Mixed results on today's mod...

My two-piece Depo lights arrived Thursday afternoon.  I put them in today, and just in time to revert to halogen lights.  Guess I shouldn't have opened my fat mouth about having zero issues with my Pilot HID kit.  Yesterday my passenger side bulb cooked.  When I pulled it, I could see the xenon globe was frosted over and slightly seared.  Pisses me off because of all the advertisement saying that they get 2500 hours operation and all that.  The kit wasn't top dollar (I paid $180) but it wasn't bargain-basement either.  Oh well, the Depo lights with halogen still look better than the OEM non-facelift headlights with xenon.

My ballasts are still primo, and I have one good bulb still.  My plan is to order a VVME kit, same spec as this one (6000k), and compare the bulbs and their wiring connections to see whether or not the bulbs would truly be interchangeable between the kits.  If they are, the new kit will go in the headlights, and I'll order a pair of bulbs once I'm sure, and when they arrive they'll go in the fogs.  I'll keep my existing good bulb as a backup in case I cook another one.

Anyhow, on to the Depo pics - I'm very impressed with them - they look awesome:)  Here's the lights, fresh out of the box:



Passenger side installed (and a good comparison of the OEM reflector lights vs the Depo style projector):



Installed:





Installed and lit:




Now I just need to get new HIDs:(  Oh well, sh*t happens and if this is the worst luck I have with this car, I'm ahead of the curve.  Next step - tinting the taillights.  Spray tint is in my basement and so is the dropcloth.  Just have to get the lights off the car and clean them up a bit and it'll be time to smoke 'em out a little.  More to come.

sucks to hear your hid bulb blew out so soon. your car looks fresh with the new Depos now.

Night and day!

yeah man lights look great compared to the old foggy ones. Good job

They make a dramatic difference in appearance.  That difference is somewhat exaggerated right now because the lights are brand-new and the car is coated in road spray lol, but once the car is clean it should be a really good look.  Hoping to finish the taillight tinting this weekend and give the car a bath for some fresh pics on Monday (supposed to be in the mid-40s here - heat wave!), so by then things should be a little nicer.  I also plan to paint the domes of the turn bulbs silver to camoflauge them in the corners.   That will smooth it out some more.  And I still have to rig up the fog lights.  I have the facelift fogs, and wired them to the existing OEM wiring inside the old headlights so they'd be triggered by the OEM switch and function as usual.  The new lights don't have the integrated fogs of course, so I have to dope out a new wiring setup.  Shouldn't be too hard, I just ran out of time today to mess with it.

quote:

ORIGINAL: UpstateNYA4
And I still have to rig up the fog lights.

It's the green and white wire...in case you didn't already know.

they are beautiful, i can just picture your car in my mind with the new lights.
hey is it ilegal to have white turn signals around here? i'm thinkin about getting white ones when i do the CC mod. 

quote:

ORIGINAL: hiwords
hey is it ilegal to have white turn signals around here? i'm thinkin about getting white ones when i do the CC mod.

That's not legal anywhere, but as he said, you can paint the bulb dome silver et voila!

Nice! That's a bummer about your HID.

quote:

Sineo -  It's the green and white wire...in case you didn't already know.

I thought it was, based on a comparison of the connectors and which wires were and were not used, but I wasn't sure.  Thanks:)

There is a company that sells bulbs that are silver when off, but glow yellow when turned on.  I think you can get them from LLtek

Yep, I had those in my Z.  They were Philips Silver Vision bulbs.  They were (at least back then) $25/pair, and the same results can be achieved with normal amber bulbs.  Just tape off the base and the lower half of the bulb, and paint the upper half with a few coats of silver paint.  The silver part is visible when looking at the lens of the corner lamp, but the lower half allows the amber light to hit the reflector in the housing and flash amber when the turn signals are activated.

where did you get the Depo headlights?

Got them on eBay - seller is Makotoautotrends.  They do a ton of business and I'd heard recommendations on here about these particular lights.  They came promptly and look really good, and they appear to be quality parts.  Time will tell of course, but for $147 shipped for the pair, it's hard to go wrong.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/AUDI-A4-95-98-S4-CLEAR-PROJECTOR-HEADLIGHTS-CORNER-SET_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742Q2em153Q2el1262QQcategoryZ33649QQihZ023QQitemZ360027799148

these ones right??? but why does it say that it's for 95 to 98 only?!  and keep us updated on the light housing adjustability... thanks!

Yes, those are the exact ones.  It says for 95-98 only because those are the year cars that come with two-piece headlamps exclusively.  They don't list 99 because some of the 99s (the 99.5 models) had one-piece headlights.  But any pre-facelift car (ie, any A4 with separate corner and headlights) can use them and they're plug and play.  They just try to keep the confusion out by not mentioning 99.  On a facelift car that has one-piece lights, these will not fit correctly due to differences in the fenders that are necessitated by the one-piece lights.  But yeah, if you have two-piece units, these will bolt directly in.  It might take you almost 15 minutes to install them too:)  As for adjustability, the lights are aimed vertically by the adjustment screw closest to the center of the car, and horizontally by the one closest to the corner light - very easy to do.