LED Tails

Wow, nice. I bet those OEM tail LEDs are expensive as hell!
v1k1ng01, your reverse lights (one white and another one red) looks funny. You really need to finish the retrofit and make the rear fog work

BTW, why do Euro-spec TDI vs US-Spec TDI? I mean, any clues why the last TDI letter is red for Europe and blue for US?

from my understanding, there have always been many different colors of the badge. They denote a quick way to tell what motor is installed.

An ARL would have had a RED "DI", while ALH had RED "I" only etc. I think it is the same now, they likely denote which motor HP spec in the color of the logo.

What they (Europe and UK) pay for a "base" car is typically higher than what we pay in the US. This is likely due to the fact that many roads on that side of the pond are smaller, so are parking spaces, and as such, smaller cars have always been in demand, and the Golf is extremely high demand, while "Americans dont like small cars" or so is the common thought, so they "despec" ours to justify the higher price they sell them for overseas - at least this is my opinion on it. Same reason why "Highlines" have leather factory in Canada, and I had to do my leather aftermarket - as a top spec US Golf TDI (what they sell as the "tech package") does not have leather as an option.

hotpocketdeath said:

You can get some LED tails much cheaper through a group buy.

I just got mine a few weeks ago from here: http://golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49645

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I had seen this, but I thought the brightness was not quite the same, and some people complained about fitment. You are happy with yours?

hotpocketdeath said:

And that harness acts more as an adapter since you can't plug your wire harness directly into the LED Tails. The Depo Lights in the group buy will accept the factory harness, so no need for an adapter.
The Depo Lights are also plug and play and come with a resistor box if you don't have a vagcom, but you can still use a vagcom to code the computer and not bother with the resistor boxes.

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Thanks for the info! This does answer one of my questions.

bfalke1 said:

I had seen this, but I thought the brightness was not quite the same, and some people complained about fitment. You are happy with yours?

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I've been quite pleased with mine. No complaints about fitment either.

My only complaint is a slight edge where the the parts of the mold met. It's not noticeable unless you look really close for it. But also really easy to get rid of with a little wet sanding.

Henrick said:

Wow, nice. I bet those OEM tail LEDs are expensive as hell!
v1k1ng01, your reverse lights (one white and another one red) looks funny. You really need to finish the retrofit and make the rear fog work

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I did finish the wireing work after I posted thqat picture but never did figure-out which coding in byte 18 I needed to get the "Back-up lights" error code to go away. That said I'm now getting rid the car next month, so I guess I'll never know. Looked good while it lasted though.

v1k1ng01 said:

I did finish the wireing work after I posted thqat picture but never did figure-out which coding in byte 18 I needed to get the "Back-up lights" error code to go away. That said I'm now getting rid the car next month, so I guess I'll never know. Looked good while it lasted though.

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There is no known way to remove the "bulb Out" for the reverse lights. Coding for LED tails only removes the "Bulb Out" check for the brake/tail light components.

If you are using LED reverse lights, you have to use a load resistor. If you have regular bulbs and you are getting the bulb out indicator, then something is wrong.

The only other bulbs I know of that you can remove the "Bulb Out" check is the License Plate and the City Lights. Handy if you don't want to buy the pricier canbus LED's.

Henrick said:

Wow, nice. I bet those OEM tail LEDs are expensive as hell!
v1k1ng01, your reverse lights (one white and another one red) looks funny. You really need to finish the retrofit and make the rear fog work

BTW, why do Euro-spec TDI vs US-Spec TDI? I mean, any clues why the last TDI letter is red for Europe and blue for US?

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For the Mk6 I can tell you that it depends on the market and the model the vehicle is sold in. US and Canada it's a blue I'd CJAA TDI, EU it's a Red or Silver I'd CBAA TDI, and othere places it's seems to be blue I'd CBAA.

hotpocketdeath said:

There is no known way to remove the "bulb Out" for the reverse lights. Coding for LED tails only removes the "Bulb Out" check for the brake/tail light components.

If you are using LED reverse lights, you have to use a load resistor. If you have regular bulbs and you are getting the bulb out indicator, then something is wrong.

The only other bulbs I know of that you can remove the "Bulb Out" check is the License Plate and the City Lights. Handy if you don't want to buy the pricier canbus LED's.

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Really? I tought it threw the code because the R20 tails's with fog's change the stock bulb sockets from 7440's on each inner housing, to a single 921 socket on the L/H and the red led fog on the R/H? Either way I have a single Sylvania 921 incadesent bulb in my R/H housing, and there is no reverse light on the L/H inner housing.

v1k1ng01 said:

Really? I tought it threw the code because the R20 tails's with fog's change the stock bulb sockets from 7440's on each inner housing, to a single 921 socket on the L/H and the red led fog on the R/H? Either way I have a single Sylvania 7440 incadesent bulb in my R/H housing, and there is no reverse light on the L/H inner housing.

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Ah, Coding for rear fogs is a different story. I wouldn't know what coding you would need to rear fog light. All I can say is the actual "Reverse Lights" can not be coded out.

