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Removing red accents in bumper/headlights (lighting retrofit questions)

trashb0y

Ready to race!
Location
ca
hey guys, was thinking about my car and realized im getting a little tired of all the red accents on the car. since the car is white, its my opinion that all the red accents seem a little out of place in some spots. my biggest gripe is when viewing the car from the front.

anyways, i saw that you could get a GTD grille (https://www.shopdap.com/5g0-853-651-c-btv-1.html) or simply plastidip the red accent on the grille to give it a different look. my biggest concern with this would be the red strips in the headlights.
saw that there are aftermarket headlights (https://blackforestindustries.com/.../mk7-volkswagen-golf...) that have a black/chrome accent rather than the red and just watned to get a final answer. are these headlights not compatible with a mk7 that came with the lighting package?

i'm not sure if theyre not compatible in the sense that they simple don't fit or if i just lose out on some of the lighting package features (like the cornering lights).
hoping to get my car to look something similar to the one in the picture below.

thanks for your help


 

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sprinks

Drag Racing Champion
Location
United States
Replica headlights are for use in non lighting package cars. They will physically fit (as in you can put them in the space reserved for headlamps) but the connectors are not the same. It's a 10 pin iirc for halogen cars and a 12 pin for lighting package, so you'll have a wiring difference. In that wiring difference you would also lose the self-adjusting functionality and active lamp turning.

The easiest way for you to get silver under the lamps is to buy legit lighting package lamps for the golf or alltrack. You can find them on ebay, but they'll be pricey, about 750-900 for a pair. OEM from factory will be north of $1k. If you want to go all out, there are people who swap the Golf R lamps in and add the additional LED driver to accomplish the lit uU (double-U DRLs).
 

Gr33nBunny

Drag Racing Champion
Location
610-SePa
Car(s)
18 GTI SE 6mt
I know someone who modified their OEM LP assembly and changed the color of the stripe. I'll PM the info to you once I find it!
 

trashb0y

Ready to race!
Location
ca
Replica headlights are for use in non lighting package cars. They will physically fit (as in you can put them in the space reserved for headlamps) but the connectors are not the same. It's a 10 pin iirc for halogen cars and a 12 pin for lighting package, so you'll have a wiring difference. In that wiring difference you would also lose the self-adjusting functionality and active lamp turning.

The easiest way for you to get silver under the lamps is to buy legit lighting package lamps for the golf or alltrack. You can find them on ebay, but they'll be pricey, about 750-900 for a pair. OEM from factory will be north of $1k. If you want to go all out, there are people who swap the Golf R lamps in and add the additional LED driver to accomplish the lit uU (double-U DRLs).
yeah, after posting i realized the best route is to probably buy the golf r housings and just swap the guts and buy an extra drl module.

at this point, i'm kinda confused because the parts that can be swapped and the parts that need to be purchased seperately seem to differ between ECS and shopdap.

ECS:
  • (2) Bulb Ballasts - ES2503365
  • (2) Corner Light Modules - ES2727317
  • (2) DRL Modules - ES2540169
  • (2) H7 Halogen Bulbs
  • (2) D3S Gas Discharge Bulbs
  • (2) Corner Light Modules - ES2727317
  • (2) DRL Modules - ES2540169
DAP:
not sure if its a difference with the housings they sell or what, but from other threads i found, im expecting to have to at least purchase the outer drl module, and maybe the corner light module ecs describes..? not 100% sure
 

Nineeightyone

Autocross Champion
Location
Pennsylvania
Car(s)
20 CX5 19 GTI 10 MZ3
I'm late to the party, but if you're going to take the grille off anyway, you should* be able to pop out the red stripe to paint/cover with vinyl. I got some black Oracal 651, cleaned the red part with alcohol, and applied the vinyl with a heat gun and cut away the excess with a razor, in order to retain the chrome strip. It looked like the red stripe is removable, but I opted for the easier route, and it came out pretty well. It's been this way for ~2 months, and seems to be holding up well.

* This information is for a facelift GTI, I'm not certain if the mk7 is the same way.
 

trashb0y

Ready to race!
Location
ca
I'm late to the party, but if you're going to take the grille off anyway, you should* be able to pop out the red stripe to paint/cover with vinyl. I got some black Oracal 651, cleaned the red part with alcohol, and applied the vinyl with a heat gun and cut away the excess with a razor, in order to retain the chrome strip. It looked like the red stripe is removable, but I opted for the easier route, and it came out pretty well. It's been this way for ~2 months, and seems to be holding up well.

* This information is for a facelift GTI, I'm not certain if the mk7 is the same way.
thanks for the info! do you have a picture of your results?
 

Clem604

Autocross Champion
Location
Vancouver BC, Canada
Car(s)
2018 VW GTI

Gr33nBunny

Drag Racing Champion
Location
610-SePa
Car(s)
18 GTI SE 6mt
Looks like I need to get some black vinyl and get rid of that chrome.

