Hey everyone, just into my 2018 Tiguan R-line. I did NOT jump for the full LED lighting package (mistake) and am in the process of upgrading to HID/LED headlamps and fog lamps. The fogs were pretty straight forward H8 3000k (yellow) HID swaps. The headlights, on the other hand, are proving to be a more formidable foe. I bought some 5000k 35w HID ballasts and bulbs along with some CANbus resistor packs for good measure. Well, come installation day and it looks like VW over-engineered the living hell out of the headlight bulb mounting situation (shocker!). There is a weird metal clip that you need to remove from the H7(?) bulb and retrofit it onto the almost-the-same-shape-and-size-but-not-quite H7 HID bulb. This might be present on previous generations, but this is my first Tiguan and new to me. Well, after some under the breath swearing and a lot of wrist contorting, I got them to mount properly, hooray! No error codes, double hooray!
Holy.
Crap.
Flicker.
Initially, I thought I just got a bad pair of bulbs or ballasts, so, I swapped the ballasts with the fog ballasts down below. Same flicker on the heads, none on the fogs. I begrudgingly pulled one of the head light bulbs out and put it on the ballast down in the fog light area, no flicker! I am guessing it is a voltage issue due to the DRL circuitry? Maybe?
The point of this post is: Has anyone retrofit LED or HID headlights onto their MK2's, and what did you use? You can't use the typical LED bulbs with the ballasts attached because that weird metal clip mentioned above will not mount onto it, and that's the only was that the bulb will fasten to the housing. Using HID's seems logical, but it looks lie the voltage irregularities with the DRL's is throwing them off (even with CANBUS packs). Thanks in advance.
Holy.
Crap.
Flicker.
Initially, I thought I just got a bad pair of bulbs or ballasts, so, I swapped the ballasts with the fog ballasts down below. Same flicker on the heads, none on the fogs. I begrudgingly pulled one of the head light bulbs out and put it on the ballast down in the fog light area, no flicker! I am guessing it is a voltage issue due to the DRL circuitry? Maybe?
The point of this post is: Has anyone retrofit LED or HID headlights onto their MK2's, and what did you use? You can't use the typical LED bulbs with the ballasts attached because that weird metal clip mentioned above will not mount onto it, and that's the only was that the bulb will fasten to the housing. Using HID's seems logical, but it looks lie the voltage irregularities with the DRL's is throwing them off (even with CANBUS packs). Thanks in advance.
