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Aftermarket headlight 'upgrade'?

R

Richard Teale

Guest User
Has anyone fitted a pair of aftermarket headlight units to the T5, which actually provide a functional (rather than cosmetic/aesthetic) improvement over the OE units? I ask because I'm looking at various LED DRL (daylight running lights to the unaccustomed) units that offer things like Audi Q7 and A8 style DRLs; Shark eye headlamps (the ones with small glass lenses); and the rather snazzy looking light bar type DRLs.

Aesthetically the light bar style lights look great but wondered whether they perform any better than the pish-poor OE units. Plunging along dark country lanes with the OE units feels rather like driving blind with an astrologer strapped to the bonnet!

Any experiences good, bad or indifferent?
 
No-one I have spoken to on the T5 forum has found that the light bar ones are any better. I did read a thread that said its not always the bulb and on individual tried the voltage at the bulb which was less than 10V, he fitted an upgraded loom (I assume part of it!) and then found he had over 14V at the bulb which he said with Osram Nightbreakers made a significant difference.
 
Lost Boy said:
No-one I have spoken to on the T5 forum has found that the light bar ones are any better. I did read a thread that said its not always the bulb and on individual tried the voltage at the bulb which was less than 10V, he fitted an upgraded loom (I assume part of it!) and then found he had over 14V at the bulb which he said with Osram Nightbreakers made a significant difference.
Click to expand...
Yes now you mention it I've read something about low voltage at the bulb somewhere too. Time to dig out the multimeter :)


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Vw are notorious for using wire that is not thick enough in the headlamp circuits creating resistance.
You can buy headlamp upgrade looms that give much brighter headlamps.
 
Lost Boy said:
No-one I have spoken to on the T5 forum has found that the light bar ones are any better. I did read a thread that said its not always the bulb and on individual tried the voltage at the bulb which was less than 10V, he fitted an upgraded loom (I assume part of it!) and then found he had over 14V at the bulb which he said with Osram Nightbreakers made a significant difference.
Click to expand...
I gather that was a problem on the T4. Unfortunately with the T5 + the wiring is different. You could think about fitting some auxiliary driving lights. Perfectly legal if fitted at least 24" from the ground, in pairs with a maximum wattage of 55w/lamp and only used with Main Beam.
Commonly found on vehicles in Scandinavia.
 
snowy55 said:
Vw are notorious for using wire that is not thick enough in the headlamp circuits creating resistance.
You can buy headlamp upgrade looms that give much brighter headlamps.
Click to expand...
Where from?
 
Always found that fitting high quality bulbs made a vast difference. Phillips etc do various types. Cheaper than changing the whole headlight.

LED ones are now coming on the market but haven't tried any as yet. Probably will on my T6 when I eventually get it. Only if they are CE marked.
Thought that VW LED option was too pricey. I did pay about the same for BiZenon ones on my BMW but they are the active ones (see round bends).
 
Last edited:
B J G said:
Always found that fitting high quality bulbs made a vast difference. Phillips etc do various types. Cheaper than changing the whole headlight.

LED ones are now coming on the market but haven't tried any as yet. Probably will on my T6 when I eventually get it. Thought that VW LED option was too pricey.
Click to expand...
Yes, I'm with you on the bulb upgrade versus upgrading the entire lamp unit. However (and you could guess there'd be a however) there appear to be very few high performance variants of the dual-filament H15 bulb used for DRL and high beam. Direct LED replacements for stock halogen unit aren't quite there yet in my humble opinion, but they are getting better all the time. The basic problem is that they don't produce a point light source that sits in the sweet spot of the reflectors/lenses and you end up with light scattered to the four winds. I've tried various LED bulbs but I'd be interested to hear if anyone has found one that actually does what it says on the tin.


