Clears from Khoa...installed SAT!

[iZHP]

Pre-facelift:



Facelift:

there's not much of a noticeable difference to the naked eye.

[az3579]

Have considered getting the RCRs and then wrapping them to get the desired amber?

To me, wrapping is half-assing it. You don't wrap taillights.
Other stuff, fine, but taillights? Heck, I've never even heard of such a thing. Is there a link you could point me to so I could be enlightened?

there's not much of a noticeable difference to the naked eye.

I dunno, do me it's a HUUUUUGE difference. Can't stand the pre-face look, to be honest.

[pyreguy]

Okay, so its all about layout. I was looking for the shape to be different kinda like the headlights. I always get people saying my LEDs are pre facelift style, yet they came on facelift coupes and verts I thought. Whatever. Those pictures were awesome in the way of explanation though! I always loved the E46s but never thought I would own one so I didn't bother to learn all the little nuances until now.

[az3579]

Okay, so its all about layout. I was looking for the shape to be different kinda like the headlights. I always get people saying my LEDs are pre facelift style, yet they came on facelift coupes and verts I thought. Whatever. Those pictures were awesome in the way of explanation though! I always loved the E46s but never thought I would own one so I didn't bother to learn all the little nuances until now.

The taillight design is different on the sedans only. The coupes are pretty much the same, with the addition of LEDs for the facelift ones.

[pyreguy]

Ah I see. I don't mind borrowing the look of a facelift sedan in order to have uber bright tails. I was rear-ended pretty badly a couple years ago and I got the LEDs for the extra insurance. I like the way the rcr looks better, but that's essentially what I had when that car plowed into me at around 45mph cause they didn't see me stopped there. I was going for obnoxiously bright, and these certainty fit the bill.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

[az3579]

Ah I see. I don't mind borrowing the look of a facelift sedan in order to have uber bright tails. I was rear-ended pretty badly a couple years ago and I got the LEDs for the extra insurance. I like the way the rcr looks better, but that's essentially what I had when that car plowed into me at around 45mph cause they didn't see me stopped there. I was going for obnoxiously bright, and these certainty fit the bill.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

Just to be clear,

In that kind of a situation, if they didn't see you stopped, then they wouldn't have seen you regardless of what kind of tail lights you had. The effect of what kind of taillights you have (provided they are fully functioning) has a minimal effect on whether or not someone will see you stopped. What they will have an effect on, however, is how hard they think you are braking. That's why the "emergency stop" extra brake lighting on facelift models provided only in emergency stop situations will help the driver behind you assess how hard you are stepping on the brake. In this case, if there is a collision, it would be a very small one, not a huge one like you described. That kind of collision is only caused by distracted driving.

If they rear ended you, they were going to do so even if you had fifteen lights on the back of your car. Them rear-ending you just means that they were distracted with something or are blind, one or the other. If they were paying attention, they would have noticed the speed difference, even if your brake lights didn't work at all.


Distracted driving FOR THE LOSS.

[danewilson77]

I had LED Eagle eyes.....when my car got rear ended and totaled. You could see them from 60 miles away, on a clear Montana night....or so I am told.

[billschusteriv]

Sorry Dane for the thread jack. I should probably move this to a PM, but you (and others) might find this information helpful if you want to tint/wrap your tails.

Let me know if you want me to start a new thread.

To me, wrapping is half-assing it. You don't wrap taillights.
Other stuff, fine, but taillights? Heck, I've never even heard of such a thing. Is there a link you could point me to so I could be enlightened?

I dunno, do me it's a HUUUUUGE difference. Can't stand the pre-face look, to be honest.

Sorry bro - I feel awful; I should've included a link and discussed more. I was on Tapatalk for BB and can't cut and paste links.


I posted a while back on tinted tails for Ryan on Bf.c:
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...8&postcount=32

I've been looking at how to upgrade the tails on my wagon for a while. The options for wagon tails are a bit more limited than sedan/coupes.

The exterior of my wagon is black - so I've thought about just doing the Nightshades on my OEMs but am concerned about the numerous law enforcement agencies in PA and MD that I could encounter on my drive every day to/from work. So I might just use lamin-x - that way I can remove if I need to.

Don Nguyen - on e46f.c - is wrapping lights and roofs has some really great pictures of what he's doing over in Cali. He's using lamin-x, so if you need to you can always remove it. Link here: http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=704954

I've also seen recommendations for Jon's Tinted Tails... http://www.jonstintedtails.com/index.htm.

Since both use Lamin-X, which comes in a variety of colors and can be used to color match, I wouldn't see why they couldn't do amber across the clear portion of your lights.

It's just another option out there where options are limited.

Speaking of pre-facelift vs facelift tails... from your pictures - I'm pretty sure I've got the facelift front... but pre-facelift tails.





Weird? Am I missing something?

The taillight design is different on the sedans only. The coupes are pretty much the same, with the addition of LEDs for the facelift ones.

^^^^ I didn't see this before posting. Could be the answer to my query?

[danewilson77]

Hey...thanks for the info Bill. All that info in a new thread would be great....to find for later....honestly. Not that it was a thread jack...just thinking of the guy who comes along looking for answers.

[pyreguy]

I see your point, and agree that the woman wasn't paying attention. She was on her cell phone checking the road we were gonna merge onto for traffic instead of looking at the car already stopped (me) because of said traffic. But the brightness makes me feel better. And as far as the extra lights on the facelift lighting up and letting followers know how hard you're stopping, I would think that unless they knew BMW E46 facelift layout to know those extra lights meant something they probably wouldn't register the difference. But maybe. Still a good idea. And supposedly this works on the LEDs as well with the outermost lights being the extra ones that light up in hard braking, but I haven't verified this on mine.

I installed a smokescreen instead, ala James Bond...