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BMW 3-Series and 4-Series Forum (F30 / F32) | F30POST > Technical Forums > Cosmetic and Lighting Modifications (exterior & interior) > We finally have alternative icon headlights for f32!
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      11-23-2023, 11:34 AM   #45
WillLowe
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Incase anyone is on the fence about these, i finally got a minute to quickly plug the new lights in to test they work and they work fine.

Edit: fitted them this morning, alignment still needs sorted from having the front end off but the lights are all plug and play as advertised

No clue why the first 2 are upside down.
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Last edited by WillLowe; 11-25-2023 at 09:12 AM..
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      12-05-2023, 06:20 PM   #46
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WillLowe View Post
Incase anyone is on the fence about these, i finally got a minute to quickly plug the new lights in to test they work and they work fine.

Edit: fitted them this morning, alignment still needs sorted from having the front end off but the lights are all plug and play as advertised

No clue why the first 2 are upside down.
Did you have an adaptive headlight error after installation? Also do you have the link for your specific headlights?
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      04-29-2024, 09:14 AM   #47
QueenCityLurker
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Hi everyone,
Sorry to necro an older thread but I didn't see a newer one.
Figured I would share some information with you all in case you are interested in upgrading to these newer headlights.
I purchased a set of the LCI style headlights and they should arrive later this week.
For now I'll share what I learned and what's important if you're considering these headlights.

I've found there are basically three different versions of these LCI style headlights that are out there in the wild/Chinababa.
1) 6 pin variant - for non adaptive headlights LCI
2) 8 pin variant - adaptive headlight non LCI (older style headlight)
3) 9 pin variant - adaptive headlight non LCI. Not sure what the functional differences are for the 8 and 9 pin variant.

You can find out which variant you have by removing front fender liner, and unplug your headlight harness (disconnect battery first) and look at how many pins are on the headlight connection (not the harness itself).

This is the information you need to know when buying these Chinababa headlights.
For my application, my 440i came with a 6 pin headlight set up like this:

These are LCI full LED headlights that came stock on my 2018 440i.

When I was getting price quotes from Chinababa retailers, there are some challenges to work through.
First there is the language barrier.
Secondly, they will ask you for make, model and year of the car, which given the fact there are a potential for 3 different style headlights, obviously this becomes an issue in ensuring you are getting the correct headlight.
Third, you have to ask them to sell you the headlight with your exact pin configuration. I had to go through a few retailers who didn't understand that I was specifically asking for the headlight in a 6 pin configuration before I landed on some that understood the ask and could ensure they would sell me a 6 pin headlight.

This ensures you get the most compatible headlight configuration for your model.

For 6 pin variant - no wiring is required. Just some possible coding.
For 8/9 pin variant - It is probable you will have to purchase Marius76_bmw's wiring kits off of Ebay and will surely require coding. Good chance you might/will lose your adaptive functionality but I'm not particularly a fan of the adaptive headlights (just more expensive shit to break) anyways.

So for those who did purchase these Chinababa headlights and could not get them to work, it's likely because the pin configuration on the headlight was a mismatch to your original headlight or headlight harness.

Hope some of you find this post helpful.
Thanks!

Last edited by QueenCityLurker; 04-29-2024 at 09:32 AM..
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      04-30-2024, 04:53 AM   #48
rusty_sojah
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Quote:
Originally Posted by QueenCityLurker View Post
Hi everyone,
Sorry to necro an older thread but I didn't see a newer one.
Figured I would share some information with you all in case you are interested in upgrading to these newer headlights.
I purchased a set of the LCI style headlights and they should arrive later this week.
For now I'll share what I learned and what's important if you're considering these headlights.

I've found there are basically three different versions of these LCI style headlights that are out there in the wild/Chinababa.
1) 6 pin variant - for non adaptive headlights LCI
2) 8 pin variant - adaptive headlight non LCI (older style headlight)
3) 9 pin variant - adaptive headlight non LCI. Not sure what the functional differences are for the 8 and 9 pin variant.

