E34 Side Marker lights

[Rotbimmer]

Hi all. New to the boards, and already have gotten much great information!

Can anyone direct me to a good source for clear side marker light assemblies for my 1991 525i(E34)? I have seen many on sale on eBay and other places but they are so inexpensive that I just don't want to take a chance. Inexpensive is good, but the stuff has to work too!

Thanks in advance for any replies!undefined

[Michael Abrahams]

The ebay ones are custom made. As far as I know, they didn't make them. (They being after-market companies)

Check this link out:http://www.strictlyeta.net/technical/sidemarkers.html

Should give you a way how to create your own.

[rockyfeller]

Be careful 1 of those morons sent me 2 right sided ones...Looks like they don't know what they are selling in the first place. It'll do the job but durability is questionable. Parts of the lens were not molded properly allowing free entry of water and the plastic seems thin, brittle and fadable. You'll get $10 worth though.

[rockyfeller]

Do you mean the bumper sidelights or the rockerpanel sidemarkers? I was talking over the sidemarkers in the fenders.

[Dave M]

While doing some other repairs, I added a set to an order. I think they were only @$20 a side for a quality light. Not sure what you're dealing with on your 525, but instalation was an excersize in creativity. I 'winged it' and just started cutting and making wiring, only to discover the procedure is fairly well documented in the archives. It worked well and the lights can be made to work as blinkers or just running lights.
Anyhow, the german side markers aren't that much more $$ to warrant risking a delivery of junk to your door,

good luck

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/dave_macisaac/Bimmer/5erbriggs11.jpg




Hi all. New to the boards, and already have gotten much great information!

Can anyone direct me to a good source for clear side marker light assemblies for my 1991 525i(E34)? I have seen many on sale on eBay and other places but they are so inexpensive that I just don't want to take a chance. Inexpensive is good, but the stuff has to work too!

Thanks in advance for any replies!undefined

[rockyfeller]

It's scary cutting by yourself...None of the punks at the local bodyshop seemed interested in doing it and some dingle-dong wanted $600 and 2 days to cut the 2 holes in each fender (Do BMW owners look that stupid? I hate when people try to take us for a ride!) I thought screw you all, I'll do it myself! And it came out fine, You just need a lot of balls to slice up your baby. Dave I like how you intergrated them into your rub strips. Seen it before and it is a sleek idea!

[Rotbimmer]

Do you mean the bumper sidelights or the rockerpanel sidemarkers? I was talking over the sidemarkers in the fenders.

Yes, the bumper side lights. I don't have the balls to cut holes in my car. By the way, the ones currently on the car suck. The mountings are the dumbest things I've ever seen.

[rockyfeller]

Well the clear bumper sidelights, I bought from Ebay and I am very happy with them. (I think Procarparts carries them) They're not of exceptional quality but they're OK. They're not custom made...they are a mass produced product. The tab to hold them in do a much better job. There's 2 kinds: Inexplicably the housing comes in only white or chrome. May I suggest to stay away from the chrome, it just looks gaudy and so 90s. I had no choice but to buy white and I masked the lens and painted the housing black with clearcoat to match the bumper. Then my trademark light smoke treatment and I used amber bulbs and it looks great. At night it has a nice glow and at day it matches my headlight/corners. Try it, definitely different!