DIY: changing interior reading lights to LED

[FroGTI]

I am in the process of swapping all the little interior bulbs, which I find a bit 'yellow', for LEDs. I have done most of them (footwells, glovebox, rear passengers' reading lights, etc.), but am stuck on the two most important ones, the front overhead driver/passenger lights.

I can't work out how to remove the plastic surround (the one with the sunglasses holder) to get to the lights/bulbs. The rear cluster was really easy, 2 seconds and the housing was unclipped, but there doesn't seem to be any way in at the front.

Does anyone have any ideas?

P.S. if you also know how to swap the puddle lights in the exterior mirrors, that would be great, too

P.P.S. I tried LEDs in the rear number plate and front side lights, too. Simple to fit, but the computer didn't appreciate them, so I put the old 'yellow' bulbs back

[gizzywizzy]

Jeez man that's all a bit OTT.  You can have too many led's!!!

[FroGTI]

Jeez man that's all a bit OTT.  You can have too many led's!!!

You can't see that they're LEDs, they just provide white light instead of the stock yellow.

[mac7]

I'm pretty sure the lens just unclips - it did on my Passat and that's the same. The clips are quite tight though - if I recall you need to ease the lens outwards at the middle/front if that makes sense. If not, the whole panel can be removed by levering down the rear edge by the mic grilles.

Pics here: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4404125

[FroGTI]

Excellent, merci beaucoup, mac7. I will give it a try thie afternoon

[FroGTI]

Well, it worked like a charm. Thanks again, mac7, for the invaluable link

Here's a before & after shot for those wondering what I'm banging on about. It's very difficult, even with a decent camera, to get an accurate picture of what the finished result looks like. The blue tint around the mirror is exaggerated, but the stock bulb appears even more yellow in person next to the LED. I used white 4-LED W5W replacement bulbs. There are lots of different models available, some with 5, 6 or even 9 LEDs, but larger bulbs will not fit physically into the holders - you have been warned 4 LEDs also seem to put out about the same light as the stock incandescent bulbs and still fade in & out like the originals. For comparison, the garage lighting in the background is 'daylight' fluorescent strip lighting, so the LEDs are slightly bluer. I would say almost xenon colour, in fact.

[mac7]

No worries, mate. The LED's look good by the way - very 21st century. Do they match the new instrument lighting like this Mk5 R?

[p3asa]

Frog any links for where you got the LED's?  Cheers.

[FroGTI]

Frog any links for where you got the LED's?  Cheers.

I would say the overall result is very close to the picture above of the old R. As for the bulbs, I sourced them on the French eBay, but they're all over the Net. Do a search on W5W LED bulbs

[p3asa]

Cheers my man. It looks a good upgrade.