You can find out which variant you have by removing front fender liner, and unplug your headlight harness (disconnect battery first) and look at how many pins are on the headlight connection (not the harness itself).

This is the information you need to know when buying these Chinababa headlights.
For my application, my 440i came with a 6 pin headlight set up like this:

These are LCI full LED headlights that came stock on my 2018 440i.

When I was getting price quotes from Chinababa retailers, there are some challenges to work through.
First there is the language barrier.
Secondly, they will ask you for make, model and year of the car, which given the fact there are a potential for 3 different style headlights, obviously this becomes an issue in ensuring you are getting the correct headlight.
Third, you have to ask them to sell you the headlight with your exact pin configuration. I had to go through a few retailers who didn't understand that I was specifically asking for the headlight in a 6 pin configuration before I landed on some that understood the ask and could ensure they would sell me a 6 pin headlight.

This ensures you get the most compatible headlight configuration for your model.

For 6 pin variant - no wiring is required. Just some possible coding.
For 8/9 pin variant - It is probable you will have to purchase Marius76_bmw's wiring kits off of Ebay and will surely require coding. Good chance you might/will lose your adaptive functionality but I'm not particularly a fan of the adaptive headlights (just more expensive shit to break) anyways.

So for those who did purchase these Chinababa headlights and could not get them to work, it's likely because the pin configuration on the headlight was a mismatch to your original headlight or headlight harness.

Hope some of you find this post helpful.
Thanks!
so i have wasted a bunch of hours in the last week researching this very same thing emailing back and forth with many different shops and sellers, and it seems there are a bunch of retailers now selling the lci icon led suitable for our upgrade. my only problem is that i need RHD so I'm about to ask that guy up above with the RHD what he did. i know here in Japan the LHD lights won't pass the car inspections done every other year and after taking my bumper and one headlight (how does that song go again) out just to see the 9 pin plug in mine that i don't feel like going through that to reverse just for an inspection, plus the super shitty driving and constantly killing all the oncoming traffic would probably suck for me and not being able to see off the left side of the road much.

look at these f series icon lci led upgrades for not much more money and potentially a much more reputable supplier, i was about to order these before realizing i NEED RHD

https://www.inlinesixauto.com/collec...32-f36-f80-f82

supposedly plug and play and no coding.
you just select which pin count you have, 6, 8, or 9 and YES they are upgradeable with different color DRL modules that apparently you can get on chinba sites for a cool hundo...
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      04-30-2024, 05:00 AM   #49
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WillLowe View Post
Incase anyone is on the fence about these, i finally got a minute to quickly plug the new lights in to test they work and they work fine.

Edit: fitted them this morning, alignment still needs sorted from having the front end off but the lights are all plug and play as advertised

No clue why the first 2 are upside down.
i am looking for these same headlights in RHD spec and the only place i have found is like north of 3,000. are yours actually RHD? i live in japan and LHD ones won't pass our strict car inspections, plus driving would probably not be fun at night with LHD lights in an RHD country. what say you??
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      04-30-2024, 06:56 AM   #50
rusty_sojah
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WillLowe View Post
Incase anyone is on the fence about these, i finally got a minute to quickly plug the new lights in to test they work and they work fine.

Edit: fitted them this morning, alignment still needs sorted from having the front end off but the lights are all plug and play as advertised

No clue why the first 2 are upside down.
Will, it says your inbox is now full mate. I should have included my email address in the last message.
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      09-08-2024, 03:35 PM   #51
Jord
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WillLowe View Post
Incase anyone is on the fence about these, i finally got a minute to quickly plug the new lights in to test they work and they work fine.

Edit: fitted them this morning, alignment still needs sorted from having the front end off but the lights are all plug and play as advertised

No clue why the first 2 are upside down.

Any chance you have a link for those front spats/side fins? they look 10/10 compared to others I’m ending up finding after a google search
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