e36 LED interior lights (pics inside)

[Auto Parts Guy]

Just wanted to share my interior LEDs with everyone. I bought the lights off eBay for $7.77 shipped & I've had them in my 93 325i for a month & a half now. I love em! They give off plenty of light. Just wanted to share in case anyone else was looking to do something similar. I think DDM has a "kit" you can buy; not sure if it's for the e36 though.

I just used an 8 LED 39mm festoon in each (I forget what size OEM calls for, something around 38-42mm IIRC). I'm replacing the rest with LEDs also including the license plate lights. I'll post pics of those when I do. They're supposed to be white; they look more like ~6k temp in person. I don't expect everyone to like them but i do so all you haters.

Pictures are of camera flash on and off at night.

[That Fly 325i]

What vendor id like to pick up some leds myself for my e36.

[Auto Parts Guy]

I bought mine from sg3global but I'd imagine any of the ones that come up when you search "LED festoon" would come from the same place in Hong Kong. The cheapest are about $1.97 shipped now.

[Reuffeo]

damn those are bright. i've thought of doing this as well but i think i would get sunburnt with those lights :P

[PG256]

Looks good. I did my license plate lights and it looks much better. How many bulbs did you use?

[DannyG11]

Those look sick. I want to replace mine also, it would probably look real good in my car with the black interior and I also want them for the license plate. What size are the bulbs?? Do you have the link from Ebay or the DDM's becuase I want to make sure i get the right ones.

How easy was it to replace all these????

[Auto Parts Guy]

Looks good. I did my license plate lights and it looks much better. How many bulbs did you use?

post some pics of that license plate LED! That's next for me too. Any OBC codes?

It was the same per bulb if you bought 1 or 100 so I just bought 3 for now. I just used (3) 8-LED festoons, one in the front dome and one in each of the back domes. I also did the 2 map lights but I don't have any pictures of them. Maps are different size bulbs btw.

Those look sick. I want to replace mine also, it would probably look real good in my car with the black interior and I also want them for the license plate. What size are the bulbs?? Do you have the link from Ebay or the DDM's becuase I want to make sure i get the right ones.

How easy was it to replace all these????

Yeah click on that dudes name above and search for "led festoon" in his items for sale.
It was a really straight forward swap. I had to pull the front dome assembly and pop the back off of it to change the map lights (not on in the pics). pretty easy just be careful not to break the tabs off the circuit board. The backs you could do with your eyes closed.





**Forgot to mention**
LED are Light Emitting DIODES
Basically, diodes allow current to flow one way only so if they don't work the first time, flip them around the other way.

damn those are bright. i've thought of doing this as well but i think i would get sunburnt with those lights :P

one picture the camera flash is on; one it's off.
They're not tanning bed bulbs, just LEDs

[Reuffeo]

one picture the camera flash is on; one it's off.
They're not tanning bed bulbs, just LEDs

i know. i'm talking about the ones WITHOUT camera flash. it looks like those heat lamps they use at fast food places! only hotter!

[Auto Parts Guy]

front shot

[PG256]

post some pics of that license plate LED! That's next for me too. Any OBC codes?

Here's some crappy pics:





I think the bulbs rotated a little in the sockets so that there not facing the plate, I'll need to tighten them down. They do throw a code, but I can fix it with a few resistors, I just haven't gotten around to it.

[DeanEK]

I like the blue...

too bad I don't have a map light and my pillar ones don't work

[Auto Parts Guy]

I think the bulbs rotated a little in the sockets so that there not facing the plate, I'll need to tighten them down. They do throw a code, but I can fix it with a few resistors, I just haven't gotten around to it.

Looks good! yeah I was gonna do the same when I chage my license lights to LEDs. I think i measured around 4.3 ohms across the incandescent bulb IIRC.

[Go3Go]

Those look great, I might have to nab some

[BMWMPow3r]

nice. i was thinking of doing that myself, but I like the old halogens shining on the sand tan interior.

[lasmariaspr]

Just ordered mines for $5.97 on Ebay for my interior, can't wait!

[Marek555]

Nice.
I have the same setup+glovebox and trunk light.
This is my numberplate light:

[MParallel]

Do the amber interior lights count as well?

E38 ambient lights not visible...

[LuvMy328is]

If you want to deal with a US company with wicked fast shipping and a huge selection, checkout Autolumination. LED festoons rock!
~Phil

[das borgen]

If you want to deal with a US company with wicked fast shipping and a huge selection, checkout Autolumination. LED festoons rock!
~Phil

why would anybody want to even pay over 2 bucks per LED assembly?

It's just assinine paying 5 bucks per LED from that place

[ThaiRacer]

So what size are the map light? Are they the same 39mm bulb size? What about cluster?

[EThirtySicks]

why would anybody want to even pay over 2 bucks per LED assembly?

It's just assinine paying 5 bucks per LED from that place

Nice use of asinine

[das borgen]

Nice use of asinine

thanks