Advice Please, DRL LED Headlamps for 00-03 Audi A3?

F

Fahd

Registered User
Joined
Jul 25, 2010
Messages
39
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
NULL
Hi guys, I bought a 2-door, 2002 Audi A3 today and am looking to do a couple of visual modifications to it. However I'm struggling to find any aftermarket DRL LED headlights for the car. I did find the set hyperlinked below on eBay which I'd love to put on my car but unfortunately it says it only fits models 96-00, does anyone know where I may be able to get a pair that will fit my car?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AUDI-A3-8L-Da...s=63&clkid=6869590902491596558#ht_3469wt_1137

I understand that DRL LED's are not to everyone's taste but I personally like them a lot and would be extremely grateful for any help you can give me in finding a set.
 
Thanks for the quick replies S3Dave! Apologies for sounding like a complete n00b but those DRL LED headlights were made for the 96-00 (pre-facelift) model Audi A3, whereas mine is an 02 (facelift) model, why would anyone with a 96-00 model Audi A3 need to modify there car to fit them? surely it's been made so they don't have to modify anything (which would end up being an issue for fitting them to my car?). The reason I'm cautious about buying them is because the seller specifically states they are for the 96-00 model and when I emailed to ask about the lights fitting my 02 model he never bothered replying, to add to this £200 lights that I cannot use would be less than ideal to me haha.

Whilst we are on the subject could somebody explain how the 00-03 model lights differ from the 96-00 ones? as far as I can see my 02 model has a projector lens (great for H.I.D's) and the older 96-00 lights normally come in 2 pieces. Other than this the shape of the lights look to be exactly the same? why would the indicator lights have an alarm issue? Finally s3Dave do you know where I might be able to get rear LED lamps like yours but with red glass instead of the clear glass you have (red glass would better match my car). Are the 96-00 rear lamps a different shape to the 00-03 rear lamps?

Thanks again for all the help anyone can give me.
 
Last edited:
Fahd said:
Thanks for the quick replies S3Dave! Apologies for sounding like a complete n00b but those DRL LED headlights were made for the 96-00 (pre-facelift) model Audi A3, whereas mine is an 02 (facelift) model, why would anyone with a 96-00 model Audi A3 need to modify there car to fit them? surely it's been made so they don't have to modify anything (which would end up being an issue for fitting them to my car?). The reason I'm cautious about buying them is because the seller specifically states they are for the 96-00 model and when I emailed to ask about the lights fitting my 02 model he never bothered replying, to add to this £200 lights that I cannot use would be less than ideal to me haha.

Whilst we are on the subject could somebody explain how the 00-03 model lights differ from the 96-00 ones? as far as I can see my 02 model has a projector lens (great for H.I.D's) and the older 96-00 lights normally come in 2 pieces. Other than this the shape of the lights look to be exactly the same? why would the indicator lights have an alarm issue? Finally s3Dave do you know where I might be able to get rear LED lamps like yours but with red glass instead of the clear glass you have (red glass would better match my car). Are the 96-00 rear lamps a different shape to the 00-03 rear lamps?

Thanks again for all the help anyone can give me.
Click to expand...
with prefacelift you have to cut the wing to get 1 piece headlight/indicators to fit imo these will fit your car you are 8L yes?
rear lamps are a direct fit pre and facelift
my rear leds come of ebay from germany not seen anymore since..?
 
I want facelift lights in mine, is it big job ?
 
s3dave said:
with prefacelift you have to cut the wing to get 1 piece headlight/indicators to fit imo these will fit your car you are 8L yes?
rear lamps are a direct fit pre and facelift
my rear leds come of ebay from germany not seen anymore since..?
Click to expand...


Thanks again for the reply S3Dave. I most definitely have the face-lift 8l Audi A3, are you 100% sure about the rear lamps being interchangeable between the pre-facelift and facelift models? I'm very interested in buying these rear lamps but once again the seller states that this is only for a 96-00 Audi A3 (do sellers not know that a 2000-2003 8l exists?), If you're 100% sure I'll buy these lamps now, but I emailed the guy a while back and he said they fit 96-00:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LED-Rear-Tail...arParts_SM&hash=item19b82dd1af#ht_1132wt_1137

What confuses me about the headlights now is that having taken a closer look I saw the layout of the lights on my facelift model are as follows:

fk20angel20a3208l20facelift202.jpg


Whereas on the DRL LED headlamps the layout of the projector etc. is different, would this cause any issues? also can anyone further elaborate on S3Daves point about any issues I might have with the alarm indicators by fitting this headlamp unit?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AUDI-A3-8L-Da...arParts_SM&hash=item1e5c3ae2c3#ht_3469wt_1137

Thanks again everyone, I know my questions aren't the most interesting, I just don't want to botch my Audi while modifying it.
 
a lot of effort and money and the outcome will be like fitting tits to a horse. really not gonna be good

find me a picture of one A3 8L with good looking DRL, i mean chav, lights and ill paypal you £5
 
why not just take the ones you have and spray the lenses black to make them more unique....that way you keep the OEM look and dont end up looking like you own a Lexus/Saxo hybrid
 
i like the way they look on there own but what do they look like in a proper picture on an 8L?

only seen a crappy dark picture of front view at night. anyone had em?
 
