F82 OLED Lights Update

[m3rxn]

^ [QUOTE=gurjisolo;27894243]There's grommets located on both sides of the trunk. You just need a metal hanger and a extra hand to reach the grommets behind the liners. This way no wires are exposed and truly its the proper way to be doing it. It seems sketchy how a lot of you guys are just wrapping the cables behind the weather strip, its an unnecessary short cut.


Really? VLAND install video @ 0.59 seconds shows the same method I found out by trial and error. Either way, if the grommet routing method worked out for you just as well, then all good! Maybe you can post pics of where grommets are located as reference for other forum members?

[1QuikWS6]

Originally Posted by gurjisolo

There's grommets located on both sides of the trunk. You just need a metal hanger and a extra hand to reach the grommets behind the liners. This way no wires are exposed and truly its the proper way to be doing it. It seems sketchy how a lot of you guys are just wrapping the cables behind the weather strip, its an unnecessary short cut.


I was one of the early stage testers for these VLAND lights (Received them 2 or so months ago) so I'm not sure if they sorted the fitment out or not but here's what I noticed.

1. Yes, cutting those 3 tabs was necessary for the trunk lights but I also found I needed to add a few washers to achieve perfect fitment for the bumper lights.



2. Use the original BMW mounting bracket for the trunk lights, the VLAND one wasn't cooperating for me.




Cons
1. Visible sealant when looking up close at the edges of the lights.
2. Fitment. Though you can get it lined up flush with each light they are still sunken in a little with the upper bumper.


Overall they're not bad for the price but if you are patient I would wait for the V2 version.

Here's my 4 cents

Everyone who is using washers on the studs behind the fender lights are overlooking the built-in adjustment that exists on the VLAND lights just as it does on the OEM.

If you look at your 1st pic - there are (2) threaded adjustment 'knobs' at the bolt down points where the studs go thru the light bracket.

You can thread both of those in or out of the light housing bracket individually to allow for In & Out adjustment of the fender light for both top & bottom of light.

Thread the adjuster knob IN & it will move the light out from the car body once bolted down, thread it OUT & it will move the light in towards the car body once bolted down

By the looks of it, you have both your adjusters threaded most of the way out which would make your fender lights suck in toward the body of the car at that edge - and then you stack washers to make up for it

Trial and error - loosen the 10mm nuts almost all the way off the studs, then turn IN the adjusters as needed to move the light away from the car body once the nuts are snugged down.

It may take a couple times to get it perfect, but once set the adjusters will not move and lights will always remain aligned even if removed/re-installed

[1QuikWS6]

As for running the xtra wires under the trunk weatherstrip & over the sharp edge of the trunk lip I would NEVER do that regardless of who has a video showing to do it that way - just looking for trouble later down the road as vibrations & repeated opening/closing the trunk may cut the wires where they go over the metal lip & create a short

There has to be a grommet present where the factory fender light harness comes thru from inside of car. Best idea would be to find that and use it to run your xtra inner light wires


> Actually, my car is 2015 but I had already done the factory LCI Tail retrofit using the OEM harness that includes an xtra wire to the REM + proper coding.

For this reason I did NOT have to run the xtra wires to the inner lights, nor did I need to use the resistors that are included that are simply there to eliminate errors on dash

So if you are LCI from factory, or have done the OEM LCI upgrade/coding = no need for the xtra wires or resistors

All lights work as supposed to & there are no errors present

[30FF]

Originally Posted by 1QuikWS6

Here's my 4 cents

Everyone who is using washers on the studs behind the fender lights are overlooking the built-in adjustment that exists on the VLAND lights just as it does on the OEM.

If you look at your 1st pic - there are (2) threaded adjustment 'knobs' at the bolt down points where the studs go thru the light bracket.

You can thread both of those in or out of the light housing bracket individually to allow for In & Out adjustment of the fender light for both top & bottom of light.

