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

Sorry to hear a ballast went out. Those that you linked will work. I can also send you a replacement for the one that died. PM me to let me know what you'd like to do.

Jeff

I installed my lights. They look awesome as everyone here has attested to previously.

A word of caution: don't go crazy on the screws when leveling the lights. You can and will strip the plastic piece on the inside. Also, if you go too far, you can pop them out of the ball-socket joints which are a pain to get back on unless you take the lens off and open them up again...

I used a wire to loop around and then I pulled on them like mad until they popped back in.

Overall, excellent light output, and they look great. Can't complain .

^Yes, this problem extends to ALL MK4 lights. The problem is that there are two adjusters on top. The middle one controls vertical movement and the other controls horizontal. So if you move one the other will try to hold back that movement. Use too much force and it will pop out of its socket.

Oops, that's correct. I forgot to specify that it's for all lights. This was my first time doing lighting and balancing lights for any vehicle so I learned a few things the hard way.

Hopefully other noobs will learn the easier way by reading my post!

Yup. The headlights I retrofitted myself has one pointing down towards the ground. Tried adjusting the wrong screw. I am just waiting to fix it until I tear the car apart for the timing belt and clutch in a couple weeks.

Jeff, are you doing 55w slim ballasts now as default? I sure like the way my 55Ws work.

Yes, 55W AC slim ballasts. Notable improvement over the 35W both in terms of light output and quality. The previous version of ballasts were 35W DC. Some people got 55W DC by request. After testing a bunch of them out over a 4 week span 55W AC was clearly the way to go.

Hi Jeff, I have one of your first sets of lights with the 35w ballasts. Do you think it's worthwhile to upgrade to the newest version? They're still working great btw, wish the light pattern was a little better though. Best Regards - Ryan

Hi Ryan,

The very first few sets used a different projector. After about 10 sets I moved to the 2.0 projectors which are far better. You were literally the first person to buy lights from me so you have the 1.0 lights. Indeed those came with 35W ballasts and upgrading would make a big difference. -Jeff

1dieselsteve said:

Ouch,,from where? I've seen a set from Esc tuning but cheaper.

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Look again, they cost $1295, the one for 495 are not Xenon, the OEM GTI headlight $1295...is it worth it, hell no...

freakwithracket said:

Yes, 55W AC slim ballasts. Notable improvement over the 35W both in terms of light output and quality. The previous version of ballasts were 35W DC. Some people got 55W DC by request. After testing a bunch of them out over a 4 week span 55W AC was clearly the way to go.

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AC vs DC? Wow, learned something again. Got my 55w from DDM. No idea if they are AC or DC. What's the price of a set of 55w AC? Got a picture of them for curiosity?

DDM are AC. Mine in 55w have been working well with the FWR harness.

For the record, I 'insignificantly' modified the supplied harness. I replaced the fuse holder with a weatherproof one and I connected the grounds all the way back to the 'under battery' ground point.

Both of the above made the install easier for me because they were already in place from my previous HID install .

DDM 55w are AC? How can you tell on those? Can't find it on their web site either. Got mine from them not long ago.

http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DDM-HID-Kit-Slim-Ballast-35W-or-55W

in the specs it says "All ballasts are AC Type". All I know is the 55w ship from China which was mildly annoying .

Shawnz said:

http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DDM-HID-Kit-Slim-Ballast-35W-or-55W

in the specs it says "All ballasts are AC Type". All I know is the 55w ship from China which was mildly annoying .

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Yeah, mine too shipped from China. Couldn't figure why the shipping was so much until the package came and i noticed the origin. The ballast did not look like the picture on their web site for the 55w. It looks like the 35w only beefier. Light output is night and day compared to the 35w originally with Jeff's kit.
Thanks shawnz!

Tell you guys what. Tomorrow night I am going to go out and take some photos of my old 35W DC ballasts, new 55W AC, and a DDM 55W ballast. I'll post up some photos/videos of the light output.

You know what? I'll do the same with your old one, the DDM 55w, and a 55w i got from flea bay.

I just went ahead and compared them on video. This comparison uses the exact same bulb connected to the same battery on the floor of my garage. The only thing that changes is the ballast used. There are 4 sections. Sorry if I was mumbling..trying not to talk loud and wake the neighbors.