I can say I used this guide to code for my LED Tails
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...-Rear-Fog.&p=65930137&viewfull=1#post65930137

hotpocketdeath said:

Ah, Coding for rear fogs is a different story. I wouldn't know what coding you would need to rear fog light. All I can say is the actual "Reverse Lights" can not be coded out.

I can say I used this guide to code for my LED Tails
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...-Rear-Fog.&p=65930137&viewfull=1#post65930137

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The Fourm in your link say's change Byte 18 to 22 or 15 with VCDS, for a rear fog installed car running halogens. I'll give it a try when I get home today to see if it works. Thanks!

2013 Golf TDI, OEM LEDs no fog, Im trying change byte 18 to get rid off "bulb out error", i get this when I select byte 18, any idea how to do it?

bmwM5power said:

2013 Golf TDI, OEM LEDs no fog, Im trying change byte 18 to get rid off "bulb out error", i get this when I select byte 18, any idea how to do it?

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You have to manually edit the number in line 1. Just make sure you are replacing byte 18.


And on a side note, I just got in my reverse LED bulbs. I'm liking them.

Got it, thanks for help, where did you get the led bulbs, and which one?

bmwM5power said:

Got it, thanks for help, where did you get the led bulbs, and which one?

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Got the LED bulbs from Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008G4Y076/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
There are other styles, but I chose these because they give a nice wide light cast.

Load Resistors came from SuperbrightLEDs.com
http://www.superbrightleds.com/more...ment-bulbs/marker-lamp-load-resistor/191/832/
You have to use Load Resistors with the reverse lights.

Future plans are to snag some turn signal LEDs. Couple of people have reported they do not need load resistors.
http://www.bold-sport.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=43_44_65&product_id=221

hotpocketdeath said:

Got the LED bulbs from Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008G4Y076/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
There are other styles, but I chose these because they give a nice wide light cast.
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How do those compare to the stock bulbs in terms of actual light output?

VeeDubTDI said:

How do those compare to the stock bulbs in terms of actual light output?

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Hard to say, but here are some numbers for you.

A normal 921 puts out about 264 lum (according to google searches), the LED bulbs I got supposedly put out 500 lum, but without a light meter, it's hard to say how accurate the numbers are.

hotpocketdeath said:

Future plans are to snag some turn signal LEDs. Couple of people have reported they do not need load resistors.
http://www.bold-sport.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=43_44_65&product_id=221

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Curious to see how this goes. I may just follow suit if it works out for you. My only complaints about these lights is dim turn signals.

BarryT82 said:

http://www.buychina.com/items/golf-...-taillights-cherry-red-taillights-xqpwslslrih

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That's so incredibly cheap that I would be seriously concerned about the quality.

is it possible to upgrade the rear tails on JSWs to LEDs?

Resurrecting this thread... I saw a GTI this morning with them on in this rainy day, and they looked awesome.

ECS has a quite a few brands, styles and prices listed. Some are truly plug and play with no coding and others are not.

May have to get a set, but would like to get a good quality set.

If I have HIDs with LED DLRs do I need a harness?

http://www.parts4euro.com/helix-eur...d-led-taillights-for-mk6-golf-gti-p-1764.html

Claim OEM with all the wiring harness. $499 US

STRANGETDI said:

http://www.parts4euro.com/helix-eur...d-led-taillights-for-mk6-golf-gti-p-1764.html

Claim OEM with all the wiring harness. $499 US

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No. Read again. OEM STYLE... they are NOT OEM.

Thanks. OEM for me.

Those are mine and I love them. I personally didn't see the difference between the ones I have (reps) and OEM ones on my friend's GTI.

I am hearing good things about BKS Tuning out of Germany too:

http://www.bks-tuning.com/volkswagen/golf/golf-mk6-jsw-5k/lighting.html

http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49645

I think I am going to go with these. DEPO lights, no coding required. Very good reviews.

Here is the website link, and still on sale too:

http://opdparts.com/index.php/volkswagen/golf/mk6/lighting.html

Yes I have debated for a while now, but with my $500 VW Goodwill, these are a go.

That is a good price! And no coding required!

I love mine. They're OEM, but I guess they look the same based on reviews and they cost more and required coding.

I have the tinted version and can't imagine getting the non-tinted version. Even off the tinted look cool with the simple but elegant LED design, but the non-tinted look busy to me because you can see the reflectors and the LED design is less apparent. But to each their own!

Good luck with your lights!

Edit: ha, ha, ha... I just saw that I posted almost the exact same thing earlier in this thread, February 2013!


on Flickr


on Flickr

OEM or bust!

Looking good.

msantram said:

is it possible to upgrade the rear tails on JSWs to LEDs?

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Yes indeed. Just did that with deautokey LEDS. The backup light is awesome and the brake/stop light is instant and bright. He has everything and their LEDs don't throw codes. Oh and I am talking replacing bulbs not tail light assemblies.