LED headlight conversion that actually works

[Garry Lee]

Hi guys.
I've seen a few posts on this and other forums, and it seems a lot of people have trouble finding LED headlights for their A4s and other Audi models. Since owning my 2006 cabriolet for a few months, I've found the standard headlights to be "not too bad" .... but as I've had LED bulbs in most of my pervious cars, I've been looking for ones that will work ok.... and I've found some.
I did a Google search for the best LED headlights, and the brand Katur came up a few times.... so I followed the link to Amazon and bought them. I got them at a discounted price of £28.04 (GBP) a pair (cheaper than the regular price still at the moment), and even got a further 10% off the first set (you obviously need two sets for dipped and main beam both sides).
Low and behold, they work, and work well. The best part is that they're totally plug and play, with built in canbus resistors, so they're no need to add them.... they work straight out of the box, and come with a 2 year warranty too.

 

[northpole]

AFAIK they are still illegal for road use in the UK... there is only one brand that has EU legal LED upgrade bulbs and that brand is Osram... and guess what? They are still not legal in the UK.
to give you a statement found on various websites (this one is from Halfords): "there’s no legislation to cover retrofitting external facing light sources and therefore LED exterior bulbs in this instance are not road legal." Meaning every single MOT you'll have to replace the bulbs for the halogen ones, and if you are unlucky enough to get pulled by a copper he can fine you on the spot.

 

[Charlie Farley]

Yep, I was told the same, from my MOT chaps, unless they were a factory fit from new, which they are not, then they are not legal on UK roads.

 

[Greeny233]

I have had a pair of Phillips Ultinon LED H7 bulbs since 2019 and used them in 2 or three cars and never had a problem with an MOT. I have them fitted in my Panada 100hp at the moment. They weren't cheap at £110 but they are fantastic, they have a fantastic beam pattern with a super sharp beam cut off. I never get flashed so I can assume they don't dazzle on coming drivers. They are miles better than the standard Bi-Xenon headlamps on my S4.

 

[Charlie Farley]

what about heat from them?
In the past LED kit has tended to run hotter, the DRL i had certainly did.

 

[northpole]

The proper brand ones actually don't run hotter because they properly get rid of the heat... that said I had them in my vectra and the first year they got put on as an advisory and the year after that it was an immediate fail...

I might just mod a set with bi-led projectors from theretrofitsource in that case they aren't upgrade bulbs but actual led headlights... see what he says than...

But for now the h7 bulbs will do for the mot. My headlights don't have projectors just the ordinary reflector style.

 

[Charlie Farley]

I have morimoto bulbs in my adaptive xenons, work very well too, would sometimes like something a bit brighter though but that maybe more my eyes than the bulbs...lol

 

[Greeny233]

what about heat from them?
In the past LED kit has tended to run hotter, the DRL i had certainly did.

I have had zero issues with the temp from the LED's, in fact the bulbs I have use a heat sync that screws on to the back of the bulb but due to space constraints I have removed the heat sysnc's and still not had any issues.

 

[Charlie Farley]

Maybe it was the DRL units i had, I seem to recal that with all the bits and bobs fitted and all crammed into the light assembly it used to get very warm.

 

[northpole]

well turns out that if you fit LED projectors (not just an upgrade bulb) than effectively you've replaced the whole lamp unit and that is MOT legal... I had to search for it but that is the only legal way to do it legally... I looked at the offerings on theretrofitsource and they do do a retrofit bi-led projector that seems to be the way to go for me.... i'm in no hurry because it's not cheap. But it's high quality... i did see some other brands a buit cheaper but they don't come wit everything and once you buy the lot needed it's more expensive... so at the moment theretrofitsource has the best deal.

 

[Sp3no82]

I failed my MOT a few weeks back due to having LED headlight bulbs set in projector lenses. Apparently the headlight unit is stamped with a code that states it is Halogen or Xenon etc. so even with the correct projector lens fitted if the unit still has the wrong code then they will still fail. I fitted halogen bulbs and then swapped them back to LED after the car passed

 

[northpole]

I checked the Bi-LED projector units are stamped with the right code... aka they are road legal it's not just replacing the reflector but the whole lamp unit... and that is legal unless the MOT tester tells me otherwise. Which I'll know tomorrow as my car has it's mot and I'll ask him about this as essentially it's still a headlight modification, but it seems if it's done like that it should be legal.

 

[swisstony]

1st post and they are promoting stuff...aint falling for that crap

 

[Charlie Farley]

No promo now chap.

 

[northpole]

Mot guy said nope it's classified as modified headlights so not legal in the UK, he did agree with me that the rule is stupid.

 

[ttelracs]

Mot guy said nope it's classified as modified headlights so not legal in the UK, he did agree with me that the rule is stupid.

Some good advice there, thanks.