upgrading oem headlights

[jessie123]

hi all
thinking of changing my headlights on my 07 a3 quattro sportback 170 too 08 09 type lights possibly with drl"s is this a plug and play job or is there more to it cause my lights are c---e tried brighter bulbs to no avail sick of spending money on the damm things
any replys very welcome thanx in advance

 

[Paullie]

Hi there, a few people have swapped their 2006 - 2008 lights for the current style late 2008 - 2012 lights with LED DRL's, but unfortunately it's not just a case of swapping the lights. This conversion requires a new front bumper, bonnet, wings and wing mirrors (as the new wings don't have side repeators, they are incorporated into the wing mirrors) as well as the lights.You can do the whole conversion or you can simply upgrade your sidelights to LED ones (Canbus compatible ones are available) and your dipped and main beams to whiter Xenon-like bulbs (Philips Diamond Vision and M-Tec are 2 of the most popular bulb upgrades).Hope this helps. Paula xx

 

[jessie123]

hi paula
are these bulbs alot brighter in the night than standard bulbs as i bought xenon bulbs 8000k and were very poor at night vision. or hid canbus kits are they legal and do they blow the wiper motors

 

[Lewbo]

HID kits are illegal and will certainly blow your wiper motor without fail, if you want xenons need to go down the OEM route, i had them on my current s line and they were awesome but now i have done the full led drl facelift so mine was plug and play but OEM xenons all the way. not cheap though

 

[Paullie]

hi paula
are these bulbs alot brighter in the night than standard bulbs as i bought xenon bulbs 8000k and were very poor at night vision. or hid canbus kits are they legal and do they blow the wiper motors

Hi Jessie, as has been said by A3_Sline HID kits are illegal unless they are retrofitted into headlights designed for Xenon light, ie they have projector lenses (like the OEM Xenon headlights) and the new MOT regs state that they should have headlight washers and autolevelling fitted also. The Xenon bulbs you bought unfortunately wouldn't have lit the road up effectively enough for you as they were 8000K. The higher the Kelvin rating (K) the less the light output actually is and the more Blue the light. Lots of the guys have fitted Philips Diamond Vision 5000K bulbs into their lights and these offer excellent light output as the Kelvin rating is lower and they are a lovely pure white light. I used to have them fitted in my high beams in my previous car and they were exactly the same colour as my OEM Xenons. I also have them in my fogs now and they are a perfect match for my Xenons and LED DRL's. For good visibiliy on the road, don't go any higher than 6000K would be my advice to you if you choose to buy some more Xenon-effect bulbs. OEM Xenons are a great option, but you would need to buy the adaptive versions (as these level automatically as required for the MOT) and you would also need headlight washers fitted to comply with the MOT regs.

It can be very frustrating, trying to get your lights exactly as you would like them. I don't know how much money I threw at my last car trying to get it right. First of all I bought a full set of PIAA bulbs, but they were no where near as good as they promised to be for the money they cost (well over £100 for the set). In the end I sourced some new OEM BiXenon headlights and fitted a Canbus compatible 6000K HID kit (the car wasn't an Audi, so no wiper motor failure), but even these wouldn't pass an MOT now without washers and autolevelling. What a PITA! That's why I swore my next car HAD to have Xenons as standard, lol.

xx

 

[jessie123]

hi a3 s-line-tdi
thanx for your reply mate how much am i looking at for oem adaptive xenons

 

[jessie123]

sorry paullie got your name wrong.thanx for your reply would i have to change wings and bonnet for oem xenons as i have s line 170 quattro with custom remap

 

[Lewbo]

If you want your current shape model bi-xenons you don't have to change Bonnet ect, but if you want led DRL then you will, it's. Bit of work to do the facelift as I have done it but does look the part, only thing is with you having halogens you will also need auto levellers and washers ect and costs do add up depends on how much money you have to do this

 

[jessie123]

thanx again i will look into bi xenons for now and washers and auto levellers

 

[N8]

Jessie, what Xenons do you want, where are you in the country, I can arrange installation.

 

[jessie123]

hi n8 herd alot about you all good lol. im in s.wales.would like drls plus xenons or bi xenons plus prices on both types