Headlights

[Oet]

The glare is down to the the brighter hids fitted in the reflector units, if you fit the projector inside instead, you should in theory replicate oem units and eliminate glare......(i hope)!

[ExAudiSi]

Like I said before though, make sure those projector units are set for RHD, or they won't pass an MOT.

[DeeBe]

Well, drove home tonight with the Osrams in, and you know what, they ain't half bad! Not HID bright, but none too shabby. I'm still going to keep a sharp eye out for some L&K lights though.

[ExAudiSi]

I'm still going to keep a sharp eye out for some L&K lights though.

You and me both

[DeeBe]

You and me both

Aha! Some competition!

I love the thrill of the chase! I don't fancy our chances though!!!

[cheezemonkhai]

I am in a position where I drive 60 miles to work in the dark and the same again in the evening. Most of those roads are unlit roads. At the moment I have in some 30% brighter bulbs, but I find the best thing I can currently do is ensure the front of my lights are nice and clean (in the winter I clean them twice a day)... should I just stick with what I have?

Your octy I has reflector headlight Matt, so unless you can get hold of a pair of second hand Xenon headlights for a MK 1 I personally wouldn't bother.

Worth getting some 50% lamps, (H4) but I really wouldn't bother with the 80/90% bulbs as they just don't last if you use them a lot.

Keep them clean and job done

[Jcb.]

I'm sure to be legal, xenons have to be self levelling, regardless of what kind of enclosure they are in. So even by fitting projectors instead of relectors, still wouldn't make an aftermarket kit legal? Unless it had self adjusting motors. Or am I missing something?

To concur with others opinions, pleeeease don't be one of the muppets who just whack in an ebay xenon jobbie and be done with it people! Some of the cars round here with them in are disgraceful, the police aren't hot enough on it if you ask me. On an unlit, twisty back road, an oncoming car with said lights in is lethal, it's far worse than conventional head lights left on full beam in my opinion!

[Oet]

See previous!

hmm, shame......it seems hids are too bright in a reflector housing then.

Phase 2 it is.........a projector unit like i posted before grafted into our headlights (rather than pay over £400 for hid oem headlights....then fitted with something like this.....KUFATEC GmbH - Xenon/Auto-Leveling Headlights - Retrofit - Skoda Octavia 1U 34564.

[Jcb.]

Ah, you got it covered then. My bad!

That looks certianly alot cheaper doing it that way than going OEM. However I wonder how much work it would entail.

[TomGG]

Just an addition to this, you can purchase the OEM Xenon headlamps for around £110 each from Skoda dealers, but they have no motors,ballast or bulbs, it's literally just the bare shell. You could then get a pair of D2S bulbs and power them from an aftermarket ballast arrangement. You would also have to figure out a way to fix the reflector housing in the lamp because without the motor, they would flap around. Bit of steel rod glued in should sort it though

[ExAudiSi]

Just an addition to this, you can purchase the OEM Xenon headlamps for around £110 each from Skoda dealers, but they have no motors,ballast or bulbs, it's literally just the bare shell. You could then get a pair of D2S bulbs and power them from an aftermarket ballast arrangement. You would also have to figure out a way to fix the reflector housing in the lamp because without the motor, they would flap around. Bit of steel rod glued in should sort it though

If the lamps are that cheap from the dealer it would be a worthwhile mod. I'll have to look into that. The motors are not that dear either I don't think.

[TomGG]

If the lamps are that cheap from the dealer it would be a worthwhile mod. I'll have to look into that. The motors are not that dear either I don't think.

You'd be surprised, when I last checked, the motors are more than the lamps (hence the suggestion of steel rods )

[ExAudiSi]

Just an addition to this, you can purchase the OEM Xenon headlamps for around £110 each from Skoda dealers, but they have no motors,ballast or bulbs, it's literally just the bare shell. You could then get a pair of D2S bulbs and power them from an aftermarket ballast arrangement. You would also have to figure out a way to fix the reflector housing in the lamp because without the motor, they would flap around. Bit of steel rod glued in should sort it though

Sadly, the bare xenon headlamps are more like the price I expected from the dealers at about £430 + vat each. You raised my hopes for nothing :(

[DeeBe]

Good God, that is extortionate!

