A couple days ago I took a look at my car and all of a sudden, the "fried-egg" front turn signals now bug the heck out of me! Instead of ordering and waiting for the $25 silver-covered bulbs from bimmian.com, I got some "close-enoughs" for... $12! No shipping or waiting!

I wished there were better instructions on NAM so I wrote up my own:

The $12 bulbs I got from AutoZone: Sylvania "Silverstar" Part No. 1156A ST Here's what it looks like in the box (there's only one bulb in this photo because I fitted the first one in the AutoZone parking lot).




Here's the back of the box.



Pop the bonnet and find the housing holder. This shot is the left signal, while leaning over the bumper looking into the hole. To remove- 1) turn it, 2) pull it! So simple for skinny-handed folks lke myself!



Here's the bulb in it's holder. Remove the OEM bulb. Also simple!



Replace it with the new bulb. Note: the pins on the side of the OEM are offset at 150-degrees. The pegs on the Sylvania are at 180. In other words, they don't match up precisely to the bulb holder- a little "dedication" and it fits right in.



Replace the bulb housing the same way you took it out- turn it til it locks into place. Repeat the process on the other side.

Here's a before and after with the lights off:







Here's a before and after with the lights on:



As you can see, there is almost no noticable difference with the lights on. With the lights off it's not exactly "clear", but for $12 and 10 minutes worth of work, I'm a happy camper!

northamericanmotoring.com
bimmian.com
autozone.com
Sylvania "Silverstar" Part No. 1156A ST


read the blog entry

 

Neat! The blueishness of the bulbs works well with your Pure Silver, too.

 

That's a great idea - I'm gonna do the same. But my search came up with Sylvania 7507AST as the direct replacement (which should explain the 150 vs 180 offset)
http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProd...RG-Results.htm

 

Thanks for a cool post.
Looks simple too.

 

I've got those bulbs... sitting in my toolbox. I think there is still a hint of yellow there behind the silver/blue coating. There's another thread around where a guy painted the OEM bulbs with a light coat of silver paint. I tried it and like it much better, totally stealth. If you go this route, be careful with the paint, if you get too much and it starts to run, it will take the OEM yellow coating with it .

 

Yeah you're right- they didn't have those is stock and I didn't want to quash the impulsivness of the project. (Off to find bulbs for the side-markers!)

 

Cheap mod...like the look

 

Several months ago I did this to mine to rid the MINI of the egg color. After I added a white stripe and mirrors to my car I decided I didn't care much for the bluish tint either with my color. It matches yours. Mine it looked out of place. I sprayed a light coat of white on the bulb to remove the blue tint. This may have worked with the original amber bulb but I could not find the place I stored them. Here is how it turned out.

There's nothing like a sub $20 mod that makes a big difference.






Don't pay attention to the dirt.

 

Whether you purchase or make your own stealth bulbs, make sure to compare their brightness against the stock bulbs. I bought a set of mirrored bulbs that were much too dim. The Diamond Coat bulbs from bimmian are good but I no longer see it on their website (not the original Solaris).

 

I just used Goof Off on the stock bulbs to remove the amber coating. Worked like a charm.

 

hey- nice eye!

 

Get some silver paint, and spray the stock bulbs...

$2.00 and you'll get rid of the orange-ish blinkers!

 

true. i didn't have silver paint lying around and i figured if i'm gonna leave the house anyway...

 

Yep I replaced my OEM bulbs with these after I got Angel Eyes running lights from MOSS. The Sylvania Silverstar bulbs have a nice iridescent blue color that shiws really well in the angel eye fixtures, but shines bright amber when illuminated.

I think the blue tint works really well with the angel eye halo and the Xenon headlights.

_Dave_

 

Anyone know if these Sylvanias will work in the taillight as well?

 

Yeah, that's a normal bulb...not the cool bluish ones. I found that out the hard way when I went to Autozone today. Seriously, does anyone know which model of the nice bluish sylvanias will work in the tails?

 

Here's a couple of pics of the Angel Eyes running lamps showing the stock amber turn signal bulbs (left) and the Sylvania Silverstars (right):



_Dave_

 

i had a chance to get some "angel eyes" at a good deal through a group buy. had i known they'd look so cool, i'd have went for it!

(darn that darn hindsight!)

 

Ok non-helpers... Here is the dealeo.

The Sylvania 1156 Silverstar is the proper rear turn signal bulb... and for the bulb up top if you use the "brake light mod" from the days of yore. This will be the same numbers if you're looking for nice LED lights on www.autolumination.com

The 1157 base is for the tail lights themselves (bottom light from the '02 - '04 Mini's.) You '05 and up ppl will have to do your own research!

 

Am I wrong, or is the rear turn signal housing itself orange? Seems like replacing with the Silverstars in the back would still show orange normally. Am I wrong. I bought the Silverstar 7507s fof the fron tun signals, and if the rears would be the same look, I would do them, as well.....

 

Bump.

 

Cool. But you won't sell many for $15. Charge $100 and you will sell thousands. Cheap just ain't cool.

I think it's cool.

 

Am I wrong, or is the rear turn signal housing itself orange? Seems like replacing with the Silverstars in the back would still show orange normally. Am I wrong. I bought the Silverstar 7507s fof the fron tun signals, and if the rears would be the same look, I would do them, as well.....

 

on the stock 02-04 the housing in the rear is amber, but most people get the euro ones with the clear housing.

 

wait a minute... if you did a search you would've found my post about
just enamel painting the factory orange bulb silver. just go to some
art/hobby store and get a small enamel spray paint. clean the bulb
with alcohol/degreaser. just spray. dry. done.

illuminates amber.