DIYs

B7 Audi A4, S4 and RS4 LED Daytime Running Lights (DRL)

The easiest way to make your DRLs look like a newer Audi

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166 44,869 3 minutes read

LED DRL for B7 Audi A4 & S4

I just finished installing LEDs on my B7 Audi S4 and wanted to share some pics and a quick DIY if you want to do it yourself. Above I’ve pictured the before & after, as you’ll see you get rid of that yellow-ish halogen with a super bright & clean cool white color from the LED. It takes about 10-20 minutes to install and luckily you don’t have to remove the bumper or headlights to install, you just have to wiggle your hands a bunch.

Please note: this will only work for B7s with xenon headlamps – the halogen headlight housing does not have a DRL bulb (the high beams are located in the halogen housings where the DRL goes in the xenon housings).  If you want to do a similar mod for your B7 equipped with halogen headlights, you’ll want to replace the city lights instead of the DRL bulbs – they’re the smaller bulb located in the upper corner of the inner housing of the headlight. You can check out my City Light DIY here.

For the DRLs, here’s what you’ll need for the conversion:

LEDs for DRL in Audi

2 1156 Bayonet Bulbs (one for each side):

2 resistors (one for each side) – several different resistors work, and the consensus seems to be 5-10 ohms is what you’re looking for, with anything over 23 watts being fine – so here are two options to try. I’d order two of each and see which works better on your car, they’re cheap enough it doesn’t hurt. As you can see in the picture above I’m using 25W 15Ohm resistors which is what I used on my A4. I recently redid the resistors on my S4 when I added LED City Lights and am running  25W 15Ohm resistors that I mounted to the inner fender.

OR if you want something a little more technical, the following setup will run cooler and still eliminate any errors, but you’ll need to wire everything yourself. The nice part about this method is you can have extra long wiring and then mount the resistors well out of the way, such as the inner fender, where they’ll stay cool and out of the way.

The install is pretty simple as I said before. I followed this DIY on Tyresmoke.net but took some additional pictures to help out.

First, remove the plastic cap on the side of the housing, then pull out the stock bulb by turning it counter-clockwise. Be careful not to pull the wiring too hard or you’ll pull out the city lights too (the smaller bulb also pictured) which are very hard to remove. It’s a little tricky to get the bulb out but just be patient and if you have to, find a friend with small hands to help out 🙂 For the passenger side you’ll need to remove the plastic air intake to access the side of the headlight, which is held in just by two phillips head screws. Here’s a pic of the bulbs taken out:

DRL and City Lights

Next take out the stock bulb and plug in the LED bulb to the grey plastic base.

LED DRL bulb

Next you’ll want to install the resistors. You’ll simply bridge the yellow and brown wires with the resistor connecting the two. It helps to strip a section of both wires so the resistor gets good contact (in theory those resistor clamps should strip for you, but I’ve found they often don’t get a good enough connection). Test to make sure the bulb works and resistor is working too (it will get very hot very quickly) before trying to put the bulb back in, as it’s a pain to wiggle it back into place.

Resistor for LED DRLs

Because the resistor gets very hot, I didn’t want it inside the headlight housing where it could melt other wires or even the headlight housing itself. So I kept the resistor outside of the housing and just kind of pinched the wiring in the cap. I then found a way for each side to tape our mount the resistor where it wouldn’t cause much trouble and stay cooler. When you’re done, repeat on the other side, put everything back together, and step back and admire.

LED DRLs in B7 Headlights

FAQ: Do All LEDs Need Resistors?

It’s a great question. Technically, no LEDs “need” resistors – the resistors are there mostly to fool the car’s sensors. If the bulb doesn’t have a sensor to detect if the bulb is out (which is detected when the bulb doesn’t draw enough current), then there will be no error light and therefore no need for a resistor – this is the case on non-essential bulbs like the interior bulbs. Anything that is safety related (i.e. DRLs, reverse lights, etc.) have sensors to check for current/draw and display a really annoying bulb out error, and for those bulbs you need a resistor or you have to deal with constant beeping and chiming from the system. A lot of LEDs are marketed as not needing resistors (often referred to as can-bus).That means they have a built-in resistor. They don’t always work for Audi, becauase the built-in resistors aren’t strong enough. Sometimes they do, but rarely.

