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so many lighting options!

4K views 26 replies 9 participants last post by  Titchy 
#1 ·
so i'm just a bit of a dork, and am too excited about my JUST-ARRIVED euro lightswitch. i put it in in about two seconds... and bounded in and out of the car switching settings and jumping out to look at them.

don't wait too long between car mods... it makes you go nuts over any little one :)

now i'm just ITCHING to put the rear fog in... but after reading the awesome and thorough how-to for installation, i worry i have no idea what's going on. i'm not so good with wires :S i suppose it will just be a long afternoon in the garage (after a confusing wire-shopping trip), hoping i don't break anything :S

also, any suggestions on the best/easiest place to order the rear fog from? and no... i can't do the simple $3 painting option, b/c the car is leased, and although i hope to buy it out, i don't think they'd appreciate that. :rolleyes:

:)
 
#2 ·
Hi,
ECS Tuning has both the wire you need and the fog.
http://www.ecstuning.com/stage/edpd/pagebuild_v2.cgi?home=Volkswagen

Read and re-read that install and maybe do a dry run. Pop off the end of the panel on the dash and take a look. Check out the fog and see that it is pretty easy to get off too, gotta squeeze under the back of the bug but very do able, with simple wrench. Look carefully at the connex on the switch to get the idea where the special wire goes and how it goes in. Just breakdown the steps and go slow. If you aren't great at making crimps it is no big deal to use the twist lock type of connector, they will work fine.

Have you decided where you want to make your connection to the wire? Inside or at the light? I'm doing this in the next couple of days(maybe part of it today) and putting in some aftermarket tails. I am trying the inside connection, waited till my tailights got here to give it a go. They are here so no putting it off.

I'm doing the Stealth Fog with the LED in the original light. I have a lot of red back there as it is so keeping it stock looking.

Girls can do some stuff too, I'm just learning my bug and if I can do it you can too:D
 
#3 ·
titchy, thanks for the encouragement :):) i'd love to hear updates on how your installation goes. if the fog part is difficult, enjoy the tails... when i did mine, i enjoyed how simple it was!

so, if i were searching on the ECS website for the wire for the fog, what's the title of the wire that i need? :) i see 'connector wires with terminal'... something like that?
 
#4 ·
Hey,
well I got to Step 23 this afternoon. Ran into a snag with my wiring being soooo tight I can't get any of it to come into the rear. Took some good pix I think for the first part so you can see what I was doing.

I really checked the wires , nothing was hanging up it's just really tight. The wires at the Euro switch were too and the hardest part there was getting enough room to put the wire in the switch, the rest was easy, I didn't need to remove the dead pedal either. I don't know what somebody with big hands would do. jeez I think the wiring may be something to each one as they all have a personality :rolleyes:

So (it's getting dark) so I ended with the wire run to the back. I am going to have to release some wire down by the rear fog. It's got a little attachment thing to the body and there is a nice loop there that I "think" will give me the room I need to pull the wires in. The side marker and the tail light wires had room.

Let me see your tail lights :D Cool, I'm just putting in some black(got some chrome in them)ones I got on Ebay. I haven't gotten to them yet, want to get this done first in case there are untold fitament issues to deal with :confused: that may take me longer than I think.
 
#6 ·
your thoughts along the way are excellent. i really appreciate it. and how exciting--i get to pick my colour of wire :p

here's a couple pictures of my tails; they're the black altezzas, no chrome. i was so happy the way they turned out against the platinum paint. mmm :)





 
#7 ·
Sweet, I like them. Where did you get them?

Looks like the ducks are heading south! Toronto, nice city. Used to show horses over in the CNE, Guelpf and way over in St. Catherine when I lived outside Detroit. Had the Canadian Bred National Hunter Champ a couple of years in the days of yore. A reject from the mounties, yep he was black.

I haven't looked at my pix yet. Can email them to you when you get your wire. Pick the same color as your long wire I'd think. The red fog will look good back there. :D

Tracy
 
#8 ·
you've shown at the cne! that's awesome. i've TAKEN horses there to show (but not ridden there). i've ridden for almost 12 years now--in fact, i'm going to ride a horse i part-board after work this morning ... and i live/work/school in guelph now :)

i got my tails on ebay, and the corner lights too. excellent purchases.

and red is sort of my accent-colour lol, so yeah, i'm looking forward to the fog! and for the day when i can afford to paint my brake calipers :)
 
#9 ·
ahhh the good old days. I haven't been on a horse in a few years now. What he actually won one year was the Lt. Governors Cup and some other stuff up there. Most of my friends were on the USET back then. I showed about 25+ years and went on to the racetrack for another 15+ years. It really was more fun, based in KY and of course went where ever the string was going. NY or Cal. FL. I ended up here in Fl after I decided I was tired of moving. Still follow the racehorses pretty closely though.

I believe we are off-topic now :D
 
#10 ·
OK girl, I got this done today also got the tails in with a lot of help from RedRider.:D Did the stealth fog. Red LED in the stock housing. The tails were a bit of a PITA, but they are done and fortunately I like them. :bigthumb:
Had to punt on the rear fog, my wiring still wouldn't give me the room I needed to actually put the twistlock(or anything) inside the rear. I ended up with it just outside the grommet and it sits on a ledge and you can't see it at all, so it still looks stock below and is out of sight.

