How To: Interior and Rear License Plate LEDs
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 1:40 pm
I decided to change out all my interior lights, including boot and rear number plate lights for some nice white LEDs in my E86.
This was not quite as easy as I thought due to slight variations in bulb sizes, in particular affecting the main dome and reading lights.
The footwell, glovebox and seat compartment (area in-between seats) all take the same bulbs, as seen below. These bulb holders just slide to the left or right and clip out – very easy to fit.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/220880644828? ... 1497.l2649
The dome light and reading lights are similar to the above, but have a slimmer fitting. The bulbs above would not slide into the fitting holes in the dome lights, so I had to search around for these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120708113993? ... 1497.l2649
The dome light is a little more tricky and I used a bank card around the edges with a butter knife (careful with the upholstery) to unclip this from the roof. There’s then a plug to attach the electrics, but this can simply slide out, then the unit is free from the car.
Note: if you have an E85 which does not have reading lights (i.e. lighting package), the bulbs are festoon, not wedges, so you’ll need to get 2 of those I’ve linked to for the boot below.
The boot light is a festoon bulb and I found the one below fits nicely, whilst having a high number of SMDs, meaning more white light!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251005743885? ... 1497.l2649
The car now looks amazing in the dark, the whole interior lights up in perfect white and draws a lot of attention. Overall, they’re actually much better at providing light to those dark areas like the boot and footwells.
A great mod for around £10 and 30mins work
I'll get some photos up soon...
This was not quite as easy as I thought due to slight variations in bulb sizes, in particular affecting the main dome and reading lights.
The footwell, glovebox and seat compartment (area in-between seats) all take the same bulbs, as seen below. These bulb holders just slide to the left or right and clip out – very easy to fit.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/220880644828? ... 1497.l2649
The dome light and reading lights are similar to the above, but have a slimmer fitting. The bulbs above would not slide into the fitting holes in the dome lights, so I had to search around for these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120708113993? ... 1497.l2649
The dome light is a little more tricky and I used a bank card around the edges with a butter knife (careful with the upholstery) to unclip this from the roof. There’s then a plug to attach the electrics, but this can simply slide out, then the unit is free from the car.
Note: if you have an E85 which does not have reading lights (i.e. lighting package), the bulbs are festoon, not wedges, so you’ll need to get 2 of those I’ve linked to for the boot below.
The boot light is a festoon bulb and I found the one below fits nicely, whilst having a high number of SMDs, meaning more white light!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251005743885? ... 1497.l2649
The car now looks amazing in the dark, the whole interior lights up in perfect white and draws a lot of attention. Overall, they’re actually much better at providing light to those dark areas like the boot and footwells.
A great mod for around £10 and 30mins work
I'll get some photos up soon...