Midwest Light Creations- HID Headlights and Retrofit Kits (Headlights by Jeff)

PduBerer

Veteran Member
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Nov 2, 2011
Location
St. Catharines, Ontario
TDI
2000 Golf TDI GLS (RIP), 2002 Jetta TDI GLS, 2014 Golf Wagon TDI DSG Wolfsburg Edition, 2014 Touareg TDI Execline


Installed the headlights today. Dayuum. Also painted the grille matte black.

Still need to perfect the aim. Anyone have any tips on how to get them to aim nice and straight? This is what i have:


The inner adjuster on moves up and down. What does the outer adjuster do? I cant seem to flatten the cutoff
 

VeeDubTDI

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I'm pretty sure that's how it's supposed to be, with the right side kicking up a bit more than the left side. :confused:
 
Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Location
Columbus, OH
TDI
2003
It's tough to tell against that brick wall, but the right side of each light beam should jump up. That is normal. Also, I know we talked about spacers when you picked them up from me, but you may want to look into them for the passengers side light. You can get them at most hardware stores. The inner does up and down. The outer does left to right. Really though, you are in decent shape there aside from the passengers side light needing to be a bit higher.

http://www.idealindustries.com/prodDetail.do?prodId=spacer-shims
 

Psymos

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Western PA
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2002 Jetta TDI
Out of curiosity, what are the spacers needed for. My stock headlights are aimed terribly low and the right adjust is actually broke so it literally almost aimed straight down. Was hoping to fix the issues once I get mine in the mail, but just in case, was curious what the spacers were for and where you put them :)


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Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Location
Columbus, OH
TDI
2003
These light assemblies are not designed for projectors. So sometimes the adjusters don't allow for the lights to be aimed high enough. The spacers are placed on the bottom screw holes of the light, between the mounts and the car. They essentially allow you to prop up the light from the bottom for some additional height in the beam pattern.
 

Psymos

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Location
Western PA
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2002 Jetta TDI
These light assemblies are not designed for projectors. So sometimes the adjusters don't allow for the lights to be aimed high enough. The spacers are placed on the bottom screw holes of the light, between the mounts and the car. They essentially allow you to prop up the light from the bottom for some additional height in the beam pattern.
Perfect, got it! Actually that's what I did with a couple washers on my passenger light as the adjuster broke. Just forgot to put them back in on reassembly when I installed my fmic!! DOH! Thank you sir! :)


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aydn

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Apr 29, 2010
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Vancouver
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99.5 MKIV ALH
Wow, just added the 55w ballast. Jeff, what a difference! Just like my bug OEM HID now!
Oh no, why didn't I get that! Where did you get the 55W from? Won't everything melt now?

Edit : research says it cuts bulb life in half, so maybe I don't need those extra lumens after all.
 
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VeeDubTDI

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55w ballasts on 35w lamps will reduce the lamp life. You can upgrade to 55w lamps to go with the 55w ballasts, assuming that they're available in the mini H1 style.

I checked with Jeff about doing 55w on our set of lights and he said he had ballasts but not the lamps. Not wanting to decrease the lamp life and suffer from a color shift over time (another side effect of overdriving them), I opted to stick with the 35 watt ballasts.
 

boertje

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True, but I haven't found 55w bulbs as such. Even the retrofitsource people state that their H1 bulb is 35w or more.
 

VeeDubTDI

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I don't know how much I buy that "or more" business, although in not very familiar with the lower wattage HID products. I use a lot of higher wattage HID stuff at work and there is some flexibility between ballasts and lamps, but there is always a trade off (lamp life, efficiency, color shift).
 

79TA7.6

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I am running 50 watts in my retrofits. Had them for about a year and one bulb, Morimoto, turned pink on me. The other bulb was fine. Got a hold of TRS where I got them and they replaced the bulb for free. I have been running the new bulb, and the other original bulb for a little more than 2 years now and have not seen any difference in change. The bulbs I am running are rated for 50 watts though. When I contacted TRS I asked about the Phillips bulb and was told they are an excellent bulb for 50 watts as they will not color shift and will not lose much life running higher wattage.
 

fusatia

New member
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Mar 30, 2013
Location
Central California
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2011 JSW TDI
Got the new lights installed, just a couple of notes and a question about a small issue I had:

- The polarity of the turn signals was backwards (at least as far as my LED bulbs were concerned)
- One of the projectors was loose (had to remove the front end to get the light out, straightened up and tightened to fix - should've checked before I installed

The issue I am having now though is that my hi-beam cutoff is sticking. I can get to hi-beam easily, but once I release the hi-beam the bulbs remain in hi-beam mode until I get out and bang on the housing to knock the cutoff loose. Is there any known cause/fix for this? Kind of a bummer that I can't use hi-beams!