Thread the adjuster knob IN & it will move the light out from the car body once bolted down, thread it OUT & it will move the light in towards the car body once bolted down

By the looks of it, you have both your adjusters threaded most of the way out which would make your fender lights suck in toward the body of the car at that edge - and then you stack washers to make up for it

Trial and error - loosen the 10mm nuts almost all the way off the studs, then turn IN the adjusters as needed to move the light away from the car body once the nuts are snugged down.

It may take a couple times to get it perfect, but once set the adjusters will not move and lights will always remain aligned even if removed/re-installed

Brilliant, I will definitely do that! Thanks for the tip!!!

[jzhu625]

Originally Posted by 1QuikWS6

As for running the xtra wires under the trunk weatherstrip & over the sharp edge of the trunk lip I would NEVER do that regardless of who has a video showing to do it that way - just looking for trouble later down the road as vibrations & repeated opening/closing the trunk may cut the wires where they go over the metal lip & create a short

There has to be a grommet present where the factory fender light harness comes thru from inside of car. Best idea would be to find that and use it to run your xtra inner light wires


> Actually, my car is 2015 but I had already done the factory LCI Tail retrofit using the OEM harness that includes an xtra wire to the REM + proper coding.

For this reason I did NOT have to run the xtra wires to the inner lights, nor did I need to use the resistors that are included that are simply there to eliminate errors on dash

So if you are LCI from factory, or have done the OEM LCI upgrade/coding = no need for the xtra wires or resistors

All lights work as supposed to & there are no errors present

good to know, mine is 2015 as well and upgrade to LCI tail along with OEM harness but NEVER done coding so my inner signal does not blink. does that mean if i install GTS my inner signal won't work? just trying to understood before i submit purchase. i guess time to find someone upgrade my RME and coding.

[E92Roni]

Just for the sake of not messing with the product I installed it just as it came without any additional parts or cutting of any tabs like some suggest. Everything fit direct and flush without any hassle. No trimming or anything. Just needed to adjust the outer tail light washers to sit flush.

[E92Roni]

Originally Posted by jzhu625

good to know, mine is 2015 as well and upgrade to LCI tail along with OEM harness but NEVER done coding so my inner signal does not blink. does that mean if i install GTS my inner signal won't work? just trying to understood before i submit purchase. i guess time to find someone upgrade my RME and coding.

Mines a pre lci, didn't code anything and my inner signals work just fine.

[1QuikWS6]

Originally Posted by RoniE92

Mines a pre lci, didn't code anything and my inner signals work just fine.

Coding is not to allow the lights to function properly, but to eliminate any errors popping up due to Cold/Warm bulb checks which can also cause flickering of the LED's vs the incandescent style bulbs originally installed

If you want to retain the resistors that come with the Vland lights then coding is prolly not necessary as they are only for eliminating the errors as above

Coding was necessary when I switched from OEM pre-LCI lights to the LCI since BMW doesn't include resistors with their lights to solve the problem

Since coding was already needed for that swap it meant I didn't need the resistors when installing Vlands

[bsmf8x]

Has anyone done a side by side comparison with OEM? I'd never drop 7k on a pair of tail lights but I've seen m4cs's in person that look beautiful, some of these replicas don't look identical to me

[ss-f82]

Inner light not sitting flush. Hmm might be doing something wrong. Any recommendations?

[1QuikWS6]

Originally Posted by ss-f82

Inner light not sitting flush. Hmm might be doing something wrong. Any recommendations?

Refer to post #194 in this thread

https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...&postcount=194

[Nomana]

Do day running light work plug&play? Or need coding?

[Taco_Bueno]

Originally Posted by bsmf8x

Has anyone done a side by side comparison with OEM? I'd never drop 7k on a pair of tail lights but I've seen m4cs's in person that look beautiful, some of these replicas don't look identical to me

That's why they're $6400 less than OEM.

