What bulbs are fitted to the S3 & upgraded bulb recommendations

[aldouk]

42 minutes ago, JackySi said:

 

I have lights only in the tailgate couldn't find them inside like on hatch, you already have them there?  I have estate version and I want to add lights inside trunk like Hatch has. I hope I didn't confuse every thing up

Ahh I see. Not sure in the boot itself. Hoping the super bright ones from super Skoda will spill in to the boot. 

[JackySi]

I have ones from Superb Skoda and they're amazing... The brightness/color is just crazy awesome!

[MartiniB]

@JackySi

there isn't controversy about brightness, btw it's equal when compared Superskoda's(35€) and Ali's(7€) set,
but about adding two extra bulbs - hatchs from the top, estates in the trunk:
https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/393511-what-bulbs-are-fitted-to-the-s3-upgraded-bulb-recommendations/?page=12&tab=comments#comment-4991516

 

[Gizmo]

On 23/01/2018 at 19:38, MartiniB said:

it's perfectly illuminated when empty,
insert some suitcase and there is darkness
as well bulbs from the top little bit illuminating ground area around car's rear

 

i not regret, also after had to pay 39e to dealer for install them

 

Point taken, I only fill my boot a handful of times per year so I can live with that, for someone who fills it regularly enough to block the OE lights then I can see it is a worthy upgrade.

 

[aldouk]

Fitted but my photos don’t really do justice. 

 

Happy with the result. More frustrated that superskoda now have 20% on. The superskoda ones are well made, similar to OE with a metal back casing.

The boot is well illuminated now as you can see with the Bugaboo Donkey in the picture lol.

 

Will be buying from Ali for the door puddle lights. 

 

 

[paul_7_7_7]

Those superskoda ones look identical to the ones I got on ebay (link in post further up this thread) right down to the slight moulding imperfection along one edge.

[JackySi]

5 hours ago, MartiniB said:

@JackySi

there isn't controversy about brightness, btw it's equal when compared Superskoda's(35€) and Ali's(7€) set,
but about adding two extra bulbs - hatchs from the top, estates in the trunk:
https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/393511-what-bulbs-are-fitted-to-the-s3-upgraded-bulb-recommendations/?page=12&tab=comments#comment-4991516

 

I believe, super skoda probably also has China supplier and perhaps its the same one. They're pricey for LED, but they do offer some sort of "guarrante" that its high quality product that's why i went with them. I bought 4 bulbs 2x combi version and 2x hatch version because at first I was sure my car has 4 bulbs not 2 haha. But that was 4 months ago when I got the car. Now I still have those hatch leds some where in the drawer. If I understood right, you fitted in the combi version both combi/hatch leds? so x4? Or your dealer did, but how and where are the holes? hah  I checked and I have hard plastic there which doesn't seem to have hole for the lights? 

About the headlights
I very very much want to fit LED's instead of Xenon. Some good 5000K with 4000lm+/-. Already cause of quick turn on/off and kelvins (nice color). The stock xenon seem bit ugly on the 4350K. Also not to mention that Xenons cost like 100€ (Philiphs Xtreme Vision) while 2x good LED's cost 50-60€. And they will last 30.000 hours +++ while Xenon only like 4000 hours. Not to mention ballasts cost if it goes wrong. But from my understanding I don't know how to trick BCM module not to show errors. From what I've been looking LED modules are also producing less heat (60-80°C) while Xenon is supposed to do 95°C+. And If I'd do this i'd want some sort of reversible modification (e.g. getting some dead ballasts and take off the connectors and make them on LED's ? or get LEDS with same connectors? then just remove Balast's connector and plugin LED?)
Any how I'm complicating things. in some feature I'd wanna try this out but I don't want to lose warranty or have issues with LED's not working (cause of errors). I do have VCDS (ODB11) but i'm kinda sure that's not enough to turn off checking for the voltage/amperage drop.

[Gizmo]

OBD11 is hardly VCDS 

 

you will probably need VCP to turn off the cold check?

[JackySi]

1 hour ago, Gizmo said:

OBD11 is hardly VCDS 

 

you will probably need VCP to turn off the cold check?

See I don't really know what is required to do that ^^ that's the reason why I haven't even tried yet. I did found some promising LED's for D3S socket.

I always thought ODB11 is pretty much VCDS as I haven't yet found anything that wouldn't work there that works on original Ross-tech VCDS. 

[MartiniB]

12 hours ago, JackySi said:

If I understood right, you fitted in the combi version both combi/hatch leds? so x4?

Or your dealer did, but how and where are the holes?

hah  I checked and I have hard plastic there which doesn't seem to have hole for the lights? 

no, my is hatch.

top bulbs added by dealer, there is soft cover where were made holes.