LED DRLs in B7 Headlights

Photo of Nick Roshon Nick Roshon Send an email
166 44,869 3 minutes read
Photo of Nick Roshon

Nick Roshon

Nick has been an Audi owner and fanatic for the last 10 years, and started Nick's Car Blog in 2009 to share DIYs and pictures of his A4. Currently he drives a 2012 Audi TT-RS, and has previously owned a B7 S4, B7 A4, and an 82 Audi Coupe (GT) LeMons race car. In his day job, Nick is a digital marketer and lives in San Diego, CA, USA.

166 Comments

  1. Great blog nick very interesting! I was just wondering: is this mod possible for my 2007 A4 2.0T ?? Or this only fits with S4s??

    Thanks!

  2. Yes, it will work on any B7 – the A4, S4 or RS4. Also works on all body styles (sedan, avant, cabriolet) assuming they have the xenon headlights – the halogen headlights do not have a DRL bulb. You can replace the city lights instead – as noted above.

  3. this looks great – I’ve wanted to do LED DRLs but didn’t want to head down the LED-strip route. this seems relatively plug-n-play. from which site did you end up buying the bulbs and resistors?

  5. I’ve been thinking about switching out my headlights on my Audi and this seems pretty simple enough to do.

  7. They would probably fit in the housing, but my guess is that they’d need different resistors. Those might be overkill 😉

  8. Thanks. BTW it looks from the picture that you used ~44 LED but the suggested bulb is 30 LED? Can you reconfirm which we should be using with those resistors? 44 or 33 LED? Much appreciate and cant wait to try.

  9. Either one should be fine but I think the one I used was closer to 40 LEDs I just couldn’t find it anymore when I wrote this post.

  10. Hi Nick,

    was wondering if you had a link to the specific bulb that you used (44led), i tried looking everywhere (ebay etc) for it but i can’t seem to find it! would really appreciate your help, if you cannot find a link to them, would those resisters and the 30 LEDs work okay?

    thanks again, big plans this weekend!

    -Lou

  11. @Lou
    I think it was these upon digging through emails/receipts: http://autolumination.com/1156_1157.htm

    Do a Ctrl+F and search for “44 High Powered Wide Angle SMT LEDS” – its about 80% down on the page and the description says its meant to eliminate bulb-out warnings in BMW, Mercedes, Audi and others…although that’s not necessarily the case in our cars, as I tried without a resistor and there was in fact a bu lb out error.

  12. Thanks a lot nick!

    after reading all of the lights stuff you’ve put out, the only thing am not going with are the fog HID Kit (might go with Sonic Tuning) just because i read many bad reviews, of course i hope yours work out perfect though!

    Thanks!
    Lou

  13. Very cool!

    In regards to HID kits, totally up to you. I have a friend who has had the Xentec kit for over a year and no issues. My only issue with the Sonic Tuning kit is that it costs about three times the cost of a Xentec kit. Since they’re so easy to replace, I’d rather gamble on the Xentec kit and just buy a replacement kit 1-2 years from now (and still have less money invested) if/when they go out, rather than pay $120+ for a kit that may or may not be any more durable or long lasting. I haven’t read enough into the reviews, but so far no issues with my kit, hard to beat for $35…

  14. Your car is coming along nicely Nick. I look forward to more pics and tips. Thanks for taking the time to show us how you do it.

  16. Hey I don’t have an Audi myself. I know, shame on me; however, this does give me some ideas for my own car. I haven’t done a whole lot of modding, so it’s time to step it up. Thanks for the inspiration there Nick. Have a good one.

  18. Just did this to the DTM tonight.. Looks killer!!!! I have the resistors inside the housing of the headlights, hope it doesnt do any damage.. I may relocate them later on though in fear they might melt some stuff :-/

  21. My S4 was, yes, but my A4 was originally equipped with halogen headlights. I bought a set of European E-codes from Germany and used a Kufatec harness to retrofit the bi-xenons to my A4 – it was fairly easy to do with the harness…

  22. I think you may have the wrong link for the bulbs! I just got mine from that link and when I went to. Install them noticed they have no little LEDs on the front and they are completely round unlike yours

  23. @John Michael – that is strange, they must have changed it. I looked around and found a better bulb and updated the post to reflect this. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Hopefully you can return the bulb if you didn’t like the old one?

  24. Thanks. I will try to return them, if not, it’s not a huge loss. I’m guessing installing the ones I have will have no real impact without the front LEDs

  26. @John Michael,
    The ones above are only slightly bigger than what I have in my car (one extra row of lights) so I think it should fit, but the ones you linked to should be fine too.

