# Side/Wing Mirror Puddle Light LED Upgrade (pics)



## IwasHuman (Jun 30, 2012)

A couple weeks ago I was browsing the forum for exterior lighting and came across a post on the side/wing mirror puddle lighting and an inquiry on making them brighter. There was a picture that showed an artist rendition of the Phaeton’s courtesy lights, brilliantly illuminating the ground. The quest began! 

Contacting the dealer for the bulb spec I found that VW sells a complete pigtail assembly. I never got pricing, but figured it was not going to be as cheap as a 194 bulb. So I decided to pull mine apart and see what it would take to retrofit an array of LED’s into this assembly. To my surprise, I found that it is just a 194 wedge bulb. No idea why they want to sell the whole assembly. So I sourced some LED 194 bulbs on superbrightleds.com, and found a few options in color spectrum and number of LED’s. I also made sure to get CANBUS error cancelling bulbs. Looking at the measurements, I decided that the 9 LED bulbs would be a bit of a squeeze but should work, and ordered two of these in Natural White. I also ordered two 5 LED bulbs, one each in Warm White and Cool White, just to see the difference. 

I thought I’d share the results of all this with the community, as well as provide some decent photos of mirror disassembly. My apologies in advance for any blurriness and mis-tinted light shots, these are cell phone quality. They really don’t do the bulbs full justice. 









Here’s the bulbs I purchased, Natural White x2, Cool White, and Warm White 

Comparison photos via the trunk/boot lighting: 









Stock 194 filament bulb 









Natural White 9 LED. I’d say these are close to 4500-5000K in colour. 









Cool White 5 LED. These are definitely more blue. These will match most of the HID bulbs out there in the 6000K range. Truly a “hyper white” bulb. Very similar to the lighting in our clocks. 









Warm White 5 LED. These were probably my favorite. A really true to natural light colour. They were listed at 3200K and appeared more yellow hued in the pics online, but I’m thinking they’re closer to 4000K and a purer white. I used this little bugger in my glove box, and will probably replace the rest of the bulbs throughout my cabin with this colour. 

On to disassembly. Tools used: trim pry/puller, small phillips driver, small flathead driver, magnetic retriever, magnetic dish, needle nose pliers, towel 









Start by adjusting the mirror glass to its full inward position. 









Using the trim pry, get in there and pop the glass out. Should only take a bit of force. I used a towel against the mirror housing itself for extra scratch precaution. 









Once out, it looks like this. 









You need to unplug these connectors for the heater and dimming functions. Unclip the dim harness from the glass back and it’s a simple squeeze clasp. The heater wires are on spades, you might need to use the pliers to pull them off. 









In green is the lamp assembly that VW will sell you. In red are the 5 screws to remove to separate the housing from the mirror structure. They’re tiny, use magnets, don’t lose them. 









Once the screws are removed you can pull the housing away from the car and kind of rotate the outboard end down to separate it from the structure. If you work at it, you can also get the lower part of the housing to separate from the upper, but this is not necessary, as I found out on the passenger side. It IS necessary if you want to completely remove the housing though, which you do not need to do for this job. On the passenger side I left it all connected and was able to pop the lamp assembly up and manage it out from behind the mirror structure. 









Here’s the mirror glass and housing removed. 









A better shot at the lamp assembly. There’s two small tabs you can get at with the small flathead and it kind of pops out. 









I wanted to see how much clearance was in the lamp housing, so I pried the lens off with the flathead. I had to glue these back together again for reassembly, which I do not show. 









Here’s the 9 LED bulb in place. It JUST fit. The end is right against the housing. I saw some other sites that had similar 9 LED bulbs that were a bit cheaper, but they were also a few mm longer. Glad I paid the little extra for these. 









Here’s everything back together. No pictures of reassembly because it’s basically reverse. Be careful getting the screws back in. I used a magnet against my screwdriver to guide the screws in. Before you snap the mirror glass back on, make sure the puddle lights and the signals work. I have a problem with my driver side wire harness I think. If the wires are in certain positions, I lose my turn signal in the mirror. I keep the flashers on during the entire reassembly of the housing. Once all is good, hook the wires back up to the mirror glass, and snap it on. If you look at the mechanical parts of the mirror structure, there’s a clip that the prong on the outboard side of the mirror slides into. Use this as a reference to guide you in. 