 

12 hours ago, JackySi said:

About the headlights
I very very much want to fit LED's instead of Xenon.

me too, but still havent met street legal bulbs,
in some countries you can lose driver license :(

[JackySi]

3 hours ago, MartiniB said:

no, my is hatch.

top bulbs added by dealer, there is soft cover where were made holes.

 

me too, but still havent met street legal bulbs,
in some countries you can lose driver license :(

I see. So its probably not possible for Combi to add 2 lights without drilling some stuff =(. 

That's pretty bad! I didn't know some countries are that strict! I honestly don't know how they would be able to see that you have LED instead of Xenon though ^^.

I've asked local "tuning" shop or how would I categorize them, any how they said that they strongly advise AGAINST modification. I will talk to them more about it soon, so they will let me know why they believe so. I can't understand why is it so big deal to change bulbs to LED these days, they obviously have so much advantages... Xenon compared to Halgoen ofc it was crazy when people don't have lenses. U can go blind on road (I've seen a lot of people having Xenon kits here) but LED on Xenon lenses shouldn't blind anyone and would allow much longer distance of light travel (I already see A LOT with my Xenons, but the light output is bit (just a little, I was even thinking to get 45W ballasts) too low to actually see if there is a deer or something else - when they don't look towards you (eye shine))

But this guy did it and look at the brightness output (too bad he did short video - sorry if i double posted video):

 

[JR RS]

combi - has boot lights up on the tailgate, no lights below the parcel shelf.

hatch - has no boot lights up on the tailgate, has lights below the parcel shelf.

 

opposites!!

why can't we have all 4 in either version!!

 

 

one day i'll install boot lights in the tailgate of my hatch.  just not keen on removing the trim and hunting around for a power source.

i've previously retrofitted front and rear footwell lights in my MK2 Octavia RS - so it should be "similar".

 

for now, i've already got the superskoda ones - very very bright and plenty adequate for now.

[MartiniB]

8 hours ago, JR RS said:

why can't we have all 4 in either version!!

hatchs will win lot more on extra two bulbs
cause hard to imagine, combi's top bulbs can be obscured by anything
 

[Albourneboy]

I've given up with LED foglamps. Bought another set from HIDS-Direct (https://www.hids-direct.co.uk/h8-27-smd-canbus-white-led-bulbs/) but although they are advertised as 'Canbus compatible' I got a warning telling me to check both lamps as soon as I turned them on. They were working but clearly, they are not compatible with the Superb's Canbus system. I'm going to send them back for a refund.

 

Strangely, the other set (which I still have) only caused a 'Check left-hand fog lamp' warning and then only when turning. Even more strangely, I've found that the warning  is less likely to occur in the warmer spell of weather we are currently enjoying. 

 

Anyway, I can't stand that little amber triangle glaring at me so have refitted the standard 'yellow' lamps. Once I have my money back for the LEDs, I'll have a look for some white Halogens.

 

The same company sell these (https://www.hids-direct.co.uk/mtec-h8-12v-35w-super-white-hid-class-upgrade-bulbs/) but at 130w output, they might be a bit OTT for foglamps   

[JackySi]

Update on my previous comment. The local "tuning" shop got me an answer why they don't suggest LED's:
- Street Illegal 
- Chinese LED's may have so low quality that they catch fire (I guess that's possible with any sort of bulb though??)
- Possible lower quality and / or same light output as Xenon
- The Superb's headlights are made for Xenon.
- Price - cost of high quality LED's (like philihps) costs 180€+ (I think he was talking about H7 because I couldn't find any D3S socket LED's from Osram or Philiphs)

What he also told me is that after 50.000km Xenon will start losing its brightness (this sounds horrible to me, I drive At night most of the time) and after 200.000km it will have less than 50% lower brightness (catastrophic ???).
I'm honestly still not 100% convinced to anything. I still kind of want to go for LED. But I will probably wait for 50.000km or something like that. So if anyone has any suggestions or thoughts about this, I would appreciate discussion! 

[JR RS]

11 hours ago, JackySi said:

What he also told me is that after 50.000km Xenon will start losing its brightness (this sounds horrible to me, I drive At night most of the time) and after 200.000km it will have less than 50% lower brightness (catastrophic ???).
I'm honestly still not 100% convinced to anything. I still kind of want to go for LED. But I will probably wait for 50.000km or something like that. So if anyone has any suggestions or thoughts about this, I would appreciate discussion! 

 

that's a joke what they're telling u!!

i had xenons on my previous car - a MK2 Octavia RS - had no degrade in xenon performance (brightness) even after 100,000kms plus.

 

plenty of other cars with xenons, with many many kms, and no loss of brightness down to 50%!!!
yes, they might start to discolor, slightly, but not a 50% loss in performance.