[ExAudiSi]

Good God, that is extortionate!

That's one word for it :eek:

[TomGG]

Sadly, the bare xenon headlamps are more like the price I expected from the dealers at about £430 + vat each. You raised my hopes for nothing :(

that's for the entire unit with the motor, bulbs, fittings, ballast, starter, etc

Me thinks you need to re-check

[ExAudiSi]

that's for the entire unit with the motor, bulbs, fittings, ballast, starter, etc

Me thinks you need to re-check

I did check, that is the bare lamp!

The D2 HID bulb is about £110 from the dealers.

[TomGG]

Hmm, most odd!

When I was last at the dealer, it was £110 or so for the bare unit because, in the words of the parts guy, "it's so that if you chip your plastic lens cover and everything else still works, it's not too expensive to get it working again". I'll see if I can get a part no for you

[TomGG]

Just got off the phone to my local friendly dealer, the parts are as follows:

1U2 941 031 for the left xenon headlight (RHD and bare)

1U2 941 032 for the right xenon headlight (RHD and bare)

These are £97.05 + VAT

incidentally, the only result in google points to an old version of this thread: http://briskoda.net/octavia-i/can-some1-plz-give-me-heads-up-these-part-nums/139904/

[Oet]

thats pretty good for just the units.

Ballasts and bulbs can be picked up pretty cheap on ebay, i have seen/used a few kits and they all seem to be of the same quality and to be made in the same factory from what i could tell.

So how much were the motors? I wonder if you could get a retrofit motor assembly which coupled with the kufatec kit i posted would make the bulbs self levelling..

[TomGG]

Basically, pretty much all HID kits on ebay are the same. If I was doing this again (instead of doing it with original parts) then I would get a pair of the above lamps, a H4 single beam HID kit, a pair of D2S bulbs, the aftermarket HID ballast to D2S connectors and be done with it. There would need to be some modifications to the bulb connections as it's not just plug and play (because the bulbs are different, as is the wiring). But it shouldn't be too much of a challenge.

When I last checked, the motors were around £140 each. I've got the full HID lamp set and to get the kufatec kit working with levelling, you would need vagcom intervention, combined with the vag suspension sensors etc and the kufatec wiring adapters. It would be rather expensive to do it like that IMO.

[Oet]

Can you not get i hid kit with D2S bulbs to avoid having to cut/adapt wiring?

This kit has the adaptors or do you not think they would work?

KUFATEC GmbH - aLWR Komplett-Set Octavia 1U 34563

The kit includes the sensors etc so other than the motors and vag.com is there anything else to buy?

The activation shouldnt be hard, i already have vag.com.....working it properly is a different matter though i guess lol!

[Oet]

by the way tom, do you have self levelling retrofitted too?

[ExAudiSi]

This is getting more interesting. Thanks Tom!

I called another dealer this morning and was quoted £153 each. At that sort of price I think that it may be worthwhile doing the conversion.

Although the lights are described as "bare" they may well come with the motors in. The two Bora lamps that I bought both came with the motors, but nothing else.

[TomGG]

You can get HID kits with D2S bulbs but I found it was cheaper to buy a H4 kit and just get the wiring adapters for around £12. You can always sell the useless H4 bulbs that come with the kit. Plus, by doing it this way, you can use some good bulbs like osram xenarcs (what Skoda would sell you at a vastly inflated price, I got mine for £40 for a pair).

I don't have the self levelling installed, my car is an electrical mess at the moment and didn't want to add to the confusion :lol: I've just got the lamps properly aimed for what's in the car, and seeing as I never carry passengers, or have anything in the back, the self levelling is kinda useless for me.

I can assure you the bare lamps will definitely not come with motors, they are very expensive stepper motors, nothing like the halogen lamp motors, and they're not interchangeable either

Edited 12 November, 2009 by TomGG