Downgrade LP headlights

[sleepermk7]

Ok here is my dilemma my car has the lighting package. My headlight lenses are pitted very badly and have stress cracks that buffing will not fix. Lens replacing looks very difficult and I haven't read of any success stories of lens replacement on this headlight. I chose to go another route.

I was looking at the Osram headlights but I've read the xenon version is not plug and play and I'll need the afs control module from a European spec car and it'll have to be completely rewired.

My next option was to buy a 14 to 10 pin adapter and code out my AFS with VagCom and just pick up the standard osram lights for halogen cars. I actually have AFS disabled in my car now so I don't use the bend light feature.

I'm wondering if this is a good way to go? This route runs me $1000 for 2 headlights and connector vs $1200+ per LP headlight replacement. Plus I like the dynamic turn signals and mk7.5 headlight look.

Anyone with osram headlights. How is the visibility?

 

[ZERO815]

Have the Osrams in my NA SE GTI for >4 years now, and still love them. Correctly aimed the visibility is great. Only in specific rain conditions the reflections aren’t as great as otherwise. In these conditions you won’t see much reflections with my wife’s HID Beetle either.

Because of registration issues over here I rewired everything to make the auto leveling work.
The Osrams don‘t require AFS, I suspect if it is successfully decoded you could run the HID version too. Nothing needs to be rewired for the light functions.

Rewiring is necessary if you want to keep auto leveling.

 

[mike-y]

ebay has OEM xenon headlights going for $400-$600ish for each side. that might be a better route to go. I did see Xenon headlights on there from a 3rd party called TYC that are much cheaper than factory ($500/pair), but not sure what their quality is.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3350499381...qdQHns/lQB3IeNhI8VczgVTg==|tkp:Bk9SR9r_z7y0Yw

 

[ZERO815]

Be careful with ebay replacement headlights. US headlights are different. Not only do they have amber reflectors. ROW cars have lights from Valeo, while US cars (mid 2015 on) have Hella lights. Hella and Valeo use different modules for AFS.

ROW parts start with 5G1, US parts with 5GM.

 

[imthanick_a]

ebay has OEM xenon headlights going for $400-$600ish for each side. that might be a better route to go. I did see Xenon headlights on there from a 3rd party called TYC that are much cheaper than factory ($500/pair), but not sure what their quality is.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/335049938165?fits=Submodel:GTI&itmmeta=01HPHWKZZ6K55RRCRAESPQ6VBQ&hash=item4e028854f5:g:HnYAAOSwVUNlForg&itmprp=enc:AQAIAAAA8MnmxaD7K/YqlshQYs5uf3AaObHuA9MOiN42Ft31m052HKDuPT7gUTGSaeEhgWDEx9RLlsjtBHbEjKLuy5R7YRSrsng8YQlURFQ/mofaYWBCuq+UIe7fpeSK9a63Mmr4QH1qPsf5wyVar60hBrOfDCIRPL7BYMp8wm9HC1CIqJyTFDX2PnrWLLzfdByB32ufZ3N4U8wMpef6ESU6zaYoSwIpNp1xh+flA+35O3MFgidNR80RWRMfGRkmVTkDYHiPA+dWrg9ICRkv5ruUKg24u+Ndif0py/wcvyQO6EVFb1qdQHns/lQB3IeNhI8VczgVTg==|tkp:Bk9SR9r_z7y0Yw

OEM are made by hella. those arent OEM

 

[sleepermk7]

Have the Osrams in my NA SE GTI for >4 years now, and still love them. Correctly aimed the visibility is great. Only in specific rain conditions the reflections aren’t as great as otherwise. In these conditions you won’t see much reflections with my wife’s HID Beetle either.

Because of registration issues over here I rewired everything to make the auto leveling work.
The Osrams don‘t require AFS, I suspect if it is successfully decoded you could run the HID version too. Nothing needs to be rewired for the light functions.

Rewiring is necessary if you want to keep auto leveling.

So it's plug and play for light functionality on any model. You wired to allow auto leveling. I feel I can level the light properly without auto leveling. I just know I'll get so many coding issues.

 

[ZERO815]

Coding issues?

 

[seanmcd1]

It's time to wet sand them. They'll look good as new.

 

[imthanick_a]

It's time to wet sand them. They'll look good as new.

not if they have cracks. those go deep. mine are cracked from lamin-x and theres no sanding those out

 

[EpicTech]

OP this is my dilemma as well. Stress cracks mainly and now they leak when it rains. Just yesterday I was looking at the BMP headlights but those things are $850 and then its another $180 for the harness from Mk6ix.com to convert the plugs to where they will work on the MK7 platform. At that point I am back at just spending $1100 for new Euro-spec black housing OEM assemblies. I then looked at the headlight offering from VLAnd, they look ok and are half the price. They also have the sequential turns built in. They only real question is their website is misleading on what is needed. One picture says they are LED low and high beam, then another says bulbs not included. Still have to code out AFS, but that is not a problem. The VLands are $450 plus the harness which puts me at about $650 all together.

https://vlandshop.com/product/14-17...ights-not-fit-for-golf-gti-and-golf-r-models/

https://www.mk6ix.com/product-page/14-10-headlight-harness-mk7-mqb