Hey guys this is my first post, I just purchased a CPO 2011 Audi A4 2.0 CVT this past Saturday and love. I did not get the HID Lights as I found a great deal on the Base Model. I wanted to know what is the best option for getting HID Lights any input would be greatly appreciated from others that have already gone this route before me. Alot of different sources from Google just want to make sure I am getting the best quality.

Thanks I love the site have been browsing around for a few days now.

 

First, there are no aftermarket "kits" that are worth the money. None of them meet FMVSS 108 concerning automotive lighting.

The worse offenders are the ones that sell counterfeit lamps that have been rebased to fit in the halogen lamp housings. The halogen reflectors have a specific beam pattern for the size of the filament in the lamp. The beam pattern will be wholly out of whack with a xenon capsule in there.

HID lamps need a 25,000 volt supply to strike the arc, and an 80 volt current limited supply to maintain the arc. These supplies often incorrectly called "ballasts" require premium components to work in an automobile. Aftermarket units use cheap components and usually fail within a year.

Genuine HID lamp capsules generally last about 2000 hours before the lamp luments start to decrease. Counterfeit lamps supplied by all "kit" makers last about 200 hours before color temperature begins to fall, and they fail to ignite soon thereafter.

The only way to change the lamps is to use genuine Audi parts. Gentlemen get out your checkbooks, it be a little north of 2 grand. You need the housings, the power supplies, the lamps, the LED assemblies, a little wiring work, and some version coding to alert the car that xenon lamps are onboard. You also need to install a lamp leveling system and a lamp washer system depending on where you live.

In a few words, it would be better to sell the car and buy the one you want. In the used market the difference between Premium and Premium Plus is not enough for a night out at a Laker game.

 

Thank you for the information, I just saw the housing the for the Dot HID Lighting and they were $749 each!! and I'm sure will require some extensive installing and programing in order for them to work. I wish there was just some sort of quick fix for this but I can understand how complicated it would be. Really just wanted to throw in some Audi Certified Bulbs and hope that would work =\ I guess not. Just got tint put on the car I'm hoping to take some photos today of the car I'll throw them online.

Ryan

 

Wow ! A few statements there that my experience would question.

I've been running HIDs on my motorbike for 4 years. Bear in mind that on a bike they're running all the time and not just at night so they've had a lot of use. A quick calc says that's at least 2500 hours and more likely 3000 plus. They were a quality kit bought from a UK supplier with a 2 year warranty for about £100 (a pair). My separate main beam is separate which has probably only be used for a total of about 50 hours. They both still show the same colour temp as each other and I can't see any difference from when they were first fitted.

However having said that, for a B8 A4 I wouldn't try and retro fit. I'd spend the extra couple of thousand on a car that already has them for the reasons you mention. In fact after having Xenon's in my TT and B6 S4, they were a big influence in getting the S-line spec.