It’s 2024 and I’m looking to upgrade my headlights

Samoth16

Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2024
Location
Greenville SC
TDI
2005 BEW 5 speed
I drive a 2004 Jetta wagon and I’m looking to upgrade my lights to projectors with hids but I’m not sure what the best bang for my buck would be or if I should make some myself.
 

PakProtector

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Location
AnnArbor, MI
TDI
Mk.4's and the Cummins
I have a Jetta rigged with Hella clone 2.5", D2S projectors. Bloody flamethrowers, excellent cut-off line...etc. Which of course is my primary complaint; I miss the 'spray' of halogen reflectors. If you need to see something above the cut-off, forgetaboutit...not happening. They( the reflector buckets) also make a reasonable back up if there is an HID ignition problem due to aged bulbs, which leads to what I did for the daily.... My other Jetta has a set of 2" Micro stuffed in place of the fog light projectors. In helix e-code buckets that retain the H4 reflector bulb. The liddle projectors *COMPARATIVELY bite compared to the big ones( H1 bulb alignment is required), but objectively they work quite well and are in no way alarming to somebody who might look more closely for the purposes of making you trouble. They're run with a RetrofitSource H4 adapter/relay harness( the headlight job took an H4 socket outside the bucket to run the harness). Acceptable pattern, and nobody flashing the lights. During the build the projectors were aligned with the reflector beam, so no shimming/adjustment to the bucket was needed.

There are some pix in my media to get the general idear of how this was done, though those are of the 1.8" Mori Matchbox( not recommended; get the 2" from, say Lightwerkz, Micro H1 2.0 Bi-Xenon HID Projectors – Lightwerkz Global Inc ). The front lens is a wee bit larger, and further away from the reflector vs the 1.8"-ers.

Douglas
 

Samoth16

Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2024
Location
Greenville SC
TDI
2005 BEW 5 speed
So pretty much you’re saying to take the ones in my car and rebuild them. Is there somewhere I could find a step by step on how to disassemble and reassemble them?
 

Lex4TDI4Life

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 22, 2006
Location
NorCal
TDI
2001 Golf-Ute TDI GLS 5spd Manual
Dig in at https://www.hidplanet.com/. You will find good information on how to retrofit your existing lights to take proper HID projectors.

It might sound obvious, but I would suggest getting a spare set of stock Jetta headlights to modify instead of tinkering with the set already on your car.
 

454k30

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2006
Location
Long Beach, CA
TDI
2002 Jetta
It might sound obvious, but I would suggest getting a spare set of stock Jetta headlights to modify instead of tinkering with the set already on your car.
I agree with this. Take off the oem housings and put them aside. Get an inexpensive set from ebay to modify. This way if the modding goes awry or you hate the results, you can install the originals and just live with it.
 

Sting

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2004
Speaking of this... if modifying a set of headlights, getting HIDs isn't an option, what is considered the best bulbs for the stock OEM headlights?

Is it still Sylvania Silverstar zXe's?

At a local partstore, I also saw the Philips NightGuide Platinum bulbs... anyone know anything about them?
 

PakProtector

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Location
AnnArbor, MI
TDI
Mk.4's and the Cummins
Most definitely modify a new set, that way, you can build, test, adjust and otherwise prepare without taking the car out of service. THen it is just a swap buckets and hook up the wiring... :)

Douglas
 

Sting

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2004
Well yeah, but it's not in the budget right now, hence my question. I've been running the Sylvania 9007 LEDs but they're just OK and for the moment want to go back to halogens until I can get a set of new headlights and modify.
 

Nuje

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Location
Island near Vancouver
TDI
2002 Golf 6MT; 2015 Sportwagen 6MT; 2016 A3 e-tron 6DSG
Thirding this.^^^

In short, they spray very bright light everywhere, including oncoming drivers eyes, blinding them; AND because they're so bluish-white (6000+K color temp), they're absolutely garbage on wet roads - makes you wonder if your headlights are even turned on (while still blinding oncoming traffic as well as anyone you're approaching from behind).
 

irvingj

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2006
Location
Etna,NH
TDI
2005 Jetta Wagon TDI (PD/BEW)
Kris, dude, Nuje -- Thanks for that info, you guys. Guess I won't try switching to LED bulbs!
 

agent_jwa

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 9, 2024
Location
WI
TDI
02 Golf
Led projectors are a thing if some didn't know. They are just as awesome as hid projectors with less wiring. Heres a set that I did recently for my roommates mk4
 

J_dude

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2020
Location
SK Canada
TDI
2003 1.9l “Jedi”
Led projectors are a thing if some didn't know. They are just as awesome as hid projectors with less wiring. Heres a set that I did recently for my roommates mk4
The problem with those is if it goes bad you have to replace the whole thing, rather than just the bulb like an HID projector.
 

