Headlights

[V6sedanglx]

Hello, I have a 2004 passat glx. I'm not too educated on headlights, so I was wondering if someone could explain what type of headlights work in the passat. Thanks for the help!

[scotts13]

I was wondering if someone could explain what type of headlights work in the passat.

Generally, headlights intended for a Passat B5.5. I'm not being a smartass; you just need to give us a little more information. Do you want to know about brand or type of housing? halogen vs HID? What brand bulb?

[Ae 2944]

H7 halogen bulbs work. Anything else does not work without modification. That includes plug and play HID kits. You are modifying the circuits initial design. Dont use the HID kits. Period. If you want HID's do it right and do a complete retrofit with all the needed parts to make the system work properly.

[V6sedanglx]

I'm not sure if this makes any sense, but
I like the bulbs that are 6000k, 8000k and 1000k, are these bulbs available for plug and play in the passat?

[scotts13]

I'm not sure if this makes any sense, but
I like the bulbs that are 6000k, 8000k and 1000k, are these bulbs available for plug and play in the passat?

No, not even close. Halogen bulbs, without filtration, run perhaps 3200K. To simulate anything higher, they add blue filtration that blocks lower frequencies of light. Block enough to simulate 6000K, and you won't have any light left.

Now, HIDs are normally about 4300K. They can be made bluer than that, but the efficiency drops; as does our eyes ability to use that light. At 8000 or 10000K, they'll be effectively useless as headlights.

Retrofitting HIDs into halogen housings isn't quite plug-and-play, but it's not all that difficult. Some people like the results, but in fact they really don't work the way they should. The HID capsule is a different shape from the halogen bulb, and it throws the beam pattern off quite a bit.

[V6sedanglx]

So what would you recommend for upgraded headlights?

[sdavis872]

Buy an H7 HID kit, and start reading how to do it. Your B5.5 should already have projector headlights, though they are meant to be used with halogen bulbs, I've put HIDs in the same projectors without seeing any huge problems. And people will tell you that you need to run a relay and therefor install a fair amount of wiring. I've never run a relay kit on HID retrofits I've done. A B5.5 was available with HID headlights, so there shouldn't be a need to change the wiring because you're adding HIDs.

So I'd buy a 35W 5000k H7 HID kit, I wouldn't go above 5000k, it'll give you that slightly blue tint you want without totally degrading the visibility of the light. 6000K and higher look trashy to me, like you're trying to enter your car into a "fast and furious" movie.

[E CODE]

I bought a new set of DEPO headlight housings that already had the HID bulbs installed. They were plug and play save for having to pull the DRL relay, and mount the ballasts.

Stock Low beam:


HID Low Beam: