Upgrade to OEM Xenons?

[RacingGreen]

Hi,

 

I'm looking at getting the missus a MkII VRs.

 

Amongst various questions about what I should be looking out for (which I will read through the forum first) is it possible to fit the OEM Xenon lights if not originally fitted.

 

This is something that I appreciate may be costly BUT the times I will be driving it will be the longer distance family holiday trips which inevitable are late in the evening and I am used to the whiter light of xenons.

 

I see there is an old thread that majored on the after-market kits but I'm not really interested in them as they seem to be unpredicatble with the flicker etc...

 

Cheers.

[langers2k]

You've not mentioned if you're looking at the pre-FL or FL MK2.

 

Either way, it is certainly possible to retrofit OEM xenons. In my experience, the headlights themselves are probably the largest expense...

 

I did it on my FL MK2 Elegance: https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/391916-fl-xenon-retrofit/

 

Just to point out, a FL MK2 vRS probably won't have headlight washers so you'd ideally need to retrofit those to make it completely road legal.

 

I expect it would be a similar procedure for a pre-FL MK2 but you'd need to check the wiring and part numbers.

[RacingGreen]

Ah - post 2009 so FL.

 

I though that the washers were only to comply with new build regs and not tested at e.g. MOT?

[Sarge]

You'll need headlight washers with retrofitted xenon lights too IIRC. 

[langers2k]

7 hours ago, RacingGreen said:

I though that the washers were only to comply with new build regs and not tested at e.g. MOT?

 

The MOT isn't to test if a vehicle is road legal, only to make sure it complies with a subset of safety and emission standards.

 

You can probably pass the MOT if you don't have washer jets or self/auto levelling as both are 'only tested where fitted'. The headlight pattern/beam test is so basic it can be passed with cheap HID drop-in conversions with reflector headlights despite causing major glare to other road users.

 

To make the retrofit road legal, you'll need to meet all the ECE regs regarding HID lighting. In terms of a FL MK2, this means you'd need new headlights, self-levelling and washer jets as all were present when the original type approval was given.

 

To be honest, the washer system isn't the most effective so the original xenon headlights and self-levelling will probably be OK even if they aren't strictly legal.

[Inex]

Before you fit xenons, give the Osram Nightbrakers a shot. They certainly make a huge difference in terms of beam strength. Especially on the FL headlights that come with lenses by default. You might be happy with those and skip the expense of a Xenon upgrade. 

 

I myself have Xenons on my mk2 preFL and they don't do much better on rain than the Osram do on my girl's Fiat Panda. I do admit, the light output is evenly strong across the entire width of the beam but that might just be the benefit of having lenses instead of reflectors.

[Gissin]

12 hours ago, Inex said:

Before you fit xenons, give the Osram Nightbrakers a shot. They certainly make a huge difference in terms of beam strength. Especially on the FL headlights that come with lenses by default. You might be happy with those and skip the expense of a Xenon upgrade. 

 

I myself have Xenons on my mk2 preFL and they don't do much better on rain than the Osram do on my girl's Fiat Panda. I do admit, the light output is evenly strong across the entire width of the beam but that might just be the benefit of having lenses instead of reflectors.

I'd 2nd this, I have them in mine and I don't see that much difference in light compared to my old mk2 which had xenons - only thing I notice is different light colour