARMDP...M_B_73opYDAVw#


I am not sure how I feel about it all. The OEM lighting does have a classy look to it. Changing the puddle bulbs does make it look cool, but that is probably all that is needed. The trunk and interior is a bit much.

I just changed out my puddle lights and trunk lights this week. For me, this is the perfect setup. I like the extra light the puddle lights give off and they match the LED door handle lights which looks very nice. I also love the trunk lights. They are much brighter than the stock bulbs and I like having the extra light in the trunk at night. The interior lights will remain stock for me since I very much like the warm feeling they impart to the interior. YMMV.

Awesome! Do you mind sharing what bulbs you purchased.

Also, any thoughts of the look of just changing the lower interior light (as seen on my link above)?

I went with the LED "panel" lights for lack of a better term. Both the courtesy lights and trunk lights are complete replacement fixtures that just plug in and not a bulb swap. I was going to do a bulb swap for the trunk lid light but found the door courtesy puddle fixture also fit perfectly in the trunk lid so I ordered up one for the trunk lid.

The good news is these babies really throw out a ton of light. They are really bright. Much more than any bulb replacements I have ever tried. The bad news is it is somewhat pricey to go this route but I'm happy with the results so it was worth it to me.

I used these for the door courtesy lights and the trunk lid light:
http://store.ijdmtoy.com/BMW-Canbus-...ree_sku_s6.htm

And I used this for the trunk interior:
http://www.burgertuning.com/BMW_LED_trunk_lights.html

I have an extra courtesy light left over from the trunk lid replacement since they are sold in pairs and I think this would work for the foot well so I'll give it a try. My gut feeling is these will be much brighter than I will like for the interior but it won't cost me anything to give it a try.

Wow, very cool Mr Eleven. Thank you for the detailed post and sharing the links. Not sure if you are the picture posting type, but it would be awesome to see some pics of your new lighting.

*PM Sent