Head lights are rubbish
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Check the dial next to the dash brightness - it may just be that they are dipped more than they need to be.
The dial in question is to be used when towing I believe, as the front of the car sits up, making the normal dipped beams too bright for oncoming traffic.
The only other person I knew had a problem had the Xenons, and eventually rejected the car. Can't quite recall who that was though.
The dial in question is to be used when towing I believe, as the front of the car sits up, making the normal dipped beams too bright for oncoming traffic.
The only other person I knew had a problem had the Xenons, and eventually rejected the car. Can't quite recall who that was though.
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2,587 Posts
This is the first starting point - if you park the car on a level unlit road on a dark night, you can see how the adjustment works. If you cannot get the light beam up high enough, a quick trip to the dealer to have the lights realigned will be necessary. If the lights are too high, other cars will keep flashing you to use low beam.
As a general comment, the standard headlights are not the best for our country driving conditions and seem to be the standard european specification. The intensity and spread of the beams does not compare with that of local and some imported cars which have better lights fitted as standard. My partner has already hit one small kangaroo because the lights didn't pick it up on the side of the road early enough - fortunately no damage as it was small and went under the centre of the car leaving a mess of blood and fur on the rear trailing arms and muffler [the roo did not survive the experience however I had to do the clean-up
].She now wishes she had followed my advice to order the Xenon option instead of baulking at the price. The car's Xmas present will be a rewiring of the headlight circuit with relays and heavier gauge cable to allow the fitting of high wattage bulbs - the existing wiring is marginal as far as I am concerned.
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333 Posts
I used to have the standard OEM low beams, and was not happy with the relatively dim low beam light output. I have self upgraded to 5000K HID Xenons. In order to make this work right, you need to have a Ross-Tech VAG-COM and reprogram some things...
- have low beam circuit operate operate at full voltage at all times
(you WILL have problems if you try to run HID ballasts at the
standard reduced voltage the low beam circuit puts out in DRL
mode or when the High Beams are also on)
- disable the low beam cold bulb check function
(warm check still works when headlights are turned on)
- make the fog light circuit function as DRL rather than the low circuit
(I also raised the DRL voltage to make the fog lights a little brighter
as DRLs since they are mounted lower)
The HID ballasts draw 35 Watts vs. the standard bulb 50W load, this is enough to make the low beam bulb check function happy and not get any bad bulb fault codes stored in the control module or displayed in the MFD.
The result is very satisfactory, they are about 2.5 X brighter than the OEM low beams. They still throw a legal USA low beam pattern. The amount of light and the pattern they throw out is about the same as my sister's 2008 Mini Cooper also equipped with HID low beams. This is legal to do in the United States, as long as you do 5000K or lower color temperature, can't say if headlight modifications are also allowed in other parts of the world.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all !
- have low beam circuit operate operate at full voltage at all times
(you WILL have problems if you try to run HID ballasts at the
standard reduced voltage the low beam circuit puts out in DRL
mode or when the High Beams are also on)
- disable the low beam cold bulb check function
(warm check still works when headlights are turned on)
- make the fog light circuit function as DRL rather than the low circuit
(I also raised the DRL voltage to make the fog lights a little brighter
as DRLs since they are mounted lower)
The HID ballasts draw 35 Watts vs. the standard bulb 50W load, this is enough to make the low beam bulb check function happy and not get any bad bulb fault codes stored in the control module or displayed in the MFD.
The result is very satisfactory, they are about 2.5 X brighter than the OEM low beams. They still throw a legal USA low beam pattern. The amount of light and the pattern they throw out is about the same as my sister's 2008 Mini Cooper also equipped with HID low beams. This is legal to do in the United States, as long as you do 5000K or lower color temperature, can't say if headlight modifications are also allowed in other parts of the world.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all !
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2,587 Posts
Thanks Randy - very relevant and useful information that will help me make a choice. Will need to do some investigating on what is involved as my original intention was to install 90/130W quartz halogen bulbs which I use on my off-road vehicle with excellent results.
Still have to adapt to these new-fangled electronic systems - all my experience is with the old hard-wired systems which are easy to trace and easy to upgrade.
Still have to adapt to these new-fangled electronic systems - all my experience is with the old hard-wired systems which are easy to trace and easy to upgrade.
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469 Posts
Hey Derek - no offence, but judging by the typos, it looks like the booze has been going down very well
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2,587 Posts
Barchetta,
Your last effort has now qualified you to be an "honorary" Australian for better or worse as the case may be
.Pleased to see you enjoyed yourself appropriately.
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162 Posts
i dont think the mail lights at the problem but I dont think the high beam is bright enough. But i have previously driven a focus and that had a very bright excelent high beam. Although comparing the Eos to the Passatt its about the same so maybe i just have high expectations?
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341 Posts
agree totally the lights are rubbish, i was hoping my new model would be better than my 06 but it isnt
so question is what to do about it without spending a fortune?
anyone upgraded?
so question is what to do about it without spending a fortune?
anyone upgraded?
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61 Posts
I can tell my experience.
My original halo had poor high beam (low), even with Xtreme power bulbs, medium beam were suficient.
