Side light bulb replacement

I'm thinking the same thing. I have LEDs in mine, and although I've done the resistor mod, they look blue compared to my HIDs which are almost perfectly white.

Unless I can find LEDs that are a close match for the HIDs, I'm going back to bulbs. Personally I think the blue look is rather chavvy. I'd prefer a slight yellow tinge to the sidelights than blue, if I can't get a good match.

Most normal sidelights are available in "Ice Blue" from Ring, which are actually pretty close to white when illuminated and are road legal. Unfortunately, our cars with the 21/5W bulb in the front is rather unusual, it's normally a brake/rear fog bulb, so no "Ice Blue" types that I can find.

Ditto, I already went down that route. I got fed up of failing LEDs which caused individual LEDs to flicker. I went back to standard bulbs after just 2 months. I look forward to finding out how effective the ebay bulbs are

Gentlemen, here's your solution:

I've got PIAA 1157 Extreme White and they fit the bill perfectly. I highly recommend them, and they match my 4300k HID's

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors…uckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

PS. No affiliation with the seller, I just did a quick search on eBay

Zitat von wpo750;58128

Can anyone tell me if these will fit?

Click Here

I bought some of these lamps yesterday so once they've arrived I'll report back on the fit, quality and colour. They should fit as they are standard 1157 pattern.

BTW, you asked the question as to why there are two filaments but only one is used? The answer is Daytime Running Lamps as required in (for example) Scandinavia. If you take the connector apart, underneath the electical sealant gunk you will find another terminal that's not connected in our installations. The 8er.ch technical modifications section contains details of this, I don't know though whether you have access to this.

Cheers,
Jason

Zitat von wpo750;58298

A trustworthy brand but are there any risks running 27/8w?

These bulbs have been tried & tested by various veteran E31 owners. I've had mine for 1.5 years. No overheating, no code throwing, I run them as daylight runners. The gentleman who owned one of the 6L E31 conversions in the USA recommended these to me a couple of years ago. I've been very happy with them.

Cheers

Zitat von wpo750;58408

US ebay sellers want over £20 just for shipping!

You're kidding me, that's outrageous. I could've bought them for you and shipped them across the pond for 1/4 that price. PM me next time.

Cheers

Zitat von wpo750;58126

I'm glad you agree Paul, I didn't want to be the one that said it but I too think they look a bit 'chavvy' having had them on my car for about 6 months. It wouldn't be so bad if they omitted a whiter light but the blue tint through the smoked lenses looks a bit too Ripspeed for my liking. It would look more cohesive if I had opted for 6000k HIDs but my OEM approach with the 4300Ks renders the LEDs a bit of a no go imo.

So I need to get some replacement 21/5W bulbs with the offset pins? Surely there must be alternative!

Also, why do we need dual filament for the sidelights and would they be on the 'low' or 'high' setting when in use up front?

I have 4300K HIDs in mine too, so the same dilemma as you. I have also just noticed during the last few days that I'm getting the flickering effect on the left side bulb, not good!

The reason the bulbs are dual filament is because some countries (Canada being one) use the 21W filament as daytime running lights. On UK cars the 21W filament is never used, only the 5W filament. However the dual filament bulbs are the only ones that will fit due to the two separate pins on the bottom, and offset pins on the side.

I am going to try these bulbs. They have a blue exterior, but in my experience this actually just removes the yellow hue from standard bulbs, and the fact they're supposedly road legal implies they don't emit blue light. As you can't see the actual bulb when it's installed, I'm happy as long as the light emitted is white.

Worth a try anyway at that price, if I don't like them I'll bin them

Zitat von Paul_M;58432

The reason the bulbs are dual filament is because some countries (Canada being one) use the 21W filament as daytime running lights. On UK cars the 21W filament is never used, only the 5W filament. However the dual filament bulbs are the only ones that will fit due to the two separate pins on the bottom, and offset pins on the side.

Just noticed Argonaut has already answered this, oh well

The blue painted bulbs looked black blobs in the orange markers. They didn't look so hot on my 750iL. I replaced the markers with clear ones and the blue painted bulbs looked better. Maybe all in all it wasn't so bad, but the fact that I knew they were blue made me not really like them.

Zitat von Koizumi;58445

The blue painted bulbs looked black blobs in the orange markers. They didn't look so hot on my 750iL. I replaced the markers with clear ones and the blue painted bulbs looked better. Maybe all in all it wasn't so bad, but the fact that I knew they were blue made me not really like them.

My thinking is that they won't really be visible in the FTP lights, as the lens is so frosted. I definitely wouldn't put them behind clear lights as they'd look very chav.

As long as they're white when on (which I think they will be as I have lightly blue tinted marker bulbs in my other car and they still look yellow next to the HIDs) I'll be happy.

still waiting for my lamps from the 'bay, apparently sent a week ago. Must be Slug Express Service.

Damn Slug Express Service

I hope the bulbs arrive soon and work out well.

Still no lamps arrived, I've chased via email two days ago now, no response. Starting to get a little miffed about this.