08-16-2012, 10:35 AM | #1 |
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F30 Smoked side indicators - DIY
I'm not fond of side mirror turn indicators so I was a little bummed when it became apparent BMW would go this direction on the F30. However, my mind began to devise ideas on how to overcome this small aesthetic inconvenience.
The most obvious, easiest, and cheapest solution I devised is to tint them. Now I've personally never been a fan of smoked lenses, but luckily BMW designed the indicators to run parallel with the mirror base trim (which on my car is Gloss black) so a thick coat (or two) of lens tint should allow the indicators to blend with the gloss black base, thus hiding the indicators and giving the mirrors a slightly more aggressive look. Excited by the idea, I ordered some new indicators and got to work. Supplies: -BMW OE turn indicators: Left 63-13-7-280-771 $31.10 Right 63-13-7-280-772 $31.10 -RustOleum Spray tint $11.99 @ Autozone -Bone Tool/panel tool -T10 allen key Note: The mirror caps slide and fit together a certain way so some wiggling is necessary to remove and reinstall them. The mirror glass is the only thing that requires some leveraged force to pop off the motor (a bit unnerving considering that piece of glass costs about $300)
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Previous: 20' X3 M40i, 19' 740i Msport, 17' 430i GC, 15' Msport X3 28i, 15' Sportline X1 28i, 13' Msport 328i, 09' Msport 335i, 07' Msport 335i |
08-16-2012, 03:17 PM | #2 |
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Very nice, I like mods like this. Would go great together with the m performance cf mirror caps as well
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08-17-2012, 11:57 PM | #3 |
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I like the idea and spirit, and definitely think it looks much better than stock with the clear and yellow (yuck)
However, even with the tint, you still have the ugly yellow color when it blinks. When you took off the light, was there anyway to change the bulbs in there? I would imagine there would be many bulbs to change if you did want to go all the way and get rid of that yellow for good. If you were to put a clear/ white bulb in place of the yellow ones, I think it would win even more. You would get rid of the yellow color and have only side lights with the tint, and I think that would look so much better and still be street legal. I personally will probably end up doing this at some point as well. |
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08-18-2012, 12:37 PM | #4 |
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they are LED bulbs on a circuit board so just changing them to white is not an option unfortunately.
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03' 525iT stick, 22' 530i
Previous: 20' X3 M40i, 19' 740i Msport, 17' 430i GC, 15' Msport X3 28i, 15' Sportline X1 28i, 13' Msport 328i, 09' Msport 335i, 07' Msport 335i |
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10-12-2012, 02:39 AM | #5 |
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