Doing an HID retrofit..

[Oh Randi]

OK, so in the next few months I'm building my own set of HID's.. My question is, it appears any shroud available would leave a huge, gaping space around where the stock projector is.. and I don't want a huge, bulky shroud just to take up space.

I played around with the idea of just replacing the stock halogen projector with the HID one I'm looking at, but the one I want is bi-xenon. So I don't need the halogen high beam below.

How would I go about having a custom shroud made?

Or should I just leave the halogen high beam there and not use it?

[IndyTom]

I switched to an Aftermarket HID 5000K kit last year and the stock projectors on the New Beetle's are fine and work well with the HID Kits. No blinding people. Looks perfect to me and I have never been flashed by oncoming traffic.
I just left the High Beams stock. You can still use them.
I did get a Euro Switch and I did disable the DRL's so it wouldn't but a drain on the HID bulbs. For DRL's I use my foglights during the day without any Headlights. Easily done with the Euro Switch.
The HID's look GREAT and I hope the bulbs last longer than the regular Hallogen bulbs.

[Oh Randi]

Originally Posted by IndyTom

I switched to an Aftermarket HID 5000K kit last year and the stock projectors on the New Beetle's are fine and work well with the HID Kits. No blinding people. Looks perfect to me and I have never been flashed by oncoming traffic.
I just left the High Beams stock. You can still use them.
I did get a Euro Switch and I did disable the DRL's so it wouldn't but a drain on the HID bulbs. For DRL's I use my foglights during the day without any Headlights. Easily done with the Euro Switch.
The HID's look GREAT and I hope the bulbs last longer than the regular Hallogen bulbs.

I didn't really want to use the stock projectors.. the beam pattern is what I'm questioning. Most halogen projectors are not designed to spread HID lighting properly. So while blinding oncoming traffic isn't so much an issue, the whole point of me doing this is to be able to see. Kinda useless when the light distribution is wrong, the foreground is over-lit and I can't see into the distance.. if that makes sense.. I did try a drop in kit for a night, and took it out the next day. It was alright, but I'm very picky and wasn't satisfied with the way it looked.

I have a euro-switch with disabled DRL's as well, only issue is that since using my fogs more frequently, the wire coming off the ignition switch to the load reduction relay is turning really brown... I think I need to rewire the fogs to somewhere else before it fries my ignition switch.

Oh, which reminds me.. WIRING.

I can't seem to find a decent answer.. I've had a brand new headlight in for maybe a year (DRL's disabled since about 4 years ago) and when I went to put the drop in HID kit in, I discovered the coating is ALREADY falling off the wires.. For this retrofit, I'm getting 2 brand new headlights and I do not want this to happen. Are HID's harder on the harness, because obviously halogens are doing a number on it. What would be a possible solution to this? Maybe piece together my own harness with a thicker wire? What can I do to keep the stupid thing from frying?

[Smileybug]

I really wish they made glass housing e-codes for the NB. I have a set on my GTI and I freaking love 'em. Light pattern is different and the lighting is just all around better.

And I have to say that just because you haven't been flashed by oncoming traffic doesn't mean much. I'm usually blinded by HIDs when someone is behind me and its hard to flash your highbeams at them then

[IndyTom]

Hmm, I don't have any of these issues with my wiring. I know that over time wiring can build up resistance which can heat it up more than usual. But it shouldn't turn wires brown or melt them.
What wattage bulbs are you running in you fogs? About my Hid pattern, it looks great and offers much more visibility than the stock bulbs. The stock projectors work just fine.
Also the Hid!s run at lower voltage than the stock halogens. Visibility drops if you use 6000k bulbs or higher. The light will turn blue then purple and the higher the range (6000, 8000,10000 etc). The brightest whitest bulbs are 4500k. I wouldn't use anything over 5000k. After 6000k it just looks ghetto.

[Oh Randi]

All I'm saying is I want a very even light distribution with a razor sharp cut off. There's no way I'd get that from the stock projectors.

I've decided to go bi-xenon. Which will not utilize any of the stock wiring so that is not longer a concern. I wanna go with 4300k too.

I use regular ole H1 bulbs in my fogs. Nothing special.

Have you actually taken your panel off and looked at your ignition switch wiring? I replaced my ignition switch over a year ago and never put the panel back on because I was lazy. The wired looked totally normal. I never used my fog lights until a few months ago because one was burnt out and I felt stupid using one. Now I use them semi-frequently, and the wire has started turning brown. I can see it because I never put that panel back on lol. I remember hearing its a common problem, the fogs draw too much for VW's inadequate stock wiring. The solution seems to be re-wiring the fogs to another power source.

I wish the beetles had e codes too.

[Oh Randi]

This is a 5000k drop in HID kit with a halogen projector:


This is the same with a quality HID projector:


See what I mean?