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

[freakwithracket]

Ask them for 7507LL. Sometimes their computers have a hard time with just 7507 because technically the part number has LL on it. I just checked Advance Auto and almost all the Car Quest stores in San Jose have them in stock. Same for Autozone.

Fog light is below the turn signal, and the city light is below the HID projector.

No pics, but you can literally just stick them anywhere. Washer fluid tank, battery cover, etc. I have my passender's side zip tied to the air intake pipe leading up to the EGR value.

We have 1156 Cree LED bulbs ($38) for sale that fit the reverse lights.

 

[michTDI]

Although I am happy (overall) with the lights-I gotta say I am NOT happy with the "angel eyes." Mine only lasted about 6 months and have started going out (piece by piece). No warranty on those and hard to replace according to Jeff. Get the lights but don't waste your money on the angel eyes!!!

 

[freakwithracket]

michTDI has a point on the angel eyes to be sure. We don't sell that many sets with the angel eye (5 in 2016 so far) but of them there seems to be a recent pattern of the LEDs failing in sections around the ring. We don't build the angel eyes obviously, but they are supposed to be top of the line (we get them from TRS) and why they are showing this pattern I have no idea. The hard part is that they seem to be really hit or miss. Some of them last forever without problems, others 6 months and what makes them fall into this dichotomy I'm not sure.

At this point I've decided to just stop selling them, and to be honest I'd been considering making that change over the past few weeks. And for what it is worth we've never made a dime on those. We literally just charge our customers the cost of the part for us and then install them for free. To touch a bit on the difficulty warrantying them, the hard part about the angel eyes is where they are. To get them off requires the front headlight lenses to come off, the projector removed entirely, the shroud removed, the additional wiring removed..basically total disassembly of the headlight. Aside from the cost in terms of the part itself there is a good 3-4 hours of labor involved and doing it requires the headlights themselves to be exposed to shipping twice more which can be harsh on them. And even then, it's entirely possible for the part to fail a 2nd time.

So in short, michTDI is right and we are not going to be selling those anymore. There are one or two people who have pending orders with the angel eyes and I'll be contacting them to let them know and give them the option of excluding them.

 

[MAXRPM]

Guys give Jeff a break, he is sweating with all the lighting demands from TDIers and soon we will get him very tired like many enthusiast vendors from a few years ago, they had the same energy like him at the beginning of their ventures, but then they became semi retired cause all the demands and whining from all of us, Jeff built up this thread and look how many pages now, Jeff probably is hiding in his office and he is not able to sleep..

Lets keep him fresh and not like an old beat up horse... he is a good guy

 

[sackman]

Guys give Jeff a break, he is sweating with all the lighting demands from TDIers and soon we will get him very tired like many enthusiast vendors from a few years ago, they had the same energy like him at the beginning of their ventures, but then they became semi retired cause all the demands and whining from all of us, Jeff built up this thread and look how many pages now, Jeff probably is hiding in his office and he is not able to sleep..

Lets keep him fresh and not like an old beat up horse... he is a good guy

Well said! Show him a little appreciation. People have come to expect Amazon-like customer service from start-up operations, not going to happen. Watch the Amazon documentaries on YouTube those employees hate their lives all so we can get that box of tissues in 48 hrs. . .

 

[aja8888]

Guys give Jeff a break, he is sweating with all the lighting demands from TDIers and soon we will get him very tired like many enthusiast vendors from a few years ago, they had the same energy like him at the beginning of their ventures, but then they became semi retired cause all the demands and whining from all of us, Jeff built up this thread and look how many pages now, Jeff probably is hiding in his office and he is not able to sleep..

Lets keep him fresh and not like an old beat up horse... he is a good guy

Jeff make fantastic light assemblies for a good price. These are way better than the Chinese junk that eBay and everyone else sells. I have had both. I'll go with Jeff before I buy anything from another vendor.

 

[MAXRPM]

Jeff make fantastic light assemblies for a good price. These are way better than the Chinese junk that eBay and everyone else sells. I have had both. I'll go with Jeff before I buy anything from another vendor.

Never said anything bad about purchasing anything from him, in the other hand I give him props for his dedication to the members, I personally bought a set of golf head lights from him and I am super happy from his class act stuff, I was trying to keep him fresh and not overwhelmed , we killed quite a few great vendors in the past here that was my point.

 

[panthers89fan90]

.

I agree. The headlights are pretty good quality besides the angel eyes. My angel eyes are on their way out after only a few months! Thought they would last at least a few years. I know another company that uses 6 individual bulbs instead of a powered ring.

