After seeing the amount of effort and wiring involved in enabling daytime running lights on my '01 A4 Avant, I've decided to explore a different route.

So now I'm looking at replacing the headlights altogether with models that have an LED strip in them. Seems like those would be easiest to wire into the accessory power so they stay on all the time.

However, the choices seem VAST and LIMITLESS!!! With prices ranging from $100 (?!?) all the way into the low $1000's (?!?).

Can anyone make a recommendation based on experience? I'm looking for something:

- with an LED light strip that I can wire as a DRL (to pass Canadian federal inspection)
- preferably with a black-appearing housing
- good build quality that won't leak
- uses stock bulbs
- reasonably affordable

I don't care about things like clear corners and the like. I'm not looking for an HID conversion. And ricey add-ons need not apply.

 

After clearly stating "ricey add-ons need not apply", I find myself admiring these headlights on eBay:

1999 2000 2001 2002 AUDI A4/S4 B5 BLACK R8 LED Strip HEADLIGHTS + CORNER LIGHTS | eBay

Imagine that... maybe I'm a ricer at heart after all. Still want opinions and feedback. though. I've had bad luck with any eBay-purchased headlights in the past.

 

The quality of the knockoff units on ebay is going to be low. Rather than replace the entire unit, or mess with a bunch of wiring, I plan to do install a DRL controller that runs the high beams at 60% while the low beams are off. Many OEM applications use this, so I would think that it is fine for Canada. Actually I think that the writer is doing this for his S2K in Canada.

s2000 DRL Install - - Andrew Lavigne's Website