2012 Passat HID DIY Install

Coffeemade

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2011
Location
Hoodbridge, Va
TDI
2012 VW Passat TDI SEL Prem
I contacted DistantXtremes because I heard from some of my friends they had some very high quality HID kits. I talked it over with their customer service and determined that the best kit was the XE+ Premium 35w Slim H7 Kit in a 6000K color option.
I placed my order and in 3 days they where at my door :D By accident I got a 35W kit and a 50W kit. They corrected this by overnighting one of each so I could choose. The difference was minor but the 35W had a much cleaner look from the front end....driving down the road they looked very similar and the 35W kits are recommended over 50W kits, less energy usage.

I went to install them without paying any attention to a real DIY but I did read the section of this DIY about the wires and color codes http://www.myturbodiesel.com/forum/48555-post18.html (Thanks TDI Brad)
Please read this whole thing prior to starting so you won't feel like this later.:banghead::banghead::banghead:
The below picture is for reference of what the back of 2012 VW Passat Headlight housing looks like:

This install was done by my friend Jasen and I documented it all. So just ignore the part where I keep saying “I”, because that was all him. I started by removing the headlight bulb from the driver and to my shock found this:

Yes, VW again has come up with their own unique bulb harness. I was determined to install the HID’s. I did find a set of headlight bulb adaptors from USP (Click here for the link) during my install which was too late and I didn't want to spend $24 for adaptors. I am cheap and with my buddies help and a Dremel we made it work. So in order for the bulb to fit you need to dremel out a nice big hole while retaining the front portion of the housing as seen below.


Once you have done this and saved yourself $24 now for the fun stuff. Install the new HID headlight.
HID bulb



When reinstalling the headlight keep in mind this notch is straight up and down.

Do that for each side.
Now onto wiring, refer to the picture above to locate the headlamp housing harness. Disconnect the harness. (I am terrible at getting these connectors off, so Jasen did that.) On either light you will notice the connector is numbered. The headlight wires are Pin 5 negative(-) and Pin 6 power (+). On both sides the negative wire is brown, but the power wires are different on each side so the driver side driver side is a yellow wire with a black strip and pass side wire is a yellow wire with a blue strip).
So you can splice, tap, or solder the wires. We soldered the wires to the ballasts.
 

Coffeemade

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2011
Location
Hoodbridge, Va
TDI
2012 VW Passat TDI SEL Prem

I connected the HID harness to the ballasts and turned them on. We accidentally plugged the connector upside down so it was reverse but that doesn't cause damage, unconnected and reconnected and turned the HID on and first words out of my mouth. "Dam, I should have done this months ago!!!"

I was driving down the road back to my house and it was the first time I felt like I was back in my GTI. The lights look awesome and cutoff on the HID is really nice.
This is my google plus photo gallery for the install
All of the above pictures were taken with a camera phone, below are taken with a good camera :)










Keep in mind the below picture is with HID's and fog lights on.





Click here to check out my google plus album for more photos
 
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VeeDubTDI

Wanderluster, Traveler, TDIClub Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 2, 2000
Location
Springfield, VA
TDI
‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
More pictures please. Beam pattern, oncoming shots, pattern on a wall, the whole nine yards. Looking forward to seeing these. :cool:
 

VeeDubTDI

Wanderluster, Traveler, TDIClub Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 2, 2000
Location
Springfield, VA
TDI
‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
:eek:

Thank you! Yes - I need to get down there and see what's up. How'z about tomorrow?
 

dogger37

Veteran Member
Joined
May 28, 2012
Location
PA
TDI
2012 passat
So you got them to function correctly without any issues? Would the setup you used be able to make the chinese ones work?
 

Coffeemade

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2011
Location
Hoodbridge, Va
TDI
2012 VW Passat TDI SEL Prem
:eek:

Thank you! Yes - I need to get down there and see what's up. How'z about tomorrow?
Oh now I see why you tried to meet up last night....sorry I had a really busy day at work and some how missed this. I'm home now :cool:

So you got them to function correctly without any issues? Would the setup you used be able to make the chinese ones work?
Yeah not one single issue, almost plug and play. Next time I won't wait so long and I am happy I went with the company I did because I know not all HID kits are the same.
 

nkgagne

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2010
Location
Kitchener, Ontario Canada
TDI
2015 Sportwagen 6M, 2006 Golf GLS TDI (sold)
NO!
NO NO NO NO NO!

