Headlamp Bulb Replacement (confusion)

[Deon Reynolds]

Hi All,

Last night was the first night I drove our Sportwagon in the dark. These headlamps are totally lame! We live in a very remote location and the roads are dark and empty, except for the plethora of wildlife, which I would like to avoid, as I totalled a car a few years ago hitting a ten point buck. I want to upgrade the bulbs to something much brighter. I looked through some treads on the TDIclub forum and searched the internet for bulbs and quite frankly it left me totally confused. It doesn't look like LED's will fit and there are so many bulbs to choose from at so many price points, I would like some opinions from folks that actually have some bright lamps in their TDI...

Thanks in advance!

 

[TurboABA]

Probably easier to add an "offroad" lightbar in your grille if you're out in the stix and don't need to deal with oncoming traffic very often.

 

[TurboABA]

How to swap and retrofit OEM VW GTI GLI HID xenon lights into your car

DIY retrofit of HID GTI xenon headlights onto your Golf Jetta or Rabbit

www.myturbodiesel.com

 

[TurboABA]

Or just blind everyone while doing it on the cheap

RFB Fog Light HID Conversion Kit - 6000K (Diamond White) for MK5 - RFB55496000 - 75005549

Now there is no more guess work in piecing together a HID kit for your MK5. Ditch those yellow factory halogen bulbs and upgrade to HIDs. This kit is specifically designed to work with MK5 Jettas, B6 Passats, and MK5 Golfs. The HID ballasts feature b ...

www.uspmotorsports.com

 

[DivineChaos]

Or just blind everyone while doing it on the cheap

RFB Fog Light HID Conversion Kit - 6000K (Diamond White) for MK5 - RFB55496000 - 75005549

Now there is no more guess work in piecing together a HID kit for your MK5. Ditch those yellow factory halogen bulbs and upgrade to HIDs. This kit is specifically designed to work with MK5 Jettas, B6 Passats, and MK5 Golfs. The HID ballasts feature b ...

www.uspmotorsports.com

Yeah I don't understand how he has so much issue with his headlights being dim. The headlights on my sportwagon are extremely bright and cast a very good beam. My guess is they just need to be adjusted properly. The voltage can also be adjusted in vagcom

 

[Deon Reynolds]

Yeah I don't understand how he has so much issue with his headlights being dim. The headlights on my sportwagon are extremely bright and cast a very good beam. My guess is they just need to be adjusted properly. The voltage can also be adjusted in vagcom

The lamps are adjusted properly, they might need a voltage adjustment (good point!) as the lamps are warm in colour. The low beam is weak and the high beam just adds light high not down the road. I'm not interested in adding extra lamps to the car, light bars are very bright (most of my neighbours have them) they don't project down the road just super bright right in front of you, easy to over drive the light. I had Cibie Super Oscars driving lamps on my Syncro Vanagon, I could spot the eyes of wildlife way down the road and easily avoid them. Who makes good quality replacement bulbs that are brighter than stock? I hate on coming traffic that have blue or the HID lamps, I don't want to be one of those self centred jerks on the road who blinds everyone else just so they can see...

 

[Mongler98]

Make sure your lenses are clear 100%
Led drop in bulbs are awesome. Just make sure you adjust your casting angle. The HID days are almost over now. They dont last long and draw stupid current on chinisium harnesses and relays that burn out.
Just go led bulb
Lumens is a worthless #.
You want LUX (lumens over distance)
If you adjust the housings you wont blond people as much if at all. I used to get hi beamed all the time by oncommers with my HIDs but now with the leds I have made sure it's perfect and no one complains.

 

[Deon Reynolds]

Make sure your lenses are clear 100%
Led drop in bulbs are awesome. Just make sure you adjust your casting angle. The HID days are almost over now. They dont last long and draw stupid current on chinisium harnesses and relays that burn out.
Just go led bulb
Lumens is a worthless #.
You want LUX (lumens over distance)
If you adjust the housings you wont blond people as much if at all. I used to get hi beamed all the time by oncommers with my HIDs but now with the leds I have made sure it's perfect and no one complains.

