williebone

FlyTyinFool,

Can you take a good pic with them on?

1) With everything on
2) With just Park Lamps & Fogs
3) With out lights using Key Fob
4) At Dusk & Night

I may Order a set of Yellow for the Winter since Replacement Bulbs are Inexpensive! As I said with the White, I still have mixture of Yellow, but I would like to see what the A8 looks like with a 3000K. Thanks and laters,

FlyTyinFool

Light Project Reply

Interesting. Did you get the kit in the link, or go with another one on the site? There was at least one other kit I looked at on the same site. It was a couple of dollars cheaper, but not as plug-and-play as the one in the link.

The hardest part (and it wasn't hard) was drilling the hole in the rear piece of the Fog Lamp housing. I was really nervous about messing that up. It turns out that the grommet in the kit does a great job of sealing things up. The destructions called for a 7/8 inch hole. I didn't have a drill bit that size, so I went with 3/4 and then used a knife to enlarge it. Don't go this route. Just use a 1 inch bit. It'll work just fine and you won't have to do any shaving. Do your best to locate the hole as close to directly behind the bulb as possible. But realize it won't be all that close, really, and that will be fine. Make sure the hole is only in the the flat area of the housing, not too near the curved areas. The grommet will do the work of sealing things up as long aas it doesn't have to bend around any sharp corners.

The basic wiring layout involves connecting to the existing bulb wires inside the housing, going outside the housing for all the hardware, then back into the housing to the new HID bulb. All the connectors were a piece of cake. They can only go together one way, with or without the Error Eliminator. You can't possibly plug them together incorrectly (unless you start cutting wires - don't even think about improving on the engineering of this kit. Step away from the wire nips!) Note that the stock wiring inside the housing is not color coded. You need to mark which interior wire the Brown exterior wire leads to. That one is your Ground wire and needs to connect to the kit's Black wire.

I didn't get real fancy with the tangle of hardware. I bundled the mess as neatly as possible and used electrical tape and/or zip-ties (zip ties included in the kit) to keep it all together. Then I found something to zip-tie the bundle to, through the Fog Lamp Housing hole in the bumper cover. I didn't get very technical or scientific about this part at all. I just didn't want stuff flopping around, or located too near anything that would get hot.

I tried to find pics of a D3 A8 with yellow fogs but only found one or two anywhere, and I think they were on this site but I'm not sure. Anyway, now that I've done the project, I realize the photo(s) I found really didn't do the lamps justice. So I'm going to get some good shots soon (this weekend?) and post them up for folks like you and me that want to see what it looks like before rolling the dice. In this case, as stated in an earlier post, I was willing to take the risk because of how easy it all looked.


Here are the installation destructions for the H7 replacement kit, straight from the DDM site.

mishar

Thank you. I got same kit and did exactly the same what you did. Only difference - I have 1" coring bit. Was a bit puzzled with plug and play. It is little bit more than that.

5000K bulbs work just fine. Light is well directed so it doesn't shine back from rain. We have some of that around here. Didn't try fog yet.

By the way, there is a glitch. Canadian setting use fogs as DRL. When I start engine they come on first and during cranking they come off and throw the error message. I have to turn them on manually in order to clear error. Afterwards they stay on and all is OK. Until the next cranking. So I changed setting to US and use low beams as DRL. I must say I hate both settings. My old Ford used dimmed high beams. Rarely used as high beams and dimmed they lasted forever.

Brozee

Edit: Whoever has the 9-LED city lights please please please post a picture of them! At dark (night) and during the daylight. That would make me purchase them right now!

Well I'm going to shoot for it and buy the 9-LED city lights and hope they work as the few posters have said they did. Even with your full explanations I would be lost doing the fogs. Anyone near Michigan wanna help me out sometime? I'd buy lunch!

williebone

Brozee,

It's the same autoillumination link above in the Canbus Section (9th Section from the Top). Laters,

Brozee

Yeah I know that, I just would like a picture now that I know that they work without throwing a code. I'm definitely going with the 9 led instead of the 5.

williebone

Both 5 LED and 9 LED works and should not throw a Code.. As for the Fogs, '04 thru early/mid '05 A8 uses H11 Bulbs for Fog and not H7! H11 is a simple Plug and Play with no Drilling and it's the L-Shape Socket w/Bulb attached. When you remove it from the Housing you simply pull the Bulb Out, but H7 doesn't have this Base and requires the Hole to be Drilled. Look at what you have by pulling the Fog Grill and removing the 3 Screws to see which Base you have. This Part is Childs Play and requires No Help! Laters,

Either works and should not throw Codes. Laters,

jakematic

Question for those who've put LEDs in the puddles / step / courtesy lights:

Have you also replaced the 'safety' bulbs under the red lens at the back of the door?
Why or why not?

Am debating this since my autolumination order arrives Thursday, and just noticed both rear door safeties are burn out.

Thanks- Jake

Brozee

There's no reason to do it if you lights are working although if yours are out I mean you could replace them, it would just be a brighter red. Plus the LED is more money but it would still work as it is the same exact input just with a red cap on it. For my under door mods I only did the driver and passenger door on the front with LED's as I rarely use the back seats to drive people around, and the trunk LED's are cool to do if you've got the money i guess.. But I try not to ever use my trunk (in the winter at least) because of the stupid latch that doesn't lock in lower than 30 degree weather.

jakematic

Thanks Brozee, those were my same thoughts but figured I'd do it all at once.

You are right about the cost. Coulda bought almost 2 gross of halogens for the cost of 14 LEDs. I got dome replacements and festoons for tag light as well.

Am looking at it as hopefully a one time investment. Forgot about the trunk, better order more