This week I finally finished my Euro tail light conversion--first ordered the parts in December, but shipping delays and the need to cancel/reorder/order additional parts dragged it out. I installed new TYC-brand European halogen outer light assemblies to match my factory inner lights, modified an LED adapter harness, put in new Auxlight LED replacement bulbs from Amazon and did all of the necessary coding.
I now have essentially full ROW tail light function on my NAR GTI, including amber turn signals, rear fog light (once the proper switch comes in; I carefully drilled/cut out the bulb blank in my original light and only got a couple of plastic flecks stuck inside the lens) and single-side parking lights. Best of all, I was able to point to studies that show that amber turn signals are a significant contributor to reducing crashes, so my wife accepted it as a "safety" upgrade! I've also coded the tail lights to be on with the DRLs for extra visibility (Reflex Silver doesn't show dirt, but it's not nearly as visible on the road as my orange BMW).
A couple of in-action pics--excuse the dirty car:
Why go this route instead of the full-LED MK7 or MK7.5 replacements?
- At about $325 all-in, this was a lot cheaper, if more involved; the wiring and coding required more research, planning and work (none of the existing adapter harnesses or forum threads did exactly what I wanted to do, though I'm particularly indebted to the posts by @ZERO815 about his conversion a few years ago).
- I like the look of the halogen tail lights and the way they mirror the headlights. I don't care for the "blocky" look of the MK7 LED tail lights, and while I do like the MK7.5 style, quality kits are more than twice the cost (see first bullet).
- In contrast to the full-LED lights, if some of the elements burn out, I can just replace the bulb assembly, not the whole unit. Since I intend to keep the car long-term, this will likely come into play down the road.
- It's a less common modification, and that uniqueness appeals to me.
While I had the hatch apart, it was only a few more minutes to pull the camera assembly to install a color-matched Klii wrap on the background of the emblem. It's subtle, but I think it gives a more upscale look.
-Dave