R36 HID bulb replacement

[XXX-1.8T]

95% of bulbs are fake on ebay.

I had the same issue and managed to get my money back by kicking up a fuss with Paypal.

Buy from Powerbulbs you wont have any problems.

[Domatron]

95% of bulbs are fake on ebay.

I had the same issue and managed to get my money back by kicking up a fuss with Paypal.

Buy from Powerbulbs you wont have any problems.

Well I have learnt my lesson and won't make the same mistake again!

Did you have to prove to Paypal that they were fake or just nag until they caved?

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[XXX-1.8T]

Nagged till they caved in.

I also contacted the manufacturer to confirm they were fake.

Is the seller in Poland or says they are in the UK but have a Polish name?

[Domatron]

Nagged till they caved in.

I also contacted the manufacturer to confirm they were fake.

Is the seller in Poland or says they are in the UK but have a Polish name?

Not sure where exactly they are from but the ebay store is called autolamp_com and they say they are based in the UK. When I emailed them to complain they gave some very long winded explanation in slightly broken english so its definitely not their 1st language.

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[snerlo]

Well, I noticed the dreaded purple light syndrome on my 36 a couple of days ago! GREAT!! So I presume that I have to now buy two as it is a bumper off job. For those that have done the job themselves, did it end up easier than you were expecting. Looks like I now have to buy from powerbulbs!! Any advice would be welcomed.

[kamold]

It's more a pain in the proverbial than particularly difficult.
It's easier with 2 people because its pretty flexible once unmounted from the body and its a big bit of plastic.
And the whole time you're doing it you are just incredulous that the design is so poor....
There are a lot of things I love about my car...having to remove the whole front bumper to replace a globe is not one of them.

Do yourself a favour and get either Philips Xtreme Vision v2 or Osram Nightbreaker Unlimited.
Then you shouldn't have to replace them again.

[snerlo]

Thanks mate. I just want white bulbs so will look into those two that you mentioned. Cheers.

[Domatron]

I would tend to agree with Kamold. Once you know where all the various fixing points are its not that difficult just annoying and time consuming. A 2nd pair of hands will go a long way especially when it comes to actually pulling the bumper off as it does flex quite a bit. It is also very easy to scratch the paint with the bolts that fix the bumper to quarter panels as they are permanently attached... I found out the hard way...

And make sure you have some zipties to reattach the wiring harness that is fixed to the inside of the bumper. You wont be able to remove the bumper without cutting the originals.

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