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Bimmian - never again

5K views 49 replies 33 participants last post by  blkonblk 
#1 ·
I have had the platinumvision bulbs installed for sometime now as well as the xenon lookalike interiors from Bimmian. Detailing my car out the other day I find the bulb has melted my taillight... upon looking at the interior light covers I found these were melted also. As you can guess I was very angered by this and contacted Bimmian... here is our conversation below :

me: I purchased your platinumvisions for both front and rear turn
signals as well as reverse indicators. I also went ahead and purchased the
matching xenon-look interior bulbs.

Yesterday, when washing my car I find that the rear indicators have melted a
huge spot on my taillight lense. I became suspicious and looked a the
interior lights and found that both the drivers and passenger side lense
covers for the floor lights are melted as well and have burn marks.

I hope you can understand why I have contacted you. I love the look the
lights have provided, but now I have a very ugly mark the size of a half
dollar on my rear lense that is going to cost me about $60 to replace.

While you cannot see the melted areas for the inside bulbs this still is not
right and I will be getting these replaced also.

What solution do you have for this problem?

Bimmian: Hey Steve,
What kind of solution did you have in mind?
Some bulbs are not compatible with some electrical systems. Mine have been
in for over a year without a problem. About 5% of the people we have been
dealing with are having some sort of over heating problems. We are working
towards getting lower wattage xenons but its been hard to find a good
supplier. Let me know what you want to do.
Thanks,
Aaron

me: Well basically I did not expect this to ever happen. If you advertise these
bulbs for my model car then I would never think this to ever happen.

My problem now is I have a very ugly passengar taillight cover on my M3
trunk as well as two bulb covers for the driver and passenger leg room light
that are melted all the way through. If I didn't catch this then who knows
what could have happened.

I'm up for suggestions - I love the interior xenons as well as the
exteriors, but this melting problem cannot be happening. Now I am stuck
trying to order three parts that are more than likely going to be tough to
get a hold off and not very cheap.

Bimmian: Hey Steve,
As I mentioned 5W xenons that provide the same illumination as the 10W are
nearly impossible to find. The compatibility should be checked before
installation. For instance all trunk bulbs take 10w bulbs. And hence they
don't have problems. The license plate bulbs only have problems in certain
situations (when they are 5W). Obviously your vehicles configuration cannot
sustain such high wattage bulbs. It would be advisable to replace the bulbs
with your stock bulbs again. The lenses can be ordered right from the BMW
dealership.

me: Now back to the part where you FIX this situation. Obviously you have known
about these problems yet you still offer the bulbs for sale on your website
advertising they work fine with no issues. Your products have ruined my
taillight cover, both license plate light covers, and two interior covers
via melting. Who knows what could have happened if I didn't catch this as
soon as I did.

Is it me or are you recommending I take the loss on your product and the
replacement parts and go back to stock as I was before purchasing your
defective product? Basically ending up around $150 and much time later the
way I was in the beginning.

What are you going to do to fix the situation or are you planning on doing
nothing?

Bimmian: Hey Steve,
We cannot replace your light covers. I have had my bulbs installed for more
than a year without a problem. It is rare that we get complaints about this
problem. So I can only speculate when I say our warnings and suggestions
found in the instruction sheet were not heeded by these people. We cannot
be held liable for any misuse of the bulbs. The covers can be replaced MUCH
cheaper than $150. Just go to your dealership parts department and ask them
about it. I can't see those replacements being more than $15.
Thanks,
Aaron


---------------
I didn't know that you could misuse bulbs :thumbdwn: The parts are going to run $40 and about $5 each for 4 small covers then add in the bimmian bulbs which I will not be using anymore... quickly adds up to a decent amount only to end up stock before all this happened.

Notice how it appears that it is my fault the lights melted as the wattage cannot be handled by the car yet they offer these lights as a product for e46 M3's on their site! They also did not offer to refund the money, pay for the new lenses, nothing.

I am not very happy about this at all and will never deal with Bimmian again. Its bad enough products are taking months to show up at peoples doors and this kind of service just adds to it.

If 5% of people are having problems then that is something that should be noted. Also, if you are selling bulbs for peoples car knowing they run at a higher wattage and have the capability of melting then this should also be noted to the customer.

