Better lights for my daughter's Golf - legality?

[Ken Figenus]

My daughter's Mk7 golf has utterly poor tungsten headlights.

Now I remember putting 100w bulbs in my Scooby once but it was illegal. I can get her LED bulbs for it but am not up to speed on modern legislation - does anyone know the legality re max LED wattage and needing auto levelling, headlamp washers etc?

Don't want to get her in trouble having just got her first years no claims but the lights are truly abysmal compared to the active LED things I have.

[spookly]

Don't know about upgrades, but the headlights on my MK7.5 Golf R wagon are bright enough.
If you want to keep it legal you could look for some OEM higher spec MK7.5 lights. No idea what type they are, don't care as they're bright enough, but they did change the lights from the MK7 hatch and estate to the MK7.5.

[Red9zero]

Osram Night breakers are still pretty good. Got some in my old Landie as I don't want go the led route. Definately worth trying for £20.

[Smint]

Yes, Osram night lasers or whatever they are currently called, or Philips equivalents, suggest keeping to these makes.
Completely legal, £20/25, job done, then spend a while setting the beams properly on a quiet road.

[Deerfoot]

I’ve recently done this on a Mk7 Golf, the standard lights are indeed poor.

I went with Philips Extreme Vision Pro from powerbulbs, they’ve made a noticeable difference but they’re still way off modern LED headlights.

My next car will have better lights that’s for sure..

[stevemcs]

Ken Figenus said:

My daughter's Mk7 golf has utterly poor tungsten headlights.

Now I remember putting 100w bulbs in my Scooby once but it was illegal. I can get her LED bulbs for it but am not up to speed on modern legislation - does anyone know the legality re max LED wattage and needing auto levelling, headlamp washers etc?

Don't want to get her in trouble having just got her first years no claims but the lights are truly abysmal compared to the active LED things I have.

They are not road legal and will fail the mot (if noticed) they usually give very poor beam patterns.

[DFNorfolk]

When I had a 2014 MK7 R I had mine replaced under warranty at about 4 years old as they were shocking and I believe there was a fault with them but that, obviously, was a while ago now.

[V 02]

Everyone here is talking about Golf R’s, the pre facelift cars had Bi xenons and the facelift cars had full LED headlights - not comparable to the OP’s halogen lights.

OP you’re best off just getting some Osram nightbreakers

[Golden Guinea Charlie]

Are you getting full battery power to the bulbs?
Using a meter see which of the connectors to the actual bulb is live when the lamp is on. Now connect a piece of auto wire from that terminal to the battery positve.
If it makes no difference get some Osram nightbrakers as others have suggested.
If it does make the bulb brighter the solution that I have in the past done is to put a 12v relay into the circuit so the bulbs get the full battery power, and then get the Nightbrakers

[thecremeegg]

spookly said:

Don't know about upgrades, but the headlights on my MK7.5 Golf R wagon are bright enough.
If you want to keep it legal you could look for some OEM higher spec MK7.5 lights. No idea what type they are, don't care as they're bright enough, but they did change the lights from the MK7 hatch and estate to the MK7.5.

I believe the MK 7.5 has LED headlights as standard

[119]

Golden Guinea Charlie said:

Are you getting full battery power to the bulbs?
Using a meter see which of the connectors to the actual bulb is live when the lamp is on. Now connect a piece of auto wire from that terminal to the battery positve.
If it makes no difference get some Osram nightbrakers as others have suggested.
If it does make the bulb brighter the solution that I have in the past done is to put a 12v relay into the circuit so the bulbs get the full battery power, and then get the Nightbrakers

From memory, VW reduce the voltage to the lamps to extend the life of them, and this can be adjusted in VCDS.

[V 02]

thecremeegg said:

I believe the MK 7.5 has LED headlights as standard

It doesn’t. Only LED DRL’s and then the headlights are halogen.

The E-Golf, GTD, GTE, GTI, and R had LED headlights as standard as well GT Edition and Match Edition trims.

It was an optional extra on all the other trims.

[Ken Figenus]

Thanks guys - advice very much appreciated.

[66HFM]

Another vote for Osram Nightbreakers, only £20-£25 for the pair and so much brighter an legal.

One of the first things I do on purchasing a used car without xenonx or LEDs

[RizzoTheRat]

What state is the plastic on the headlights? It may be that they'd benefit from a good polish.

Osram Night Breakers are a good option but the Halfords Advance "150% brighter" ones are pretty good too.

[Smokey Bear]

I recently bought a retrofit labs HID xenon upgrader for my car which consisted of newer projectors.

Maybe yours hasn't got projectors but something like below which the bulbs could be swapped back to halogen come MOT time if necessary would be a good move. I'm not sure if LED's need self leveling or if they do a xenon upgrade kit but I would recommend their kits even if they can be slightly fiddly to install.

https://retrofitlab.com/en-ch/collections/volkswag...

The kit I bought vastly improved the lights on an early noughties car which already had Bi-Xenons.