 

[JDSwan87]

As I've said MANY times before, Midwest Light Creations 4.0NA lights have been great. I own 2 sets of them, one on my car, one on my wifes. Only had to replace one bulb on my set after 2 years, and it was funky (didn't know it at the time) since I got it. Anywho, Jeff's customer service is great and I certainly hope he's making a little extra money on the side from these. I like the look of his lights better than the MKIV OEM projectors. Keep up the great work Jeff!

 

[UhOh]

Just looking to order the ballasts from Jeff (got the headlights from him; it's a long story as to why I didn't get ballasts) and notice there's an option for CAN-BUS. The car's an 2003 Jetta (daughter's car). I'm guessing that it's not applicable?

 

[freakwithracket]

You don't need CAN-BUS on a 2003. It is for 2006 and above.

 

[cozytoronto]

Hey man,
I noticed you have a new ballast option on your site.
I was wondering what the differences are between them?
Cheers.

 

[freakwithracket]

The new ballast is called the W99. It's a 35W CAN-BUS capable ballast that will work with both CAN-BUS and non-CAN-BUS cars. The plan is to have them replace the F35x ballast in the near future. One of the reasons that the F35 was implemented early 2015 was due to it's detachable wiring. The idea was that if an igniter went bad that could be replaced without replacing the entire ballast. In practice this never really happened. The W99 has a couple of advantages as well. It has radio static reducer rings built onto the wiring, and it has braided wiring. It's also potted to the brim which is highly desirable. Last but not least..the W99 is a bit cheaper due largely to production runs/scale economies. Overall though the quality is going to every bit as good as the F35, it just won't have the individual wires that clip in.

 

[Simple_Man]

$70 a pair

Are these new ballasts $70 for 2 or $70 each when bought in pairs?

Thanks

 

[freakwithracket]

$70 for the pair.

 

[michTDI]

I need some help troubleshooting these lights. I have the Jetta 4 lights-with the angel eyes (now only part of them still work)-using the euroswitch. Jeff wired them so that when the switch is "off" the HIDs are on like daytime running lights-in the middle position of the switch it was just the angel eyes-and when turned to the ON position-obviously the lights are on. Ever since I have got these lights the HIDs (sometimes one-sometimes both) would randomly go out-I would flip the switch off and on -and they would be back on-or just pull the high beam stalk on the steering wheel-and they would be back on. At first they would only go off occasionally-but now they are going off OFTEN. Note-that when the HIDs go out-the angel eyes (whats left of them) stay on. A month or so after I bought the lights-I told Jeff about this-and he thought it might be the bulbs-so he sent me new ones-but that didn't seem to make a difference. I have looked at all the connections-and "reconnected" them-more than once. I have also swapped out the euroswitch with the oem switch but the same thing is happening-the HIDs keep going out-one or both-I flip the high beam stalk-and they are back but soon go our again. Does this sound like a ballast issue? or perhaps a loose wire INSIDE the light? I gotta figure this out.

 

[freakwithracket]

Bummer the new bulbs didn't fix it. It sounds like the internal relay controller. Long story short we were using relay controller A, then switch to B because they performed well in testing, then back to A when one of the batches of them started demonstrating a similar issue to what you describe in real world use. A and B being slightly different models of the high/low controller inside the light.

Take the rear cover off the light and right inside of it you will find a small black relay controller. It's about 1-2 inches in size. It will be sitting right there. Take a photo of it and either text or email it to me. I should be able to tell you if it is suspect just from visual inspection of it.

Aside from this, bad grounds can never be ruled out. But I am more likely to say relay at this point in time.

 

[drywaller]

Jeff, just got my new Innovited 55 watt ballast. I did a quick google for reviews on these ballast and most of the hits were positive. One thing that I noted was that some users were getting flickering when using these ballast. Some used capacitors while others used relays to overcome this. It has been sometime since I installed the lights. If memory serves the retrofitted lights tie directly to the factory harness and not use a relay of any sort right?
If not should I run a relay or capacitor?
Thanks

 

[smelly621]

Sounds like Jeff is keeping busy as I have continually seen his thread at the top of the vendor section.

Still, I feel compelled to bump it myself. I ordered a set of retrofits from him almost two years ago for my mk4 golf - and they still are looking and working great. The glass housings make them look better than OEM, and the light output is fantastic. I made some projector retrofit headlights for my Tacoma shortly after I bought the set from Jeff and can say with complete certainty that Jeff's labor and expertise were worth every penny. Baking and prying lights apart and sealing properly after without causing damage takes a special touch. Jeff's work is top notch.

 

[LiLredTDI]

??????