Or electrical tape :ROFLMAO:
 

Nineeightyone

Autocross Champion
Location
Pennsylvania
Car(s)
20 CX5 19 GTI 10 MZ3
Once I had the grille off (did that with the grille on), I was able to see clips to release the red stripe from the grille. Next time it's off, I'll pull the red stripe and do it separately to get better coverage -- in the photos, I cleaned the red stripe with isopropyl alcohol and a microfiber, then applied the black vinyl and used an old credit card and heat gun to get bubbles out/get the vinyl stretched. Then cut away the excess with a razor blade. If you use a heat gun, be aware that you don't need much heat at all (this was my first time working with vinyl, I was surprised at how quickly the vinyl changed behavior once heat was applied).
 

thepalgtiguy

New member
Location
Italy
Car(s)
2015 Golf GTI MK7
hey guys, was thinking about my car and realized im getting a little tired of all the red accents on the car. since the car is white, its my opinion that all the red accents seem a little out of place in some spots. my biggest gripe is when viewing the car from the front.

anyways, i saw that you could get a GTD grille (https://www.shopdap.com/5g0-853-651-c-btv-1.html) or simply plastidip the red accent on the grille to give it a different look. my biggest concern with this would be the red strips in the headlights.
saw that there are aftermarket headlights (https://blackforestindustries.com/.../mk7-volkswagen-golf...) that have a black/chrome accent rather than the red and just watned to get a final answer. are these headlights not compatible with a mk7 that came with the lighting package?

i'm not sure if theyre not compatible in the sense that they simple don't fit or if i just lose out on some of the lighting package features (like the cornering lights).
hoping to get my car to look something similar to the one in the picture below.

thanks for your help
hey dude, did you manage to remove the red stripe from the headlights at the end? it's month i've been trying doing the same thing, still no solution tho.

i've found some headlights that *could* be compatible but i'm not completely sure yet, also it looks like that auto parts websites (here in EU at least) have a little bit of confusion on compatibility: i'm mounting for example a model number part that in the websites is labeled as "original part" but has a different OEM number. it's like a torture in hell :D

did you have any luck?
 

trashb0y

Ready to race!
Location
ca
hey dude, did you manage to remove the red stripe from the headlights at the end? it's month i've been trying doing the same thing, still no solution tho.

i've found some headlights that *could* be compatible but i'm not completely sure yet, also it looks like that auto parts websites (here in EU at least) have a little bit of confusion on compatibility: i'm mounting for example a model number part that in the websites is labeled as "original part" but has a different OEM number. it's like a torture in hell :D

did you have any luck?

Housings: https://www.shopdap.com/mk7-golf-r-oem-euro-led-headlight-5g1-998-753-b-1.html
Some parts will be able to be swapped over, but you will have to order new AFS modules and an extra pair of DRL modules.

The part numbers should be 4G0907697F (DRL modules) and 3D0941329D (AFS modules). I would double check just to make sure, but I'm 90% sure these are the right ones.

Coding is as follows


VCDS adaptation changes required:

  • Channel (1) - Leuchte 0 BLK VL B36-Lasttyp 0
    • Change from: 12 - Blinkleuchten ; To: 33 - LED-Modul Blinkleuchten
  • Channel (6) - Leuchte 0 BLK VL B36-Dimmwert AB 0
    • Change from: 100 ; To: 127
  • Channel (1) - Leuchte1BLK VRB20-Lasttyp 1
    • Change from: 12 - Blinkleuchten ; To: 33 - LED-Modul Blinkleuchten
  • Channel (6) - Leuchte1BLK VRB20-Dimmwert AB 1
    • Change from: 100 ; To:127
Once these adjustments have been made, edit/save long coding (don't think you have to change any values, but saving it again recodes it into the modules) and perform a basic alignment (done through OBD).

I am actually pulling my headlights off my car soon, as I am selling the car. If you are interested, I could sell you the housings, which would mean you only have to swap over the modules/bulbs from your GTI xenon headlights. PM me if interested.
 

thepalgtiguy

New member
Location
Italy
Car(s)
2015 Golf GTI MK7
Housings: https://www.shopdap.com/mk7-golf-r-oem-euro-led-headlight-5g1-998-753-b-1.html
Some parts will be able to be swapped over, but you will have to order new AFS modules and an extra pair of DRL modules.

The part numbers should be 4G0907697F (DRL modules) and 3D0941329D (AFS modules). I would double check just to make sure, but I'm 90% sure these are the right ones.

Coding is as follows


VCDS adaptation changes required:

  • Channel (1) - Leuchte 0 BLK VL B36-Lasttyp 0
    • Change from: 12 - Blinkleuchten ; To: 33 - LED-Modul Blinkleuchten
  • Channel (6) - Leuchte 0 BLK VL B36-Dimmwert AB 0
    • Change from: 100 ; To: 127
  • Channel (1) - Leuchte1BLK VRB20-Lasttyp 1
    • Change from: 12 - Blinkleuchten ; To: 33 - LED-Modul Blinkleuchten
  • Channel (6) - Leuchte1BLK VRB20-Dimmwert AB 1
    • Change from: 100 ; To:127
Once these adjustments have been made, edit/save long coding (don't think you have to change any values, but saving it again recodes it into the modules) and perform a basic alignment (done through OBD).

I am actually pulling my headlights off my car soon, as I am selling the car. If you are interested, I could sell you the housings, which would mean you only have to swap over the modules/bulbs from your GTI xenon headlights. PM me if interested.

thanks dude but i live on the other side of the world, i think that the shipment would destroy me! :D thanks tho!

can you only explain me why you had to change the AFS modules? finger crossed, is it because of the region incompatibility with the ones you already had on (i've read somewhere that the EU version is different that the US one, not sure tho)? i'm using the europe version of the headlights (made by Valeo). if that's the case, i shouldn't need the new AFS modules, maybe?

the DRL module swap i guess it was because of the R headlight that has the double "U" working as DRL, right?

i was wondering that since i'm not interested in the second DRL "U" and since maybe i would not need different AFS modules (if my hypotesis up here is correct), is there any chance that i maybe can use the GTD EU headlight version as a "plug and play" install, without even coding and without any part swap needed? any guess on this?
 
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