NOTE : This is just a personal experience I have had and wanted to make the members on this board aware of. Also, I do not want to see other members who have these bulbs end up in the same situation. Check your light covers if you have these installed!

see pics below :



 
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#27 ·
i am having issues with the PV2.0 bulbs as well, one of my brand new bulbs is illuminating at a lower level than the other.... and making my light out indicator come on... i thought i would finally be done with all the bulb problems i have had, looks like i will be ordering a set of SILVERVSIONS instead....

oh yea, and BIMMIAN, any time u wanna SORT OUT your painting problems with my TI SILVER reflectors, OR GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK, would be FINE with me.

revoke their sponsorship, i am sure the board could replace them without a problem.
 
#30 · (Edited)
ANOTHER Bimmian story

morrow95 inspired me to post this complaint about Bimmian.

About 2 months ago, I ordered the clear lens kit from Bimmian. They had a deal going on where if you bought the kit, you would receive PV 2.0 bulbs free. Great! First of all, they had some sort of problem with shipping the clears, and they took about a week longer than they were supposed to getting here. That's not the biggest problem.

The PV 2.0 bulbs came before the clears, and I wanted to test them out. Even before I handled one bulb, I looked at them in the plastic and noticed that they ALREADY had little nicks and scratches on them. No biggie. They were't that noticeable, and I knew the paint was kind of flimsy. I took 1 bulb out to test it, and kept the plastic on it like the instructions said to do. Well, when I put it in, it scratched through the plastic! THEN, it turns out that they are xenon bulbs! I was never even given the option of ambers or xenons, since I assumed that they wouldn't send you bulbs considered ILLEGAL in some states.

Anyway, I told Ian about how they weren't the right bulbs and he gave me an RMA # to ship them back in exchange for ambers. The cost to me was about $5. Ok great. Well, A MONTH later, I still don't have any bulbs. I had not heard a word from Ian or anyone else. So, I decide to shoot them an email. Aaron tells me that they received the bulbs "SEVERELY scratched" and that they cannot exchange them. He says that for $40, they can send me ambers ($10 off the full price). Right.

Ok, so let's go over this again. First of all, they sent me the bulbs already minorly scratched and flecked, something which they were seemingly blind to. Secondly, the 1 bulb I used to test scratches a little, and does so through the plastic wrapping no less. Is it my fault that they use the most useless paint in the world? Thirdly, they sent me the wrong bulbs in the first place! I find this infuriating. I mean, I have it a lot better than some of the unhappy Bimmian customers out there, but I am still mildly pissed. Even if the bulbs didn't theoretically cost me much (supposedly "free" with the clears, and also the $5 spent to send them back), I bought the clears from them for that reason alone.

Currently, I have sent them 2 emails which they have not responded to; one of them being an email entitled: "Dissatisfied Customer". I would obviously like a response, but they are probably busy dealing with their other 1,000 complaints.

In conclusion, dealing with Bimmian is like playing Russian Roulette. We hear good stories, and bad ones. But when they are bad, they are BAD. I know a lot of customers are not satisfied in the least, and they seem to be doing nothing to rectify the situations. I feel that they should not be a sponsor any longer. Anyway, thanks for reading the book I just wrote!
 
#39 ·
http://www.bimmian.com/interiorxenons.htm

I don't know how they say that it's YOUR fault for ordering products that aren't compatible with the e46, since they...get this....sell them in the e46 kit!

Chip-
 
#40 ·
carguy84 said:
http://www.bimmian.com/interiorxenons.htm

I don't know how they say that it's YOUR fault for ordering products that aren't compatible with the e46, since they...get this....sell them in the e46 kit!

Chip-
That link does not specify about the 10w bulbs in place of the OEM 5w bulbs, nor does it tell you that you have to bend some of the metal contacts to accommodate the bulb.

I bought the E46kit (12 bulbs) plus the license plate and trunk lights (4 bulbs). I don't exactly recall but I'd say more than half of the OEM bulbs were 5w but Bimmian's kit had more than half with 10w bulbs, and they weren't exactly the same sizes as the OEM.:thumbdwn:
 
#41 ·
blkonblk330i said:

That link does not specify about the 10w bulbs in place of the OEM 5w bulbs, nor does it tell you that you have to bend some of the metal contacts to accommodate the bulb.
While I haven't ever ordered anything from Bimmian and I'm running stock interior lights, someone asked my professional opinion about this a few days ago. You may find my response informative:

Note that they aren't Xenon in the sense that the headlights are. The headlights work like street lights - an electrical arc flows through Xenon gas to generate light. This requires a very high voltage (look under your hood and you'll see a "Caution - 25,000 volts!" sticker on each headlight assembly).