DaveA3 said:
i like the way they look on there own but what do they look like in a proper picture on an 8L?

only seen a crappy dark picture of front view at night. anyone had em?
Click to expand...

There are pictures of DRL's on an s3 in the link just above. :thumbsup:
ps smoked headlights do look the dogs
 
Thanks for this Dane, the issue here is that he's got a T-Reg Audi S3, wouldn't this therefore be a pre-facelift model and therefore be the Audi it was meant to fit? would pre-face lift lights fit straight into my car (i.e is the hole the same size? how about the back lights are the holes the same)? I'm sure I can sort out the wiring so that everything works appropriately.

1Animal1 I'm not a huge fan of smoked lights but thanks for the suggestion. I'm most definitely not a chav, and hope I don't come across as one, I just like the lights. It's not like I'm trying to fit the DRL lights to a Vauxhall Corsa, I'm trying to fit them to an Audi (and LED DRL's of this style were originally designed by Audi after all).

Thanks for the replies everyone.
 
The lights in question will have normal H1 or H7 fitment behind, your will have xenon bulbs and so i think will require rewiring.....

yup DRL's were created for new Audi's :)
 
1animal1 said:
The lights in question will have normal H1 or H7 fitment behind, your will have xenon bulbs and so i think will require rewiring.....

yup DRL's were created for new Audi's :)
Click to expand...

Hi everyone, just as an update for people who are interested in buying these lights themselves, I just spoke to a seller on eBay (his eBay username is: flydesigngmbh) who says he will be selling these style DRL lights made for the facelift Audi A3 8l's within 6 weeks. So I'm just going to wait for those to be available and buy from him.

Can somebody please confirm that the 96-00 rear lamps for an Audi A3 would fit my 2002 facelift model? as I would like to buy some aftermarket rear lamps that say they are made for the 96-00 model. Thanks.
 
Last edited:
Fahd thats a weird swap, new lights for old...im sure theres plenty of pre facelift members willing to swap their rears for yours if you really want to 'date' your car
 
he wants aftermarket ones though rather than standard animal.

i just hope theyre not lexus style lights!
 
yeah theres one near me in dolhpin grey with lexus rears, cant imagine the kid stood back and thought 'yeah that looks mint' unless he was blind?
 
I upgraded my rear lights to the facelift model ones... they are the best suited ones for the car IMO, Lexus lights and similar just don't look right on the A3/S3 to me!
 
I'm not looking to make my car look older at all. I'd like to make it look more modern by fitting aftermarket rear LED lamps. I also agree with Lloydsta in that 'Lexus lights' (I'm skeptikal in using and thus tarnishing Lexus' name by associating it with that tacky crap) look truly terrible and scream "I'm a chav with no taste!". These are the lights I'd like to buy for my Audi (that the seller states are to fit a 96-00 Audi but actually fit all Audi A3 8l's according to people in this thread):

untitledyrn7.png


untitledtpo9.png


untitledvomx.png


RA01llrc_GIF.gif


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LED-Rear-Tail...arParts_SM&hash=item19b82dd1af#ht_1132wt_1137

The seller also specifically states that these will not fit the Audi S3 nor the A3 TDi, can somebody tell me why this is? I hope this won't be an issue that will effect my facelift A3.
 
Last edited:
s3dave said:
not to keen on them they look like a gaming/slot machine, may look better on though...
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that most of the time (as I keep my sidelights on in the daytime) they would look like they do in the second image which I feel would make the back end look more like it has 8P style lights.
 
the only LED lights that are likely to possibly work will be the originals adapted so that when they are use, you get LED....most other lights will look like you gatecrashed halfords, my opinion of course but changing lights makes a big impact on the car, and to beat Audi's design characteristics with an ebay special just aint gonna happen
 
1animal1 said:
the only LED lights that are likely to possibly work will be the originals adapted so that when they are use, you get LED....most other lights will look like you gatecrashed halfords, my opinion of course but changing lights makes a big impact on the car, and to beat Audi's design characteristics with an ebay special just aint gonna happen
Click to expand...

I appreciate your opinion and I most definitely don't want my A3 to look like a 'Halford special'. I'm now considering this set instead, they have a more stock look but use LED's rather than filament bulbs and I prefer the brightness and colour produced from LED's:

RueckA3LED.jpg

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LED-Rear-Tail...arParts_SM&hash=item588789d59d#ht_1548wt_1137

What worries me about purchasing any of these lights is every seller on eBay states they will only fit 96-00, why do they do this if it's not true? surely they're losing potential customers? I have a lot planned for my Audi A3 so I'll be making a thread soon of the work I've carried out on the car which I hope will entertain you all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

guobin
AUDI A3 96-00 LED BLACK DRL R8 DEVIL EYE
Replies
5
Views
5K
kayandawg
K
ukku
'00 Audi S3
Replies
3
Views
2K
phil miller
phil miller
gabin
ECU swap for my '00 Audi S3
Replies
5
Views
1K
gabin
gabin
Poke13
RNS-E retrofit S3 8L '03 - info/advice please!
Replies
23
Views
11K
futurisma
F
A
Which engine undertray for my 03 a3
Replies
4
Views
475
_Alex_D_
A
Top
Back