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Richard Teale said:
Yes, I'm with you on the bulb upgrade versus upgrading the entire lamp unit. However (and you could guess there'd be a however) there appear to be very few high performance variants of the dual-filament H15 bulb used for DRL and high beam. Direct LED replacements for stock halogen unit aren't quite there yet in my humble opinion, but they are getting better all the time. The basic problem is that they don't produce a point light source that sits in the sweet spot of the reflectors/lenses and you end up with light scattered to the four winds. I've tried various LED bulbs but I'd be interested to hear if anyone has found one that actually does what it says on the tin.


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Click to expand...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OSRAM-Coo...735339?hash=item3ac544faab:g:~NwAAOSw~bFWJfum

Might be a solution without going to the Cree option.
 
I had to change my headlights and they build in some "hela" ones ( he said they are the same without the VWN lable) and we tried other bulbs. I may find a picture...
 
They look pretty good. Can you tell the difference on the road? Do you have any info on the replacement unit beyond the fact that they were Hela ones? Thanks :)


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Richard Teale said:
They look pretty good. Can you tell the difference on the road? Do you have any info on the replacement unit beyond the fact that they were Hela ones? Thanks :)


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Click to expand...
I just wrote an email to the garage. I may find some more details on the bill at home. IMO the difference on the road is a brighter/"clearer" beam.
My intention was to upgrade to a light that is easier visible for others and IMO it was worth it (~CHF1000).
 
Richard Teale said:
They look pretty good. Can you tell the difference on the road? Do you have any info on the replacement unit beyond the fact that they were Hela ones? Thanks :)


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Click to expand...
I just wrote an email to the garage. I may find some more details on the bill at home. IMO the difference on the road is a brighter/"clearer" beam.
My intention was to upgrade to a light that is easier visible for others and IMO it was worth it (~CHF1000).
 
You will need to be careful with aftermarket HID's as they don't really work very well in reflector type headlights; too much beam scatter, which results in a poor beam for you and dazzle for oncoming drivers. A well designed projector headlight unit will be much better base for HID's. Projector units are available on eBay for the t5.1 at least but at around £500, I'd rather see a review before committing to the spend!

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It's a veritable minefield. I do have some experience of aftermarket HID lighting; I fitted a HID kit from HID50 (Google it) to my last motorcycle (BMW R1200GS 2010)


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Richard Teale said:
It's a veritable minefield. I do have some experience of aftermarket HID lighting; I fitted a HID kit from HID50 (Google it) to my last motorcycle (BMW R1200GS 2010)


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Click to expand...
Sorry pressed enter by accident! The HID kit transformed my bike, but then you do start from a low base with the old R1200GS - candles would have kicked out more light. The beam pattern was probably sub-optimal but the light output made up for it. Never really got too much adverse reaction from other motorists and it passed the MOT, so was money well spent. I think you do need to watch the quality of the HID kits available - some have crappy ballasts that take half an hour to produce a decent light and some bulbs kick out excessive UV that wrecks your plastic.

Thanks WelshGas for pointing to the H15 HID developments - could well be worth a look. There is an outfit up in Scotland that customises the original T5 light units by fitting proper shuttered HID lenses. These look great but require VAG coding to tell the van that you're running with Xenons - pricey at £500 but they do look impressive (look them up on Facebook (HeadlightRetroFits).

After much research and some experiment with LED bulbs I think I'll go for one of the snazzy light bar DRL units and I'll fit some Night Breakers (standard H7 fitting on high beam I believe). Will report back with photos.

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice. Appreciated.


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Correct me if I am wrong but I believe HID lights can only be legally fitted in conjunction with self leveling light units and headlight washers.
I don't know if this is the same for LEDs but genuine VW LED equipped T6s have self leveling and washers.

Rod
 
rod_vw said:
Correct me if I am wrong but I believe HID lights can only be legally fitted in conjunction with self leveling light units and headlight washers.
I don't know if this is the same for LEDs but genuine VW LED equipped T6s have self leveling and washers.

Rod
Click to expand...
Factory HID's need washers and self levelling but aftermarket ones don't. At least not to pass a MOT. It's a bit daft but there you go.

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