Project? Nah... Prolly Not: Mk7 GTI

[Apoc]

That link I posted from OPD has an option to pre-install an HID conversion for $100. I haven't heard anything bad about the Helix, but I also haven't heard anything bad about Ed's. I really wish I could find some decent bean pattern comparisons.

[RawrImAMonster]

I'll post my beam pattern once they're installed. Already put the order in for the Ed's replicas on Tuesday.

[Apoc]

So I've been going deeper down the rice rabbit hole. I posted this a bunch of pages ago, but I like the look of black mirror caps. Fast forward a few months and I have a set of caps from ECS Tuning. Unfortunately, the passenger side cap has an acute enough bend that it will not fit on the car without heating it. The top lines up fine - it's the interior side that's too extreme an angle. I'm not interested in screwing up the finish and not being able to send it back after it still doesn't fit, so I'm shipping them back. I placed the cap over the mirrors and liked the look way more than I thought I would, so I think I'm going to try another set. According to ECS, fitment is a pretty common problem so who knows if the next set will work. The best part is I managed to snap a tab (fuck you plastic) on the OEM. Luckily, the fit is tight enough that you can't tell there's only one tab holding it in place. 

THIS IS WHY I WENT TO COLLEGE

[WRXtranceformed]

See Chris gets it with the carbon

You carbon all of the things even if you have to suffer for it

[Apoc]

So I started ordering parts before I was man enough to order the 911 ducktail. Now that I've done that and had to send these mirror caps back, I'm going to take that as a sign I should just focus on one car at a time. I'm definitely still interested in the caps and HIDs, but I don't need to be spending that sort of money right now. On the bright side, ECS paid for return shipping - I thought for sure they were gonna screw me.

I agree the black emblem looks out of place as is, but I'm not sure I care enough to swap it back.. especially since I'm such a pro at plastic. Next step for this car is gonna be to pay it off and then see if I still want to continue buying parts on my RSU vest in December. I will say I like the market of mods for GTIs. People just love to tinker. There's a lot of lame shit out there... some of it I like... but there's enough decently made stuff that it's fun to personalize things a bit.

[.RJ]

I'm going to take that as a sign I should just focus on one car at a time.

what is this sorcery

[Apoc]

Ed's replica headlights are supposed to be much nicer than the Helix brand from the research I've done.  100 bucks more though.

Can you say more about this? I'm making a list for me to come back to around the holidays and I didn't see any major downsides for the Helix (assuming both HID).

According to OnePerfectDose, they can pre-install the ballast internally and it sounds like you've got yours 3M taped outside?

[RawrImAMonster]

Ed's replica headlights are supposed to be much nicer than the Helix brand from the research I've done.  100 bucks more though.

Can you say more about this? I'm making a list for me to come back to around the holidays and I didn't see any major downsides for the Helix (assuming both HID).

According to OnePerfectDose, they can pre-install the ballast internally and it sounds like you've got yours 3M taped outside?

I guess it depends on if you consider that an upside or downside.  With any aftermarket ballast, I'd rather have it easily accessible in case it needs to be replaced.

Ed's has cornering lights and is supposedly less prone to condensation issues like some of the aftermarket lights from what I've been reading.

[Apoc]

Ah, okay. Unless I misread something, my non-lighting package S does not have the wiring for corner lights.

[RawrImAMonster]

It doesn't matter, they'll still work. The Ed's lights are only made for non-lighting package cars. I've seen a lot of people with the lighting package asking about switching to Ed's lights because of the LED pattern, but they can't. VW also made it so there's no reasonable way to get the second U to light up on the factory lighting package cars. The only option they have is getting the factory Golf R lights.

[Apoc]

I've seen a lot of people with the lighting package asking about switching to Ed's lights because of the LED pattern, but they can't.  VW also made it so there's no reasonable way to get the second U to light up on the factory lighting package cars.  The only option they have is getting the factory Golf R lights.

This I've definitely read. Not that I care all that much, but it made me kinda glad I didn't bother with the lighting package.

Of course none of this really matters because I live in a city with ample street lights. It's 100% for show.

[RawrImAMonster]

I've seen a lot of people with the lighting package asking about switching to Ed's lights because of the LED pattern, but they can't.  VW also made it so there's no reasonable way to get the second U to light up on the factory lighting package cars.  The only option they have is getting the factory Golf R lights.

This I've definitely read. Not that I care all that much, but it made me kinda glad I didn't bother with the lighting package.

Of course none of this really matters because I live in a city with ample street lights. It's 100% for show.

True, I haven't even used the actual low beams yet other than to aim them.

[Senor_Taylor]

How do those corner lights work? You're talking about the ones that turn on when you turn the wheel at low speed or turn your turn signal on right?

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[Apoc]

It's an ancillary light that turns on (constant) to illuminate the corner when you activate the turn signal.

[Apoc]

I finally got around to taking care of this. I've seen better, but I've definitely seen worse. I think you'd only really see it if you were looking for it... especially since the after is out of focus. :-D

[Sijray21]

I can't even tell that there was an incident from the photo zoomed-in. Nice work. I had to line up the vent lines to even see where to look...

[Apoc]

No updates to speak of, other than to #humblebrag it's paid off. The 911 is still in the shop for the ducktail 2.5 months later, so I honestly have no idea what my bill is gonna look like. Given that, I've put all changes on this car on hold. I'd still really like HID, but I'm having a hard time justifying spending money on what is essentially vanity. At times I get pangs of desire when I see a yellow S3 or similar, but I just can't ask for a better daily commuter than what I currently have. Not having to use the fob/key to get in and start the car would be nice, but that's a pretty minor complaint. I have had no mechanical issues to date. We'll see how well it ages... and I'm like 15 years away from my kid driving... but I think it's a car worth handing down.

[Sijray21]

Fwiw I'm still not completely happy with the projector housing/hid kit in our GSW. My GTI oem hid is way better at showing the road at night. If I could do it again I'd just buy led bulbs designed for halogen housings.

[JustinG]

Fwiw I'm still not completely happy with the projector housing/hid kit in our GSW. My GTI oem hid is way better at showing the road at night. If I could do it again I'd just buy led bulbs designed for halogen housings.

I think a lot of the aftermarket projector/hid lights just use garbage glass.

On the gsx, it had a good fitting set of eBay headlights built with Halogen projectors. But retrofitting tsx hardware made the light output amazing (projector housings, glass, bulbs, ballasts, etc)

I'm curious if you would change your mind if you snagged a retrofit kit from TRS and swapped out the guts. It isn't hard, just have to be meticulous when resealing.

[WRXtranceformed]

Congrats on paying that bad boy off! I'm probably gonna start juicing up the payments on the CX-5 here since we dumped the Canyon.

I second the idea of getting a *quality* set of LED bulbs to put in halogen projectors. After dealing with a lot of retrofit issues it's just way easier to plug and play. I highly recommend Diode Dynamics, their stuff imo is simply the best when it comes to headlight bulbs.