End results early this morning. 









Darkness….. 









Let there be light! The camera really does not do them justice. They’re still not as bright as in the picture I saw that led me to this, but they’re definitely brighter. And they’re pretty much spot on with the color of the warmed up HID headlamps. I’ll get the P+S out of wherever I have it stashed and see if it can capture better pics at night. I’ll also try shooting a video to show the difference. 

Oh, and NO BULB OUT WARNINGS!! Success


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

Nice! Do you have a link to the exact bulbs you used?


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## IwasHuman (Jun 30, 2012)

Sure, I used the Natural Whites. 

http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/miniature-wedge-base/led-product/1128/ 

If you look at the pictures on their site, you can see the differences they show for the cool/natural/warm whites. My warm white bulb looked nothing like that. In real life, the cool white looked a little more blue, the natural looked more like the cool, but less greenish, and the warm looked very close to the natural.


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## koliberk (Mar 10, 2012)

Excellent tutorial, thanks. 

Did you change H11 front fog bulbs to LED SMD as well ?


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## IwasHuman (Jun 30, 2012)

I've looked into that a bit, but from what I've seen the LED wont be as bright as the halogen. I might try out some silverstars for now. I do want to give LEDs a shot in the reverse lamps though. Whatever I do, I'll keep it posted.


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

Hi Aaron: 

Wow, what a great idea. Thanks for writing it up so well and sharing the instructions and illustrations with all of us. I'll include this post in the Phaeton Forum 'Table of Contents' (FAQ by Category) next time I update it. 

Below is a publicity photo from VW Germany, released around the time the Phaeton was first introduced. I think you have finally accomplished the level of light that this photo suggests...  

Michael 

*Original VW Illustration*


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## IwasHuman (Jun 30, 2012)

Thanks Michael! That's exactly the photo I was referring to. Not sure I achieved something quite that bright, but definitely brighter than the regular 194's. Maybe on a foggy day I can get just the right effect. 

I plan on documenting just about everything I do. Next thing to battle is my variable IM actuators. Jordan mentioned that removing the vacuum check valve fixed a similar issue on his V8. I'll give that a go. Then I'll continue with the rest of the lighting. 

Appreciate the feedback from everyone, glad I could share my results!


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## IwasHuman (Jun 30, 2012)

Now with video! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I36IpM2xV1A 

I couldn't get my gopro to come through with solid vid in the darkness, so I had to go the cell phone route again. At least with the video I was able to crank up the contrast and pick up more of the actual light. Even with the contrast up, it's still only picking up maybe 80% of the brightness that's actually occurring here. If I can find where we put our camcorder when we moved, that might yield better results yet. But hopefully this gives you all an idea for now.


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## IwasHuman (Jun 30, 2012)

Hey Michael, do you have a picture of the bulbs used in the reverse lamps? Its listed as a 921 on most sites, which is the same wedge size as the 194s. Just want to verify without pulling it apart if i can. Got plans for this one too.


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

Hope this helps - it is a picture of the backup light bulb, and the assembly that holds it. 

Michael 

*Backup Light Bulb*


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## IwasHuman (Jun 30, 2012)

Do you remember if it was a wedge base? Looks like it could be a BA or 1156 bulb. I might end up just pulling it for myself. I went through and checked all the other cabin bulbs. All 194 and 39mm festoons. Kind of cool how all the lamp assys for the 194s are the exact same parts. I like consistency.


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

Aaron: 

See this post for an explanation of how to remove the trunk lid liner, something you will need to do to get access to the backup light bulb: OEM Warning Triangle in Trunk Lid Retrofit. 

Be aware that if you remove the inner tail-lamp assemblies from their position in the trunk lid, you will need to replace the two black sponge rubber seals that prevent road dust from being sucked into the trunk cavity via the holes for fitting the rear lights. There are some pictures of these seals at this post: Enabling (or retrofitting) a rear foglight on a North American Phaeton. Probably best to order them and pick them up in advance of starting your project. 

Michael


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

IwasHuman said:


> Do you remember if it was a wedge base?


 Geez, I'm sorry, it was about 7 years ago when I did that work - all I can remember is that it was a glass bulb. 

