Question about lighting package

[dragonskiss]

Woah, nice! That secondary light that comes on, that's the low speed turning light?

Correct. Those are the dynamic cornering lights. They'll come on at ~20mph or less when you activate your turn signals, take a turn and both will illuminate when reversing. I replaced my stock factory bulbs with some Osram Rallye 65W. I'm satisfied with them.

 

[jklein]

Welcome.

The lighting package refers to the headlights, not the tails. In the 2018s, the lighting package (or at least the upgraded headlights) would be the all LED headlights found on the upper GTI trims and the Golf R. Seeing you're in Canada, I don't know if the lighting package is an option for the 1.8T Golf up there.

As for tails, all NAR Golfs come with LED taillights now. The taillights are the same as the low-line tails found in RoW, which are not dynamic. In order to get the dynamic tails, you'll have to buy the tail light parts, maybe do a bit of wiring (or get some sort of harness), and do a bit of coding.

This thread is for the MK7 (2015 - 2017) to MK7.5 taillight retrofit, but you can find the appropriate part numbers for the dynamic taillights: http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28488. Forum user JBale may know what wiring change might be required (if any) when going from 2018 NAR to dynamic RoW tails.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

Thanks for the quick reply, much appreciated! Just as I saw your reply I was checking out the 2018 Golf 1.8T brochure and did see the reference that all of them came with the LED taillights, as you have indicated...and the lighting package is indeed an option (but it appears only on the top two trim levels).

Thanks for the link as well!

 

[SuarezMBN]

Sorry I’m new to threads and don’t know how to search properly but I have a ‘16 GTI SE with LP can you upgrade to LEDs on the low beams or does it mess with the AFS/ mounting hardware?

 

[OceanJack]

No. That won't work, your options are very limited, I have osram night breaker lasers but we are limited by our very weak ballasts for light output.

So your options are buy the osram headlights from Germany for about 1k if you want oem quality led headlights for the mk7 or upgrade your stock hid ballasts to something with more wattage. I'm doing the latter as it's cheaper to get way more light output with a ballast upgrade for 130 bucks.

 

[SuarezMBN]

No. That won't work, your options are very limited, I have osram night breaker lasers but we are limited by our very weak ballasts for light output.

So your options are buy the osram headlights from Germany for about 1k if you want oem quality led headlights for the mk7 or upgrade your stock hid ballasts to something with more wattage. I'm doing the latter as it's cheaper to get way more light output with a ballast upgrade for 130 bucks.

Thanks for the reply, that’s gonna be a tough one because I love everything about the LP package minus the yellowish hue they put off, and the poor light output. Any links/ recommendations on specific ballast upgrades?

 

[AdamSheikh]

Thanks for the reply, that’s gonna be a tough one because I love everything about the LP package minus the yellowish hue they put off, and the poor light output. Any links/ recommendations on specific ballast upgrades?

I swapped out my HID bulbs to Osram Xenarc CBI from TheRetrofitSource. Much brighter and whiter than the stock bulbs. CBB are also a good option. Bulb type is D3S.

 

[Escape Hatch]

I swapped out my HID bulbs to Osram Xenarc CBI from TheRetrofitSource. Much brighter and whiter than the stock bulbs. CBB are also a good option. Bulb type is D3S.

Did the same, well worth it.

 

[OceanJack]

I have retrofitted nearly every car I've owned with better projectors, but the MK7 doesn't really have the room inside the headlight nor the ease of removing due to permaseal. I wanted to clear lens swap it at least but we have a really oddball lense size, I think 2.75 or 2.8?

So I just searched around and found a guy in the U.K who makes a kit to replace the OEM shitty 25W ballasts with much more powerful ballasts.
Here's a link to his DIY https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/d3s-headlight-bulb-ballast-upgrade-kit-mk7-golf.316792/

I just ordered his connector kit so I don't have to depin the OEM power connectors, then I bought some Morimoto 50w Ballasts from TRS per his recommendation. He is making a new kit but due to the chip shortage I would have to wait a few months out, but that consists of a OEM type ballast that mounts in the stock location.

I am waiting for him to make and ship them but will make a thread on how it goes. But it seems like this is the best option if you want to retain the AFS and keep everything OEM as possible, I would love the Osram LED headlights but not for 1k.

 

[OceanJack]

I swapped out my HID bulbs to Osram Xenarc CBI from TheRetrofitSource. Much brighter and whiter than the stock bulbs. CBB are also a good option. Bulb type is D3S.

I went to the CBB but found it too blue, then went to the Night Breaker Lasers since I wanted more output and it helps with the rain at night. But I think with my retrofit, they're gonna end up a little more yellow white and I might switch to CBIs instead.

 

[SuarezMBN]

I went to the CBB but found it too blue, then went to the Night Breaker Lasers since I wanted more output and it helps with the rain at night. But I think with my retrofit, they're gonna end up a little more yellow white and I might switch to CBIs instead.

I’ll look into both of those too! I live in Arizona it barely rains here anymore so that would be an issue

 

[Gogo GTI]

I'm interested in swapping out the bulbs on my LP bi-xenons. I started digging around for info on replacing the bulbs and you have to drop the bumper??? Is that correct? What kind of asinine design is this?

 

[Escape Hatch]

I'm interested in swapping out the bulbs on my LP bi-xenons. I started digging around for info on replacing the bulbs and you have to drop the bumper??? Is that correct? What kind of asinine design is this?

Dropping the bumper takes maybe 5 minutes, not that big of a deal.

 

[AdamSheikh]

I'm interested in swapping out the bulbs on my LP bi-xenons. I started digging around for info on replacing the bulbs and you have to drop the bumper??? Is that correct? What kind of asinine design is this?

Dropping the bumper isn't all that bad, but I can understand the apprehension. You can also go through the fender liner, but you will need to fashion a very thin/small torx ratchet to get the dust cover off the back of the lights.

 

[OceanJack]

You don't have to drop the bumper. I choose to just remove the headlight instead to change the bulbs, you just unscrew the bumper at the fender liner and you can access the torx screw on the side of the headlight.

It takes me not even a few minutes to pull a headlight.

 

[Gogo GTI]

Dropping the bumper takes maybe 5 minutes, not that big of a deal.

I've taken my bumper off twice. Its 10 minutes just to gather my tools and set up my workspace. Then its way more convenient to have a helping hand. Dropping the bumper in 5 min is not the norm. Then you have to put it back on. And there's always the slight risk of accidentally busting something-- just to change a bulb.

But were talking about a light bulb here. Its something that a person with zero tool experience should be able to do. Headlights are *essential* in a car. Is the average person supposed to take their car to the shop to get their headlight bulb replaced? VW is ludicrous.