If there is any Xenon in the interior lighting kits, it used in the same way as halogen is used in "Halogen" lights - instead of a vacuum inside a regular light bulb, it is filled with an inert gas. The idea is for longer bulb life (at a given wattage) or a brighter light at the same life as a regular lamp (for a higher wattage). Technically, the glowing light filament emits particles of the filament, which get deposited elsewhere inside the bulb and reduce the thickness of the filament, which makes it hotter and eventually burns out. This is why old and burned-out bulbs have black marks inside the bulb. Halogen and other inert gases greatly reduce the loss of metal from the filament.

Anyway, these interior "Xenons" are just incandescent light bulbs painted blue (to filter the emitted light into the blue range). Because of the filtering, they need to be a higher wattage for the same light. This makes them run hotter. Compounding this, not all of the interior lamps are the same size, so some of the sockets wind up using physically oversized and higher-wattage bulbs. The sellers can't just use stock BMW bulbs for these because by the time they painted them, they'd be way too dim, and no manufacturer makes a higher-wattage one in that physical size.

If you want blue interior lights, I'd suggest installing "superbright" blue LEDs. It seems the few sellers offering these haven't quite figured it out yet, since there have been reports of burn-outs. LEDs should last close to forever if run properly. That, of course, is the trick. A LED is a regular diode that, when reverse-biased (power put through the other way) emits light. Hence, "Light Emitting Diode - LED". However, if you put too much power through it, it will run brighter but burn out much faster. Thus, you need to use a series resistor to limit current through the LED to the maufacturer's specified limit. For example, the LEDs I am using for my "illuminated cupholder" project have a spec of steady (operating) current of 30mA and an absolute maximum rating (the most it will take for a few seconds without burning out) of 150mA. Using Ohm's Law we can calculate the necessary series resistance once we know the other 2 of the 3 variables - we know the LED wants a max of 30mA and we know that the operating voltage of the car is 13.6V. But I expect that the sellers just want to get the brightest output possible and don't care if the LED burns out in a month or 2, as they'll get a repeat customer (although unhappy) for at least one more set. Thus, they'd probably run a LED like mine above at 75 or even 100mA.
 
#42 ·
I should have monitored these bulbs a bit closer. I noticed that I have damage to my footwell and license plate lenses due to these bulbs. I replaced them all and went back to stock. No sense risking more damage.

Chaulk up another damaged vehicle from these bulbs. Bimmain needs to take these off their site. These bulbs are BURNING HOT. I couldn't even touch them after they were on for a few minutes. I've had overall good service from Bimmian, but this makes me wonder about them naturally.

Very unhappy. But, it was my call to try em. :banghead: :cry:
 
#43 ·
He and his said:
Bimmians been getting smacked around lately...........:thumbdwn: :thumbdwn:
:werd: I haven't seen anything positive about them lately, and I also noticed that people whom usually support Bimmian don't really defend them anymore. Their business is going to go downhill if they don't do something about this.

They should have done <b>something</b> to correct the problem like a refund or replacing baked parts, But now they have to deal with all the people that aren't going to buy their products anymore. Just bad business if you ask me:tsk: :thumbdwn:
 
#45 ·
I ordered an european license plate holder from Bimmian. I thought their serive was good with timely delievery.

I guess I lucked out...
 
#47 ·
i ordered bulbs last week and he told me they would go out the very next day which was 2 weeks ago......i havent received a damn thing now i dont yet have my car but it is coming this week however now i do not even want to install the damn xenons..........the LSB reflectors are on backorder also....i think the webmaster of e46 fanatics should consider removing them as sponsors because that was the main reason i went ahead and ordered from them because i considered them trustowrthy but now they arent showing very good service
 
#50 ·
mine took 3 weeks to arrive. they go by snail mail from canada.

send them an email if its not too late to cancel.

i regularly check the other lights and they don't seem to cause any melting, since they are lower wattage and are not used as often. just don't install the footwell lights and license plate lights.
 
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