[s-cars] More Rear taillight discussions

[Dave Forgie]

Igor and Bob (and Sean cheering them on):  I never said that I didn't think amber rear signal lights were bad. I have said in the past and say again, amber turn signals are great.  My 1986 picked-up-at-the-factory Jetta has them and I know by the way people get it to the right lane when I signal left way ahead of them that the amber lights are visible.  However, on the same stretch of road and the same turn, when I drive the S-car (I am only 5 km from work so its a bit of a waste), the same result happens, people can see the 30 W (2 x 15W)  of red turn signal just as well or better than the amber in the Jetta.

I lived and drove in Europe for 13 months (1986-87). I know what their taillights looked like. Frankly I disagree that 5W per side is highly visable. I thought they were pathetically under lit. That era BMWs were particularly bad.  VWs not much better. Audi Turbo 100/200s were pretty good by comparison.

Perhaps if you had been rear ended while sitting at a stop light minding your own business (not in the Audi) as many times as I have, you would be as paranoid about having your car visable to the rear as I am.  My theory is 2 x 3 x 5 W = 30 W is >>> 2 x 5 W = 10 pathetic W.  But that's just me.

Each to their own.  I am perfectly happy with my "unique" set-up.  Hmmm..I wonder if Apikol or 034efi is going to copy this one too???

<snicker>

Dave F.  

>>> "Robert Rossato" <r0ssat0_987 at att.net> 04/24/06 07:40PM >>>
> Dave Forgie wrote:
> > Igor: Thanks for your (and Mark's and Fred's) response.   
> You're right we    
> > don't agree on either headlights or taillights (I hate the  
> loss of light with    
> > Euro look-red/blink orange corners and, as you might remember, I     
> > converted both rear fog lights to run two filament bulbs in  
> 1999).    
>  
> Mmmm Dave, I still stubbornly stand by the opinion that  
> actually my Euro  
> tail lenses (look red/blink orange) are brighter and are more  
> distinct  
> (read: safer) than the all-red DOT ones found in the American  
> UrS cars. ;-)

I agree with you 100%, Igor.  I brought this up last week as part of the
LED discussion.  Amber turn signals are by far the best and safer
choice.  I wouldn't even care if they weren't a look red/blink amber
version as long as I have amber turn signals.  No need to decipher brake
or turn signal.  What Dave is alluding to with his "loss of light"
comment is that the US tail light has two 5W parking bulbs per corner,
one if which is a dual filament for the turn signal.  This was done
because of the USDOT requirement to have a side light.  Since the turn
signal lens wraps around the corner, a dual filament bulb can accomplish
both requirements.  By switching to the Euro tail lights you end up with
one 5W bulb per corner instead of two for parking lights.   

But with all due respect, Dave, you're solving a problem that doesn't
exist.  Two 5W tail lights is more than adequate, and you now have 6??
I honestly don't see the need.  The vast majority of European cars are
set up with only two 5W bulbs.  I have made a point of checking out
various Audi/VW/Mercedes with the two 5W bulb arrangement at night and
you can see them far, far away.  Far enough away that you could coast to
a stop before you even reached them, even in the rain.  Frankly you'd
have to be blind not to see the car.  And if it's raining hard enough,
or a heavy enough fog that the visibility range is reduced, well then
that is what the fog light is for.   


> > I do agree that OEM HIDs are the best but they are WAY too  
> $$$.  Sean
> >  D. in our Vancouver club imported a set from Germany. They  
> look good
> >  but a replacement bulb/ballast is about US$500 each. In  
> constrast,    
> > several of our club members have done an LLTek or McCullough HID    
> > conversion (with Euro headlight lenses) and they work about  
> the same as
> >  OEM for way less money.
>  
> With all due respect to both Sean and yourself I would politely  
> disagree. As I was doing my home work and assessing various options I  
> myself had looked into the OEM HIDs off a '97 Euro S6+. I promptly  
> scrapped the idea due to the two compelling reasons:
> a) @ ~$2k/ea. it was an outrageously expensive proposition at  
> the time.
> b) as you have rightfully pointed out, the idea of a replacement  
> bulb/ballast assy as a whole does not rub me the right way as  
> an engineer.
>  
> I also scrapped the cheap'n'dirty approach of installing a  
> $500 hacked  
> kit with custom D2S bulbs grafted onto some 9006 bases also  
> due to two  
> compelling reasons:
> a) a Physicist in me felt that placing the HID hot spot  
> precisely in the  
> focal point of a Halogen projector (reflector/lens assy) not  
> built for  
> that very purpose was too much of a challenge for a handyman  
> kit maker.
> b) I do not like to be bound with an umbilical cord to some obscure  
> custom bulb manufacturer.

I agree here as well.  I went a similar route to what you did, but
instead of the BMW 740 lights, I used '00-'02 Euro A6 versions and
grafted them into the housings.  A few other folks have done this as
well, though with the US A6 xenons.  It's just a matter of making some
simple brackets.  I went with the Euro versions because they were
supposed to have a better light output that the US versions, though I
haven't done an official photometric comparison.  You can find them all
day long on German Ebay.  Just look for headlights with broken tabs and
they go real cheap.  All you want is the guts.  I paid a total of $300
for the pair, including shipping from the Netherlands.  And as you
stated, you don't have any problems with bulb alignment since the whole
projector and bulb is being replaced as a unit.

The wiring was easy as well.  I just used the low beam wires to power
the ballast, making the connection inside the housing.  I have no
problems with the autocheck system giving me warnings or any other
interference, and I can turn the lights off and on rapidly and
repeatedly if I so desire with no problems, which is no surprise since
it is a factory setup for all intents and purposes.  I have heard of
folks with the universal kit that need to wait a few seconds for the
lights to come back on if they shut them off and try to turn them back
on too quickly.

Bob


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