[Vtec9000]

IMO as someone who has cars with LED and Xenon (not the Superb 3 unfortunately) I think Xexon's are actually better so going to LED would not be an option for me on the S3 if I had Xenon's.

 

Try the Xenon X-tremeVision gen2 first and then see if you really want LED, of course each to their own so respect whatever!

 

https://www.philips.co.uk/c-p/42403XV2S1/xenon-x-tremevision-gen2-xenon-car-headlight-bulb    

 

If you must have the LED look try the below but not as much light as the above

 

Xenon WhiteVision gen2, https://www.philips.co.uk/c-p/42403WHV2S1/xenon-whitevision-gen2-xenon-car-headlight-bulb/overview 

[JackySi]

10 hours ago, JR RS said:

 

that's a joke what they're telling u!!

i had xenons on my previous car - a MK2 Octavia RS - had no degrade in xenon performance (brightness) even after 100,000kms plus.

 

plenty of other cars with xenons, with many many kms, and no loss of brightness down to 50%!!!
yes, they might start to discolor, slightly, but not a 50% loss in performance.

I did read on some forums ppl complained a lot about brightness out put ^^. But those were old cars with 150.000km+ some even up to 300.000. Some even wrote that brightness was so bad that they can't drive at night. 
My point is, it might be cause of "old tech" Xenons, so you are probably right ^^. Depends also on how much u drive at Night I guess. I do that a lot  (in 4 months 15.000km in dark for sure)

 

2 hours ago, Vtec9000 said:

IMO as someone who has cars with LED and Xenon (not the Superb 3 unfortunately) I think Xexon's are actually better so going to LED would not be an option for me on the S3 if I had Xenon's.

 

Try the Xenon X-tremeVision gen2 first and then see if you really want LED, of course each to their own so respect whatever!

 

https://www.philips.co.uk/c-p/42403XV2S1/xenon-x-tremevision-gen2-xenon-car-headlight-bulb    

 

If you must have the LED look try the below but not as much light as the above

 

Xenon WhiteVision gen2, https://www.philips.co.uk/c-p/42403WHV2S1/xenon-whitevision-gen2-xenon-car-headlight-bulb/overview 

Xenon vs LED is very weird battle and hard battle. Most people just compare any LED to any Xenon. You just can't. A good Xenon bulb will generally output 3200 lumens. That's technical spec you can't really fight. Its always the same output. With LED you have HUGE amount of options and most are horrible (ppl claim 4000-5000lm but the  bulbs actually have less than 2000lm or around it - currently most car manufactures also have low brightness output LEDs (Ford Mondeo) cause they're still new to this tech, so they're trying to make them last long and cooling is something new to them as well).

But now and then you find bulbs that are actually good and the video I posted no-one can argue xenon can ever reach such light output. You can see on the video that light output is at least 25-50% better than on Xenon. I don't really just look at brightness output but also price, Xenon + Balast (usually you have to get both if one dies), better color control, fast startup, much much less worry about bulbs diing (life) and with LED u can be sure that light/color will never change (unless you burn them some how of course). 

I'm not arguing Xenon sucks. Don't get me wrong I love it. I just can't justify the price to get new bulbs (I wanted to change stock 4350K cause I just can't stand the color) and I feel very good about having possibly bit better brightness (like I wrote few comments before, I love amount of light these Xenons make, but its just A LITTLE to low for what I'd desire. Little (15% maybe).

Do not get me wrong, I thank you for your time writing about your experience and I do value it! My decision is not 100% I actually aint sure what to do, specially because LED is just not plug-in play solution. 

Edited 30 January, 2018 by JackySi
I forgot to write some stuff ^^

[aldouk]

I quite fancy getting these. The xenons are ok in the S3,but don’t look white/blue enough for my liking. These look like they’ll throw out 6000k and not compromise on output. 

[Vtec9000]

On 12/10/2017 at 00:39, Alan_P said:

Thanks for the link, but I can’t see the colour temp rating so they are likely 6000k like the ones I already have. I don’t think there is any difference with the PWY24W and PW24W as many sites use both codes on the same listing. I wonder if they have just fitted the MY18 with road legal PWY24W LED?

 

I found a few listings for PWY24W/PW24W with a rating of 5000k which might be closer to the Osrams, but no reviews and the sites don’t inspire confidence. It also might turn out to be more of a guesstimate than a proper rating. For all I know the ones I have are 5000k

 

So Finally got round to doing the SE Tech DRL change, took off the wheel and arch liner, neatly cut out the plastic cap pulled out the old 10p yellow candle bulb and put in one of these, https://www.hids-direct.co.uk/pwy24w-white-60w-cree-xbd-smd-12-5w-canbus-bmw-indicator-led/ 

Looks great and no canbus errors plus work both as DRL and side light without issue. For a couple of quid I bought two indicator rubber covers and can confirm they fit perfectly so no need for hinges and masking tape some have mentioned, God knows why in 2018 Skoda on a + £20K car don't do this as standard, even their MY18 brochure says the LED DRL from S model but that's a lie as we know. Got dark so second one tomorrow .   

