Xenon lights retrofit?

[Jeff Lee]

Bought Avant SE new in May and love it. Only regret is not getting Xenon lights - the standard ones are OK but having seen the difference in a friend's car in bad weather (such as today's) I'm wondering whether they can be retrofitted. Any comments/experiences? My dealer is not available at the moment (short-staffed) and will ask them in due course. Thanks.

[Issac Hunt]

Your dealer wont entertain it as it isn't an "approved Audi retrofit". I wouldn't waste a phonecall.

Its possible but it aint going to be cheap. Budget for approaching £1k if you do it all yourself. Lots more if you have to pay labour charges as well.

Dont forget that in addition to the lights (and ballast units) you need to add the auto-levelling and headlight wash system to make it legal. www.kufatec.de will sell some of the wiring you need, Sourcing the lights themselves isnt easy as they are (unsurprisingly) very expensive from Auid themselves.

[eno394]

Have to admit that it's the first car I've owned thats had them fitted. It took ages to convince both me and the wife to stop thinking that we had main beam switched on everywhere we went. These should be standard on all new cars.

[paultheo]

And the LED's are a added bonus.

[steve1234]

It's a common myth that to make your car legal you have to have auto levelling and headlamp was - not true....... You need both to register a brand new car with xenons (needed to get a European Certificate of Conformity) but once the car's on the road there is no such requirement.

On my older A4 I had a retro fit xenon kit from HIDs 4 U and that was good and they are good value. I'd recommend with one of these systems paying someone to fit it as they will be better equipped to fit the relays etc required to overcome the bulb warning systems. Normal would be about £100 for the kit and then allow an hour or two of labour.

I'd forget about trying to retro fit the genuine item headlamps - my local Audi dealer have quoted people before for the job and it's about £2000.

[Issac Hunt]

but once the car's on the road there is no such requirement.

I've fitted them myself to previous cars so I arent preaching about legalities but the DfT say this

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/drs/hidheadlamps

I believe work is in progress to make aftermarket HID that don't comply with the above to be MOT failures.