Upgrade to Mk5 Golf GT TDI Review

Well I have never been happy with the standard bulbs from the manufacturer they never seem to be that bright. So one of the first things I do is replace the main and side beam bulbs.

When I brought my MK5 Golf GT TDi the standard VW bulbs were not ideal. The main and side beams were not the greatest when driving at night so I tested a number of different bulbs to replace the standard ones.

The Golf MK5 uses H7 for both the main and side beams which made my life easier as I didn't have to try differen't bulbs in different sizes.

The first Bulbs I tried were H7 Osram Silverstar 50% bulbs these gave off a lot brighter white light than the standard bulbs. Driving at night they light up the road well and showed upcoming signs alot better. The Osram Silverstar's come in at a good price as well around £16 for the pair the provide a good upgrade for the money.

The second bulbs I tested were Philips Vision Plus these were slightly more expensive at around the £25 mark. The Philips Vision Plus gave off a bluer light than the Osram Silverstar and lit up the road just as well whether this is worth an extra £10 or not I'll leave that with you.

Finally I installed the Philips Power 2 Night GT-150 being the most expencive of the three sets I've tried on the Golf at nearly £30 I expected them to stand out from the others. After installing the bulbs I waited till it got dark and took the Golf out for a spin. The Power 2 Night gave off considrably more light than the previous two set highlighting road signs from quite a distance. They also gave off a nice blue xenon style light the two sets on the Golf gave of a great pattern of light on main beam.

Long term I have stuck with the Philips Power 2 Night GT-150. Mainly because the light reach that the bulbs give off on both main and side beam, is I feel worth the extra price tag. If you are on the road a lot and are fed up with sub-standard manufacturer headlamp bulbs I would highly recommend these to aid your driving journey.

How to install headlight bulbs

The best guide for changing your bulbs is in your car manual if you look in your index you should find a

Here's sre five steps to change your bulb:

Step One
Open the bonnet and find the wires that go into the back of the headlight.

Step Two
Twist the black plastic ring at the back of the headlight to release the bulb.

Step Three
Pull out the bulb and unplug it.

Step Four
Carefully take the new bulb out of the box without touching the glass part with your fingers (see Warning). Plug it in and place the bulb back into the headlight.

Step Five
Twist the plastic ring back on and test the new headlight.

If your looking for a video guide to fit you replacemnt headlight bulbs I've found a great video on YouTube that is a basic guide. The video will give tou the basic's of changing your bulbs.





If you want to upgrade your bulbs try Autobulbs Direct.

LED Bulbs

LED bulbs use less than 1 watt of power on average which reduces the power draw from the battery and in turn reduces fuel consumption. The average life of a LED bulb is around 30,000 hours which means it will outlast your car!

Because LED bulbs response time is instant this adds to their safety value when used as stop and tail lights as filament bulbs have a reaction time of 0.2 seconds. This might appear to be a small difference but 0.2 seconds equates to 5 metres stopping distance.

LED bulbs can’t be fitted on all cars easily as I’ve found with my MK5 Golf which required resistors fitted inline with the LED unit to prevent issues which I’ll mention later.

LED Car Sidelights

If your looking to change the style of the light from your headlights then another upgrade you may want to consider is LED sidelight’s these can help produce a bluish light giving your headlights more of a xenon style. LED bulbs have been developed for the motor industry because they are brighter, more durable, longer lasting, instant response and use much less power than standard bulbs. Car sidelights come in two sizes that I know of 501 and 233 these sizes are both available as LED bulbs.

With our New Beetle and Skoda Fabia vRS we have fitted 501 LED Super Bright White they give off a nice pale blue glow when just the side lights are on and when main beam is on add to the whiteness of the light.

This issue on the MK5 Golf was that the LED’s came on for 5 or 6 seconds then went off and flagged a warning light on the dash of bulb failure. To get round this you need to splice in resistors to the existing wiring which I wasn’t prepared to do.

With the MK5 Golf rather than LED’s I went for Phillips Blue Vision 501 bulbs and although they don’t have the same brightness of the LED bulbs they still changed the colour of the headlights to a brighter blueish white.

Bright headlights could be a lifesaver on a dark winter night, but which bulbs can you rely on?

Through this blog I aim to test and review car bulbs. Do they make a real difference to the bulbs you get with your car from the manufacturer? Currently we've changed the bulbs on the following cars:

• Honda Civic Type R
• New Beetle 1.8 Turbo
• MK5 Golf GT TDI
• Skoda Fabia vRS

Over the next few posts I'll tell you what bulbs we decided to change to, why and what difference did they make. I'll also be looking into the laws regarding bulb upgrades and HID kits.

So do I think changing your headlight bulbs is a worth while upgrade to your car? If you drive a number of different roads from motorways to country side roads like I do in my daily commute then I feel it's an invaluable aid to your safety and driving.