Im interested in your set of MK$ Jetta housings with the glass lenses.

I know nothing about HID's or ballasts.

When buying your housings and ballasts are they completely plug and play?

If not what additional pieces, parts, wiring is needed?

Thank you in advance for the info.

 

[freakwithracket]

If you order the lights all you need otherwise are ballasts, and turn signal bulbs. Everything is plug and play. If you order the turn signal bulbs, I install them prior to shipping. So all you have to do is pop the new lights in and plug the ballasts into them.

 

[TwinTurboKen]

What shroud comes with these lights for the MK4 jetta?

I know you have the optional premium ones, but do you have a picture of the lights with the shroud they come with if we don't choose a premium shroud?

Just curious as looking at the images you have on your site for the MK4, the ones shown look like the premium iris shroud?

 

[freakwithracket]

Mini Gatling.

 

[Katahdin]

Maybe this was already asked previously:
What makes the north American diy kit different from the mini h1 kit from TRS? I see your kit is cheaper, but is the projector really any different?

 

[freakwithracket]

Are you talking about the retrofit kit, or about a full set of headlights?

 

[Katahdin]

Are you talking about the retrofit kit, or about a full set of headlights?

Retrofit kit

 

[JettaTDlie]

Do we know what brand the actual projectors are in the newest version of the MKIV Golf 4.0 headlights? I know they are H1 Bi-Xenons, but do we know the brand (ie Morimoto Minis)?

 

[freakwithracket]

Retrofit kit

For the retrofit kit, the "North American" kit has smaller projectors than the Mini H1. The north american housings use a 9007 bulb and the opening in the reflector is smaller. Additionally, there is a protrusion from that opening about a quarter of an inch out from the surface of the reflector. What that means is that the larger Mini H1 will not fit into the housing in a "bolt on" application. It sticks out too far and the front headlight lens can't be put back on. That is in contrast to the European housings which use an H4 bulb that has a larger opening. The larger opening and lack of protrusion means the projector can sit back further and there is just enough room to bolt in the Mini H1 projector. If you wanted the larger projector in the North American housing you'd have to use a dremmel and cut yourself out a larger hole. But by doing so you'd also be cutting out the bolt mount surface and you'd have to epoxy the projector in place. In other words, it gets pretty messy fast, and very difficult to do well. Also very time consuming. For that reason, we offer the smaller projectors which are an easy bolt in option.

In terms of the projectors, the two will give you different output due to the different lens sizes (2.5" vs 1.8"). In essence, with the larger projectors you end up with the light spread more to the sides of the road, with the smaller you end up with more light in the center.

 

[freakwithracket]

Do we know what brand the actual projectors are in the newest version of the MKIV Golf 4.0 headlights? I know they are H1 Bi-Xenons, but do we know the brand (ie Morimoto Minis)?

When talking about retrofit HID projectors, there are no manufacturer "brands" per se. The Morimoto Mini H1 for example, is just a generic Mini H1 projector that they re-brand. They order generic H1 projects in bulk, take the projectors and tune them (adjust the optics) and that is what makes them into a "Morimoto" projector. You can find the same projectors, for example, sold by TRS, DDM Tuning, Retrofit Lab, and 1001 other places. We get our projectors the same way everyone else does. We're mostly focused on retrofit headlight rather than the kits, so not much effort has gone into trying to create a "brand" around the components. More directly to your question though, if you wanted to compare the Golf projectors are akin to the Mini Matchbox. They are not exactly the same, they have a different shroud for example, but in effect they produce nearly identical output.

 

[JettaTDlie]

When talking about retrofit HID projectors, there are no manufacturer "brands" per se. The Morimoto Mini H1 for example, is just a generic Mini H1 projector that they re-brand. They order generic H1 projects in bulk, take the projectors and tune them (adjust the optics) and that is what makes them into a "Morimoto" projector. You can find the same projectors, for example, sold by TRS, DDM Tuning, Retrofit Lab, and 1001 other places. We get our projectors the same way everyone else does. We're mostly focused on retrofit headlight rather than the kits, so not much effort has gone into trying to create a "brand" around the components. More directly to your question though, if you wanted to compare the Golf projectors are akin to the Mini Matchbox. They are not exactly the same, they have a different shroud for example, but in effect they produce nearly identical output.

10-4 thanks. Just spent a dumb amount of Morimoto XB55 ballasts and H1 5500k bulbs to use in the set I purchased from you guys. Had been through a few bulbs with you guys under warranty, and on a second set of Ebay ballasts. Hoping these will be nice and bright, and reliable for 3+ years once broken in. Projector lenses themselves seem to have a good clean cut off though.