Ambient lighting project

[Maryan425]

Hey guys, I am looking into doing something along the lines of a passion project regarding the ambient lighting. A little background is that I got my x5 35d with 160k on it and the ambient lighting is absolutely worn out and barely looks as though it is working with maximum brightness setting ticked on the idrive. The rods also have spotting in them which makes the lighting look even worse. I was looking into doing a replacement but from what I have seen there aren't many replacements of this done expect with oem parts from the dealer.

I recently looked on aliexpress and ebay and saw several aftermarket solutions. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with these and the amount of work that it entails. I will link some of the ones I have seen below for reference.

Aliexpress:

1. RGB version (suite5)
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/32568...yAdapt=glo2usa

2.Option A
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/32568...yAdapt=glo2usa

Ebay:

1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/374618391733

2. https://www.ebay.com/itm/285063084930

Also, I was wondering if anyone had the repair manual for removing the ambient lighting, particularly the dashboard since I am familiar with removal of doorcards.

Any help is appreciated and I hope this thread will help people have a solution for replacement of dim ambient lights in the future.

[stocktree]

You plan on removing the whole fiber optic strip? Or just the bulbs? The dash strip bulbs are on outer ends of the dash from what I remember. Have to probably remove the vents and trim.

[Maryan425]

By the looks of it I will have to remove the strips and replace them with the ones in the link. Also, looks like its removing vents, trim and the side pieces to the dash. I am not sure if that will be enough to get them out. Just don't want to remove the whole dash.

[stocktree]

I'd try just changing bulbs. Changing the strips would be a big pain. And I'm not sure how much they'll help.

[Maryan425]

I've tried changing the bulbs but unfortunately they didn't help at all so looks like its gonna be a full replacement. Ive had some of the strips out on the door cars and its not terrible. The main concern is the dashboard strips and the level of difficulty involved with that.