Bulb advice needed please.

[Shelside]

Hi, I've been looking around the forum for some specific MK2 Rx350 exterior bulb info without much luck. 

Anyway, could someone enlighten me as to which bulbs I could upgrade myself. I have the hid headlights I think, because I have AFS and a lens cleaner up front. I would like to upgrade the oem bulbs with leds if possible as they look a bit dull to be honest. The main hid bulbs are nice and bright but everything else lacks a bit of Oomph. The reverse lights are next to useless when using the the rear camera. I've spent most of the day getting confused on the net as to which bulbs I could switch and where I could purchase them. 

Really hoping someone on here has got experience on the subject, and with an Rx350. My motor is a 2006 SE model. 

Thanks in advance. 

Col. 

[Herbie]

First of all, leave your HIDs as they are, as it's now an MOT fail if incorrect bulbs are fitted.

That means that halogen fittings should have halogen lamps, HID fittings should have HID lamps and so on. The pic below is taken from the MOT Inspection Manual:

The reversing lamps can easily be replaced with LEDs because they aren't tested. If you search the forum you'll find info about how to remove the reversing lamp 'shroud' which also improves light output. If I can find it for you I'll post it up.

[Shelside]

7 minutes ago, Herbie said:

First of all, leave your HIDs as they are, as it's now an MOT fail if incorrect bulbs are fitted.

That means that halogen fittings should have halogen lamps, HID fittings should have HID lamps and so on. The pic below is taken from the MOT Inspection Manual:

The reversing lamps can easily be replaced with LEDs because they aren't tested. If you search the forum you'll find info about how to remove the reversing lamp 'shroud' which also improves light output. If I can find it for you I'll post it up.

Thanks for the heads up, I have looked through the post that you mention about the shroud. I will be getting rid of them then. 

As for the LED upgrades, is it just the reverse lights, or all the others bar the hid and halogen dipped beam? Would I be able to replace the anything else and last but not least, do you know where I could get some bulbs that don't push out errors. I'm assuming that the front fogs would be Halogen also. 

I'm gutted about the mot rules. The LED "seed" was planted when I saw a same year as mine with added drls and obvious LED upgrades on all the headlight bulbs. It looked much better and didn't look out of place either. 

[Herbie]

These are the ones I bought for the reversing lights

They don't throw any codes or cause any problems with the CANBUS system, literally just plug and play.

You could use these in the front indicators like I did in my 2005 RX300. These pass an MOT because the actual light fitting and lamp are not testable items, only the colour (amber) and flash rate are testable.

They do mess with the CANBUS system and that's what those big orange resistors are for. Without them, the indicators hyperflash but as long as you wire them in they flash at the correct rate. Only other alternative would be to replace the actual flasher unit with one designed for LEDs.

This is how I did it and how they looked. As I say in the article, don't take any notice of the horrendous test run for the wiring, it was all tidied up properly

 

 

[Shelside]

7 hours ago, Herbie said:

These are the ones I bought for the reversing lights

They don't throw any codes or cause any problems with the CANBUS system, literally just plug and play.

You could use these in the front indicators like I did in my 2005 RX300. These pass an MOT because the actual light fitting and lamp are not testable items, only the colour (amber) and flash rate are testable.

They do mess with the CANBUS system and that's what those big orange resistors are for. Without them, the indicators hyperflash but as long as you wire them in they flash at the correct rate. Only other alternative would be to replace the actual flasher unit with one designed for LEDs.

This is how I did it and how they looked. As I say in the article, don't take any notice of the horrendous test run for the wiring, it was all tidied up properly

 

 

Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it. I did actually look through the above vid but the indicators issue completely passed me by, I will put that down to brain overload as I spent most of the weekend trawling the net for answers. The info given has given me the confidence to explore the possibility of changing a few things. Having said that, I think I will leave the indicators as stock. Rewiring electrics isn't a strong area for me. Electricity is "Witchcraft" as far as I'm concerned. I can just about cope with plug and play, so I will stick to that. 

I've had the car since November last year and it's probably the nicest motor I've owned. I've been a bit of a BMW fan boy for the last 35 years, the 350 beats them all in terms of comfort and presence with one exception, a 1993 e32 7 series that I had for years. Although it was a great car it was lacking in tech, probably why I liked it so much, but, it was a looker and a great wafter.

As for the 350, I will change the bulbs that are within my knowledge and I'm thinking of restoring the headlight lenses as they are looking a bit tired, should keep me busy for a bit. 

Once again, thanks for the advice. 

Col.