for those who have done the 2000+ taillight swith to their 99 or older. i just wanted to make sure it fits perfectly. and also it apears as if there are 2 colors. like a clearish and a smoked. is this true? part numbers or model spacific?

tia

 

Yes - two colors (smoked indicators=E55/Advantgarde, clear indicators=standard)

No - not plug and play , need to shave off part of the inside of the two center ones.........

 

like a monster shave or like it will take 2 seconds and its all good?

 

Using a dremel it's shaved in 2 minutes.

 

don't have a dremal

 

Then buy and return one...or just use some harsh sand paper and spend a little bit of extra time. It's not that bad really, just do it!

 

Took me over 6 hrs filing by hand and a lot of elbow grease, thanks to the sloppy description of one (????)member here, lol.

 

holy **** 6 hours?! LOL! W/ the dremel it was over just like that!

 

Yeah, thanks to jimmyda GEEK who said he "filed" his!

 

Use a heat gun to mold the plastic. No need to grind the material.

 

"Filled?" What do you mean by that??? I take a dremel tool to the inner lights and it takes me about 20 mins. for them to sit almost perfect, not 2 mins. like Super Mike who doesn't care if they sit flush as long as their on, lol. Explain Davey-boy...(didn't think I was still hanging out in here huh)lol...

 

Oooops......hiya "Jimmy my man" Actually, besides his slightly ambiguous description of the procedure, jimmy's helped out tremedously in getting mine installed properly, thanx again bro...hee, hee

 

You still didn't answer the question mang! What do you mean by "filled?" I don't think I've ever used that word in describing any part of the shaving procedure, did I???

 

FILED not "filled"....errrrrr, I think......whatever, maybe E-Klasse or someone else, my bad, my bad, ok? how marriage changes someone......boy I love this forum, lol

 

Hey hey hey now,lol, don't get . Yeah, I think it was E-klasse as well. My brief tutorial explained the Dremmel method only. Others suggested filing, using a hot blade or sandpaper. I found my method to be fast and painless but dusty (easy clean-up). I will also do this for a small charge for anyone that needs it done...

 

Hell, this sure brings back lots of memories......stay with us bro and try to save some poor soul from hacking his fingers off

 

i'm affraid...

type a 1 if a dremal is needed

a 2 for sandpaper

or 3 for heat gun or hot blade

 

If you have a dremel you should use it. You can use any of the sanding attaching to grind the plastic down but I found that the fine or smaller tipped sanding bit worked the best when I needed to get into the corners. Let me see if I can find any of those pics. I posted a while back...

 

Are we forgetting we have a crazy pic collector here .....but that would giveaway some of Jimbo's trade secrets...

Careful not to grind too far or you'll hit the reflectors and then you're fxcked

 

You can post them if you'd like. I have experience so it won't affect anything I have going on, lol. I found the thread that zam had posted with instructions a while back but his pics. are gone. Here is the thread: Taillights.

 

Nuh, I'm sure zam will be here soon lol......

 

Hey, I used a dremal tool on mine as well as a file and I spent 5 minutes on each light...

 

I really think it depends if you buy OEM lenses, or aftermarket ones.
I went with aftermarket, and it took me about a half hour each with the Dremel. The second one does go faster, because you know exactly the areas you need to grind down. From what I can tell from reading other threads, the OEM lenses don't need as much grinding. I went with the (smoked) E55 lenses. I would not want to do it by hand.

 

Don't use a heat gun--you'll probably end up warping the lights before you get the correct fit. Use the Dremel. If you don't have one, it's worth buying--ony $30 or so.

 

which bit should i get for it if i do buy one