E38 Interior LED upgrade

[PiotrC70]

I couldn't find a list of any kind as to what kind of bulbs and how many are needed to retrofit the existing courtesy/step, map, glove box, vanity, trunk, and license plate areas.
After doing a bit of searching and finally go to a site that hasn't let me down yet (http://www.superbrightleds.com) I used their vehicle chart for my '01 740i and came pretty damn close to having all the bulb sizes. Decided to measure lengths just to be sure and here's what I came up with.
9 - 4410's which covers: 1-dome, 4-visor vanity, 2-rear courtesy, and 2 trunk. (https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...d-festoon/237/)
7 - 3710's which covers: 1-glove box, 4-bottom of doors, 2-license plate. (https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...d-festoon/239/)
4 - BA9s which covers: 2-map lights, 2-rear map. (https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...-360-degree/8/)

I ordered everything in cool white with the exception of the 2 front map lights in red. Brightness isn't overpowering. I figure IF/WHEN the passenger needs more light, they can use the glove box which is very bright, or the vanity mirror lights. Word of caution is that the BA9s that I ordered are a pain to work with. the two front map lights fortunately have 1 led that points directly down but the rear ones are on an angle and from what I can tell, practically uselss.

My total order was ~$120.... sorry for no pics.

[xboss]

Nice. There are several kits on ebay that cover pretty much the whole interior but The quality varies.

[FlylowTX]

"Quality varies" - Darn sure does. I ordered a cheap kit once that after about 30 days all the LED's started blinking like strobe lights. My wife thought I was trying to create a "dance club" feeling in the car...for awhile I didn't correct her.

[Sobek]

And those eBay kits don't offer everything in WARM WHITE!!

I did a little investigating on this site myself last year but didn't really take it too far. Piotr - you must get some pictures when completed if possible, and take note of anything odd during installation. I'm guessing replacing the entire interior light system with LED won't trigger any codes, but what about the license plate lights? Or are these equipped with resistors, hard to tell.

[bimmertrek]

I got mine locally from DDM tuning. Got the white LEDs. The dome light and 2 C pillar lights were a 9 led 42mm festoon and the 4 bottom of the door lights were the 6 led 39mm. I believe they were the smd 5050.
They are very bright and I've had no issues.

From my experience, any bulb where the cars check control inspects it will throw a code on your cluster, ie: license plate lights, blinkers, reverse lights...

[PiotrC70]

Sobek,
From my research, they all look to be regular lights and not "CAN Bus Application" which have the resistors built in. The ONLY observation so far is with the license plate lights which are ever so slightly flickering. Standing back it's not noticeable but then again, I only had my doors open and turned the parking lights on... car wasn't running. I'll try and get pics up soon.

Edit: Received the new bulbs which are 1mm smaller (3610) http://www.superbrightleds.com/morei...oon/1266/2939/
This one is not only less bright than the 3710 (good thing), but it also doesn't flicker or trip the dash error. One thing to note is that since these are smaller, I had to bend one of the metal tabs in more to pinch the bulb otherwise it was loose.

[setconstr]

ECS Tuning has a nice kit http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E38-740...ing/ES2526355/

[PiotrC70]

Nice... wish I would have found these sooner. Sometimes, piecing your own kit together isn't the cheaper option. Since I just purchased my 7 2 weeks ago, I only heard of ECS yesterday in another post. I took a few shots last night (no tripod) to show how they look like.
Note: I DID find out after driving the car yesterday that the standard 3710's trip the dash so I went ahead and ordered the ones with a resistor to see if it fixes the problem.
DSC_3994.JPGDSC_4001.JPGDSC_4002.JPGDSC_4003.JPGDSC_4004.JPG

[jmbinion]

I wish ecs had them in amber. I'm not a fan of having a bright white interior with amber gauges

[Sobek]

You know, I'm dead set on sticking to warm white lighting (I like the 'mood') but that really does look quite special. All the people selling LED kits (like at ECS tuning on the link above) use really long exposures and it looks like a flashbang has gone off in the car, but yours are more realistic I think. Fantastic shots.

Then again, with my car being silver and my door handle LEDs being a cool white, maybe I should just give a cool white interior kit a go... it might just look better than I imagine.

[E38bimmer]

I peiced mine together they are crazy bright at night lol I hate getting I my car at night it feels like someone turned an office light on in my car

[PiotrC70]

are the doors the factory bulbs or LED as well? I know it's fiber, just haven't gotten around to taking the doors apart considering I just bought the car 2 weeks ago.

[Sobek]

I peiced mine together they are crazy bright at night lol I hate getting I my car at night it feels like someone turned an office light on in my car

See I think in situations like this, the warm light colour might negate that intense brightness feeling. When you stop and think about it, the stock lights are actually remarkably bright, but the colour is soft and blends, so you don't really notice it.

More food for thought I suppose. Wish I could find SOMEONE who's done a warm white LED conversion, I'm amazed no one has yet.

[BOBS750il]

I peiced mine together they are crazy bright at night lol I hate getting I my car at night it feels like someone turned an office light on in my car

Where did you get the led bulbs for the door handles? I have all led except for those.

[SFX Group]

You know, I'm dead set on sticking to warm white lighting (I like the 'mood') but that really does look quite special. All the people selling LED kits (like at ECS tuning on the link above) use really long exposures and it looks like a flashbang has gone off in the car, but yours are more realistic I think. Fantastic shots.

Then again, with my car being silver and my door handle LEDs being a cool white, maybe I should just give a cool white interior kit a go... it might just look better than I imagine.

+1 on this, anything above 3900k on the color is really bad, i notice BMW actual do (well at least did) and LED upgrade for the E38, i assume this means dimming worked, but i wasn't happy with the light output on the 2013 328i Luxury i have used, i also notice (video posted on this forum in about 20 mins) the 2013 740iL has standard lights inside for the illumination and some LEDs for the foot wells, which i thought was very interesting, i wonder how many complaints that had with a car costing over 120k with boy racer bright blue LED lights inside

[Nexlevmm]

Bump. Anyone have an idea of the euro trunk license plate panels use the same bulbs as the US?

[SFX Group]

I had a UK 750iL and now have a USA 750iL, the UK trunk lid will have been different, it has a wider licence plate than the USA one. 031-a-02.jpg

[xboss]

Might have to rename the thread "LED downgrade"

[zener]

Is there a kit that will not cost 90-150$ and would last? The cheapest LED's are crap I know...

[CharlesAFerg]

Red. (Not me)

[007008]

Bump. Anyone have an idea of the euro trunk license plate panels use the same bulbs as the US?

exact same license plate lights.

[setconstr]

I bought these on Amazon Screen Shot 2013-07-22 at 1.51.51 PM.png

[SFX Group]

I bought these on Amazon Screen Shot 2013-07-22 at 1.51.51 PM.png

What color are they (warm white like the orginals or cold blue like the new LEDs are) also do they dim like the original lights do?

[740il97g]

Sonictuning.com where I got my license plate led

[setconstr]

Their just bright white like new LED's everything works as oem. ECStuning has a few good kits with a warranty