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

Airstream

Airstream

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2000 Jetta; 2010 JSW
Perfect

This is a great idea, and represents a real need in the MK4 market, especially from a reliable good quality source. I am very interested. A few questions that may be helpful to others:
1. For dummies like me, what do the ballasts do? Are they necessary etc?
2. Would a black background be available? I will be looking for a darker/black headlight style when I purchase. Any pictures would be great.
3. Finally, Any pictures of nighttime output/cutoff?
Thanks
 
F

freakwithracket

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2003
I agree, there is just a gap in the market where there is just nothing good to buy. $200 gets you a junk set of ebay lights that look horrible. Next best option is at least $400 and does not include any of the wiring, bulbs, etc. To answer your questions:

1. You can think of ballasts as the power source for the bulbs. HID stands for High Intensity discharge. The bulbs are different from halogen bulbs in that and electrical current passing through a gas is what causes light to be produced. The power needed to jump start that process is significant. The ballasts allow for that power to be produced and then regulate the amount of power on the circuit after ignition. They are necessary to any HID setup.

2. I can offer these in the Chrome finish, GLI, and Smoked styles. However, the projector itself would still be chrome finished.

3. I will have photos of the light output up later tonight. I had some but accidentally deleted them.
 
greengeeker

greengeeker

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Don't forget about the ~$1000 OEM option.

So are you retrofitting these to OEM headlight assemblies? What are you doing with the covers? Very cool product btw.
 
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freakwithracket

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Yes, there is the $1000 OEM option. Obviously OEM would be the best, but at what cost? Well...$750 I suppose..

Yes, these are retrofitted to OEM assemblies. They are the E-code versions of our headlights, which is good because they have the fog light.

I assume you are talking about the back covers to the housings? If so, the projectors do not require any changes to the back covers. Of course, there is the need to connect the bulbs to the ballasts and the harness. Below is a photo taken from my car. You can see that the back covers are modified, but only to let out the wires. The photo is taken from above the passengers side. The wires themselves can be pulled back into the housings for more or less slack, I just wanted to show the setup. Other that those wires, the headlights take up no more space than the OEMs do.

 
VeeDubTDI

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I'd love some light pattern pics. Very interested in these.
 
Countryboy07

Countryboy07

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N. Manchester, IN
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'02 Jetta
Great Idea... My car has the cheap eBay projector lights (were on it when I bought it) and am starting to budget for an HID upgrade. You sir have just made my day!

-French
 
F

freakwithracket

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Columbus, OH
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2003
Alright guys, added some photos of the light at night. Sorry about the image quality. It was difficult because my phone camera is not very good, and there were parking lot lamps everywhere so there was light from that.
 
VeeDubTDI

VeeDubTDI

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The cutoff looks very good, but it looks like you have them aimed a little high (based on the first night shot).
 
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freakwithracket

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Yes, the cutoffs are very good. I think I was just on an up slope through. I have never had anyone flash me though. Just so everyone knows, included will be detailed instructions for aiming HID lights. The process is not much different than aiming regular lights, and takes about 5-10 minutes.
 
tleader

tleader

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There is also an option for those to do the DIY themselves. I used a retrofit kit similar to what you offer on my MK3 years ago and did the R&R myself and saved a few bucks.
 
J

jayb79

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Exeter,NH
tleader said:
There is also an option for those to do the DIY themselves. I used a retrofit kit similar to what you offer on my MK3 years ago and did the R&R myself and saved a few bucks.
Click to expand...
That is always an option, but like myself I don't have the time or patients to do it. If I could get a setup like this for my golf I would buy them, the price is very reasonable for what you are getting.
 
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freakwithracket

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To answer the question about shipping to Canada, there would be an additional fee which would be equal to the increase shipping cost as compared with US domestic rates. It also depends on what is ordered, as adding glass lenses and ballasts for example would increase the weight. I just did a test price out and found that it would end up being ~$20 extra. Anyone in Canada interested can contact me to work out the exact details for their order.

Some people have been interested in Golf headlights. I do plan to offer them, but I am going to wait a bit. The setup for them is different, and wiring is an issue. In particular, with the typical setup of separate high and low beam bulbs, a HID setup would mean that hitting the high beam switch could cut out the low beams. With HID bulbs turning them on and off rapidly is bad, and I can't imagine anyone would actually want their lows to cut out when the highs are turned on. There is a fix which involves splicing a wire in the steering column and connecting to the headlight switch, but that is likely more work than most would like to do. There are other, better work around that I am looking at. The point is, I want to make sure that I can offer the best and least hassle setup, and am still in the development stage for golf lights.
 
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freakwithracket

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My mistake, you are correct. Sometime last year I helped another member wire up his car to have both on at the same time. He had one of the Jettas with the Golf front end, and I keep forgetting that the car was actually a Jetta not a Golf.
 
Scorny

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freakwithracket said:
To answer the question about shipping to Canada, there would be an additional fee which would be equal to the increase shipping cost as compared with US domestic rates. It also depends on what is ordered, as adding glass lenses and ballasts for example would increase the weight. I just did a test price out and found that it would end up being ~$20 extra. Anyone in Canada interested can contact me to work out the exact details for their order.
Click to expand...
Thanks for getting back to me via PM,I will get in touch with you when I have the funds ready.
 
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freakwithracket

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I'll have photos of the GLI style posted this weekend/Early next week. Also, I have decided to start offering Golf headlights as well. The photos of those will be up early next week as well. Pricing for the Golf lights will be slightly higher than the Jetta, but not by much.
 
greengeeker

greengeeker

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Jeff,

Can the cutoff angle be corrected/adjusted after the HID assemblies are assembled into the housings?

The reason I ask is I'm not crazy about the driver's side cutoff in this picture:



I'd rather the left side of the cutoff was horiztonal or increasing in slope (when going from left to right) very slightly...it appears the passnger pattern is perfect. I'm ready to buy and this is the only thing that's got me hung up. Thanks again for offering this product up.
 
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freakwithracket

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Location
Columbus, OH
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2003
Hey guys,

I apologize about the delay in getting the GLI style photos up. To get the photos up I need to build a set first, and I am awaiting the assemblies to be delivered any day now.

To answer the question about the level of the light, the answer is yes, it can be adjusted at any time. A nut on the back of the projector can be loosened and the projector itself can be rotated. The nut has finger tabs on it, so it can actually be done by hand if need be. I will be leveling every set here so that won't be necessary, but just in case the ability is there. The light in the photos is coming from the very first set I made. I have refined the process greatly since then. I'll give anyone that orders a set the option of seeing the light cutoff of their set through email, and they can then ask for corrections if they wish before I ship them out.

Again, my apologies about the lack of GLI photos. She be up any day now.

Jeff
 
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