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Hello,

Is it possible to replace the H4 Halogen bulbs that come along with the POLO with H4 Xenon Bulbs? Do i have to replace anything else?

Thanks
Umoussa

If you have a mk 5, you'll want H7 bulbs. AFAIK, it's not that hard, just change the bulbs for some HID's with their ballasts, should be fine.

Thank you so much, but i have two things to ask you about, as per the Manual the Bulbs should be H4 not H7, also do you have any idea about the type of the bulbs of the Fog lights?

Thank you kindly
Umoussa

hi

you do know that changing headlight bulbs means you have to remove the front bumper first?!

not true mike, the bulbs can be replaced without the removal of the front bumper, changed mine last weekend to xenon white, and purple sidelights
-Ben-

fair enough, i stand corrected!

I just remember I couldnt get to mine without moving the headlamps forwards (too much stuff in engine bay )

yeah that gti lump getting in the way
-Ben-

sorry to cut in but polopowah what side mirrors are those look pretty nice, And did the same for the headlights as well but found them not as effective as the blue headlight bulbs, thats just my opinion.

For the mk5 1.4 and guessing 1.0 models you can get straight access on the driver side but have to move the battery to get access to the passenger side

yo nik
those are dtm carbon mirrors, and were an absolute hassle to fit!, mainly because i had to custom make the base-plate.
yeah my battery was in the way too, can just about fit a hand down to change the bulb (on the 1.0 anyway)
-Ben-

polopowah carbon fibre i like it manual or electric ones and what was the damage for a pair???

I fitted Xenon HID bulbs to the headlights, you get H7 upgrade kits. Be aware though that 1) They are Illegal 2) Its really obvious that they are illegal 3) They are expensive.

Just for the record the law is such that:

1) HID lights MUST be self-leveling.
2) HID lights MUST have an automatic / washing mechanism.
3) Dipped Range must be set to no more than 38m (Forget how this is measured, its usually set in software on the car)
4) Dim dip is not compulsary
5) Units must be E marked, and approved with the projector system
6) All units from 2001 on must be projector type assemblies, not reflector
7) Units must not exceed 6000k color temperature in the UK except for a resonable warm-up period.
Alternative arrangements for headlight flashing must be arrange as HIDs have limited strike lifetimes.

In _light_ of such restrictions, retrofitting of Xenon systems is illegal in the uk with the exception of a small number of Hella (oem) upgrade kits, which include eveything.

If you wanted to fit one two a mk5 polo, you can either chance it, or 2) get hold of GTI headlights, which you might just get away with, and they actually work far better than fitting upgrades.

alternatively, if you have shelled out for a h7 kit, you can fit them to your fog lights which are h7 and don't have as many restrictions on their use, the limits are to do with placement, usage in built-up areas, and maximum wattage of 60W, all of which are still met with xenon. I spent a long time looking into this, and decided that this is the best compramise, you can still get that cool look whenever you want, and the advantages of HID in country lanes etc are still there.

This is a guide, of course you could just fit them to your normal headlight set-up but when you do, and then stand in front of it when they are switched on, you'll see what I mean, they are far too good! Its a pitty they don't make a smaller say 20W version instead of the fixed 35W bulbs, as this would still give all the advantages but wouldn't annoy people as much.

One other note, don't get Xenon (incandescent) mixed up with Xenon HID bulbs. The difference is quite large (about 600 quid)!

polopowah wrote:not true mike, the bulbs can be replaced without the removal of the front bumper, changed mine last weekend to xenon white, and purple sidelights
-Ben-

Yes it can be done without even removing the battery, but you do need gynaecologists hands to do it. And for the record they are H7 and the fogs are H7

Dr. JWC

and my response to the copper will be 'shouldn't you be catching real criminals!' lights hardly gonna get me sent down
my sidelights are illegal too
@ niks : they were 55 quid a pair from xtreme near me (bunch of w*nkers) and they are manual (as electric ones are 110 quid ) so had to cut wires behind door card etc
-Ben-

polopowah wrote:and my response to the copper will be 'shouldn't you be catching real criminals!' lights hardly gonna get me sent down
my sidelights are illegal too
@ niks : they were 55 quid a pair from xtreme near me (bunch of w*nkers) and they are manual (as electric ones are 110 quid ) so had to cut wires behind door card etc
-Ben-

No probably won't get you sent down, however, an unlucky dude in a saxo forum ended up getting pulled over and wasn't allowed to drive the car home, the police had to arrange for it to be towed back to their compound where they checked all his other mods, like tinted windows etc. So he ended up with the fine for illegal lighting, paying for the tow, paying for storeage and had to remove and make good about a dozen other mods within 14 days. So you see, I thought perhaps not brilliant idea to draw too much attention to yourself.

I think every now and then they decided to pick on someone and make an example of it.

surely just hitting your local Euro Car Parts and getting headlight units for £140 a pop (and maybe these ballast things) is the easiest way of getting xenons on to your mk5 polo

www.eurocarparts.com innit

or is it not that simple?

(those kit things are more expensive than doing this, which makes me think it isnt that simple)