Otherwise they are great - look great, perform well, and I'm very pleased with that I got for the price.

Thanks!
 
Joined
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Location
Columbus, OH
TDI
2003
Regarding 55W ballasts and bulbs. 55W bulbs are very very expensive. Therefore most people use a 35W bulb with a 55W ballasts. This cuts the life of the bulb in half, and washes out the color over that time. If you can imagine something being very bright, with without color, that is what happens. The light output then is notably brighter, but that is the trade off.
 

derewaj

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Southwest Michigan
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2002 Jetta 5 speed, 2002 Jetta was auto - now 5-speed
Jeff, Do you have any 55 watt bulbs and ballasts that you would reccomend? Also what color 35 watt bulbs are you currently supplying with the H1 kits like I got from you?
 

FlyTDI Guy

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PNW
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'01 Jetta GLS
Just my experience but I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep over 55w bulbs vs the "universal" or 35w ones. I've been running 55w ballasts for over 4 years now. My first set were supposedly genuine 55w bulbs. After a couple years, I ended up blowing both a ballast and bulb after a noticeable color shift in one side. After that, I ordered another set from DDM tuning which was comprised of 55w ballasts and "universal" 35w bulbs. I've been running over 2 years on the setup with no color degradation or problems. Replacement bulbs are less than $15 a set from DDM (which I have on hand) so... compared to Halogen this is cheap. Considering a set of halogen Silverstar's will set you back around $40 and have an advertised life of well under 200 hrs, even 35w HID bulbs are pretty economical in comparison. As the lifetime of HID's is pretty long, even getting 1/2 life equates to years of service... color shift aside.
 
Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Location
Columbus, OH
TDI
2003
I would say that DDM or TRS are good places for anything regarding bulbs and 55W. You'll get better CS at TRS but will pay a premium for it. TRS uses 35W bulbs for everything. I honestly don't even know who sells true 55W bulbs. I think I remember reading about CNlight having them someplace..not sure though.
 

VeeDubTDI

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‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
The lights arrived today. They look very nice.



 

ik0n

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Kitchener-Waterloo
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2004 Jetta Wagon TDI
Not to detract from original purpose of this thread, but where is everyone mounting their ballasts and relay?

I like to keep things looking somewhat neat and tidy and professional looking; not like it was a last thought and just jammed in to work...

My fog light harness is already mounted on the inside of the intake (behind the plastic cover above drivers side headlight) I don't just want to shove more in there as on my BEW that is part of the intake ducting and I'd like to limit any restrictions in air flow to as little as possible...

Any thoughts, photos of where you mounted yours or wish you had mounted them is appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Brett
 

kiwibru

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Golf 2-door, 2k Silver. Red RTDI now gone but not forgotten!
Mind you, this is on a Golf set...

Right side ballasts and relay mount just fine on the side of the window shield washer bottle. Same items, inside the cover plate on the drivers side as you mention. There is enough room that the ballast can sit on the bottom of the cover ledge no problem. Harness can be mounted up on the drivers side space between the battery and fender. 3M automotive 2-way tape works great for these mounting points. I put my LED ballasts inside the rear headlight cover attached with the tape. This keeps them from rattling around and there is enough space no problem. HTH.
 

hussainm

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May 30, 2013
Location
Toronto Ontrario
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2000 Jetta
EDIT: SOLD!

Did anyone miss out on this and want a set of lights? I got the wrong ones and it will be too expensive to send them back. Jeff agreed that selling these of would be the best option. If anyone up in Canada in the GTA couldn't get their hands on these in time, I have a set:

GLI style with black around the indicator, fog, and lip (similar to VeeDubTDI's post above except WITHOUT ANGEL EYES)
Glass outer lens

I will confirm the price with Jeff and edit this post with that information.
 
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silverbox

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Halifax Nova Scotia
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jetta wagon 2003 silver
Did anyone miss out on this and want a set of lights? I got the wrong ones and it will be too expensive to send them back. Jeff agreed that selling these of would be the best option. If anyone up in Canada in the GTA couldn't get their hands on these in time, I have a set:

GLI style with black around the indicator, fog, and lip (similar to VeeDubTDI's post above except WITHOUT ANGEL EYES)
Glass outer lens

I will confirm the price with Jeff and edit this post with that information.
Just sent you a PM
 
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