There is a post that describes how to get access to the bulb, to change it when it burns out - that post is here: Replacing the Backup Light Bulb. 

Perhaps you might be able to see what you are looking for there - if not, at least now you have illustrated instructions explaining how to get access to and remove the bulb. 

Michael


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## IwasHuman (Jun 30, 2012)

No worries Michael. That thread works great. Just ordered some festoons off ebay as testers for colour hue. If they're ok i'll start ordering the rest of the interior bulbs and do a thread for those as well if it would be helpful.


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

I just did this mod. Thanks for the write-up Aaron! For those intrepid Phaeton owners thinking about taking the plunge, I have to say it was a LOT easier than I expected. The scary part, removing the glass, was actually extremely simple, any old plastic lever will do, it flips out without much force at all and there's not much chance of dropping it because of the wires being attached. I think my LED bulbs were marginally too long (I found some flat ones with 6 LEDs all pointing downwards) but the clip pushed far enough back into the housing to be secure.


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## IwasHuman (Jun 30, 2012)

Awesome! Glad to see someone else try it. How were your results? Were they standard LED's are the square SMD's like mine? It sounds like yours all point downwards, so I'd imagine you might have gotten more of a spotlight effect than me.

Aaron


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

Yeah, my passenger side mirror tends to stick when reversing, so I've been meaning to take it apart for some time, and I was also ordering LED light bulbs from China for the house so I added the car LEDs to the order. These are the ones I got: http://www.miniinthebox.com/t10-6-5...-dc-12v-decode_p349917.html?litb_from=sysmail

I had a quick look at them last night in the dark and they're definitely brighter than before, and now they match the colour of the headlights too. Nice result for such an easy and cheap job!


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## DmcL (Sep 30, 2012)

would you people stop giving me more ideas of things to do to my P.. :laugh: 

i really want to swap the rear numberplate lamps for SMD LED units but at about £30 a pair it wouldnt exactly be cheap to do all 4.. 

just thinking i must take a pic of my side(parking) lights/fogs. in the fogs i have some "3000k" yellow bulbs (filament bulbs, no HID's). went through 3 sets of wedge bulbs for the sidelights, wanted to find something like some blue glass wedge bulbs that i used to buy years ago as they dont seem to be around any more. wanted a blue-white colour to match the HID's, first set were a bit greeny and rubbish, LED's were no good as they shoot the light straight and you can see the wedge bulbs through the glass so the multi-SMD ones were out. anyway i found some on ebay that are great, super cheap for a set of like 10 of them and they are exactly like the old wedge bulbs i used to get. they match the HID's and get rid of that two tone look with the standard clear or very light tinted wedge bulbs lighting up the high beam portion with the blue/white of the HID's lighting up the low beam portion, now both match. 

EDIT: actually surprised no one has tried replacing the puddle lights with a pair of these yet... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-X-Lates...Domain_3&fits=Car+Make:VW&hash=item3ccfb3e1e5


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## IwasHuman (Jun 30, 2012)

I tried 2 different types of LED festoons. The 6 LED SMD ones are too wide, especially if they have the heat sinks. The ones with standard LED's don't produce enough light. I ended up getting some xenon color festoons that work great. Very bottom of this page. 

http://autolumination.com/festoon.htm 

For the city lights, there's quite a few options on this same sight. I'm trying to figure out a way to wire mine to be on with key in ignition, and then disable my DRL's. So basically, the city lights will become the DRL. 

http://autolumination.com/194.htm 

Those logo bulbs are kinda cool, can't see myself putting them on my car though. Too 'novelty' for me. 

Aaron


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## EuanS51 (Jun 28, 2013)

Was looking at doing a similar thing with the under door lights. Has anyone here done this before that can offer any advice?


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## IwasHuman (Jun 30, 2012)

EuanS51 said:


> Was looking at doing a similar thing with the under door lights. Has anyone here done this before that can offer any advice?


The under-door lights are standard T10 base, so a 194 or 168 bulb will work. I used 5 SMD LED bulbs for all of mine, and they light up plenty bright. You could probably fit a 9 LED bulb in there like the one I used in my puddle lamps, but it would be tight from what I remember.


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## Lord bass (Aug 3, 2012)

Thanks to this thread i did this upgrade today. Heres my results.


