I need advice on headlights.

RiotousAssembly

RiotousAssembly

Member
Hi Everyone,

The headlights on my A2 are pretty much b****red. Condensation issues, burn holes in sidelight ribbed tube things, odd white mould growing in one of them.
I'm happy to get stuck into some DIY if theres something I can do to recondition the ones I have. I could stretch to some second hand ones just about but can't drop nearly £400 on new ones so soon after the clutch replacement lol.

Quite like the idea of upgrading too if possible to LED.

Any pearls of wisdom would be greatly appreiciated.

Thanks,
Riot.
 
Avoid LED H7s unless they are proper (expensive) ones that give the right light distribution and even if they are don't expect them to pass as they are not officially legal over here unless the exact car model was built to use them.

I have LEDs in the little plastic tube holders - all of my cars had had 5W incandescents put in and they are all burnt. But that apart everything else is standard. I've used the tutorial on glasspaper stepped sequence to grind a yellowed and dull front surface of the headlights back to something workable, and it was as if I'd added 20W brighter headlamp bulbs.

Edited to add - personally I find the light emitted by (cheap) LED H7s doesn't actually do much for lighting up the road - it looks really bright from the outside, but doesn't pick up any of the details, and the lighting is has such a cutoff that you can't see anything outside it at all. We've encountered this locally with street lighting where ancient sodium lights were replaced with LEDs to save energy. You now can't see people on the pavements or crossing the road because the ambient lighting is much dimmer, with dazzling lights ahead, and much the same from oncoming vehicles. It's even worse when there is any form of moisture in the air, which in Scotland is pretty consistent.
 
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You won't find new headlights any more, or if you do, they'll be for LHD.

A set of condensation-free secondhand headlights, polished up and lacquered to resist further UV deterioration, would seem like the best and easiest option. You'd probably have change from £150 from one of our ethical breakers unless they're really mint.

If I were you, I'd upgrade your account to access the Marketplace on here (there's a one-off £2 fee via PayPal). There you can place a Wanted advert, but you can also keep an eye on items coming up for sale.
 
It will have to be used ones as new RHD are no longer available. Any advertised are likely to be LHD.

Our ethical breakers have them from time to time but they go quick.
 
My local Copart breaker is charging £33.60 inc. VAT for an A2 headlamp.
It's potluck what turns up, but I have got a couple of decent ones lately as any prang seems to be a write off.
Going to have a go at refinishing the ones I replaced for the other A2 when they start to look a bit tired.
 
That's very very good value if you get lucky on condition and also have a Copart account (I assume you need one?)
 
My local yard is UPULLIT in Fife, there is also one in York which has 3 A2s in at the moment.
They publish a pricelist so you know what it is going to cost on the way in.
As you say it is a bit of a lottery but I got a set of genuine VAG plug coils that had been recently replaced for £7 +vat each.
It costs £1 for access to the yard and you need high viz.
Annual membership is available which gives free access and 10% off all parts.
 
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