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View Full Version : Finally going to get rid of the amber tails....



94jedi
01-25-2015, 09:48 AM
Alright fellas, finally getting rid of the amber tails. I'm going to pick up a Khoalty set, http://www.khoalty.com/bmw-e46-sedan-clear-tails.html.

Only question is, do I go clear or smoked? I have smoked side markers (I just prefer the side of the car to be as dark as possible) but I also have clear corners so I'm thinking the clear tails will fit best.

Any opinions? Car is jet black btw.

danewilson77
01-25-2015, 09:50 AM
Clears.

"No flamesuit required"

ELCID86
01-25-2015, 10:05 AM
Clear.


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94jedi
01-25-2015, 10:05 AM
yep. I'm thinking so. Is the khoalty set complete garbage? I know you get what you pay for but $130 is almost too good to pass up, vs OEMs

az3579
01-25-2015, 11:27 AM
yep. I'm thinking so. Is the khoalty set complete garbage? I know you get what you pay for but $130 is almost too good to pass up, vs OEMs

When it comes to Depo, you get what you pay for, for the most part.


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danewilson77
01-25-2015, 12:40 PM
yep. I'm thinking so. Is the khoalty set complete garbage? I know you get what you pay for but $130 is almost too good to pass up, vs OEMs
I wouldn't call them complete garbage. I'd say they are several levels below the quality of that TMS kit. It's expensive...yes. but If you split it up by buying corners and sides first, then tails it kind of breaks it up a bit. You pay a little more though.

In the process now of getting the tails. I'm actually waiting on getbmwparts.com to see if they have them and if their price is better than TMS.

"No flamesuit required"

onaquest
01-25-2015, 04:40 PM
I wouldn't call them complete garbage. I'd say they are several levels below the quality of that TMS kit. It's expensive...yes. but If you split it up by buying corners and sides first, then tails it kind of breaks it up a bit. You pay a little more though.

In the process now of getting the tails. I'm actually waiting on getbmwparts.com to see if they have them and if their price is better than TMS.

"No flamesuit required"


hmmm... I wonder if Tischer / getbmwparts.com would do a gb on oem rcr tails.

94jedi
01-25-2015, 04:58 PM
If the price is fairly reasonable, I'm in for sure. So tired of seeing amber back there. Plus, they're all dull and foggy. Amber only looks good on Imola! :)

az3579
01-25-2015, 08:05 PM
hmmm... I wonder if Tischer / getbmwparts.com would do a gb on oem rcr tails.

I don't think any Genuine BMW parts will ever get a group buy from anywhere.


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NoVAphotog
01-26-2015, 04:29 AM
Amber only looks good on Imola! :)

Amen!

johnrando
01-26-2015, 10:20 AM
I'd prefer clears.

derbo
01-26-2015, 01:46 PM
Here comes the clears vs ambers debate lol

Vas
01-26-2015, 02:36 PM
In for post count.

Clears all the way lol.

Jconlin16
01-26-2015, 03:49 PM
I have led coupe clears but I want r/c/r's bad!

BADCLOWN
01-26-2015, 04:04 PM
I believe Ive got a full set of Amber lighting setup in the garage. The car currently has R/C/R, clear turns, clear sides and I've been thinking about going smoked. Haven't looked into whether or not they have a R/smoked/R set of tail lights for the sedan.

onaquest
01-26-2015, 04:29 PM
I believe Ive got a full set of Amber lighting setup in the garage. The car currently has R/C/R, clear turns, clear sides and I've been thinking about going smoked. Haven't looked into whether or not they have a R/smoked/R set of tail lights for the sedan.

Depo makes Red Smoke Red facelift sedan tails.

I've got a set half installed (haven't installed the larger outside lights yet). I'm generally not a fan of aftermarket anything on my cars. But I got a really good deal on these so I'm gonna give them a go.

Depo p/n is: TLB3E464D02RSR

94jedi
01-26-2015, 04:34 PM
Well, R/C/R's it is! Thanks for the help deciding fellas!

ELCID86
01-26-2015, 06:51 PM
Good call!
17751


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derbo
01-26-2015, 07:01 PM
In for post count.

Clears all the way lol.

negative. :P

az3579
01-27-2015, 07:48 AM
Depo makes Red Smoke Red facelift sedan tails.

I've got a set half installed (haven't installed the larger outside lights yet). I'm generally not a fan of aftermarket anything on my cars. But I got a really good deal on these so I'm gonna give them a go.

Depo p/n is: TLB3E464D02RSR

These are all smoke, not red/smoke/red.
Depo doesn't make R/S/R for facelift E46 sedans. I fell into this trap when I bought my set years back. I thought I was getting R/S/R when in fact I received all smoked R/C/R's. When I called them out on it, as was told they didn't make such a thing as R/S/R.

By my definition, R/S/R would be standard reds with only the clear turn signals smoked. To get this effect, I had to get LaminX and smoke the clear turns myself on a subsequent set of tails.