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## IwasHuman (Jun 30, 2012)

Nice. Those lights look a little more purple than mine, but it could just be the camera. They almost seem a little brighter than mine too, but again maybe the camera and the color of your car. Which bulbs did you use?


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## Lord bass (Aug 3, 2012)

My original plan was to install some of the logo projectors in the mirrors. I got a kit from ebay and removed the logo from inside the projector housing as i think it would make the car look cheap. Once i installed one of them in the mirror i couldnt get the mirror back together as the projector was to big. So i ended up taking the projector apart and mounting the cree led inside the vw puddle light housing.


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## robbie-rocket-pants (Mar 25, 2012)

Thanks for the excellent write-up Aaron. It gave me the confidence to tackle the job.

I too had noticed that the mirror lights were a little dim and had a mis-matched colour compared to the rest of the white LED external lighting on my GP3 car. 

It was quite easy to do. The only trepiditious part was separating the clear lens from the black bulb housing - a sharp blade helped. I found I didn't need to pull the mirror apart quite as much as the initial write-up since you can wriggle the bulb housing out easily once the 5 screws have been removed. The mirror can be left connected to its wiring and dangled to one side. Note that the screws have different sizes - the two larger screws go in the two bottom locations.

I went through a number of LED bulbs trying to get one to fit. This one finally worked and it has a nice bright white light :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1x-CANBUS-ERROR-FREE-COB-32-LED-XENON-HID-PURE-WHITE-W5W-T10-501-SIDE-LIGHT-BULB-/272087973466?

Happy new year !
Robbie


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## august125 (Feb 21, 2015)

The original incandescent lights faded off. Those that have done this, have you noticed any strange behavior as a result of the "fade" feature?


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## bobster1969 (Apr 18, 2015)

Cheers guys I need to do this. 
The gp3 has terrible wing mirror lighting or I should say I have never had wing mirror lighting before so it's great but could be better lol. 
On my list of upgrades to do once the weather improves. 
Great write ups and video thanks again.


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## Callsignviper12 (Dec 9, 2015)

*just a side note if you are going to do this*

I did this just the other day. Had a bit of time, and turned into a decent sunny afternoon. This is a very easy do, just take your time. I do suggest as you are already taking the mirrors apart to go ahead and give the pieces a good cleaning. I took them inside and used a small brush to get the gunk dust and pollen cleaned. Of course I'm ocd and can't stand grime. Especially in crevasses. 

As far as the dimming effect, i still have the dimming effect no problems and seems to shows more light to see around the sides of the car. Will be changing out all the smaller bulbs lower door and foot wells as soon as I can find a smaller narrower led bulb. 

Very happy with the results. 

~Darren


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## robbie-rocket-pants (Mar 25, 2012)

I just spent a confusing hour trying to replace the front footwell lamps with CAN Bus suitable LED's- 

I changed one over and all seemed well, then I changed the other and both went out. I put the original bulb back in the second bulb holder but nothing happened. I opened / closed doors etc but nothing. I spent a while pulling fuses out to see if one had blown, but no. I tested voltages and tried different style LED bulbs - no joy. 

Eventually I replaced both bulbs back to standard. After closing the doors and locking/ unlocking twice, they eventually lit up and operate normally. 

So I think the moral of the story is: the CAN Bus does wierd things with LED bulbs !


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## Callsignviper12 (Dec 9, 2015)

uh oh.... and I just ordered mine. 10 bulbs plus the 2 festoon type for the license plate. As soon as I get them I will let you know. may come down to the quality of the bulb. 

On a side note, a BIG wave :wave: to all my G.B. P friends. Stationed there back in the late 80s. Lots of friends. Will be back to visit this summer. Hope I can meet while across the pond. :beer:

~Darren


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## Callsignviper12 (Dec 9, 2015)

Sorry it took so long to post some photos of after the LED swap. It's been a lil crazy at work. 

3 pics of different angles. The dome lights inside as well. I have been trying to change all the smaller foot well smaller bulbs but can't find any that "fit just right". 








[/url]20160121_183937 by Bay Surfin, on Flickr[/IMG]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/D6zQzJ]20160121_184004 by Bay Surfin, on Flickr[/URL]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Dvoj97]20160121_184025 by Bay Surfin, on Flickr[/URL]


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## robbie-rocket-pants (Mar 25, 2012)

Cool ! 
What bulbs did you use Darren ?