  27. Pingback: DRL/ Side light Load Resistors

  29. @John – the resistors should be fine yes – the bulbs aren’t that different and the extra few LEDs draw such a small load that the it should barely register a difference. The resistors aren’t an exact science in that the car is just looking for a range of acceptable wattage/current, so it’s not like it has to be an exact wattage or voltage in order to avoid the warning light, it just has to be in the right ballpark…

  32. they do work but run super hot. I still get a bulb out warning when I first start the car and the Drls are on, but then goes away . is that normal, or is it wrong ?

  33. @Slvrb7 – running hot is normal, but that it doesn’t work until the car is warm is a little odd. You may want to expirement with different resistor sizes to see if that helps?

  34. It also only seems to be on left side unless its just not reading resistors quick enough after first starting.

  35. It’s just first starting like pops up then goes away a second or two later should it not POP up at all?

  38. slvrb7 – good to hear it! Sorry it’s not completely straightforward as every bulb/resistor combo will be a little different, as well as every car may be a little different in terms of acceptable ranges of load/current. It’s not an exact science so sometimes you’ve got to try different resistors until you nail the right load to match a more OEM current.

  39. Yeah I changed to 50w6ohm and works with no error at all, but they still run hot. Where do I mount them? I have them mounted with zip ties, but worried they may melt the ties. How did you do it?

  40. @slvrb7 you can see how I mounted them above…they’re kind of just free standing. They do get really hot – as in they’ll burn your fingers seconds within them turning on – so I didn’t mount them to anything specific for that reason. I have them outside of the housing so the air can cool them a bit and they’re not touching anything plastic. Use the wires and clamp them with the headlight caps…if you want to make a mount, use some scrap metal – that’d be a much better way to do it than I did, but my lazy solution seems to be holding up…

  41. Hey Nick,

    You got a great site. I have a 2008 RS4 (B7), do you know if the DRL LED mod will work for that car? I flipped open the water protection cap and the space is incredibly small. Also, with the clear corner mod, once I get the light back in, will the car auto-adjust them so they are leveled or do I have to do it myself? I have AFS with the headlights.

  42. Hey Nick,

    Don’t bother answering the first part of my question regarding the mod working on a 2008 rs4, you already did in an earlier post.

  43. Aphilip, you should be fine with the auto leveling headlights, just take your time putting them back on the car and aligning them with the bumper, headlights and fenders so they’re in the same place they were before, and the car will take care of the alignment like it normally does. The LED DRLs do work on the RS4 as its the same headlight housing as the S4 or xenon-equipped A4. Good luck with the mods!

  44. I have a a4 b7 2.0 TFSI. I had xenons plus pack fitted which included adaptive lighting. I fitted led side lights with built in resistors which work fine and have fitted Cree LEDs to DRL’s. the resistors are 50w on the DRL’s and get red hot as in burns hand within 1 min of turning on which does concern me a bit as worry about fire in the engine bay. My question is could you wire the resistor in series instead of parallel os that if the bulb did fail the DIS would show a bulb fault?

  46. Nick, have you had any trouble with the individual LED’s failing or flickering? I’ve been running LED drls since last summer and my car ate two pairs of LEDS already. I’m using 50w 6ohm resistors but they don’t throw a code. Beginning to think I may need a different resistor? Thanks for your help

  47. Perhaps you are right. I’m using 25w15ohm resistors and not having any issues like that – still on my original set (although occasionally one of the tiny LEDs within the bulb will go out or flicker, but most still work fine).

  48. Finally got my other leds. If I want to install them without the resistors so I can make sure they work and see how they look, will that mess anything up? Like blow a fuse or anything? I expect a bulb out error but then I can fix it with the resistor. I want to do this so I can switch back to original if I want at first and not have to worry about the resistor if I do not like them

  49. You are fine to hook it up sans resistors at first. You may get a bulb out error but it won’t blow anything up. The problem is actually that the LED draws too little electricity, not too much.

  50. Nick, thanks for the info on your DIY. I have a b7 s4 and just did the DRL mod. I want to change the small bulbs but had difficulty taking them out. How did you take them out? Are they screw on or pulled out? Thanks.