 

Not sure on the colour temp, looks like 6000K to me, not mentioned in spec. 

 

 

Phone camera makes the new one glare but with eyes they look fine, no dazzle.

 

Also found the front indicators are actually the same PWY fitting with Amber 10p halogen bulb, shame I didn't have some of those ready, Hids direct also do an Amber version 60W but seems like overkill for an indicator, another day maybe ...

 

Not shown yet but dipped beam now Philips Racing H7 (Legal) and high beam 100W MTEC https://www.hids-direct.co.uk/mtec-100w-super-white-natural-glass-bulbs-h1-h3-h4-h7-9004-9005-9006-9007/  (illegal as 100W but not normally ever on, very bright!)

 

Reverse lights now https://www.hids-direct.co.uk/382-p21w-white-60w-cree-xbd-smd-12-5w-canbus-led/ no errors look great

 

I can also confirm on hatch rear indicators are BAU15s aka 581 PY21W  (offset pins), maybe these https://www.hids-direct.co.uk/osram-ledriving-premium-581-py21w-amber-led-bulbs-x-2/ 

 

Front fogs will soon be https://www.osram.com/am/ecat/NIGHT BREAKER UNLIMITED-Halogen headlight lamps-Cars-Automotive Lighting/com/en/GPS01_1090035/PP_EUROPE_Europe_eCat/ZMP_4052785/  

 

Roof lights now contain 2x2 off https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0088XET0S/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 a big improvement, still have the puddle lights, mirror lights and glovebox to do, same gain I guess.

 

Boot lights used 2 off https://www.hids-direct.co.uk/1-x-501-w5w-17-samsung-3623-gold-canbus-led-5000k-white/ very bright , can't see the need for Super Skoda ones myself

 

Door lights did go to Super Skoda for the red/white one, look good but was expecting even better and the red is heading towards purple, you could just upgrade the standard W5W halogen bulb if looking to save cash. 

 

 

Cheers

  

 

[Alan_P]

I have similar reverse lights (tried two makes now) and they cause the DAB to drop out while in use so it’s the reason I won’t change the indicators over to LED. Do you get the same problem?

It would be good to see a pic of the dipped bulbs… my Osram Cool Blue Intense H7 (road legal 4200k) are noticeably warmer than the DLR.

[aldouk]

Will these door lights fit the S3?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2X-LED-car-Door-Warning-Light-No-Error-Courtesy-Under-Door-Light-FOR-VW-Golf-5/32708177677.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.269.TYWDOs

 

Or is it these?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2Pcs-12V-Car-LED-Courtesy-Door-Projector-Light-For-Audi-A3-A4-A6-VW-Skoda-Foot/32789695507.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.262.TYWDOs

 

Also, whilst I'm ordering the door lights, gonna give these a punt on the reverse

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2x-High-Power-S25-1156-BA15S-80W-P21W-CREE-XBD-LED-White-Red-Amber-Reverse-Light/32505126692.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.277.TYWDOs

[Alan_P]

The first ones should be fine for the doors, but they look the same as the ones I just used and I found them too bright and the upper red section has a white surround (a bit cheap looking):

 

 

I have ordered these which have a replaceable bulb if they still aren’t quite right:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OEM-Warning-Red-Door-Lamp-Light-for-Passat-CC-B7-Jetta-Golf-Touareg-Skoda-VW/142341478904

 

The second ones you listed are for the boot by the look of the connector although I used them when adding new rear footwell lights as the case is the same size… different connector from the door warning lights though.

 

I used the same reverse light bulbs as those (initially) and they were a much nicer cool white, but not much brighter. I change to the following which are also much brighter:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2X-1156-BA15S-P21W-144SMD-LED-White-Reserve-Light-Side-Turn-Signal-Bulbs-Tail/182695551012

[Alan_P]

Take the ratings with a pinch of salt, but the first BA15S reverse bulbs are 850/1700LM compared to 1200/2400LM for the second ones. No errors with either set, but both cause interference with DAB on my car... when in use obviously.

[MartiniB]

7 hours ago, aldouk said:

Will these door lights fit the S3?

do search by `LED door warning lights 3AD 947 411`

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/442112-installing-rear-door-warning-lights-in-sportline/?do=findComment&comment=4998314