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## Callsignviper12 (Dec 9, 2015)

The mirror "puddle" lights are (look) the same as the pics at the beginning of this thread. They where a tight fit and if I'm not mistaken are a 921. I actually used 2 as my city lights in the front. Hopefully if the weather breaks I'll take some shots of those as well. However, I think they are whiter than the 5000k ds1 I have. 



These for the license 

https://www.jdmastar.com/canbus-error-free-ax-2835-smd-36mm-white-led-bulbs-6411-6418-c5w.html



These for the dome lights, not the map spots. I had to bend out the metal contacts a bit but they fit. 

https://www.jdmastar.com/2x-canbus-error-free-42mm-1-72-5050-smd-led-bulb-211-2-212-2.html



I ordered these t10 for the doors, footwell, trunk, map spots etc but they are still to big. I'm still hunting a decent fit. 

https://www.jdmastar.com/4x-t10-error-free-5630-smd-white-led-bulbs-194-168-2825-w5w.html

sorry for this quick post. I will grab pictures of the bulbs as soon as I can. We are in very heavy chop and I'm on my tablet. Uugh. It's bouncing all over. Cheers. ~viper12


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## robbie-rocket-pants (Mar 25, 2012)

I can't stop fiddling...
I found a pair of under door projector lights for a fiver on ebay, they are surprisingly good quality.


upload pics

I can't decide if they look cool or naff. The VW logo is easily removed from the housing if I get lambasted ! The rear doors have plain LED bulbs


free picture upload


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## robbie-rocket-pants (Mar 25, 2012)

Here is the ebay item number:381470952583

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/381470952583?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT


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## 53PL-50AAA-VW611BAN (Feb 10, 2015)

robbie-rocket-pants said:


> Here is the ebay item number:381470952583
> 
> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/381470952583?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT


I was wondering if anybody had tried these. Have you installed them yet?

BTW, what does "naff" mean?

-Eric


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## PowerDubs (Jul 22, 2001)

My guess is that naff is cheezy, ghetto, stupid..


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## 53PL-50AAA-VW611BAN (Feb 10, 2015)

That's what I figured, but wanted a translation. 

Can somebody translate the following sentence?:

"He was well chuffed."

Is being chuffed a good thing or a bad thing?


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## robbie-rocket-pants (Mar 25, 2012)

53PL-50AAA-VW611BAN said:


> I was wondering if anybody had tried these. Have you installed them yet?
> 
> BTW, what does "naff" mean?
> 
> -Eric


Hi Eric, yes that's my car.

Naff = bad taste
Chuffed = well pleased.

Alright already


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## 53PL-50AAA-VW611BAN (Feb 10, 2015)

robbie-rocket-pants said:


> Hi Eric, yes that's my car.
> 
> Naff = bad taste
> Chuffed = well pleased.
> ...


Thanks. I see them on eBay all the time and wondered if they were worth buying. They kind of remind me of the Bat Signal. 

A current TV commercial shows that the new Lincoln has similar lights that project the Lincoln logo onto the ground. It looks classy on the Lincoln (at least on TV).

My GF was impressed, so I told her my car does that. However, I was referring to it projecting light under the door. 


Thanks for clarifying what "chuffed" means. About 40-50% of the car magazines in Barnes & Noble are British, so I have bought and read many British VW magazines. They always use British slang. They also feature radically modified cars that we don't get in The Colonies. It's hard to form an opinion on mods if you don't know what the car looked like originally. It's not to hard to figure out what a Polo is supposed to look like, but Seats and Skodas are completely unknown.

I was thinking today of the Monty Python sketch with pilots who can't understand each other's banter.

-Eric


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## Callsignviper12 (Dec 9, 2015)

thanks rrp. I've been wondering about the projector replacements. just ordered 4. wouldn't it be awesome to find them with the bat symbol. 

~darren


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

This thread is doing my head in.


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## steveskinr (Oct 31, 2007)

I put the Bentley door lights on my four seater. 

If my wife has passengers when she has to drive it, she is embarrassed by them.
She much prefers the subtle lights in her black on black five seater.


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