Either retrofit some proper HID projectors (see theretrofitsource.com) in your housing with a proper beam pattern or live with the halogens! HID "drop-in" kits in halogen reflector housings are as bad as driving around with your high-beams on all the time! It's annoying, rude, unsafe, doesn't give you good light output since it's out of focus, and it bounces back at you in fog and blinds you! Just say HAIL NO!
 

VeeDubTDI

Wanderluster, Traveler, TDIClub Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 2, 2000
Location
Springfield, VA
TDI
‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
Being in the lighting industry, I tend to agree... but I'm not gonna rain on someone's parade. Plenty of that going on lately as it is.
 

Coffeemade

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2011
Location
Hoodbridge, Va
TDI
2012 VW Passat TDI SEL Prem
I am starting to understand why others with either complete chinese lights or other DIYs aren't taking the time to document and post up DIYs......

I might take a step back myself.
 

VeeDubTDI

Wanderluster, Traveler, TDIClub Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 2, 2000
Location
Springfield, VA
TDI
‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
Not asking you to step back as I'm genuinely interested in your retrofit. From my experience and what I've seen in other cars on the road, many drop in HID retrofit kits have very poor light control. I have seen some cars that respond well to drop in HIDs and I'm very curious to see if the Passat is one of these cars. It also depends on the kit - some are worse than others.

So please, continue sharing!

PS- complete Chinese lights would fulfill the "requirements" set forth by nkgagne since they're factory projector HIDs.
 

VeeDubTDI

Wanderluster, Traveler, TDIClub Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 2, 2000
Location
Springfield, VA
TDI
‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
Pouring here again... crazy weather today! :eek: Tornado and flash flood warnings earlier, now just flash flood warnings.

Stay safe!
 

dogger37

Veteran Member
Joined
May 28, 2012
Location
PA
TDI
2012 passat
Hate to ask the question again but can this kit help make the OEM chinese lights and/or the aftermarket LED/HID lights work?
 

VeeDubTDI

Wanderluster, Traveler, TDIClub Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 2, 2000
Location
Springfield, VA
TDI
‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
Jason and I met up with Coffeemade tonight and got some excellent comparison shots of our stock lights compared to his with the HID retrofit. I have to say - I'm very impressed with the results! I have traditionally been anti-retrofit when it comes to HIDs, but this particular setup is something that Jason and I are both very seriously considering.

Interesting observations:

  • Beam cutoff is more defined on the halogen lights, but the cutoff is still acceptable with the HIDs.
  • Traditional HID retrofit scatter is nearly nonexistent.
  • Color temperature and light output are incredible compared to the halogen lights.
  • Oncoming intensity has increased proportionately with light output. The focus is good enough to prevent blinding - at least in my opinion while viewing from several oncoming positions.
  • Beam pattern on the road in front of you appears to be excellent - as good or better than the stock lights.

I have a lot of pictures to go through, so I probably won't have them up until tomorrow.
 

Coffeemade

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2011
Location
Hoodbridge, Va
TDI
2012 VW Passat TDI SEL Prem
Hate to ask the question again but can this kit help make the OEM chinese lights and/or the aftermarket LED/HID lights work?
No because this is a simple install while the chinese light are a complete replacement and need to wired correctly and coded properly. I still haven't pulled out the VAGCOM once to do anything with these lights :D

I have to say - I'm very impressed with the results! I have traditionally been anti-retrofit when it comes to HIDs, but this particular setup is something that Jason and I are both very seriously considering.
Yeah it was nice meeting up with you guys. I really hope you guys have luck on the Chinese LED tail lights. I still can't mentally get over the inside lights not being reverse....

