My wife backed into a big truck today and busted out the right tail light on her 99 528i. I've only had the car for 3mo, so I don't know too much about it yet.

Since I really can't drive around with a broken tail light, is my local dealer the best place to get a replacement lense fast? If not, where should I go.

I might be able to glue back the pieces and make due while a part is shipped, if someone has a good online source.

Also, if anyone has a link to "how to change out a tail light on an E39" that would be very helpful.

4 10 MM bolts hold the light housing the the body. these tail lights are not that expensive. check ebay for a set. if you want to upgrade your tail lights you can retrofit LED Tail Lamps (OEM for 2001-2003 E39 5ers) for about $350

hhhhmmm, I just may do that upgrade. Thanks.


The dealer quoted me only ~$235 for the one lense, but they were out of stock. I was able to find all the pieces, so I'm going to glue them all back together now. It'll get me through until I get get something ordered.

that's redunkerous...

how soon do you need them?

that's redunkerous...

how soon do you need them?
I kinda need them tomorrow since I'm going out of town. But the glue will hold for quite a while (I glued another tail light once and it has held for 8yrs and nobody suspects anything ever happened to it unless they're looking for it). So I'm really not in a rush at all any more. At the time I posted this thread, I didn't realize that I had 100% of the pieces.

I've got a set collecting dust in my garage. Make a reasonable offer and they are yours.

The amber and red ones attached to the car.

If you were local i would give you mine for free...

Im sure you can easily find a pair of old amber tails for no more then $50 in your area or just buy the ebay fake Cellis tails for like $110-120.

Kinda not a fan of cheap knock-offs. If you can afford OEM or same quality/build I would always recommend going that way over the made in Hong Kong crapo.