So I finally plumped for vision at night instead of fumbling my way around the countryside,
got a set of 50W 5000k H7's from HID Direct. Car is facelift B5 avant so already has Valeo projectors fitted.
instructions seemed pretty straightforward and I am no electrician so was a little concerned it would be trciky.
Whip the head light out - two torx screws on the top of the unit, one at the lower side behind the indicator accessed through the hole near the edge of the wing. bit tricky but you can get your hand down to grab the screw and torx bit.
unit wiggles out away from centre. two plugs to disconnect and you can retire to the warmth.
rear of unit:
OEM Balast recess in bottom of unit:
Instructions call for a 25mm hole drilled into bulb cover, but I didn't like that idea and it also means the cables are all over the place.
drill the hole through the base where the balast will be.
Balast test fitted......like a glove:
hole for cable routing:
cable fitted with grommet in place (f. tight fit!):
all wrapped up ready to be tested back in place:
view from the back, sticks out at the bottom but there is a surprising amount of room below the headlight.all the joints are pressure fit water tight, was going to seal them all in a bag but didn't in the end.
The ballast is a very tight pressure fit into the OEM recess but I screwed it in with a plastic strap just in case and cable tied the loose cables to the edge of the recess.
end result:
let there be light, HID right, H7 halogen left, photos don't really show the difference but it really is night and day :
job done.
Obviously I have headlight washers and self levelling mechanisms in place to comply with the legal requirement........
got a set of 50W 5000k H7's from HID Direct. Car is facelift B5 avant so already has Valeo projectors fitted.
instructions seemed pretty straightforward and I am no electrician so was a little concerned it would be trciky.
Whip the head light out - two torx screws on the top of the unit, one at the lower side behind the indicator accessed through the hole near the edge of the wing. bit tricky but you can get your hand down to grab the screw and torx bit.
unit wiggles out away from centre. two plugs to disconnect and you can retire to the warmth.
rear of unit:
OEM Balast recess in bottom of unit:
Instructions call for a 25mm hole drilled into bulb cover, but I didn't like that idea and it also means the cables are all over the place.
drill the hole through the base where the balast will be.
Balast test fitted......like a glove:
hole for cable routing:
cable fitted with grommet in place (f. tight fit!):
all wrapped up ready to be tested back in place:
view from the back, sticks out at the bottom but there is a surprising amount of room below the headlight.all the joints are pressure fit water tight, was going to seal them all in a bag but didn't in the end.
The ballast is a very tight pressure fit into the OEM recess but I screwed it in with a plastic strap just in case and cable tied the loose cables to the edge of the recess.
end result:
let there be light, HID right, H7 halogen left, photos don't really show the difference but it really is night and day :
job done.
Obviously I have headlight washers and self levelling mechanisms in place to comply with the legal requirement........