  52. i have a A4 Avant B7 im having trouble with my lights i have flicker and also errors on my dash ive changed all my rear bulbs for LEDs do i need to fit 25w or 50w resistors thanks and also would i need resistors for my h11 fog lights and h7 headlight bulbs main and dipped sorry if this sounds dumb plus how many would i need 🙂

  54. Nick, Question regarding the small bulb (parking light – I assume)… How did you take it out? Is it a turn and pull or straight pull out of the socket? I have completed my LED DRL and I wanted to change the small bulb but I am having a hard time taking it out… Thanks for any feedback!

  56. hi nick yeah ive changed all my rear bulbs im getting flicker in my rear fogs tail/stop and errors of no bulbs and im getting fast flashing on my turning signals

  57. @Stephen – I’ve never heard of anyone trying to change the tail light bulbs to LED, from what I’ve read those bulbs are very sensitive and even with resistors it’s probably still going to cause errors. If you want LEDs in your tail light bulbs, I suggest you check out aftermarket LED tail lights like those you can find on ebay…

  58. ok thanks i guess im going to have to try find some LED tail lights do i need 1 x 25w resistors for my number plate and 2 x 50w resistors for my front side lights

  59. @Stephen – all I know is what I’ve posted here, so follow the directions in this article for DRLs and the other article for license plate bulbs. I’m not sure on turn signals.

  60. Hey Nick, killer car and very inspiring blog..
    from the photos these look like what I had in mind so i’m thinking of trying this but wanted to know if the led drl’s you installed look super bright with a large glow or are they more subtle..I’m trying for a classy or subtle “less is more look” and aslo trying to avoid that cheap super glow aftermarket look .. also are they on the blue side?
    Planning on trying a few of your diy’s so keep em coming..

  61. Hey Nick, Don’t see my previous post so will try again.
    On the led dlr’s…do the led’s give off a very bright overpowering look or a more subtlle one. from the photos it looks subtle and classy which is what i am looking for. also is there a blue tinge or more pure white. if you don’ t black out the hosuing does if give off a huge or super bright reflection.
    I’m considering doing this to my car so look forward to your answer. thanks doug

  62. Doug – no worries, I have to approve comments first before they show up. The color is slightly blue, but nothing over the top. I’d call it white with a tint of blue, and not the other way around, if that makes sense. I have a lot of pictures on my Flickr which may give you a better idea based on lighting and also with the headlight housings stock versus black: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickroshon/sets/72157629522821782/

    Ultimately I think they have a nice look without being too distracting or bright. They function well as a DRL in that they do not provide a lot of light for driving (you wouldn’t want to have only these on in the middle of the night) but they are noticeable to other cars in the daytime.

    Hope that helps!

  63. Oh ya the flicker pics helped. that’s what I want. a fresh modern clean look without being too flashy or gawdy. I’m an old guy so those days are long gone..lol. I was thinking about adding led strip a5 type kit but then i found you car and really liked it. besides, i felt odd about adding the stripe kit since that model didn’t have them..missed by one year. 2008 a4 b7 s-line.. but i have the xenons so the drl’s led are a nice touch. i will prbably do the fogs, rears and license plate when my wifes not looking..cheers doug

  64. hey nick, waiting for my leds to come and had
    another question if you don’t mind. I am told that if i use B5 perch (lowering)caps on my 2008 b7 sline with comfort suspension that it will lower the front about a half inch without causing any issues like premature shock wear? are you aware of this mod and any thoughts? does this only work for b7’s with true sport suspension? thanks in advance..doug

  65. Doug, I am aware of that mod but have never done it myself. It works on any B7 A4 (sport, non-sport, etc.). People seem to like it, and its cheap. It shouldn’t cause much shock wear as you noted too. Personally I’d go the coilover route and do it once and do it right (if you think you’ll want coilovers in the future), but if all your looking for is a mild drop in the front then it’s a good and cost effective solution…

  66. Hey Nick I purchased the same bulb you have and the 15ohm resistor but I was wondering about the wiring you used and how you connected the resistor to the bulb socket. It would help if you explained a bit more. I’m worried i’ll cut a wrong wire and mess up my whole DRL system. I looked on tyresmoke and tried to follow the tutorial but the wiring confuses me. If you could explain how to bridge the wires it would be much appreciated. Also do I need to purchase some kind of wire splice or the jell it says in the tyresmoke tutorial? and will you tell me about the wiring used for the resistor. Right now I just have two resistors without anything connected to them.
    Thanks,
    Brooks Benson

  67. @Brooks,
    You don’t need the gel (at least I didn’t need any). You do want to use wire taps, as this will allow you to install the resistors without cutting anything. Check out this video – in the video, picture the red wire as the OEM wiring to the light bulb. You’ll then want to connect the resistor like this: http://www.ijdmtoy.com/ebay/iJDMTOY/Resistor/02.jpg between the yellow and brown wires above using a wire tap for each. Each wire tap will have the OEM wire in one end, and the resistor wire in the other end.

    Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBxJmoXdBxk

    Hope that helps!

  69. Is there a trick to unscrewing the lightbulb from the grey base? I feel like i’m going to shatter the bulb when I try to unscrew it. Will the bulb release if I turn it or am I just suppose to pull it straight out of the housing. Also is the resistor just so the error message wont pop up on the led screen? One more thing, for the sizing of the wire connecting the resistor, does the size have to be the same as the OEM wire – would it work the same if the resistor wire is a bit bigger? I had to solder the wires to the resistor to then bridge the connection and install the resistor.

  70. The grey base comes off by twisting the bulb to the left and then pulling. You must twist first. Yes the resistor is just to avoid an error message, the bulb will work fine without it you’ll just get an annoying error on your dash. It’s okay if the wire sizes are not identical, as long as they’re similar enough to fuse together…

  71. Okay so I do not get where the resistors go. You said they bridge the yellow and brown so it goes between the yellow and brown? Just one resistor per light? So a yellow goes inside one side of the resistor and brown inside the other?

  73. Hey Nick did the drl mod following your write up and works like a charm. only thing that bugs me is the bright glow the housing reflects. This seems to give it more a blue tone. The led bayonet has the lights running down the side so it creates a huge glow. Have you ever tried other types of bulbs such as leds with just the light tabs in the front or I read about xenon match bulbs. As is it is still better than oem yellow though..I also ordered the fog kit..should be here saturday. cheers

  74. @doug – I haven’t tried that, but you could definitely order a different bulb and try. Or you could color over some of the bulbs with a black marker (the bulbs that reflect into the housing) and see if that helps?

  75. hey nick. the resistors you have on linked doesnt come with the wires connected to the resistors. where did you get them and how would i connect them to the resistors like you did?

  76. Shawn they don’t have the one I used in the write-up anymore. The one in the post currently has posts to add wires, so that would be your best bet, or you could just splice directly into the OEM bulb wires…

  77. thanks Nick. I’ll probably add wires cuz I dont want the heat to mess anything up if I spice it directly. you know if there’s a specific type/ size wiring I should use?

  81. hello,

    Did you ever get any bulb out errors with the 15ohm resistor. I was looking through this DIY and the one on tyresmoke and it seems Andy was having issues with the 15ohm resistor and ended up needing a 25w 10 ohm resistor

  82. I haven’t, but I bet 10ohm would work if you wanted to try it. There is no specific resistor that works, there is a range of acceptable thresholds so perhaps 15ohm is on the upper end of that range and 10ohm is on the lower end of that range?

  83. Hey Nick,

    Does it matter that the new bulbs you have linked to at Amazon look to be a tad longer, 68 count LEDs?

    It looks as though they are 2mm longer? Shouldn’t be a problem right?

    Thanks!

  84. This is unrelated to the mod you just did but I have a question Nick. I want to run my sidemarkers like the turn signal. How would I mod the sidemarker to stay lit and blink with the turn signal? Thanks bro. Anything will help.

  85. Will – I have no idea, never heard of someone doing that. They blink with the turn signal from factory but I don’t know how to have them always on when not blinking.

  86. Cool thanks Nick. I know huh. I’ve never seen it done. Something for me to research lol.

  87. Hi mate I’ve fitted the LEDs with the resistors on the drl lights and now I have a warning signal on the dash with a picture of my head light and a 90 degrees arrow! I can only guess I’ve upset something removing the lights???

  88. I believe that means your headlight is out of alignment/angled incorrectly. You may have knocked the lens out of focus. Check the bulb and make sure you didn’t knock anything out of place with the main beam headlight…

  89. Hey, I’m about to order the parts from amazon but I noticed the resistors don’t show the black cables you show.
    Do those come included, or so I have to purchase them separately?

  91. Okay cool. I also want to add LED strips and tap them to the DRLs. Which wire would be positive and negative?

  93. Quick question.
    Do u need a resistor in each of the cables? (Yellow & brown) for a total of 2 per side?
    Or just one for the positive?

