[Sam_M550i]

Originally Posted by Sxs1687

Yeah,that's what confused me at first and why I didn't initially use the adapter on the outers. Maybe we misunderstood what he meant?

So how does the outer connector to inner and how did you run say wires in between?

[Sxs1687]

Originally Posted by Sam_M550i

So how does the outer connector to inner and how did you run say wires in between?

There's one really thin long wire that connects the inners to the outers. I ziptied it to the trunk hinge before putting the hinge covers on. All the wires hide under the trunk liners.

[Sam_M550i]

Very good, I appreciate it. Just trying to get a good picture of what I will need to do.

[Sam_M550i]

Originally Posted by Gautam

https://www.ebay.com/itm/23429426794...2Cchnl%3Dmkcid

Edit: the lights came with all 4 plastic rails. The old rails indeed won't give a proper seal.

Joe, will do. The only thing more embarrassing than those pics is how filthy my car currently is- snapped them in a rush while on the way to dinner.

There were 3 major things that wasted time:
1. The lights came with adapters and instructions to plug both the inner and outer lights into them, and then plug the adapters into the car's wiring. This was necessary for the inner lights but not the outer. The adapter prevented the outer lights from working. The outer lights work as is, plugged in directly, just like the oem LCI lights. I spent an hour fiddling before realizing this.

2. For some reason a couple of the pieces of weatherproofing foam came affixed to a piece of paper instead of the outer lights. I forgot to put them on at first and had to backtrack. Their adhesive also came off stuck to the paper so I used rubber cement to glue them to the lights.

3. I didn't know how to remove the expanding rivets. Turns out it's very easy to do with a trim removal tool.

Can you elaborate on the adapters and why did you not connect it as instructed?

[Sxs1687]

Originally Posted by Sam_M550i

Very good, I appreciate it. Just trying to get a good picture of what I will need to do.

You'll have to remove the entire trunk liner for the trunk lid,both hinge covers, the spare tire, bottom liners, plastic edge piece. Basically everything except the sides. You can get away with removing two rivets and pulling it out of the way. It's fairly easy. There's a buy on here who has pics of all the steps:
[url]https://f90.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1804297

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by Sxs1687

You'll have to remove the entire trunk liner for the trunk lid,both hinge covers, the spare tire, bottom liners, plastic edge piece. Basically everything except the sides. You can get away with removing two rivets and pulling it out of the way. It's fairly easy. There's a buy on here who has pics of all the steps:
[url]"]https://f90.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1804297

I'm still confused on why you needed to remove the spare and the trim box surrounding it?

[Sxs1687]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

I'm still confused on why you needed to remove the spare and the trim box surrounding it?

The side liners don't fold over to access the back of the outers, unless all that stuff is out of the way. I tried...unsuccessfully.

[Gautam]

Originally Posted by Sxs1687

Thanks! And yeah, def need a wash. May do this after it rains all weekend starting tomorrow. Also thanks for confirming the little circle things in the plastic exist on the OEM tails.



The adapters connect to both the outers and inners. I didn't actually check what would happen if I didn't use it for the inners. For the outers, everything will still work as it should...however, the adapter for the outers connects to the inners somehow let's the inners light up during braking as well. Without using the adapter on the outers, the inners would work as they should except for the brake light.

The current harness and adapters are hidden under the trunk liners. The seller said they'll be shipping me a new harness. I'll take a pic when it comes in.

I’m so sorry I caused confusion. But now I’m confused as well. If I used the adapter on both the inners and the outers, neither of them worked properly, and I got fast blinking in the cockpit. I spent an hour myself going back and forth on it- but mine work as they should with no adapter on the outer tails…as far as I can tell.

My car is Canadian spec, I wonder if that has something to do with it. I took some videos this evening, here’s how it looks with the brakes on, which I think is expected.

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by Gautam

I’m so sorry I caused confusion. But now I’m confused as well. If I used the adapter on both the inners and the outers, neither of them worked properly, and I got fast blinking in the cockpit. I spent an hour myself going back and forth on it- but mine work as they should with no adapter on the outer tails…as far as I can tell.

My car is Canadian spec, I wonder if that has something to do with it. I took some videos this evening, here’s how it looks with the brakes on, which I think is expected.

I'm guessing the two cars in question have a different number of original wires on the inner connector.

[Sam_M550i]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

I'm guessing the two cars in question have a different number of original wires on the inner connector.

Joe that is a great observation. I'm curious now.... I have a 2018 M550i but have not check anything yet. Making sure I have everything figured out before I order the same set from ebay seller.

[RonronEG]

Is the Amazon seller the same person as the eBay seller? The fact that the last person who ordered from the eBay seller supposedly out of China got theirs in less than a week and the final negotiated price of $689 is the same as the Amazon price almost makes me think they might have been drop shipped from Amazon (very common way to make $ selling on eBay).

Sxs1687- can you share where your package says it shipped from?

[Sxs1687]

Originally Posted by Sam_M550i

Joe that is a great observation. I'm curious now.... I have a 2018 M550i but have not check anything yet. Making sure I have everything figured out before I order the same set from ebay seller.

Mine is also a 2018 M550 (US Spec), so I assume it'll have the same wiring as mine.

Originally Posted by RonronEG

Is the Amazon seller the same person as the eBay seller? The fact that the last person who ordered from the eBay seller supposedly out of China got theirs in less than a week and the final negotiated price of $689 is the same as the Amazon price almost makes me think they might have been drop shipped from Amazon (very common way to make $ selling on eBay).

