i kind of remember bekkers is little cheaper even w/the shipping. but not much. again, ask your sales rep first (i'm getting cheap again ). he might throw them in for you.

 

i've had my car for almost a year now.....

i don't think they will give it to me.

 

not hurt to ask. if not, ask him/her to get you his/her employee discount. not cost them a penny to do so. i think it'll come out cheaper than bekkers. man, i'm getting really cheap now .

 

Even if they are illigal, I doubt your local cop or Highway patrol are out to get the guy with red.

 

I had my inserts painted the body color. It looks good as well.

 

nah, they are too busy w/their cigarettes, coffee, and donuts . oops, no offense for the police officers and/or their families/friends.

 

Weird,

my FX35 has the inserts OEM...must be legal in CA...or maybe BMW getting cheap on US specs...also noticed that the cigarrette lights in the back are not there but instead 2 plastic caps...

 

When the E60's first arrived last year without the reflectors I did some research and found out that according to the US DOT regulations the rear bumper reflectors on the E60 are OK. There are two critaria: size/location of the reflectors, and color/material. The location (min. height, etc.) of the E60 reflectors are perfectly within the US DOT regulations. As far as the color/material is concerned, BMW and it's suppliers have been building rear reflectors for US cars for years (including the rear bumper reflectors for the US E46 and US Z8), so I assume they know what it should be. Besides, I asked some of the people who have purchased the European reflectors for their E60 from Bekkers or Canadian dealers and they have confirmed that the reflectors have the DOT markings on them, just like the US E46's reflectors do.

If the reason that BMW did not put the reflectors on US models TRULY is a legal issue then the only thing that I can think of is that somehow the suppliers that built the part for BMW thought that the reflector that they were building would be within US specs (and thus put the DOT markings on them), but somehow did not use the right material or reflecting angle on it (although I did not find any specs on reflecting angle in the DOT regulations at all).

But even if that were the case, it has now been a COMPLETE year since the first E60's started coming to the US. IF the reflectors were truly out of US specs it would have taken BMW just a few weeks to have it's supplier build a new version to meet US DOT specs. I also can't imagine that they would not put it on for cost reasons, after all, if the dealers in Germany are selling the pair of reflectors to the public for 13 Euros, it probably costs less than half of that for BMW to have them produced. Maybe they will start putting them on the 2005 models for the US as well.

So my OPINION is that the reflectors are NOT illegal in the US because:

A. Other cars, including US model BMW's (E46, Z8) have these type of bumper reflectors.

B. The size and location of the E60 bumper reflectors are within US DOT Specs.

C. The actual reflectors that people have bought through Bekkers or Canadian dealers (both of which got the European spec reflectors from Germany), have the DOT markings on them.

 

I originally heard that the reflectors were at the wrong height for DOT approval.
I guess Rody has checked and that's not the case, I'm ordering a set monday .
Thanks Rody.

DR.Z

 

They are $18.00 each plus tax. You won't regret replacing the black inserts with the red reflectors. They make the car so much more appealing.