Now, I retrofit Bi-Xenon AFS system and is really a lot better! It has 2 types of curve lightning, one static, 1 lateral lamp is each headlight will be ON when you turn to that side at low speed or with blinkers and other dynamic, projectors move laterally following the curve above 40 Km/h.
My original halo had poor high beam (low), even with Xtreme power bulbs, medium beam were suficient.
Now, I retrofit Bi-Xenon AFS system and is really a lot better! It has 2 types of curve lightning, one static, 1 lateral lamp is each headlight will be ON when you turn to that side at low speed or with blinkers and other dynamic, projectors move laterally following the curve above 40 Km/h.
Randy,I used to have the standard OEM low beams, and was not happy with the relatively dim low beam light output. I have self upgraded to 5000K HID Xenons. In order to make this work right, you need to have a Ross-Tech VAG-COM and reprogram some things...
- have low beam circuit operate operate at full voltage at all times
(you WILL have problems if you try to run HID ballasts at the
standard reduced voltage the low beam circuit puts out in DRL
mode or when the High Beams are also on)
- disable the low beam cold bulb check function
(warm check still works when headlights are turned on)
- make the fog light circuit function as DRL rather than the low circuit
(I also raised the DRL voltage to make the fog lights a little brighter
as DRLs since they are mounted lower)
The HID ballasts draw 35 Watts vs. the standard bulb 50W load, this is enough to make the low beam bulb check function happy and not get any bad bulb fault codes stored in the control module or displayed in the MFD.
The result is very satisfactory, they are about 2.5 X brighter than the OEM low beams. They still throw a legal USA low beam pattern. The amount of light and the pattern they throw out is about the same as my sister's 2008 Mini Cooper also equipped with HID low beams. This is legal to do in the United States, as long as you do 5000K or lower color temperature, can't say if headlight modifications are also allowed in other parts of the world.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all !
Excellent info - thank you.
Where did you source your HID kit from? What brand?
I've been thinking about this upgrade for a bit and this info helps a lot.
I had heard there was some ECU changes that needed to be made - but I hadn't been able to find a clear explanation of what...
Thanks again,
E
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16 Posts
My headlights are rubbish too
...I used to think it was just me, as teh headlights only ever seem to light up the sides of teh road. I changed for much brighter ones mentioned on another thread (Osrams I think) and they then lit up teh sidea of teh road even better!...but no better staright up the road ahead.
I lent the car to ny father for a couple weeks and didn't say anything to him an dteh first thing he said when he brought it back was 'great car' but terrible headlights.
I've since taken the car to an MOT station who said the pattern was legal but did day that it seemed like the silver sides in the headlight unit might be reflecting out to the sides.
I did notice that there are two eyebrow shaped inserts in the bumper beneath the headlights and wondered if they are they for aftermarket driving lights. Anyone know what they are there for?...or how I can improve the headlights given I do not have the technical expertise to change to Zenons and don't know anyone that does?
Any help would be appreciated.
Chris
...I used to think it was just me, as teh headlights only ever seem to light up the sides of teh road. I changed for much brighter ones mentioned on another thread (Osrams I think) and they then lit up teh sidea of teh road even better!...but no better staright up the road ahead.
I lent the car to ny father for a couple weeks and didn't say anything to him an dteh first thing he said when he brought it back was 'great car' but terrible headlights.
I've since taken the car to an MOT station who said the pattern was legal but did day that it seemed like the silver sides in the headlight unit might be reflecting out to the sides.
I did notice that there are two eyebrow shaped inserts in the bumper beneath the headlights and wondered if they are they for aftermarket driving lights. Anyone know what they are there for?...or how I can improve the headlights given I do not have the technical expertise to change to Zenons and don't know anyone that does?
Any help would be appreciated.
Chris
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1,553 Posts
Changing to Xenons would be horribly expensive but I believe someone on this site did either do it or investigated the full cost of doing it.
The holes in the bumper beneath the headlights are for headlight washers, which come as standard with factory-fit Xenons or as part of various option packages.
If you have Xenon lights fitted there are some laws that have to be complied with too, like automatic self-levelling (maybe headlight washers too, but I'm not sure).
You can buy just replacement Xenon bulbs but whilst they are brighter, from what I have read in magazines about them they are also less than perfect, as the holders you are putting them into are not made for Xenons so they get very hot. Believe they are technically illegal in the UK but don't think anyone makes much of a fuss of that!
The holes in the bumper beneath the headlights are for headlight washers, which come as standard with factory-fit Xenons or as part of various option packages.
If you have Xenon lights fitted there are some laws that have to be complied with too, like automatic self-levelling (maybe headlight washers too, but I'm not sure).
You can buy just replacement Xenon bulbs but whilst they are brighter, from what I have read in magazines about them they are also less than perfect, as the holders you are putting them into are not made for Xenons so they get very hot. Believe they are technically illegal in the UK but don't think anyone makes much of a fuss of that!
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61 Posts
My retrofit with original VW parts plus Kufatec harness, only bi-xenon headlights bought used, cost totally about 1600,00 Euros inclued also the headlight washers and 2 working days. With new bi-xenon headlights will be about 2200,00 Euros.
The more expensive is bi-xenon headlights and fitting as autoleveling sensors, afs module and harness are about 500,00 Euros.
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