Headlight / DRL / Foglight / Park light bulb replacement

[Tobes_WIR35]

I want to also upgrade my fog lights, apparently I can get them changed to more of a whiteish colour. I will have to look on EBAY, as no shows seem to stock them, and retailers want to charge something like $140 for Phillips ones!

Does anyone have some suggestions? Are the foggies easy to change?

The fog lamps are H8 type, and very easy to swap over - there is a little access panel inside the wheel arch. I have swapped mine for H8 LED lamps. They have a total of 102 LED's in each lamp (SMD chip). In terms of lumen output I would say they're roughly similar to the 35w Halogens, but due to the high colour temperature they stand out in traffic making the car more visible for safety reasons. I would say they are somewhere around 5000-6000k colour temp. The only problem is they will trigger a "fault" message on your MDI, as there is no resistive short circuit in the LED lamp, and a very low current, to the diagnostics it looks like an open circuit (blown lamp).

I can't remember how much they were but it was only like $10 per lamp, from HK or China. The quality of them is generally inconsistent so I bought 6 of them just in case, but I haven't had any fail yet after a few months.

[btuned]

Hey guys, im looking to replace my stock bulbs with something a bit brighter and white (leaning towards blue) on my 90 tsi. Ive had a quick read and have seen that HID's done work particularly well with the fittings on my car so taking a look around for a nice bulb to use.

What would you guys recommend for a nice bright white (and legal) h7 bulb that also has a slight bluish tinge to it like hids?

It seems that the Phillips Diamond Vision 5000k would be a good choice for what im looking for but anything else others can recommend?

[nat225]

if u want to see better at night, avoid bulbs with heavy blue tint, ie: Diamond Vision.

use Phillips Xtreme Vision or Osram Nightbreaker Plus if u want proper legal halogen brightness at night for designed for human being eyes.

Hey guys, im looking to replace my stock bulbs with something a bit brighter and white (leaning towards blue) on my 90 tsi. Ive had a quick read and have seen that HID's done work particularly well with the fittings on my car so taking a look around for a nice bulb to use.

What would you guys recommend for a nice bright white (and legal) h7 bulb that also has a slight bluish tinge to it like hids?

It seems that the Phillips Diamond Vision 5000k would be a good choice for what im looking for but anything else others can recommend?

[Domz]

Just installed Crystal Visions 4300k - never fails me, used it for all my cars...

BUT THE DAMN PARKERS! Managed to get one out, but the passenger one could not do! Will have to visit VW Service.

[Tobes_WIR35]

Anything with a "tint" will actually reduce the efficacy of the lamp (yes efficacy, not efficiency...lol) halogen's natural out put is in the order of 3000k unless it is mixed with various types of gases which can make it higher in the spectrum without losing efficacy. Usually not much higher than 3500k.

In other words, buying a halogen lamp any higher than 3500k generally means it's putting out less light as it will have some sort of filter on it (usually blue).

LED and HID lamps, however, can be innately designed to operate at a nominal colour temperature without reducing efficacy, and in most cases, their efficacy increases, for example a 6000k LED will generally give out more lumens per watt than a 3000k

[btuned]

Just installed Crystal Visions 4300k - never fails me, used it for all my cars...

BUT THE DAMN PARKERS! Managed to get one out, but the passenger one could not do! Will have to visit VW Service.

How bright are the crystal visions compared to stock?

[Domz]

How bright are the crystal visions compared to stock?

Personally I think they are pretty much the same, but a white light... they are just borderline to losing brightness to have the 'blue' look... So end of the day I wouldn't say you are worse off brightness wise.

[btuned]

Hmm i see. I might try out the crystal vision ultras then. I quite like the blueish tinge + white look and if its about the same as stock should be fine as i do mostly urban driving anyway.

[Domz]

Hmm i see. I might try out the crystal vision ultras then. I quite like the blueish tinge + white look and if its about the same as stock should be fine as i do mostly urban driving anyway.

wouldnt say its bluish, but as white as you can get

[btuned]

wouldnt say its bluish, but as white as you can get

Yeh that sounds good. Where did you get yours from? I've managed to source some from Amazon for $33 shipped.

[Domz]

Yeh that sounds good. Where did you get yours from? I've managed to source some from Amazon for $33 shipped.

some joint on ebay, tried to avoid fakies so paid about $50... still less than half price retail in AUS.

[btuned]

some joint on ebay, tried to avoid fakies so paid about $50... still less than half price retail in AUS.

kool any dramas with installing?

[Domz]

no real problems, just a matter of getting your hands in there and turning the dial to release the light. See your manual.

The parkers are so impossible, only could move one out - so left them both as the yellow type until i got see VW.

[Captain Courteous]

The parkers are impossible.. Unless you have small hands lol..

I had to remove the whole headlight unit out to get to mine (see here)

Save yourself some coin and try and do it yourself..

[Domz]

yeah so impossible, i did the driver side a few times - put in the new, took it out to put back to stock. but the passenger was impossible just pulling twisting with no luck.