Still totally worth it and getting OEM tails that cost that much is absolutely stupid unless you're just hemorrhaging money

[henhen]

Has anyone heard from Abdul lately? I PMed him a week ago and emailed him the other day about an issue and I have not heard back.

After I installed my lights (which work great btw), I noticed I got a little extra surprise washer in my driver side light (see last photo)

[brocurls]

Originally Posted by henhen

Has anyone heard from Abdul lately? I PMed him a week ago and emailed him the other day about an issue and I have not heard back.

After I installed my lights (which work great btw), I noticed I got a little extra surprise washer in my driver side light (see last photo)

I haven't heard from Abdul since I texted him last Wednesday. We were in the middle of refunding me since the lights I received were A) inner housing of both trunk lights had multiple scratches B) looks to have been resealed C) one of the screws to tighten trunk light to trunk was mounted crooked and cannot be loosened.

I'm in the process of doing a chargeback as I've heard nothing after 3 follow up text messages over 11 days after he stated he would send a return label 2 weekends ago.

[henhen]

Originally Posted by brocurls

I haven't heard from Abdul since I texted him last Wednesday. We were in the middle of refunding me since the lights I received were A) inner housing of both trunk lights had multiple scratches B) looks to have been resealed C) one of the screws to tighten trunk light to trunk was mounted crooked and cannot be loosened.

I'm in the process of doing a chargeback as I've heard nothing after 3 follow up text messages over 11 days after he stated he would send a return label 2 weekends ago.

Mark from MPowerMotorsports ended up reaching out to me pretty soon after I posted that and is getting me sorted out with a replacement. Says he will ship out a new one tomorrow with a return label for the bad one. Hopefully you hear from someone soon?

No idea what happened with Abdul though, seems he hasn't been active on the forums either

[FatHulk]

Originally Posted by henhen

Mark from MPowerMotorsports ended up reaching out to me pretty soon after I posted that and is getting me sorted out with a replacement. Says he will ship out a new one tomorrow with a return label for the bad one. Hopefully you hear from someone soon?

No idea what happened with Abdul though, seems he hasn't been active on the forums either

I sent Abdul a few messages as well as my shipment got stuck in customs. Mark however was very responsive and apologized for the mixup. I dealt with customs for four days and spoke to about 10 different people. I think it's been resolved and should be receiving them today. Fingers crossed they aren't damaged!

[FatHulk]

Got the lights!!!

UPS is a pain to deal with btw, not very helpful folks but happy in the end to receive them well packaged

Thanks Mark and Abdul! Still not sure where Abdul went?

[aghahari]

Hello all. I just got a pair of these today and installed them. I like them so far. Except I don't really like the sequential turning lights (might be an unpopular opinion), since BMW never uses this design on their cars I think it's a bit too much. Is there a way to code this function out?

[Danlnyc88]

Originally Posted by bsmf8x

Has anyone done a side by side comparison with OEM? I'd never drop 7k on a pair of tail lights but I've seen m4cs's in person that look beautiful, some of these replicas don't look identical to me

There is a clear and noticeable difference between Foleds and real OLEDs for those who know.

Some people spend thousands of dollars on Rolexes when a fake does the same thing. People who know will notice.

[behindthen0thing]

Originally Posted by aghahari

Hello all. I just got a pair of these today and installed them. I like them so far. Except I don't really like the sequential turning lights (might be an unpopular opinion), since BMW never uses this design on their cars I think it's a bit too much. Is there a way to code this function out?

I don't like sequential turn signals also.

They come on Audi and VW products. Also they are played out and tacky imo

[Jim B]

Originally Posted by behindthen0thing

I don't like sequential turn signals also.

They come on Audi and VW products. Also they are played out and tacky imo

I like them. I had them on my 1969 and 1971 Mercury Cougars. The first appeared on the 1965 (or was it the 1964?) Ford Thunderbirds, and now come on current Ford Mustangs.