[Former_Boosted_IS]

been on a quest lately to improve the look of the stock lighting on my 335. I am a big fan of the "true white" or "icy white" look to all the white lights on my car and to be honest BMW did not do a good job at all. Many of the stock white bulbs are muddy and unattractive, but thus far it has been fairly cheap to upgrade them. I initially tried Mike@F1Autohaüs for my interior LED upgrade and I found his service / product quality to be as good as I have seen so I went back again. So far I have upgraded:

• Full Interior Lighting
• Rear Turn Signal
• Reverse Lights
• Trunk Lights
• OSS Design LED Angel Eyes
• MTEC Fog Lights

This is the first review in the next series of three items I will be reviewing. In this review I will cover an upgrade of the license plate LEDs for the E92. There have been upgradable LEDs for the license plate on the E92, but a lot didn't replicate the good spreak you get from the stock LEDs. That is until now. MTEC has created an upgrade for the stock license plate LEDs on the E92 that is considerably brighter, stock like spread, and extraordinary construction. When I heard F1 Autohaüs had part of the initial very short supply of these, I ordered immediately. With that my review begins

Experience with Mike@F1 Autohaüs

As always, Mike@F1 Autohaüs has to be one of the easiest vendors to order with. His shipment is lightning fast every time I have ordered. I get the "expect shipment" email from FedEX, then the tracking info normally within a day. This order was no different.

Anyone that has ordered with Mike@F1 Autohaüs knows about how he sends some treat with every order. I know it is kind of insignificant in a way, but it makes Mike different from most vendors. He cares about his customers and that is obvious from everything he does.

The package came to me in good shape from Mike@F1 Autohaüs.



The MTEC License Plate LEDs were well packaged and protected:



Inside the box, you can see the MTEC License Plate LEDs and the treat Mike sent. The treat is digesting now. LOL!





MTEC boxes the LEDs very nicely.



The kit I have is the 2 watt version.



Notice this is not a "200000" led unit that blows light all over the place, but a well designed unit that looks almost the same the stock unit. It is the reason it can replicate the spread so well.





I have to say MTEC did not cheap out on this setup at all. Notice the chrome frame and high quality construction. These look absolutely beautiful in the box and on the car.



The kit comes with 2 LED License Plate holders and socket extensions for applications where these would be needed. On the E92, the sockets are not necessary as the design is replicated around the stock setup.



The MTEC housing has the heat sink built into it. The entire assembly is off the chart. This is not a cheap plastic piece, but a well built LED with heat sink that was created to last.



Mike@F1 Autohaüs is the best lighting guy I have ever purchased from and I will continue to tap this well until I finish my lighting quest.

Installation / DIY

As always, you take all responsibility for your own installations. This is simply a documentation of the process I used to install these.

Let me start by saying this is a 10 minute job at most. You can do it while you wait for your oven pizza to cool.

The first step is to remove your stock license plate LEDs. Notice the small indentation toward the inside of the LED assembly.



Use either a small screw driver or your finger nail to push it toward the outside of the car or away from the license plate. As you push it away from the center of the car, pull the inside of the light toward the floor and the item LED assembly will come out of the car.



Fortunately, MTEC created their license plate LED assembly to be fully PNP, so you unhook the stock LED and plug in the new MTEC LED and you are done.



Reverse the removal steps to install it. It is that easy!

Results

One disclaimer, it is VERY difficult to exactly replicate the color temperature of any lighting. I took great care to make sure each image is a true represention of what they look like in life.

I wanted to start this part of the review by comparing the stock license plate LEDs directly agains the MTEC license plate LEDs. The MTEC license plate LEDs are on the left and the stock license plate LEDs are on the right.There are two important differences the MTEC are considerably brighter than stock and considerably whiter than stock.



I am going to post a number of pictures so you can see the comparison from multiple angles for yourself. In all of these you can see the difference in color and output. The other thing that should be very noticeable is that they LEDs replicate the light output pattern of the stock LEDs. This is really where the MTEC LEDs show their superiority over the "214553.5" led units.



At this angle, you really can see the color temperature difference between the two. Stock is a muddy/orange white while the MTEC is icy blue.









Of course some HD video to compare the two.

Now let's look at the final product... MTEC License Plate LEDs installed in both locations.



The pattern is nearly identical to stock, but icy white in color and much brighter.





These two shot really gives a good feel for the color of the MTEC.









HD video of MTEC License Plate LEDs in both stock locations.

Conclusions

I have been overwhelmingly pleased with every transaction I have had with Mike@F1 Autohaüs. He has incredible customer service, ships very quickly, and always places an individual touch on the package with some little goodie. He is professional and only sells top notch products.

