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E46 White LED Cluster

4K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  dillon 
#1 ·
A got tired of the orange lights on the E46 cluster. So i decided to do something about it.

I ordered some PLCC-2 ultra bright White LED's and a set of Chrome rings for the dials off ebay. I took apart the cluster and removed the old LED's and soldered in the new WHITE LED's.

It was an easy enough job to clip in the rings. I painted the dials first but they looked terrible as you could see the paint strokes. So i used nail polish remover to take off the paint. This ended up removing EVERY:cool: bit of paint, includeing the white strip on the back of the needle (which is what has messed up the dials and I cant fix it), the grey colour on the plastic(which I sprayed with a satin black paint and in my opinion looks 200% better then the grey it was before). The nail polish remover also made the needles go from clear to hazzey:mad: So the light wont travel the full way down as they did before. I ended up using a Sharpie marker and it does the red perfectly(I will know for when I do the 330cd Dials next week:rolleyes:)

And I STUPIDLY :eek::( damaged the outer glass at the bottom and cant find where the bit went in the room. So got to find that and stick it back on:confused:

They are pretty nice for my first attempt. This cluster was my test cluster which I would be happy enought to drive around with.

If anyone would like the buy it from me pm me. I dont need it as it wont suit a diesel and I would like to cover the cost of the LED's, Cluster and Rings.

Some pictures so you can make up your own mind. I would appriciate some feedback:)
 

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#2 ·
Nice job, really changes the look of the car!

Consider posting it as a pic-by-pic tutorial when (if!) you do another set!

Do they still dim down with the dimmer switch? How are they driving at night?
 
#3 ·
I have had them in at night. They are a bit brighter so I lower them down about 30%. They are the same type LED's so they dim etc perfectly. Unfortunately I can't drive with in as I'll get a tamper dot. I'm selling the car and it could cause problems. When I do my next set I'll do a picture guide

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#7 ·
I'm not going to change the rest of the interior and they are nice imo. The orange kinda sits back and doesn't stick out like the white would. The dials don't look odd as they were already a big presence in the car.

Ie by just doing the dials it does not seem to clash with the rest of the car.

However, I would like to change the interior lights to jaguar blue. But it's a bit too far away from the bmw style

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#11 ·
Put the dark chrome rings and carbon fibre skin into the 325 cluster. Also did the needles CORRECTLY this time. I have loads of photos so will do a detailed DIY. My plan is the change the leds in the 330 but use the 325 housing.

I also have a set a chrome rings for 15 euro if someone wants them.


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