£60 to change a bulb?

Taffy72 · Post by **Taffy72** » Thu Sep 20, 2018 5:31 pm

Just been charged £60 to change the side light on my Z4 coupe wtf! Is the norm?
I did go to Halfords at 1st they couldn’t do it bulb costing £2

buzyg · Post by **buzyg** » Thu Sep 20, 2018 5:44 pm

The side repeater simply unscrews with a 1/4 turn anti clockwise. Takes about 2 mins to change the unit over. Surely you don"t mean that.

Taffy72 · Post by **Taffy72** » Thu Sep 20, 2018 5:56 pm

It was one of them 501 bulbs (daytime) ? they told me I had to have a whole unit ???

IAmOrion · Post by **IAmOrion** » Thu Sep 20, 2018 5:58 pm

Taffy72 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 20, 2018 5:56 pm It was one of them 501 bulbs (daytime) ? they told me I had to have a whole unit ???

Erm....what!? Sounds to me like you've just been conned!!! The 501/W5W/T10 bulbs are easy to change. Can you take a picture to show exactly what bulb they charged this for (Eg, take a pic of the headlight if it was that indicator, or take a pic of the side unit if it was the side etc)

buzyg · Post by **buzyg** » Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:00 pm

Ok that one's not so simple to change. See here. But £60

viewtopic.php?t=26559

IAmOrion · Post by **IAmOrion** » Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:02 pm

buzyg wrote: ↑Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:00 pm Ok that one's not so simple to change. See here. But £60
viewtopic.php?t=26559

If it's that one, granted it's not a 5 min job as it's a pain to get to, BUT, "I had to have a whole unit" just isn't true. And £60 is extortionate IMO. bugger

Taffy72 · Post by **Taffy72** » Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:04 pm

: One of these; B24DE747-615C-447E-A644-37D6C4133A50.jpeg (8.87 KiB) Viewed 835 times

Rich8 · Post by **Rich8** » Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:39 pm

I don’t not believe it.
That part is about £30 from the stealers.
And a bmw dealer charging £30 to put it in would not surprise me - they wanna make sure they cover the cost of the coffee and biscuits you had whilst you waited, and the 15 packets of mints you shoved in your pocket when they weren’t looking.

If an Indy charged you £30 to put it in for you don’t go back there.

Next time, you can dremel a small hole in the plastic holder near the bulb which will allow you to pull it out and replace it with one of the £2 ones in Halfords.

bmwaddict · Post by **bmwaddict** » Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:42 pm

60 quid to change a side light bulb! Jesus.
They are not capless (501s), they are BA9S T4Ws.
They are a pain but can be done in 5 mins when you've done a couple. The problem is that the bulb is glued/stuck in the holder and they are only available from BMW as a whole unit with the holder, and they cost 30 quid for a 50p bulb because of the stupid holder. Not BMWs finest hour...

There are some guides on here to drill out the original bulb and fit/solder in some brighter ones.

Taffy72 · Post by **Taffy72** » Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:47 pm

I’ve been raped then

philbo909 · Post by **philbo909** » Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:56 pm

Taffy72 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:47 pm I’ve been raped then

A few guides on here on how to take the bulb out of the holder (I replaced with LED)

warmasice · Post by **warmasice** » Thu Sep 20, 2018 7:03 pm

Wow, I'd have point blank refused. That's pure robbery. Literally.

IAmOrion · Post by **IAmOrion** » Thu Sep 20, 2018 7:24 pm

Where the hell does that bulb even go!? I'm assuming yours is NOT an older (does the year matter?) E85 ... pretty sure my 2003 E85 roadster doesn't have them! Are they coupe or year specific??

Rich8 · Post by **Rich8** » Thu Sep 20, 2018 8:08 pm

No.
Standard xenon facelift headlights.
Goes on the inner (dummy) xenon bulb and just does the halo.

Z4-forum.com

Z4-forum.com