  95. Sorry alittle confused.

    So the resistor bridges the two wires and then those wires go to the bulb(connector).
    Do you have any pictures of that?
    Sorry for the confusion.

  99. Nick,

    i appreciate all the hard work you have been doing on this!

    I just bought an 07 S4 and bought the bulbs to do the DRLs. They havent shown up in the mail yet but i had some questions.

    I was looking at my DRLs yesterday and they were NEVER on… no matter what setting i had my lights on, and all times during the day and night… when do they turn on? my assumption was that they are always on? the small bulb next to the DRL is always on, but the actual DRL never turns on.

    Let me know if you have any suggestions for troubleshooting this problem.

    Thanks

  100. Hi Kyle – you can turn the DRLs on using the switch to the right of the headlight switch – it is a knob you turn left or right between I/O settings. You might have to push the knob inward to get it to pop out so you can switch between them.

  101. I got it all done today and it works great. the resistors you linked dont have long enough wires… atleast mine didnt. they dont have the ability to be mounted OUTSIDE of the headlight enclosure. Am I bound to have problems keeping it inside the headlight?

    I might just get some extra wire and some crimps and make it longer, i just dont want to dig everything out again.

    Also… It is a pain when you drop stuff down there… I had the gasket for the plastic cap fall down and it is not retrievable! very irritating..

  102. So… Nick…

    i was had the right and left headlight warning signal go off on the dash… I installed everything as you said it… and i used these ( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004EDF8HY/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=niscabl-20&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B004EDF8HY&adid=1WMBK04KAQFQ9HTD924E&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fnickscarblog.com%2Fcars%2Fb7-audi-a4-s4-and-rs4-led-daytime-running-lights-drl ) resistors that you suggested.

    No idea why its not working… but im trying to sort out how to fix it… any ideas?

  103. I was going to ask… the warning went off and then i reinstalled the resistors and made sure they had a good connection… do i need to clear codes? or should they clear on their own?

  104. They should clear on their own. It sounds like bad connections. That it is a shame the wires for the resistors are too short. They keep changing the design on these things…

  105. Yeah I still have the warning…

    It says right and left headlight though… Not any DRL is anything…

    I’m going to try and redo the little clips… The factory wiring sheaths are extremely pliable and I think those clips have trouble getting a good connection with the wire.

  106. Kyle – I’d recommend stripping the wire underneath the clips, I had to do that on mine before it got a good connection…you are spot on about the plastic covering of the OEM wires being pretty sturdy.

  107. Hey Nick,
    I bought the LEDs and the resistors and I thought I had put the resistor on correctly but I still got an error.
    Does it matter which wire connects to which (red to yellow, black to brown or red to brown, black to yellow). Or do you think I just need a better connection to the resistor?
    Thank you.

  108. Nick, I followed your instructions to a tee on my 2005.5 Blue B-7 S4. Really looks great, even the dealer wanted to know more. Working fine since installation mid June. Then oops, the left is out. Checked the resistor outside (in cool air) and yup, it’s hot. Haven’t gone any farther yet (no time), however have you or your followers ever have one of these LEDs burn out? I bought the same as you suggested through Amazon.

  109. In all likelihood, the bulb probably burnt out. These bulbs are all made in China and some are going to be better batches than others. I’d just buy another one and replace it, should do the trick. Haven’t heard too many people have issues with these so hopefully you just got unlucky. Glad to hear you enjoyed the mod otherwise!

  110. Hey nick, just installed some new fogs which was very easy thanks to your help. I have a 2008 A4 with the regular halogen bulbs i believe, the yellow ones? Its an s line. I wanted to just get some LED or xenon bulbs, the white light not the blue, but I’m not sure if they are compatible with my audi or which bulbs to use. any advice? Thanks!

  111. If you went HID/Xenon, you’d need xenon ballasts too so look for an “HID kit” that works for H7 bulbs. I wouldn’t really recommend doing this though if your car came with halogens originally, as your headlight housings don’t have a projector lense to focus the bulb and therefore the HID/xenons will be aimed really high and blind oncoming traffic. I’d find some H7 bulbs that are bluish colored that achieve the same effect like Philips Silverstars. Check out eBay 🙂

  112. Do not put these on or near the housing…. Melted right through a section or my housing 🙁

  113. Thanks for this. BUT…I am getting fogging since you let the wires hang out. Will need to figure out another way. Caps are easy enough to replace (if ever) prolly will put a couple of wire holes and silicon it.

