(also known as HID High Intensity
Discharge)
Out of the
box, the stock A4 headlights are not bad, but Audi's lights have always been a bit on the
poor side. This time, I finally did something about it. A shame it had to
cost ~$1300 to get the euro-spec S4 lights, but it was definitely worth it. These
particular headlights are known as E-Code (for Europe standards), so they are not DOT
approved. If you wish to know more about headlight specs, I recommend hitting a few
websites that will describe the difference (i.e.
http://20v.org/light.htm
or Daniel Stern's page ).
I can not discern any difference between the US spec S4 light and the Euro
S4 light though. To give you an idea about the benefits of these lights vs stock, imagine this...you are in the far left lane of a 5 lane highway. With just the lows on, you can see 15-20 feet off the side of the road on the right side and about 10 on the left side. It could be a bit more as I have never actually measured. Quite impressive to say the least. The light these put out is also whiter than those of halogen lights, but it also has a blue-ish tint to it when viewed from head-on at certain angles. The beam pattern on them also has a very sharp cut off. There is line across the road of light and dark, not defused like a halogen. It was kind of strange at first seeing this line bob up and down with the car over bumps, but you quickly get used to it. Another added benefit of these lights is that in the rain and fog, you don't get as much glare back from the moisture. Fog lights aren't really even required with this setup. |
When you get these lights from LLTek, everything that is needed is included, clear side markers, etc. Although they haven't been able to source them yet, the gyroscopes do NOT come with them. The gyroscope is the device that will enable the auto-leveling mechanism for the beams. This device isn't essential for running the lights, but it would be cool :) You can still adjust the beam the normal way. When you go to install them, you will need a torx screwdriver (30) I believe. I used a torx bit because of the location of the 3rd screw. It has very little room for a direct access to it. I put the bit on the screw and turned it with a small wrench then.
The only other gotcha with installing them is there is a
little tab the light sits in that is toward the center of the car side. It will
become obvious once the light is removed and you look for it. It is round and is at
the bottom of the light and faces the center of the car. Make sure when you install
the xenons that that tab goes into housing otherwise they will not fit correctly. |
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Finally, after you get them installed you will have adjust them. LLTek ships them out with the beam facing down. The adjustment screw is the one on the outside (closest to fender) to adjust them up and down. You might want to have your dealer do it just so you can get it right. It took me a couple of times to do it so I wouldn't blind people on the road.
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