Installed GP Thunder Corona Ring bulb (pics)

[vanquish s]

only 1 pair
1 H8 bulb is used for the 2 rings ( sort of optical wire transmission)

[alpinedb]

ok good deal placing order tongiht wil post pics when installed

[Tweeked SRT4]

Those look a lot better over stock.

[Séve]

Is the 128i layout the same as the 135i? The passenger side on my 128i was fairly difficult, but the driver side is driving me crazy. There's absolutely no room at all. The left bitch clip is literally a bitch. I can't even get it out of the groove because my hands don't have enough room. Any advice because I'm driving around with one GP Thunder and one stock? I feel lame.

Thanks!

[ad78]

my 7500K is enroute... reading the whole thread is making me think on this "bitch clip"

[AlBel1214]

^^^ THe bitch clip is nothing in comparison to trying to line up the bottom teeth whith those oil cooler lines in the way.... I actually shaved the teeth down a bit b/c it was just not working..

[JTdrivin1]

theres an access panel in the wheelwell to get to the bottom of the bitch clips. just pop of the wheel, open the hatch, and bam! i found it when i was doing other work on the car, and wish i had known about it when i put in my GP thunders and spent all that aggravation dealing with those clips...

JT

[Séve]

Originally Posted by JTdrivin1

theres an access panel in the wheelwell to get to the bottom of the bitch clips. just pop of the wheel, open the hatch, and bam! i found it when i was doing other work on the car, and wish i had known about it when i put in my GP thunders and spent all that aggravation dealing with those clips...

JT

You are the man. Thanks a ton!

[Séve]

Okay. I still wasn't able to do it, but I took it to my local mechanic. It took him around 20 minutes as the clip fell off. Anyway, now the outer ring is not lit. What is the cause of this??

[InsaneSkippy]

I just ordered a set today. Windows Live Cashback has turned me into an ebay fiend..

[larryn]

Originally Posted by Séve

Okay. I still wasn't able to do it, but I took it to my local mechanic. It took him around 20 minutes as the clip fell off. Anyway, now the outer ring is not lit. What is the cause of this??

Look at it at night. The outer ring is dimmer than the inner ring by default. I bet you just think it's out, but it really is not.

[Séve]

Originally Posted by larryn

Look at it at night. The outer ring is dimmer than the inner ring by default. I bet you just think it's out, but it really is not.

Just got back from outside now that it's dark. It's not out, but the two rings on the driver side are definitely dimmer than the two rings on the passenger side, and I'm looking at it from straight away and at eye level. So it's not out...just not working nearly as well. Maybe the mechanic didn't snap in the one on the driver side in correctly? That's the only thing I can think of aside from having a bad bulb. EDIT: Bulb was snapped in correctly. Lost a bitch clip to the engine well in the process of checking. What a day just for these lights!

For any 128i owner, here's the space you're dealing with when/if you undertake this mod.

[Jockey]

Thank god for small hands, I installed mine today in 20 min with minimal aggravation

[Qube]

BEFORE you begin to remove the cover, twist a tie wrap and a string or rubber band around the clip. If it falls, it will dangle from whatever you fastened it to.

[larryn]

Ahhh. The famous bitch clip follies. Good suggestion regarding tying it off.

Another thing I found helpful was to wear mechanics gloves. You have to put your hand in a few uncomfortable locations in order to get the cover back on (especially on the oil cooler side), and I found that the gloves helped to cushion things, and kept cutting myself at bay.

[IUpod]

Smaller hands do help. I didn't have too much trouble with this one. One thing I did do was mark on the passenger-side rear cover with paint marker where the teeth/tabs where. The teeth/tabs themselves disappear from view quickly as you position the piece. They are shoved under (and hopefully near) their ultimate destination so I just drew some hash marks back from them on the inside of the cover to show me where they were.

Otherwise, you're just looking down into a whole lot of black plastic as you try to line up where you think the tabs were.

[taylor82]

Right side was no problem, took maybe five minutes, left side was different sorry all together!

It's about 1 degrees c outside and very dark. It's been raining all day today so couldn't install, but instead of waiting for tomorrow i decided to brave it now the rains gone.

I managed to install the right side without any major hiccups but i really struggled with the left side. I've definately lost one bitch clip and can't feel the other one (too dark too see and cant get torch in). The plactic cover is what really pissed me off though, there really isn't any room in there to manover!

On the positive side, the 7500's look great, although the outer ring on the left side isn't lighting up as bright as the right, will have a better look tomorrow, i suspect i need to rotate the bulb more.

Finally, any ideas how to reclaim my bitches? :biggrin:

[larryn]

Originally Posted by taylor82

Finally, any ideas how to reclaim my bitches? :biggrin:

Jack the car up, and remove those 17 screws that hold the plastic underpad on.

I had to do that too.

Btw, if the bulbs are brighter on one side (and you're sure that you are not just looking at one straight on, and the other at an angle), then you likely did not rotate the bulb all the way. Sounds like you suspect that too though.

[ki__]

I have a question about changing lights, ive done it twice, and both times its like one of the sides is dimmer then the other side..is that cause im putting in that same one in wrong both times or has anyone else had this same problem?

[taylor82]

Originally Posted by larryn

Jack the car up, and remove those 17 screws that hold the plastic underpad on.

I had to do that too.

Btw, if the bulbs are brighter on one side (and you're sure that you are not just looking at one straight on, and the other at an angle), then you likely did not rotate the bulb all the way. Sounds like you suspect that too though.

Today went much better, probably because i could see what i was doing this time.

Luckily i only dropped 1 clip, the other was intact and in place, i could just about see the one that dropped and decided to sacrifice my arm to get it. After skinning my arm i managed to pull it out, no need to take off the plastic cover underneath, result!

As i suspected to bulb wasn't quite positioned right (like you also mentioned) and i was able to re-position the bulb and everything looks great!

All in all i'm extremly pleased with the mod and would do it ten times over regardless of the problems i had.

Cheers all.

[E92-Lighting]

Originally Posted by BlacknRedi

I have a question about changing lights, ive done it twice, and both times its like one of the sides is dimmer then the other side..is that cause im putting in that same one in wrong both times or has anyone else had this same problem?

this is a BMW design flaw its not your car

[Chicago1]

Okay fellas, I've been searching for this, to no avail. I installed the GP Thunder bulbs for the corona rings on DAY 1 of owning my car. LOVE them. It wasn't until later that I noticed the icky yellow glow of the adaptive light inside the ring when you pull up behind a shiny chrome bumper or otherwise shiny tailgate on a pickup with your turn signal on. When you turn the wheel, or when you're straightforward with your blinker on, the inside lights up and it looks horrible inside those bright white GP Thunder rings. I've seen posts about an "H3" bulb.. has anyone swapped out these adaptive headlamps in addition to the GP Thunders? Anyone have the model number or a good source for them?? Thanks!!