Boston Driver

First tried with Roswell'S5 last month, we got as far as removing the headlight and looking over the housing trying to figure out how to remove the projector wo we could have an open path to remove the reflector. Ended up not figuring out how to remove the projector because the adaptive headlights look like the projector is floating...no visible ancor points to remove the components.

On Saturday, FinallyS5 came by to BD HQ and we tried the heat method, where we used a heat gun to try to loosen the adhesive that holds the clear lens to the black plastic housing. No luck. That adhesive appears to be different than the adhesive used on the C5 headlights. COuld not get anything to loosen.

We decided to take a closer look at the innards of the housing, and again, could not figure out how to remove the projector. But teh other thing we noticed is that the plastic backing of the orange lens actually holds the parking light bulb as well, so if the entire plastic piece is removed, there would be nothing to hold in the corner parking light.

It looked possible to maybe remove the orange reflector from the plastic backing (there are three small tabs that secure the pieces together that could be dremeled out), but we would still have to figure out a way to remove the reflector from the housing...and without the lens or the projector removed, we could not see how.

I supposed once a Bentley manual is available for the S5, it would be interesting to find out how to remove the projector. But in the end, I believe that the adaptive headlight is made in a way that if that failed, the entire headlight would be replaced. Other vital components such as the motor, the ballast, control unit, bulbs, etc. are easily accessible and removable.

Maybe someone can get a quote from Carson at Riverside for the Euro lights in the meantime...

Hey, at least we got to chow down some pizza ))

Quattrings

The glue used is much stronger and looks like it's meant to be permanent. It is the same glue that they send with the Votex body components and is hardly affected from heat unlike the past headlights from the B5s, etc. For the S5, I didn't want to risk the damage to the new lights, so I went the new headlight route and picked up a set from madaudi.com One of my favorite mods so far.

Boston Driver

of course, that melted rivet did not appear to impact anything, but it ruled out the oven method. I think FinallyS5 was willing to give the oven method a shot, but I did not want to do it unless we got the projector out.

Quattrings

What brand of exhaust are you running?

Boston Driver

..almost as nice as the S5, but not quite. It is one of the most popular exhaust setups among the AW 4.2 owners...strange that so many come up for sale :^/

FinallyS5

In other news, we were successful in vagging the car to remove the seatbelt warning!

FinallyS5

I think its better than the S5...

FinallyS5

Might I ask, if you feel the E-codes have any other improvements over CC?

Quattrings

than they did with the US lights. I like the citylight look but my main reason for them was to "cleanup" the front end. I probably could have lived without the adaptive lights though and went for the straight bi-xenons, provided that the VAG tool could reprogram the change. Adaptive is cool but I rarely drive at night and even if I do, most of the roads are straight here anyway. How is your car doing - any new mods lately?

Quattrings

come out with a similar look for the S5. I bet your car sounds great with that setup. I wish the S5 was a little louder/deeper.