The MTEC License plate LEDs are tremendously well built. This is a metal housed LED with attached heat sinks. The chrome cover is beautiful. The MTEC LEDs are icy white with stock like spread and a substantial increase in brightness. The difference is incredible for such an inexpensive mod.

Its funny, you never know how ugly the stock license plate LEDs are until you upgrade to a quality LED. What I found is one muddy/orange light can ruin the entire lighting of the rear of the E92 and that is unfortunate. This was the final rear lighting addition I needed, and now the rear lighting of my car is clean, crisp, and beautiful.

[AlpineG05]

How much they run you?

[fisherbln]

Very nice review. These are exactly what I was waiting for.

[BGM]

why would you want to light up your plates any more than necessary ?

[alpha325i]

Is this what people are considering 'mods' these days? Man, you did a fantastic review and write up, but why on earth would you want to 'light up' your license plate like a Christmas tree?

[fisherbln]

Originally Posted by BGM

why would you want to light up your plates any more than necessary ?

Very good point!

However, I have stock halogens which just look like crap. Also, the rdracing version is just too bright so I was looking for something a little less and this looks like it fits the bill.

[LOLrance]

Great review as always!

The quality, fit, and finish of these really are second to none.

Originally Posted by fisherbln

Very good point!

However, I have stock halogens which just look like crap. Also, the rdracing version is just too bright so I was looking for something a little less and this looks like it fits the bill.

my .2c

If you are not looking for something bright, these aren't for you. Don't be fooled by the sheer number of LED's. Even though these only utilize 2 LEDs per side versus 12/side on the RD's, these are FAR brighter then RD's. The mtec utilize 2 CREE leds/side at a whopping 2 watts. They are BRIGHT

[Former_Boosted_IS]

Originally Posted by Alpine 335i

How much they run you?

Alpine, I know they are available only in limited quantity right now, so I would pm Mike@F1Autohaus.

[Former_Boosted_IS]

Originally Posted by fisherbln

Very nice review. These are exactly what I was waiting for.

fisherbln, thanks! They fit my exact needs as well. I am pretty pleased with the outcome.

Originally Posted by BGM

why would you want to light up your plates any more than necessary ?

BGM, it is more about the artistic look of the lighting on the car. I want consistenty icy white light coming from my car and the stock leds look terrible.

[Former_Boosted_IS]

Originally Posted by alpha325i

Is this what people are considering 'mods' these days? Man, you did a fantastic review and write up, but why on earth would you want to 'light up' your license plate like a Christmas tree?

alpha, thanks for the kind words on the writeup. This is more about consistent lighting across the car for me. I would rather have no lights on my car, then the nasty orange/white stock LEDs.

[Former_Boosted_IS]

Originally Posted by l4wr3nc3

Great review as always!

The quality, fit, and finish of these really are second to none.



my .2c

If you are not looking for something bright, these aren't for you. Don't be fooled by the sheer number of LED's. Even though these only utilize 2 LEDs per side versus 12/side on the RD's, these are FAR brighter then RD's. The mtec utilize 2 CREE leds/side at a whopping 2 watts. They are BRIGHT

l4wr3nc3,

I agree the quality is clearly superior on these. Without seeing the RD in person, I cannot compare unfortunately.

[Former_Boosted_IS]

Originally Posted by weeensunn

damn... those look mighty fine....

Thanks weeensunn!

[import36]

Originally Posted by alpha325i

Is this what people are considering 'mods' these days? Man, you did a fantastic review and write up, but why on earth would you want to 'light up' your license plate like a Christmas tree?

are you kidding? he's running out of mods for this car. i'm waiting on his review of lightweight valve stem caps.

[Former_Boosted_IS]

Originally Posted by import36

are you kidding? he's running out of mods for this car. i'm waiting on his review of lightweight valve stem caps.

I have a really cool review coming up. I have some PY24W LEDs at my house.

[Wastegate]

@Former_Boosted_IS

Could you tell me more about socket extensions?

Are these ones necessary for avoiding BC error? Or are they just a way to solve the problem of too much short cables?

Sorry for my bad english

[MangoConChile]

can you take a pic/video of how much light is spread to the ground? i plan on getting an e92 soon and this is the first thing i want to change however i plan on getting tinted windows as well and don't want too much attention from the cops.

[Former_Boosted_IS]

Originally Posted by MangoConChile

can you take a pic/video of how much light is spread to the ground? i plan on getting an e92 soon and this is the first thing i want to change however i plan on getting tinted windows as well and don't want too much attention from the cops.

They are aimed to the bumper. I really doubt any cop could ever give you a problem on this.

[MangoConChile]

well the thing is i saw this thread and his looks like its bouncing on the floor so im not sure which is correct

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=483150

[Former_Boosted_IS]

If I get a chance, I will try to take pics. I just haven't had a lot of time lately unfortunately.