Lex4TDI4Life

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 22, 2006
Location
NorCal
TDI
2001 Golf-Ute TDI GLS 5spd Manual
And the quality of light, hotspot are still not as good of quality as true HID projectors. Worse scatter at the ground too
Not to thread-jack, but does anyone know of a good, recent thread with a simple solution for mounting HID/LED projectors to Golf housings?

I have had a set of Morimoto LED projectors on my shelf for ages I may still try to retrofit. Also have a set of Morimoto HID retrofits that I did a very amateur job with; one side is not quite level. They are currently off the car, but if I can find a good mounting solution, I might use those instead of the LEDs.
 

agent_jwa

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 9, 2024
Location
WI
TDI
02 Golf
Not to thread-jack, but does anyone know of a good, recent thread with a simple solution for mounting HID/LED projectors to Golf housings?

I have had a set of Morimoto LED projectors on my shelf for ages I may still try to retrofit. Also have a set of Morimoto HID retrofits that I did a very amateur job with; one side is not quite level. They are currently off the car, but if I can find a good mounting solution, I might use those instead of the LEDs.
You can just rig something to hold the projector in, bolt it into the car and line them up on your garage door or something. Then carefully take them out and permanently mount them. Some types have a long tube on the end that just clamp to the stock refector but then they don't sit in deep enough to clear the lens. It's all custom for a reason.
 

KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
Not to thread-jack, but does anyone know of a good, recent thread with a simple solution for mounting HID/LED projectors to Golf housings?

I have had a set of Morimoto LED projectors on my shelf for ages I may still try to retrofit. Also have a set of Morimoto HID retrofits that I did a very amateur job with; one side is not quite level. They are currently off the car, but if I can find a good mounting solution, I might use those instead of the LEDs.
I've got 2 DIYs for the golf. Links should be in my sig. The V1.0 would probably be what you're after since the 2.0 I printed custom buckets
 

Lex4TDI4Life

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 22, 2006
Location
NorCal
TDI
2001 Golf-Ute TDI GLS 5spd Manual
I've got 2 DIYs for the golf. Links should be in my sig. The V1.0 would probably be what you're after since the 2.0 I printed custom buckets
Yup, looked at those. Would love a pair of those custom buckets, but looks like they would only fit the depo housings you picked up.

I tried designing a bracket in CAD that would allow for rotation, but never quite got it there. Might give your 1.0 a try.
 

agent_jwa

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 9, 2024
Location
WI
TDI
02 Golf
If I could get my hands on a 3d scanner it would be so easy to design a bracket that would fix all these problems.
 

Lex4TDI4Life

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 22, 2006
Location
NorCal
TDI
2001 Golf-Ute TDI GLS 5spd Manual
Look up your local makers' guild or public library. They often have resources one can use.
 

Sting

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2004
I switched back to Halogens for my road trip, Silvania Ultras, definitely found the overall light was better at low and high beam.
 

golfclub

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 11, 2014
Location
Victoria B.C.
TDI
2000 TDI Golf
While Midwest Lighting was in business I got his upgraded lights with HIDs in the low beams.
The high beam reflectors accept H1 bulbs. To get more light I put LEDs in the high beams and am careful to
switch off when cars are coming.
The Leds put out a lot of light but you can tell its not focused. Shines all over the place.
So I just ordered some Vosla +250 H1 bulbs from Daniel Stern Lighting to replace the LEDs.
He is the only source for these. They are made for him. Great guy.
Can't wait to put them in the Golf. In the OEM Hella headlights I had , I installed 65 watt Oshram
Rallies. they were good but you can't get them any more and they were H7
 
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