GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk7 => Topic started by: ub7rm on 05 January 2022, 14:22
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I’ve had my 17 GTD for a year now and can’t say I find the dipped beam headlights very good. I had a 15 plate GTD with the same lights before and don’t remember thinking they were poor.
Also I notice some tiger striping / shadows in the beam. Especially when they first come on. Again I don’t remember this from the previous car.
It’s recently been MOT’d, and I mentioned that the headlights probably needed adjustment but they said the beam height was within spec.
The car has only done about 26k miles, I might have thought it needed new bulbs but I wouldn’t have thought they would need replacing this soon.
Is this normal? Maybe the old car was the same but I just didn’t notice. Any thoughts welcome.
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If they are the original ones then they are likely on their last legs - 3 or 4 years is normal. A pain to fit but doable, expensive if done by a dealer. I think I paid around £90 for a pair and spent about two or three hours fitting them. Plenty of guides online.
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Oh really? I thought they lasted much longer than that. To be fair I can’t imagine what else the problem would be.
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I also had issues with mine so upgraded to Osram Nightbreakers. I'm not entirely convinced they were worth the cost but I would say they helped. This main issue I have is the range rather than the overall brightness. My partner has a 2017 Cooper S and the headlights on that thing are like two very small but intense suns mounted to the car. I suspect there is a small generator powering them, likely fusion.
I fitted them myself which was quite the job in itself, there's a few bolts that are hard to reach with conventional tools so I had to improvise. Taking the bumper off partially was my approach and it's the first time I've ever done it, I was very surprised at just how much force needed to actually get it to unclip after all of the screws and bolts were removed.
I'd say the best thing to do first is raise your current ones to the absolute highest they can (within the legal limit, naturally) and then go from there.
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Yes it’s the range that’s the issue (second order is the strange pattern thrown on the ground for the first couple of minutes).
Unfortunately I’m well versed in removing the bumper from a mk7 golf… it’s not so bad if you’ve done it before.
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How are the lenses on your actual headlight unit? Is it a case they've yellowed a bit and could be causing the patching "tiger" pattern you speak of?
I also agree the Mini/Bmw are some of the brightest on the road but they're also mostly LED and have been since around 2016, but it all comes down to the shape of protector lens, as they're designed to only emit so much light so if you want more output you'd need to swap them out essentially.
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The range is controlled by the shutter which cuts off light sharply at a certain point. Usually xenons are intense within the near field area but cut off abruptly leaving the surrounding area appearing very dark in comparison to the lit area unlike halogen bulbs which have a gradual fade out.
One test of xenon bulb performance I used to use was to drive down an urban street with cars parked at 90 degrees to my approach so that their wheels were illuminated side on. If the intricate details of the brake callipers and disc scores were clearly visible through the wheel cut outs from a reasonable distance it signalled that the bulbs were intense enough and any range issues were shutter height related.
As for the MINI headlamps, I had a 2016 Cooper SD briefly while I was waiting for a GTD to be built. The Cooper had LED headlamps that were far brighter than any other car’s headlamps I’d ever experienced until I got my TCR in 2019. The MINI headlamps are also positioned a bit higher than Golf headlamps too I think which again helps with range.
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Thanks all, part of my perception of them being poor could be that I have a 1 series bmw with adaptive led’s which are fantastic… but still I think these are worse than the last car. I’ll raise them up a touch first and see if that does the trick then change the bulbs.
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My 2013 car is on the orignal xenon bulbs if that helps and havent noticed a massive degredation in light quality. Usually a slight flicker in the light is a sign they are on their last legs. I have however, changed the static cornering bulbs on more than one occasion. I have adjusted my lights to a higher setting from factory. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
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Ditto above but 2014 and origibnal HID bulbs same with our other 2009 BMW. HID's las much longer than 4 years unless you have am electrical problem or have gone for cheap ones. No filament to blow they just arc over two electrodes.
Did replace the cornering lights with LED ones years ago. :grin:
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Was driving last night and I was getting blinded, it was a mini on dipped beams...Might need to get a roof bar to counter these attacks.
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I've had my Mk7 GTD since new in 2014, and am still on my original Xenon bulbs after all this time - can't say i've noticed a huge change in brightness, but they could do with some TLC after this time. I recall that originally I complained about the range to VW under warranty, where the bulbs were nice and bright but the range was causing a problem at higher speeds, it seemed too short for safe observations at around 50mph on country roads, despite having moved from a car with halogens. they never told me what they did, but the range issues I had experienced were no longer an issue afterwards.
My wife's 2017 Mini Clubman has LEDs, and as per previous posters these things are phenomenally bright, superb to drive with at night.
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An update to this, I’ve raised the beam by two complete turns each side and that’s made a hell of a difference. I will give it a week to make sure it’s not a nuisance then try another turn.
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Do you need to do anything with VCDS after raising them manually? I'm sure I had seen somewhere that you need to reset(?) them after raising them manually? I'm currently lowered on VWR springs and having serious range issues with mine, I've turned them manually a few turns but still they don't seem to be projecting far enough into the road even after fitting Nightbreakers.
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Do other people have dust inside their headlights? Notice mine does when I was washing it today.
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As I understand if everything is stock then no you don’t. If you’re lowered you might have to recalibrate the auto levelling system so it knows what the new normal is. But don’t take my word on it.
I would say that the standard cut off is very short on this car. Two turns made a big difference but the throw still isn’t as far as our other car. Some have said they’ve adjusted by 4 turns.
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Do you need to do anything with VCDS after raising them manually?
Nope, my cutoff was dangerously low when I picked the car up after they did the PDI on it. Wound each side up a few turns until I got them just right, no need to do anything else.
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Just ordered the Osram cool blue intense D3S and H7 cornering bulbs on the back of this, thanks .
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Do you need to do anything with VCDS after raising them manually? I'm sure I had seen somewhere that you need to reset(?) them after raising them manually?
According to the VAG workshop books you need to "zero" the headlamps, then manually adjust, then to tell the modules that the new position is OK. (in short).
Basically there is the fixed part of the headlamp unit, then there is the movable part which auto adjusts according to the load on the suspension as measured by the sensor on the rear axle.
Park car on level ground, correct tyre pressures, normal empty load, somebody sitting in drivers seat....
Place headlights on dipped beam with steering wheel straight ahead (AFS off)...Then going into the module 55 "Headlight Range control", then basic settings, there are three pull down options, ...choose "run basic setting"( & leave running) this will place the fixed & movable parts of the headlight unit into the "zero" position between themselves, & you will most likely see the beam angle rise up. Now you can manually adjust the headlight units, then go back & click stop in VCDS, then select "acknowledge basic settings"...run this & thats it..you might get AFS light errors, just clear these as its normal...
All info here:-
http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/VW_MQB_Headlight_Regulation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bnqyqN49gA
You can just screw the adjusters without any of the above use of VCDS, but you aren't setting it up 100% correctly
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I had a 2013 mk7 GTD and had to get both mine replaced Q2 2018; car wasn't even 5 years old. £420 by VW dealer.