OSRAM XENARC LED XENON Lights

[KITEWAGON]

I'm looking for feedback on these lights. I am currently looking into options to upgrade or replace my stock halogens. After having the GTI with lighting package its tough to go back to lousy halogen lights. Though I don't do a ton of night driving, when I do I light to be able to see.

These are an interesting option that I found. But I can't find much information on them at all which probably isn't a great sign. They have a MK7.5 look with the LED DRL's. But they look high quality as opposed to most of the aftermarket eBay junk.

I'd love to see pictures of these on a JSW, but google hasn't been a help. The really odd thing is that I can't even find a listing of these for sale to see what the pricing is like.

https://www.osram.com/am/light-for/led-lighting/ledriving-headlights/index.jsp

 

[20IndigoBlue02]

They use D8S bulbs, which are 25W bulbs, which are down around 1200 lumens compared to the factory D3S 35W/3200 lumen bulbs.

 

[KITEWAGON]

Thanks for the feedback on bulbs. That is something to keep in mind. I think that these lights have only been out for about a year. They appear to be available through one european vendor for around $1k, which is pretty steep. I think that I like the look, but I couldn't find a single picture of them installed on a sportwagon.

Unfortunately I still can't find a lot of information on them. But I did find some forum post reviews that indicated quality issues (such as the DRL's jiggling in the housings) and lousy customer support. For that kind of money I'd want to read glowing reviews and that they have great customer support.

So even though I think these look pretty cool, I'm going to hold off for now. Maybe look for used OEM or see if a used set of these to show up.

If anyone is selling OEM MK6 bi-xenon's let me know! At this point my preference would probably be to avoid attempting the auto-leveling because of the complication associated with them. I don't want to get into swapping modules or advanced coding. I don't mind editing a little bit of long-coding if there are clear instructions, but that is the limit of comfort level.

 

[KITEWAGON]

Well I drove in the dark and the rain last night for the first time last night. The halogens are even worse than I remember after using HID lights for year. So I'm going to have to come up with a solution sooner rather than later. I can't believe how bad the low beams are in particular. I don't think that I have particularly good night vision and perhaps that is part of the problem. But with HID's I can see great because they light up the road like daylight!

I read that mfr's use the 25W bulbs because its easier for them to get DOT approval without using washers and leveling systems. I'm sure even 25W bulbs would be a massive improvement over the halogen lights.

 

[20IndigoBlue02]

DOT regs don't require auto level nor headlight washers.


It's ECE regs

 

[Wilkins]

How bad the low beams are???! I never had a problem with the low beams before I installed Xenons, it was the insipid high beams. Yes the OEM Xenon has a better low beam than the halogen but if your problem is low beams I would check the voltage drops across the bulbs to make sure you don’t have a wiring issue before spending a pile of money.

I’ve spent time driving the company Silverados with the 25 watt HIDs and they are not bad, significantly better than a LED Ford, yet many people complain about the lack of light. Depends on what you expect perhaps.

 

[meangreen]

You should contact freekwithracket here on the forum. He is in the vendor section and he might be able to help you with your old light and retro fit them to hid. He does nice work

 

[KITEWAGON]

How bad the low beams are???! I never had a problem with the low beams before I installed Xenons, it was the insipid high beams. Yes the OEM Xenon has a better low beam than the halogen but if your problem is low beams I would check the voltage drops across the bulbs to make sure you don’t have a wiring issue before spending a pile of money.

Yeah both low and high beams are terrible after getting used to HID lights. At this point my plan is to look for OEM HIDs from a GTI or Golf R. I'm not thrilled with having to swap out some kind of control module and do a bunch of coding, but that seems like the best way to get back to having high quality lights. I plan to own the car for a long time so I might as well be able to see at night.

 

[2dedge]

Please keep us posted