my 98 2.8 came with regular halogen bulbs. i would like to upgrade to xenon and wouldn't mind spending the money, but i've seen many "like xenon" bulbs out there i was wondering if i could get away with just running those. if so please recommend the best:

 

The Sylvania "Silverstar" is a good option. I also believe there is an option from Phillips as well, but I do not know much about them. A great replacement I think is from PIAA. I use there plama bulbs for my fog lights. They look great with my Xenons lights.

OOOO

 

To do a true Xenon upgrade, there's much more involved than just upgrading the bulbs. By law, Xenons, because they are so bright, have to be mounted in special self-leveling housings that adapt to load changes in the car. In this manner, you don't end up blinding oncoming cars when you load up the trunk.

So, MUCH more than just changing bulbs. Check eBay and you'll see what I'm talking about.

 

I have a 2001 a6 2.5tdi quattro,and it came with standard halogen bulbs in-could not see a bloody thing.
So i bought a set of zenon up grade kit things and fitted it to my standard headlight's-best thing ive ever done.........so much better.
And ive even spoken to the MOT station-and he said it would pass with no problems.
The kit cost me £125 and a day to fit them.........

Just do it...............you won't regret it

 

Which eBay kits do you recommend? There are several on eBay. Thanks.

 

Go OEM only.

 

Ill have to go to my garage to find the box,to find the make of it.
I was impressed with the quality of it.
And it still work fine to this day.
The car even recently went to a audi dealer for a timing belt and they could not tell that they was an up grade.

The only down point is the "light" warning buzzer comes on for 3 seconds cos the kit only attaches to one side of the headlight loom.Ive not found a way to "kid" the car yet.

 

i replaced mine with the piaa bulbs rated the same as4k hids. and they are freaking bright cost around $80, but worth every penny.

 

yea piaa bulbs are the ****

 

I wanted to try the HIDs in the Audi as I felt the oem halogen fixtures sucked. After researching my option, it was the cheapest to just buy aftermarket PIAA bulbs. I have had PIAA bulbs for years and love them, but this time it only cost about 20.00 more to buy the cheapest HID kit on ebay. So I thought I'll give the cheap HID kit a try. I have yet to regret my descision, and when the cheap bulbs or ballasts die, I will buy something of better quality. I now find driving our other car with halogen bulbs difficult at night, I feel like I am constantly over driving the headlights even at low speeds. I did have to aim the headlights down a lot to make sure I do not blind people. We then did some drive by tests to make sure they wouldn't glare too much. SouthboroAudiGuy is correct, nothing compares to the OEM. When I pull up to a light with an A6 with OEM HID's they put mine to shame. Also, get the 4300k bulbs and not the 6000k. Audi used 4300k, I have 6000k and they are too blue, so when they die I will get 4300k.