Side Repeaters Replaced

The side repeaters were looking quite sorry for themselves, all misted over and generally just old looking.

I originally ordered a new set from aceparts.com with my LED Sidelights and Xenon Fog Lights. They were just copies of the OEM style in clear plastic.

When they arrived, I was less than pleased. The quality of the lights was absolutely awful. Immediately evident was poor quality of the part mould, as there was flash the whole way around the part. For those not in the know, this is when the mould doesn't close properly and material can escape.


Persevering, I spent some time with a scalpel trying to neaten up the edges, then went to test fit only to find that the bulb housing did not fit into the light at all. Out came the scalpel and yet more removal of material.


After much frustration, I finally managed to get everything to fit where it should, time to fit it to the car. Well, you can see the results below, it's not exactly a perfect fit. Needless to say they got sent back to aceparts.com for a refund. Extremely poor.


After this disappointment, I decided it was best to go for OEM quality parts. So I ordered a set from eurocarparts.com. These looked much more promising, far higher quality and came with bulb housings and bulbs.


With the old ones removed I compared them against the new ones, only then was it clear just how bad the old ones actually were.

old vs new e46 side repeater

Last thing to do was to fit them, thankfully they fit superbly. They have really freshened up the front quarter panels, and even after all the hassle it was a worthwhile exercise.

Before (left) and After (right)

weathered e46 side repeaternew e46 side repeater

new e46 side repeater