Thank you! My lenses are slightly hazy (one more than the other), I'm going have them polished ($20.00 at Walmart), I just did this to my Sprinter and they did a great job, much easier than doing it yourself. The one thing I'm finding with LED, is that many are big at the rear of the lamp making it imposable to get the bulb in place, or reattach the dust cover. Does anyone have a recommendation on manufacture/brand? I attempted to install LED lamps in my Sprinter but they would not fit even though the eBay seller said they would.

 

[Mongler98]

Thank you! My lenses are slightly hazy (one more than the other), I'm going have them polished ($20.00 at Walmart), I just did this to my Sprinter and they did a great job, much easier than doing it yourself. The one thing I'm finding with LED, is that many are big at the rear of the lamp making it imposable to get the bulb in place, or reattach the dust cover. Does anyone have a recommendation on manufacture/brand? I attempted to install LED lamps in my Sprinter but they would not fit even though the eBay seller said they would.

Going 4 years now.
Have these in all my motorcycles and cars that needed an upgrade.
Amazon
I just copied the link from my last purchase. Buy the fitment you need.

 

[Wilkins]

The high and low beams can be adjusted separately for height. This may be your problem. In order to adjust the high beams you will have to pry out a small rubber plug and insert a hex key wrench (7mm?).

The original high beams on my wagon were adjusted below the low beams… Made quite a difference. IMO properly adjusted and in decent condition the OEM low beams are quite good but the high beams lack punch - to put it mildly.
Increasing the brightness of your low beam existing headlights by changing bulbs will result in you blinding oncoming drivers. The cutoff is not strong enough so increasing light where you need it also increases the light which goes into oncoming drivers eyes by the same amount. LEDs will do this to a greater extent than brighter halogen bulbs because the led emitter is physically larger than a filament. It’s just physics.
Now if you want to increase the brightness of your running light/high beam bulb (candidate for dumbest design ever), I’m all ears.

 

[borninabus]

i'm quite happy with my Hella 70W low beam bulbs. HUGE improvement, no mods required, dirt cheap on rockauto. zero issues with them for a year and a half in the JSW and the same in my old B5 where they were also the DRL (on all the time). easiest lighting uprgade IMO and less blinding to oncoming drivers. i have never been flashed by another driver. H770W is the part number.

just waiting to come across a fog light bumper to really tie the room together. good luck

 

[prsa01]

i'm quite happy with my Hella 70W low beam bulbs. HUGE improvement, no mods required, dirt cheap on rockauto. zero issues with them for a year and a half in the JSW and the same in my old B5 where they were also the DRL (on all the time). easiest lighting uprgade IMO and less blinding to oncoming drivers. i have never been flashed by another driver. H770W is the part number.

just waiting to come across a fog light bumper to really tie the room together. good luck

Just to confirm I'm understanding correctly, are you saying not even a vagcom mod is needed for these bulbs on a mk6/jsw? Thanks

 

[borninabus]

Just to confirm I'm understanding correctly, are you saying not even a vagcom mod is needed for these bulbs on a mk6/jsw? Thanks

correct

 

[tbut]

i'm quite happy with my Hella 70W low beam bulbs. HUGE improvement, no mods required, dirt cheap on rockauto. zero issues with them for a year and a half in the JSW and the same in my old B5 where they were also the DRL (on all the time). easiest lighting uprgade IMO and less blinding to oncoming drivers. i have never been flashed by another driver. H770W is the part number.

just waiting to come across a fog light bumper to really tie the room together. good luck

Hi, thanks for the info i just orderd a set f

 

[Vwkaferman]

Going 4 years now.
Have these in all my motorcycles and cars that needed an upgrade.
Amazon
I just copied the link from my last purchase. Buy the fitment you need.

Linky no work, can you provide manufacturer/part# Interesting.

James