headlight upgrade

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Mar 16, 2006 | 07:37 PM

fa590

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headlight upgrade

if you have the standard headlights, how hard or expensive is it to upgrade to xenon?

Mar 16, 2006 | 08:17 PM

NorCalA3

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not easy

first you would need to get OEM housing, because halogen lights don't come with projectors. then, you need to get HID kit which would include ballast, bulb, and ignitor. with some kits you'll have to secure the ignitors. once you get everything fitted nicely, you'll have to run vagcom to tell the car to run xenons. i think you might have to also disable the DRL.

i guess it's not too difficult, it's just expensive.

housing - $800
HID kit - $299
labor - ???

Mar 16, 2006 | 08:45 PM

fa590

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thanks

Mar 17, 2006 | 02:30 AM

Waggin

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Joined: Apr 2001

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HID reliability?

I elected not to buy it due to the potential for failure in this complex system, which uses motors in each housing for high/dipped beams, and levelling, and level sensors underneath, which complicate suspension lowering.

I should have asked earlier about the reliability of Audi's HID systems, but, I suppose it't too late to change the order now, a week later..

Mar 17, 2006 | 07:14 AM

MisterJJ

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Depends.

I did the bulb upgrade in standard housings. Not as good as stock xenon but much better than stock halogen. Cost is about $350 for the xTec kit I got. No coding changes required. Just locate the ballasts somewhere and plug it into existing wiring. I had to do a little modification but nothing serious.

Mar 19, 2006 | 07:34 AM

GolfGL

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Joined: Mar 2000

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From: Toronto, Ontario

You may want to try just changing the bulbs

Apparently H9 bulbs fit in the H11 connector. They are filled with kryptonite and produce 2100 lumens compared to 1350 lumens for H11.

Haven't tried this myself since I ordered car with HID.