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Reply to "Chrome driving lights, updated 2021 recommendations"

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"...I put the H4 upgrades in but they are still lacking and stressing out my wife on date nights..."

"...I need the fog light 50' out lighting. Essentially, I think I have this same scenario where low light, dusk I cant see anything even though I put in the H4 lenses..."

"...I saw some people mentioning relays and whatnot but I believe that may be for trying to tap into existing headlight switches/wiring?..."



John, if all you need is basic headlights so that you can see the road at 'normal' speeds in 'normal' conditions, then there's no reason why some decent H4's shouldn't do that.

But there are a few fairly simple upgrades to do for that to happen in our cars. My VS came with abysmal halogen lighting and it WAS scary. But I've done the upgrades and switched to H4's and the lights are fine for whatever night driving I do. No driving lights. No fog lights. And my wife doesn't stress about it (trust me, she would if there were even the slightest reason to.)

If you don't do these upgrades, there's a good chance that adding extra lights won't help much, either.

First, relays. There are very good reasons why ALL modern cars use these. Most of those reasons have to do with cutting production costs, but they also make lights significantly brighter.

Second, aiming the lights correctly. The VW headlight buckets weren't the best design for that to begin with, but the cheapo reproductions in most of our cars are far worse. It took me a while to figure out that as much as I turned those adjustment screws, the buckets weren't actually moving at all. With our very low seating position, and the headlights closer to the ground than in modern cars, getting that angle adjusted right is critical. It can be done, but someone has to do it. That someone is usually the car owner.

Third, proper wiring runs to the lights (short runs of heavy-gauge wire), directly from the battery, controlled by relays that are also close to the battery.

The relays helped some, and the proper wiring helped some, too. Together, they made a huge difference - enough that I've got what I'd call 'normal' lighting now. Nothing outstanding, but no longer scary. My wife doesn't grab the dash handle at night, like she used to. Problem solved.

If you'd like to pursue any of this, let us know. You'll get more free advice about it than you would ever believe.

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