Group Buy: Aftermarket Bixenon Headlights (WinPower Lamps)

[veew]

Mate are you really serious you're keen on buying one of these? 7 of the 12 units have had issues. I'd wait until the dust settles mate, but so far Mark hasn't been good to deal with if you have problems.

I came across this as part of my research a while back:
LED replacement headlights buyer beware | VW TDI forum, Audi, Porsche, and Chevy Cruze diesel forum

Thought it was a while ago and things had improved, unfortunately not.

[point]

Genuine VW Bi-xenon headlights have static and dynamic cornering function. Bulb you are referring to is for static cornering light.
They also have automatic self leveling and headlight washers, both of them are required as per ADR.

Your car does not have wiring for Bi-xenon headlights hence you can not connect those bulbs.
Suggesting to connect them to high beam or fog lights is a poor advice. There are rules for just about everything on the car and they are there for a reason. As drivers we have obligations and responsibilities when driving and maintaining our cars and we need to follow them .

You consciously decided to change perfectly working and legal headlights with one of poor quality and inability of proper alignment, so basically you made your new cars unroadworthy. I do not care how you spend your money but because we share the roads your half baked modification affects other road users by means of dazzle and glare.

Also, headlight range control next to the light switch can not be used to align headlight beam. It is used to adjust the light cones according to the load the vehicle is carrying. To adjust the headlight aim there are adjusters on the headlight housing.

Videos of genuine Bi-xenon headlights

VW Golf GTi Mk7 - Dynamic Cornering Lights - YouTube

VW Golf Mk 7 - U-Led Bi-xenon Dynamic Cornering Lights - YouTube

Volkswagen Golf VII 1.4 TSI 122 BHP TOP bi-xenon headlights | U-LED bi-xenon presentation - YouTube

why bother with a massive negative post about something we all already knew? Get off your high horse.


in other news - I've played around further with the projector adjustment and adjusted them to be pretty much spot on - so I'm happy for now.

[i286]

[why bother with a massive negative post about something we all already knew?]

Negative post? Really. Because I do not approve or agree with a few people who knowingly do illegal things to their cars.

AdamD did mention early in this thread that these headlights are illegal in Australia and OP also noted lack of self leveling function, which makes them illegal. Do we just turn blind eye and pretend that it is ok to occasionally do something we all know is not right but we'll do it anyway and promote it and encourage other to do the same.

To modify something is to make it better, more efficient, safer, more practical, to improve it, just to name a few reasons. To do that we need money, time, tools, more money, space, skill, did I mention money. Oh yea, we need knowledge as well. Before pulling something apart we need to understand what it does, what is inside, why it does it, can we do without it, are we going to be able to put it back together.

When cars are in question someone wants to improve its performance, someone wants to make it more fuel efficient, someone else wants to change the look of it or modify the audio. It really doesn't matter what reason it is. What matters is do it by the book, do it right, keep it legal and do it safe. If you intend to use it on a public road then play by the rules.

Often big, reputable car manufacturers are involved in motorsport and they have their own RD teams or are associated with independent, also reputable and proved companies for development and production of modified parts. That all has a cost. Modifying cost money.

Brazil, China, Mexico, South Africa although all of them are producing certain VW models are not the countries who will develop, test and produce high quality performance parts.

In a way I feel sorry for you guys. You wanted to improve your cars, you gathered as much information as you could, watched plenty of youtube videos and somehow you are not quite satisfied. You decided to take a shortcut and it shows its ugly face.

Seller of this poor quality copies is well aware of the fact that product is dodgy and he was delaying distribution as much as he could so you loose the time for dispute. He also knows that you probably won't return your faulty lights to him because of the postage cost.
I do not know if you are protected with warranty or not. He is blaming you for many things that went wrong. Dodgy, dodgy, dodgy.

No wonder they can't even get t-shirt right.

Keep your genuine headlights handy, you will need them.

point, I like my horses. The more of them the better.

[Tomatoes]

Negative post? Really. Because I do not approve or agree with a few people who knowingly do illegal things to their cars.

AdamD did mention early in this thread that these headlights are illegal in Australia and OP also noted lack of self leveling function, which makes them illegal. Do we just turn blind eye and pretend that it is ok to occasionally do something we all know is not right but we'll do it anyway and promote it and encourage other to do the same.

To modify something is to make it better, more efficient, safer, more practical, to improve it, just to name a few reasons. To do that we need money, time, tools, more money, space, skill, did I mention money. Oh yea, we need knowledge as well. Before pulling something apart we need to understand what it does, what is inside, why it does it, can we do without it, are we going to be able to put it back together.

