So I put in these bimmian interior lights thinking... being the same size and wattage and application and all.. it'd be totally safe... into the corner arches of my car to create a neat "cool white" effect on each corner of my car. It looked nice while it lasted, my car is black...

But lo and behold, each and every bulb burnt out and melted the smoked corner arch housing (aftermarket) that I had so now I have some very ugly disfigured arch lenses in my bumper that have no light emitting, obviously. I told bimmian, they said since the bulbs are made for the interior of the car that it is what it is... typical.... typically retarded.

So I have two options

1. find another set of smoked arches (very hard, looking for some help... and i'd rather not import)

2. find the european arches with no lens spot at all

which leads me to the next question that who/if anyone has replaced the us arches with euro ones, what did you do with the sockets that are supposed to light up and plug into the arches? just let them sit inside the bumper?

since I may not have the car in 1-2 years (that r60 looks tasty) I want to do what ever is more inexpensive but still good looking. thank you!

 

I have stock arches and I applied Lamin-X to them in gun smoke.
http://jeffsmashkot.posterous.com/car-in-motion
http://jeffsmashkot.posterous.com/flik-ftds (see image3)

 

If you decide to go with the euro arches I have a set for sale. I bought them used and never put on. I wound up going with the aero kit.

 

I also just applied the smoke Lamin-x to the stock arch lights and think it looks good. The smoke tint still looks good after almost three years.

 

i have some laminex tinted lights for sale. they look good. the tinted tail lights looked like crap after about 9 months.

 

I have smoked arches and use white LEDs in them. This is the best way to go if you want them lit up at night. Other than that, just use the film like others have suggested. It's cheap and easy. And for a clean look, you could go for the euro arches.