1. my old 35W DC ballasts
2. my new 55W AC ballasts
3. DDM 55W AC ballast
4. back to my 55W AC ballast once again.

Note the viability of the bikes in the background with the different ballasts. Also note the differences in warm up between the DC and AC ballasts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sSWQjiqEyc

Pretty clear Jeff which one won that contest. DDM pretty close second though.

That is amazing how much difference there is. I made the swap in mine a couple years back, but wow that is bright.

Does anyone have opinions about whether the 55w (projector headlights) would be to bright in rainy nightime conditions?

I have no issues at all in any condition, not even fog, with my 50w.

freakwithracket said:

I just went ahead and compared them on video. This comparison uses the exact same bulb connected to the same battery on the floor of my garage. The only thing that changes is the ballast used. There are 4 sections. Sorry if I was mumbling..trying not to talk loud and wake the neighbors.

1. my old 35W DC ballasts
2. my new 55W AC ballasts
3. DDM 55W AC ballast
4. back to my 55W AC ballast once again.

Note the viability of the bikes in the background with the different ballasts. Also note the differences in warm up between the DC and AC ballasts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sSWQjiqEyc

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Jeff,

That's an amazing difference. I'd like a pair of 55w ballasts, please.

-Lawson

Get the 55 watt ballast. If you opt for the 35 watt ballast you will soon upgrade. The 35's are tons better than factory but the 55's are the way to go.

Well, I finally got mine all hooked up and working. Still need to figure out the foglight circuit, but all in due time.

Seemed the aiming is pretty good out of the box - I used one spacer under the bottom mounting tabs just in case. I need to find a flat ground and wall area to do it right.

In the meantime, it appears the passenger's side is set up to give a lot of light, higher up, to the right side, while the driver's is set lower with a low cutoff. This is nice.

TONS more light than stock! Finally I can really see what's up ahead.

BTW, I used velcro to mount the ballasts on the back of the turn signal/fog lamp plate. That seems to work really well.

Judson said:

In the meantime, it appears the passenger's side is set up to give a lot of light, higher up, to the right side, while the driver's is set lower with a low cutoff. This is nice.

TONS more light than stock! Finally I can really see what's up ahead.

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That output that you are talking about, where the light is higher on the right side and lower on the left is actually like that on both projectors. The effect is that the light looks like this: ______/-------- It is designed just for that purpose. It puts more light farther down your half of the road, and less light on the oncoming half of the road as to not blind people. Glad you like it.

That's sweet! It looks then like it's really close out of the box in terms of adjustment, though I think the passenger's light is high and outside. I didn't get flashed by a single person last night, so there's no urgency to finding the right spot to do the adjustments.

The different of stock vs. these HIDs is like night vs. day.

I installed the GLI set yesterday. I swapped over my HID fogs too (with new, smaller ballasts). Still working to get all the wiring tucked away! Ran out of time to fully aim them, but they are close. Driver's side is a little too far right. I installed a pair of 10 SMD wedge bulbs for the city lights - very nice... and ordered 30 SMDs for the signals. I thought they would be here in time, but looks like maybe tomorrow. Overall - unbelievable difference in light output!

Lights by Jeff

I went over to Jeff's yesterday and got my lights installed. I believe this is the 1.75 style with the new 55w ballasts. We went the route of using my oem housings and installing his new projectors into my existing housings. I don't care too much about the city lights/parking lights or euro switch etc, I just wanted a lot of night visibility. (Most bang for buck, most oem looking). I splurged on getting glass lenses though, just had to.
A few hours later, I have an amazing amount of light at night. Jeff really knows what he's doing with these headlights. The wiring alone would've been too much for me to attempt on my own. I was lucky he only lives about 15 miles away and wanted to help out a fellow tdi'er. He went above and beyond to get these fabricated and installed correctly and I would recommend him to anyone. I can't stress enough what a good value this is. Considering Silverstar Halogen bulbs etc could be $50+ a pair and won't give you a fraction of the light that Jeff's lights do, this is really a must have for anyone who likes to see at night.
He also helped diagnose a weird sound coming from my timing belt area, which turned out to be my timing belt cover not being attached securely. Thanks again Jeff!

It is hard to capture in a photo bit the 1.75s actually illuminate the stock reflector which gives it more of a OEM look.