So I updated my G+ gallery located here

I know you have many more that me but here are a couple:

Stopped on a hill just before I met up with VeeDubTDI and Jason


Driving down the road side by side (HID kit on left and factory H7 on right:







The stock H7 is on the left in the photo and the HID is on the right.


So these are basically all the photos I got, I wish I hadn't quit but I know Lawson and Jasen had better camera skillz than me.

I will be updating my build page with some of these same photos and hopefully I get my coilovers in this week :) click here for the build link.
 

Niner

duplicate account, banned
Joined
Jun 3, 2011
Just a FYI, I used to carry around big old LiIon battery packs and HID lights for night riding trails on my mountain bikes at night. About 3 years ago, HID's, at least for our applications, became outdated, everyone switched over to LED's, which are lighter, more durable, last more than 1000 starts before the ballast burns out on you, etc.

Just saying... One day, don't know when, but Cree or Osram will come up with a kickarse LED system that will make these obsolete... if history repeats itself.

Have to say, though, the results look good.
 

compu_85

Gadget Guy
Joined
Sep 29, 2003
Location
La Conner, WA
TDI
... None :S
Here are some of the pictures I got:





Note that both cars have the same scatter up high on the wall, the HIDs are just brighter:







I didn't expect to like these when I first read about the retrofit. They are not perfect... but the pattern is better than most of the mis-aimed, clouded over headlights on a lot of cars around here. At $100 I think I will get one of the 4300k kits to try :)

http://uspmotorsports.com/product_info.php?cPath=534_565&products_id=632

I think this kit works so well because the H7 lamp is laid out along the same plane as the HID lamp:



-Jason
 
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Niner

duplicate account, banned
Joined
Jun 3, 2011
Is the 4300K more pure white in color, sun colored? What's the Kelvin factor on the stock headlights?
 

tdiatlast

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Location
Fort Worth, Texas
TDI
2009 Sportwagen (boughtback); 2014 Passat TDI SEL (boughtback)
Post #19: photo 3 is OEM, photo 4 is HID.
Hid cutoff lookd higher than OEM. Also, the "oncoming" shot in photo 5, the HID is fuzzier, and looks brighter/higher.

Would the HID install benefit from aiming them lower? I know, from the factory, mine were high and I adjusted them down.

Just wondering.
 

compu_85

Gadget Guy
Joined
Sep 29, 2003
Location
La Conner, WA
TDI
... None :S
The cutoff is about in the same spot. What you are seeing is the scatter, both lights are aimed at about the same height, and the "scatter box" is about the same too. It's just easier to see on the HID lights.

In the oncoming shot the HID looks a bit fuzzier because the scatter light is brighter. The picture makes it look worse than it is.

Headlights are so hard to take pictures of, this is no exception. If you squint at the picture to knock down some of the brightness you can see the hotspot is in the same place.

-J
 

Niner

duplicate account, banned
Joined
Jun 3, 2011
The cutoff is about in the same spot. What you are seeing is the scatter, both lights are aimed at about the same height, and the "scatter box" is about the same too. It's just easier to see on the HID lights.

In the oncoming shot the HID looks a bit fuzzier because the scatter light is brighter. The picture makes it look worse than it is.

Headlights are so hard to take pictures of, this is no exception. If you squint at the picture to knock down some of the brightness you can see the hotspot is in the same place.

-J
Did you push "Buy it Now" yet for your set? :D How much room is there back behind the headlight to do an install, or does the whole front bumper have to come off like on my A4?
 

VeeDubTDI

Wanderluster, Traveler, TDIClub Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 2, 2000
Location
Springfield, VA
TDI
‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
Haven't pressed "Buy it Now" just yet... perhaps tomorrow.
 

tdiatlast

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Location
Fort Worth, Texas
TDI
2009 Sportwagen (boughtback); 2014 Passat TDI SEL (boughtback)
compu 85: Thanks for the clarification. Now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense that a photo of a light would have issues.

Hmmm...don't press that "Buy it Now" button until you talk to me...maybe you/we can get a discount if you buy 2 sets? I'm seriously considering it...
 
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