Can anyone reccomend an aftermarket xenon upgrade kit for a Golf Mk5 Gti???

It is for a friend and i know some of you guys have probably had some dealings with this sort of thing. Is there a particular type i sohuld be looking at??

I think my friend has a budget of around

You wont get much worth having for £130.

Budget on around £200+. you want a kit with metal ballasts and integrated ignitors, the ones with plastic ballasts and external ignitors are more difficults to wire up, and poorer quality.

Dont expect the bulbs to last forever either, and at £60 for a set of replacements it's not cheap.

I had an X5 kit fitted on mine (no not BMW, it's the name of the kit) and it was very good, but I believe in a cost cutting excersise the have changed the ballasts they use to plastic ones.

It's also a bit of a pain to fit on VAG vehicles due to the metal clip that holds the bulbs in place (assuming H7 bulbs). it's fitted on the end of the headlight wire to the plastic connector that fits onto the bulb, some brands of Xenon bulbs wont let the metal clip fit over them so you have to chop them up, which results in a very poor lose fitting.

If you are lucky you will get bulbs with bases thin enough to fit the metal clip over, then all you've got to do is get the connectors through them!

I would seriously reccomend trying to get hold of some spare clips, just incase. (not easy as some garages only sell them with a complete headligh loom!) I was lucky, Skoda didn't have any but the VW parts guy just gave me a couple off a loom they had in stock!

Edit, these guys have always been very helpfull -

HIDS4U Ltd, Leeds, UK for all HID and Xenon lighting kits and conversions

check out this kit -

HIDS4U Pro - HID Xenon Conversion E4 Certified Ballasts

Having taken apart golf mkV headlamps i would say it would be hard to fit aftermarket xenons due to the way the bulbs are secured in, to be honest its alot of effort to fit them, however if your good with your hands and electronics, im sure a way could be find to secure the aftermarket hid bulbs and power them, you can easily get aftermarket hid kits for under 130 too

Ok, someone has got him some dead cheap ones from ebay, i think he said they where about

As added to my post above, the hids4u kit should fit ok.

If the Golf headlights are the same as the Superbs (H7 bulbs) crappy little metal retainer that twist in with the bulb to hold it in, then it is a pain but they do fit.

Golf headlamps have silly mounts for the bulbs, where they arnt clipped in, kinda hard to decrible, but basicly you will need to find another way to hold the bulbs in, and also find another way to wire them as well.

As for the octavia, plug and play, i did my mates golf and my fabia in 15 mins

Golf headlamps have silly mounts for the bulbs, where they arnt clipped in, kinda hard to decrible, but basicly you will need to find another way to hold the bulbs in, and also find another way to wire them as well.

As for the octavia, plug and play, i did my mates golf and my fabia in 15 mins

Hi Stuart

Do the bulbs plug into a square plastic base plate with four standoffs touching the base of the bulb? If so, I think the kit I am getting for the MR2 has the standoffs included so should plug and play. I should have them by the end of this week and will report on the conversion with pics as I go.

A note to anyone considering fitting Xenons to a Fabia, you have no forward shielding of the light source, so unless you modify the bulbs with a shade / mask, you will cause glare to oncoming traffic.

Chris

Rob, check out the MK5 section on uk-mkivs - Blogs

Hi Stuart

Do the bulbs plug into a square plastic base plate with four standoffs touching the base of the bulb? If so, I think the kit I am getting for the MR2 has the standoffs included so should plug and play. I should have them by the end of this week and will report on the conversion with pics as I go.

A note to anyone considering fitting Xenons to a Fabia, you have no forward shielding of the light source, so unless you modify the bulbs with a shade / mask, you will cause glare to oncoming traffic.

Chris

Yeh, i noticed that on my fabia, really odd, every other car in the vag range has them :S

Hi I have a Skoda superb 2003 1.9 tdi comfort and would like to upgrade to hid. Does any one know if this kid would be suitable with my car and if so what bulbs would you recommend? i.e. lighting white 4300k, diamond white 8000k, electric blue 6000k or sapphire blue 10000k?

EBay

Item number: 320090194548

eBay.co.uk: H7 8k HID XENON HEADLIGHT CAR BULB CONVERSION KIT (item 320090194548 end time 14-Mar-07 15:45:00 GMT)

4300K would give the better light output, but will look greeny white.

6000K is the more popular upgrade, which gives a bluey white light. This is what I upgraded to on my OEM xenons.

thanks for your advise jon, does anyone know if this kit would be suitable for my car?

It should be ok, the problem with fitting to the Superb is the stupid bulb holder arrangement, you will need to try and get some spare little metal clips (they are on the end of the wire that supplies the bulbs power, on the black plastic block that you push onto the bulb) as you may need to modify them so they fit over the new bulb (and you've got to push all the connections through them too).

Unfortunately they dont sell them individually so they try to sell you the whole loom!! my local VW garage were very friendly and just gave me a couple they had on a loom in stock.

thanks johnjohnhealy sounds like i would be biting off more than i can chew, i thought the advert stating "plug in and play" was to good to be true. think i just stick with my trusty old standard h7`s.

It is worth doing if you can be bothered, (I did) but it definately isn't 'plug and play' on any car.

At the very least you have to drill the rear covers so the wires can go in!! the VAG H7 bulb holders are a right pain to be honest and very fiddly to get right when your trying to fit different bulbs!