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onaquest
01-27-2015, 08:54 AM
Continuing the thread jack :)

Mine look red/smoked/red. Pics to compare:
Sorry for poor quality. http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/27/f66dfcc04819d6705f5cb36603f86c67.jpghttp://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/27/c4f8bb784b4035269df71b587814e795.jpg

BADCLOWN
01-27-2015, 04:39 PM
These are all smoke, not red/smoke/red.


By my definition, R/S/R would be standard reds with only the clear turn signals smoked. To get this effect, I had to get LaminX and smoke the clear turns myself on a subsequent set of tails.


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do you have a picture of this?

94jedi
01-27-2015, 05:00 PM
Continuing the thread jack :)
[/IMG]

No worries, but I have to use this:

17789

az3579
01-30-2015, 07:52 AM
do you have a picture of this?

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa192/az3579/Automotive/BMW%20E46%20330i%20ZHP/Exterior/IMG_0747.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa192/az3579/Automotive/BMW%20E46%20330i%20ZHP/Exterior/2011-06-09_06-04-06_86.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa192/az3579/Automotive/BMW%20E46%20330i%20ZHP/Exterior/2011-06-09_06-05-06_609.jpg

They were way too dark for my taste. I ordered them because they were advertised as Red/Smoke/Red. Same brand (Depo).

Compare to my OE BMW Clears:

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3903/14850898009_3b1ed42ec7_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oCjJzF)20140825-007 (https://flic.kr/p/oCjJzF) by botond.pal (https://www.flickr.com/people/65070296@N06/), on Flickr

As you can see the OE clears have the red part much brighter, just like the OE amber tails.


Continuing the thread jack :)

Mine look red/smoked/red. Pics to compare:
Sorry for poor quality. http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/27/f66dfcc04819d6705f5cb36603f86c67.jpghttp://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/27/c4f8bb784b4035269df71b587814e795.jpg

I don't think the lightning in the garage is adequate to properly demonstrate the color differences. I can vaguely see from the first pic that the Depo set has darker reds compared to the OE tails, and in the second pic it looks like the flash made the aftermarket tails a lot brighter than I think they are.

Personally I haven't seen any other set that Depo sells that is Red/Smoke/Red. All I could ever find were actual smoked everything. When I had my set, it was about 3 years ago. I don't think Depo would start offering a R/S/R tail set in that timeframe, but anything's possible. I've never seen actual R/S/R tails made by Depo on anybody's car before, only the all smoked variety.


When I had my Depo LED tails, I had the turn signals smoked manually with LaminX since they didn't offer R/S/R on that either. The way they came was standard R/C/R. This is what they looked like:

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa192/az3579/Automotive/BMW%20E46%20330i%20ZHP/Exterior/IMG_20130328_162415_638_zps87964956.jpg

onaquest
02-01-2015, 09:48 AM
There was no flash in any of the pics. Agreed the lighting is not ideal for a comparison. There was a bit of a mixup when I listed the part number earlier in this thread. The box that mine came in say red smoke red but are for led tails. The person I bought from must have gone to LEDs and used the box for the sale to me. The p/n I listed was referenced from eBay.

I'm going to pull one of the tails to see if there's a p/n on them. I'm not sure what these are. They look like they have a very light smoke on center area and the red looks to be extremely similar to the original red. Here are a few more pics.

Or maybe these are Red/Clear/Red? I havent seen a set in person, but I thought they'd be lighter.


No flash:
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/02/01/7a4d03e099c6332979b4308ac7912fd9.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/02/01/98da1cba494b86d90572256ab2a01252.jpg

derbo
02-01-2015, 02:01 PM
They definitely look darker.

az3579
02-01-2015, 02:12 PM
They definitely look darker.

This, though they're not as dark as mine were.
Gotta love the consistency of aftermarket. :rolleyes


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derbo
02-04-2015, 01:57 PM
This, though they're not as dark as mine were.
Gotta love the consistency of aftermarket. :rolleyes


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It is amazing and DEPO is the better one of the bunch.

sent from my phone

94jedi
04-24-2015, 01:33 PM
Done...bought them last week, they were delivered yesterday, pics will be up tomorrow (weather permitting).

squashman702
04-30-2015, 05:55 PM
I believe mine are smoked Depo's . . .

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff295/squashman702/330iZHP021_zps7ab04f94.jpg (http://s243.photobucket.com/user/squashman702/media/330iZHP021_zps7ab04f94.jpg.html)

All clear corners, smoked side markers, smoked tails:

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff295/squashman702/330iZHP023_zps4dafbdd1.jpg (http://s243.photobucket.com/user/squashman702/media/330iZHP023_zps4dafbdd1.jpg.html)

derbo
04-30-2015, 09:49 PM
damn thats pretty dark.

cakM3
05-01-2015, 04:05 AM
Looks good! :thumbsup


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JB3
05-01-2015, 04:44 AM
Done...bought them last week, they were delivered yesterday, pics will be up tomorrow (weather permitting).

Did you ever post them up?



Looks good! :thumbsup
+1, that actually looks better than I thought it would. I'd still go standard red/clear, but it turned out great on your car.

squashman702
05-01-2015, 12:34 PM
Probably looks a little darker than it actually is- sun was not at an ideal angle when I took those pictures.