Your turn....:eek:
 
#11 ·
herTDI said:
your thoughts along the way are excellent. i really appreciate it. and how exciting--i get to pick my colour of wire :p

here's a couple pictures of my tails; they're the black altezzas, no chrome. i was so happy the way they turned out against the platinum paint. mmm :)

Wow, your black tezza tails look awesome on your platinum gray NB. Very nice!
 
#14 ·
Wow, both of you have some cool aftermarket tail lamps. I used to run aftermarket clear/red (amber bits removed) on my silver beetle, but I gave up after a while because the quality of the taillights was sort of poor - in the cold winter air of Colorado, it resulted in numerous burnt-out tail lamps while I used them. I think that moisture was getting in there just enough to cause a problem, so I stopped using them - threw them away, even! I don't need to get pulled over, tho, so they had to go.

I had a couple questions - hows the quality of your replacement tail lamps? Did the little grippy bits where you twist in the light socket break the first time you tried to use them or anything lame like that?

I also wondered why you put a red bulb behind a white lense instead of replacing the lense itself...does it now work as both a reverse light and a fog light? Pretty cool if so, but I kind of like the idea of replacing the white lense with a red one, so that you have one of each color. I'm pretty sure it's legal to have a single reverse light here in California, and I like the off-balanced look of one-red/one-white.

Our cars have a simple and appealing look right from the start, so free of extraneous bulges and lines right from the factory. I feel like they are tightly wrapped, and throwing the combo colors in there is a sneaky little way to loosen them up a little, something most people would never notice, but something an NB fan would see and appreciate. ;)
 
#15 ·
Hi, and thanks
These lights are ok, they want to scratch a bit but seem good overall. The clips are fine, I took them in and out quite a few times trying to get the fit just right, had to do a bit of work on the opening. Finally broke one but just took one off the stockers. They tell you they want you to seal them, I don't think I should have to do that but I did. It's ebay, they don't tell you everything up front:eek: But I do like them, look better in person. Hard to tell when you are buying from some of the pix on there what they really looks like. I like herTDI's(off Ebay too) and she said they went right in. I can't say that about these. they do say DOT approved though.

I did the stealth fog for now, I can't decide if I want to put the red in the back or not since there is quite a bit of red there already :D It does not work as a reverse light just the other side. I'll put a white LED in that one when I get to it. Was thinking about putting a red LED in just the brake side of the light, I don't want to mess with the turn signals.
 
#17 ·
unitool said:
I had a couple questions - hows the quality of your replacement tail lamps? Did the little grippy bits where you twist in the light socket break the first time you tried to use them or anything lame like that?
thanks for the compliments :) the tails fit, i'd say 90% perfectly. the rubber that lines around the light did loosen a bit when i changed them... esp since i realized after putting the new ones in that i had a bulb burnt out, so the right one had to go in and out a couple times :S but i'm pretty sure you can buy those rubber bits new if needed, so if it gets looser i'll probably grab new ones.

i noticed a bit of moisture in the lights a bit at first, but only in the first month or so, and ever since i haven't had problems with moisture. thank goodness!

of COURSE, having something back INTO ME and pull up the right rear fender by the tail light just that teeeeeny little bit doesn't help secure things any. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. sometimes i swear my car has a "HIT ME" sign on him.

unitool said:
Our cars have a simple and appealing look right from the start, so free of extraneous bulges and lines right from the factory. I feel like they are tightly wrapped, and throwing the combo colors in there is a sneaky little way to loosen them up a little, something most people would never notice, but something an NB fan would see and appreciate. ;)
i totally agree. they're so unique already... yet clean-cut. just even the little bits i have modified so far make it stand out uniquely. here's to more! ;)
 
#18 ·
titchy, everything looks great! good job with the fog. i never really thought of the "stealth" fog idea.

i need a good empty day to get in and start inspecting :S this weekend i think i'm daring to venture to NY to meet up with mattsbug and the cheat... NEXT weekend i'll make foglight work time :)

i'm SO going to appreciate your commentary as you went along. thank you so much again.
 
#20 ·
herTDI, I(but that's just me) think the red fog would look great on your color, and the more I look at mine, the more I think I may put the red one in there.:confused:

I have many more comments on the fog install I can pass on to you when you get your stuff(and pix) so pm me when you get to it and we will get you through it. The fog part didn't take that long at all after I decided there was no way the connex was going in behind the tail.

The tails, however, are 95% to my liking now, close. The gasket fits well around the light( a little loose), but the hole it drops into needed some adjustment(filing etc. needs more :rolleyes: ) and I have an issue with the gas cable on the right and I believe the fuel line, and of course the better fit I get the more it will contact the cable :mad: soooooooo I am waiting on that till I am fresh again ;) or I have to get gas. :D

Have fun with your mini GTG, those guys rock and Matt did some cool stuff to his tails. If you get your stuff before you go, put it in, I bet they would give you a hand.
 
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