When cars are in question someone wants to improve its performance, someone wants to make it more fuel efficient, someone else wants to change the look of it or modify the audio. It really doesn't matter what reason it is. What matters is do it by the book, do it right, keep it legal and do it safe. If you intend to use it on a public road then play by the rules.

Often big, reputable car manufacturers are involved in motorsport and they have their own RD teams or are associated with independent, also reputable and proved companies for development and production of modified parts. That all has a cost. Modifying cost money.

Brazil, China, Mexico, South Africa although all of them are producing certain VW models are not the countries who will develop, test and produce high quality performance parts.

In a way I feel sorry for you guys. You wanted to improve your cars, you gathered as much information as you could, watched plenty of youtube videos and somehow you are not quite satisfied. You decided to take a shortcut and it shows its ugly face.

Seller of this poor quality copies is well aware of the fact that product is dodgy and he was delaying distribution as much as he could so you loose the time for dispute. He also knows that you probably won't return your faulty lights to him because of the postage cost.
I do not know if you are protected with warranty or not. He is blaming you for many things that went wrong. Dodgy, dodgy, dodgy.

No wonder they can't even get t-shirt right.

Keep your genuine headlights handy, you will need them.

point, I like my horses. The more of them the better.

Mate, please don't pretend to speak for everyone here. I am completely satisfied by the process I went through, it just happens that half of the lights were defective. So what? **** happens. It's a lesson learned, and you can stop pretending to be better than us just because we decided to take a shortcut and not pay 3x more for fitting OEM. Not everyone has the resources to do everything by the book, and let's face it, I doubt any of us in here agree with ALL the road rules in Australia.

I see plenty of vehicles on the road with illegal modifications (wheels, suspension, exhaust noise, etc.). Do I care? If it doesn't make their vehicle less safer then no. As much as we all like to adhere by the law, sometimes it just isn't possible.

Is my car inherently unsafer with these lights? No. They're as bright as most other xenon lights and the levelling is satisfactory. What's the problem? We all know that what we've done is illegal. Stop beating down on us for that. It doesn't help at all, and doesn't change anything. For what it's worth, I absolutely encourage anyone wanting these lights to go through an OEM supplier.

Yes, Mark is a dodgy seller. Yes, we all know that. It's done. I understand that you don't agree with people who modify their vehicle illegally, but telling us that isn't going to make us think any differently. If you feel so passionate about it then join the cops and pull over every single vehicle that you think is modified illegally.

The bottom line is: How people choose to go about modifying their vehicle is their business. I don't tell any of my friends that their car makes over 100db which is illegal. They most likely know the risk and it's their responsibility to deal with any problems with it. But me telling them does nothing - they already know. See the analogy?

[i286]

I rest my case.

[VW Convert]

The bottom line is: How people choose to go about modifying their vehicle is their business.

Not when it potentially affects other road users.

[Arnold]

Risk other motorists' safety to save a few bucks? You betcha! Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. We can't all do the right thing all of the time, even if it might put lives at risk.

Based on the views and reasoning being exhibited in this thread it sounds like we might have some new contenders for a Darwin Award. I only hope they do not take anyone else with them.

Ironic that better headlights are supposed to be a safety feature.

PS - I find the idea of adding non-genuine parts, especially major ones like headlights, to a finely engineered new car like a Golf 7 irksome. I would no more rip out genuine standard headlights and put in fake Golf bi-xenons than I would put an aftermarket sunroof in my new Golf (if I had one). Irksome.

Same goes for the chip mods people do. A professional racing driver I spoke to at a car launch the other week said all these chips do is change the ignition timing from the optimal levels set by the manufacturer whom he said "knew how best to tune their own engines". At least you can "undo" such changes, unlike a roof or a set of headlights (eek).

[ajay1940]

Improving the original lights using non-genuine HID replacements is, to say the least, problematic and probably not worth the effort.
Has anyone tried fitting auxiliary HID or LED driving lights?

[BFPO40]

For what it's worth, I've bought a set of genuine OEM R Xenons, I now plan to build a fake VW Golf around them!

[DeusLucem]

Well after I discovered my LH headlight wasn't working, I opened a PayPal dispute which was automatically escalated to claim (as I created the case on Day 44).

I also sent an email to Mark at WinPower. After some quick troubleshooting, he promptly sent me two replacement bulbs. I tested one of the new bulbs in the RH headlight - bulb works fine. Plugged it into the LH headlight - still not working .

I've advised Mark - let's hope he's able to resolve this.

ps. I normally do get factory fitted HID but I was told that it would be a 6-9 month wait for a GTI with leather, sunroof and lights. And at the time there was no word on when the Performance pack version was coming. I would've waited but my car died and needed a replacement ASAP. And the dealership actually recommended that I buy one with the leather and add sunroof and headlights with aftermarket options .