Sxs1687- can you share where your package says it shipped from?

It might be the same seller. Hard to tell from the seller names, but the seller name might just be different across the two selling platforms. Pricing was close to one another...eBay came down to $650 (using the make an offer feature) before tax, totalling $689. Amazon was $689 before tax, bringing it to $730 (for my state at least). Shipping online through eBay said "Standard SpeedPak from Greater China" with an estimated delivery date of March 9th. However, the the packaging has a return address of "CVG2". I googled CVG2 and it happens to be an Amazon fulfillment center in Kentucky. Makes sense, considering I ordered on Jan 24th and got it Jan 28th.

[Joe-BMW33]

In terms of my wiring comment or theory. Some US cars have five inner tail wires and some have four. The 5th wire is for a rear fog light that is inoperable on US cars and US cars do not have the switch for it either.

On my OEM Euros, I installed the switch and had the rear fog coded, however, when the fogs are activated, only the outer tails illuminate when braking. I don't think this is by design but I also don't really care because I will never use rear fogs.

So I am drawing a connection between the outer tails only working for you guys until you used the adapter or didn't use the adapter.

I'd be curious if in the wire count of the inner tail connect for each car. I bet they are different. It's random whether BMW ran the fog wire for US cars or not.

EDIT - if you have the fog 5th wire, it will be in pin location 1 of the inner tail connector and is black.

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by Sxs1687

Mine is also a 2018 M550 (US Spec), so I assume it'll have the same wiring as mine.

From my research 2017 through early build 2019's have the best chance of having the 5th rear fog light wire installed from the factory.

[HerkHealer]

I'm getting a headache trying to figure out how these are installed.

[Sxs1687]

[QUOTE="HerkHealer;28545550"]I'm getting a headache trying to figure out how these are installed.


Lol!! It's pretty simple. We're making it sound much more complicated than it is.

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

From my research 2017 through early build 2019's have the best chance of having the 5th rear fog light wire installed from the factory.

Even if we have the wire, it needs to be coded, right? Not sure when or what I'd use this foglight for...snowy or rainy weather, where it's somewhat hard to see for other drivers to see that you're there? I always see Audis with theirs on and it always looks so weird because it's lopsided, only on one side.

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by HerkHealer

I'm getting a headache trying to figure out how these are installed.

Nah, it looks like these plug and play knock offs are a breeze. No coding and no pin reassigning. The question at hand it whether to use the supplied connector on the outer tails or to not use it. Seems easy enough to determine in real time during install. Use it, all works, done. Use it, inners don't work, remove it, done.

The rest is just pulling your trunk lining apart, removing the old tails and gaskets and installing new ones with new gaskets.

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by RonronEG

Is the Amazon seller the same person as the eBay seller? The fact that the last person who ordered from the eBay seller supposedly out of China got theirs in less than a week and the final negotiated price of $689 is the same as the Amazon price almost makes me think they might have been drop shipped from Amazon (very common way to make $ selling on eBay).

Sxs1687- can you share where your package says it shipped from?

I'd opt for Amazon over eBay in a heartbeat. Just easier recourse if there are issues. eBay sucks, they always stand by the seller.

I am sure they are the same item. I'm pretty sure there is only one knock-off manufacturer in China, probably an assembly line of 12-year olds!

[RonronEG]

Yeah I'll buy the Amazon ones and report back I guess lol

Ok they'll deliver Saturday, I'll post photos of what I get so we can compare. If these are of awful quality I'll just return them.

[sarasetp]

Originally Posted by RonronEG

Yeah I'll buy the Amazon ones and report back I guess lol

Ok they'll deliver Saturday, I'll post photos of what I get so we can compare. If these are of awful quality I'll just return them.

RonronEG Yes, please post your experience in install, ease and whether it works 100% out of the box-plug and play. And I am curious if those round dots on the surface are ugly or if you can live with them.

[RonronEG]

Originally Posted by Gautam

I’m so sorry I caused confusion. But now I’m confused as well. If I used the adapter on both the inners and the outers, neither of them worked properly, and I got fast blinking in the cockpit. I spent an hour myself going back and forth on it- but mine work as they should with no adapter on the outer tails…as far as I can tell.

My car is Canadian spec, I wonder if that has something to do with it. I took some videos this evening, here’s how it looks with the brakes on, which I think is expected.

Do you mind going back through your tracking on your lights and telling me where they shipped from? Any mention of CVG2 or other US based address or origin scan?

[Sxs1687]

For anyone on the fence, def go for it. Very happy with the look, install process, and that it was plug and play. Really meshes well with the dark diffuser and the shape of it's profile just looks better than the flatter profile of the pre-LCI. Even my wife noticed, and she notices nothing when it comes to cars. When I got this car, she thought my G30 coming off the truck was the same car as my F10 that I had just sold lol.

I was finally able to find a LCI in a parking lot. Looks like they have the little dots as well. Joe confirmed this too. Wasn't able to park next to it, but it looked the same...to me it did at least. Will try and find one that I can park next to and sneak a couple pics in.

One thing I found interesting though...when the LCI was pulling out, I noticed it's brake lights also lit up the turn signal areas (which are red of course, so not totally off looking to a normal eye). But to someone who knows that Euro spec uses that clear strip area for just the turn signal, it looked odd to me that the clear strip and the red led tube light up when braking. Never noticed that before. Not sure why US Spec is designed it that way.