AndroidRobot

Like many of you, I was unhappy with Audi NA’s decision to use regular incandescent lights on the lower bumper. I opted for deAutoLED replacements after hearing some good things about them. All of my lights, reverse, side markers, tail, and rear fogs were replaced.

deAutoLED Lights, and my T25 screwdriver


After purchasing my reverse lights from deAutoLED a while ago, they asked me if I would do a write up on their other LED’s for a small discount. I agreed and will keep this as unbiased as possible for everyone.

I’ll start by saying the T25 screw to remove the lights is a huge PITA no matter how you approach it. I bought an 18in T25 screwdriver from Amazon which made it a little easier. The hardest part is locating this tiny screw, particularly on the driver’s side. I spent more time finding the little guy than installing all 10 bulbs. My deAutoLED reverse lights did throw an error message randomly one day, but no codes. It promptly went away and thankfully has not returned.

Here is the process for removing the rear light housings and installing new bulbs.


Step 1: Pop off the rear access cover by lightly pressing on one side until it shifts inward.





Step 2: Spend way too much time locating the T25 screw, then loosen it. Note this screw stays in the light housing making this a little less painful.

Here is roughly the angle needed to find it:




As you can see the screw is far in there judging from my enormous T25 screwdriver.

Step 3: Carefully pop out the light assembly, and unplug the below red cable







Step 4: Locate the light you want to replace and remove it.






Step 5: Once finished, reinstall in the reverse order.




Here is a close up of the side marker light compared to deAutoLED's replacement:


None of the bulbs were hard to install aside from the side markers. There is a note on its package telling you to be cautious of its resistors. They are delicate and can break. I carefully inserted mine without a problem, patience is needed for this little guy.







Right side has the new rear fog lights, left is factory





New side makers





Reverse lights and all deAutoLED's installed







All rear lights installed









Overall the rear lights (excluding reverse lights) are a little brighter. I wouldn’t say it’s a huge difference based on what I saw before/after. LED’s are still my preferred bulb regardless of what benefit provided. The reverse lights are vastly brighter. They really shine (pun intended) compared to factory bulbs. If you are going to buy replacements, I would certainly get these. Feel free to ask any questions about how they look, and I'll see about taking some better pictures of the installed lights.

cakasky

Nice write up! Thank you!

Any plans on changing out your sun visors to remove those warning stickers?

damnitBobby

Thanks for the doing the write up! I won't be messing with mine as I think the changes are too insignificant but I'm sure others on here will really appreciate this.

deAutoLED.com

Thanks for the write-up.

Everyone sees light differently but we feel there is a noticeable difference in the appearance of the tail as it looks more like the LED tail due to it filling more of the housing with an intense vivid red light which many want, they are also brighter in foggy conditions as the LED will create more light on the road - the reverse are insanely bright so not much we can say there

Here is the listing - we added some photos:
Choose from Tails - Fogs - Side Markers - Reverse for the Audi Q5 Lower rear bumper tails | deAutoKey

But at the end the honest feedback is what is important so we appreciate it. Thank you

AndroidRobot

Thanks, I might change them out if someone has the part number or a source for RoW spec ones.

AndroidRobot

I agree with that. The one ones worthwhile seem to be the reverse lights. Those are much brighter/better overall.


If you have a way to accurately measure the lumen output I'd gladly compare them. I'll look into testing them further this week. While the rear fogs are a little brighter I wouldn't say it's a huge difference.

deAutoLED.com

Again, honest feedback is what we are looking for, we are just unsure of the term "huge" in reference to the difference, when we saw these in person we thought it made a difference in the taillight appearance (matched the LED tails more), and it created more light spread on the ground.

These are a lot more lumens than the incandescent but once it goes in the housing is what matters most, we have seen 400 lumens shine brighter than 1000 due to the diode array and how it reflected in the housing.

Thad49

I won't try to quantify what "huge" is or isn't, but to my eyes deAutoLED's red LEDS are MUCH brighter than the stock. Here's my photo, where the two floods have the red LEDs, and the four tails are the original non-LEDs; top is nighttime when I care most, bottom was daytime.

On a Thanksgiving nighttime drive, my daughter was following me home on the interstate in another car. I turned the LED fogs on just to make my tail view more distinctive, and she later commented on how bright they were.

We all have our different takes on things, but I bought the Audi for safety purposes (and just maybe for a little fun ) -- to me the rear red LEDs add plenty to that for a very reasonable cost. Color me happy.

cakasky

I ordered today...

https://europrice.us/sun-visor-labelesss

2-3 Weeks delivery time

AndroidRobot

I've been fairly busy with work hence the delayed reply.

'm not saying this isn't the case for some people, but for me personally I did not see a noticeable difference. Going on what you see isn't scientific which is why I didn't quantify the brightness. I haven't had time to delve into the brightness testing this week but I'm looking for a better way to display the OEM and LED bulbs. Maybe my OEM fog lights were brighter than other people's? I supposed anything is possible these days, and I still enjoy my deAutoLEDs regardless.

I agree with you about the nighttime visibility being essential. It's hard to not see Audi's tail lights at night because of how bright their factory LEDs are. Rear fog lights do make a difference, the markers are more or less the same for me.

I might order a set and or see if the factory bs can be removed from the stock ones too.