  117. Is it bad to run without resistors? Will the light melt the housing? The resistor broke.. The rubber coming off the orange piece melted off and won’t stay in place, so I ordered a new one. Other than that going wrong great DIY looks so good.

  118. @Alex – its not a problem at all, it will just throw a “bulb out” error in the dash since the resistor isn’t in place. You can definitely go this way as long as you want, it just gets annoying after a while 😉

  119. Hope you can help. I changed my DRL to LED with resistors, however error light for Left side still stays on and bulbs work. However i took resistors out now and put OEM bulbs and error still stays on and bulbs do work. can’t get error to leave.

  121. Nick, if you get the Quattro Quarterly check the new issue. My article on “The S4 and the Ocicat” mentions my S4 mods via your instructions. Your web is also published with my article.

  122. No way!! That’s awesome…my membership and subscription lapsed, I’ll have to find someone who has this. Thanks for the shout-out, Everett!

  123. Hi Nick, I just had a quick question regarding to this DIY. If I was looking for a more permanent solution, and to also eliminate any possibility of a bad connection happening couldn’t I just solder the resisters to the wires instead of using resistor clamps? Sorry if it’s a stupid question I just wanted to double check before I did anything I would regret.

  125. If we found an Error Free Led bulb in this size would it work without the addition of the resistor?

  126. 50/50 shot – error-free just means there is a resistor built in, so it just depends if the right size/ohm/wattage resistor is built-in or not. It’s hard to tell until you try it. I ran “error free” LEDs for my license plate bulbs and they worked fine for me, but not for others, so it’s hard to predict…

  127. Hi,i would like to ask,do you had any problem with daylight running led,which ones you built? Or it works fine,since you installed?

  129. Hi Nick I have a 2011 audi a4 2.0 se tdi and I bought 4 led headlight bulbs and some led sidelight bulbs but my car says that my led headlights are blown when they work how do I sort this or will I have to change bulbs to hids?? Thanks

  130. I haven’t heard of anyone using LEDs as the main headlight bulb, but since they work and just get a “bulb out” error that means you’ll need a resistor to increase the load the LEDs are pulling. I’m not sure what size resistor, but maybe buy a few resistors and try them out.

  131. Pingback: 2007 Audi A4 LED DRL Conversion | Right Angles

  132. Hey Nick, just wondering you ever got around to installing the LED city lights? Those tiny bulbs next to the DRLs. I am about to get this done and want to do the whole job in one go

  134. Sorry for this dumb question, but how do you know the difference between a xenon headlamp and halogen headlamps? I have a 2008 Audi A4 quattro s-line

  136. So not only am I getting the right beam headlight warning still but also I’m getting a draw of about .82 amps off my battery when the car is off. Have you experienced this within any of the LED installs w/resistors? It’s killing me!

  137. Matt – I haven’t had that problem. Are you sure you tapped the right wires? the DRLs will automatically turn on/off with the car, so it shouldn’t be drawing any amps when off. I’d start with double checking all of your connections and working back from there…

  138. Hey Nick – Any chance you have a secret for getting the engine bay fuse box open? There is at least one T30 bolt under the wiper that is pretty much impossible to get to (already lost 1 bit trying to put it in with needle nose pliers). Was going to try and monitor the amp draw when removing the fuses. Next option is letting the car sit for a while with the negative cable off then reconnect and see if one or more are getting hot. I didn’t have this issue before any of the DIYs so obviously I’m thinking it has to be something I did. I’m 99% sure I tapped the right wires and agree if the lights are off they should be off but the resistors aren’t inline technically so can complete the circuit even with the car off.

  139. I couldn’t ever figure it out either, I just kind of broke it in a corner so I could lift up far enough to sneak things through there on my A4 when I did my boost gauge. If you revert back to your old bulbs does this problem still exist? Might be a good place to start.

  140. Nick, was wondering if you could tell me the correct gauge of wire to use for the resistor? Just bought my resistors with no wiring on them yet so I can mount them and plan accordingly with the right amount of wire. Thanks

  142. Hey Nick big fan of your blog couple of questions is there a section where you can view all your post titles and links ?

    And when buying xenons oem and doing vag com programming ….. Do the DRL options mean the lights within the housing of the headlight or not or are these classed as ‘sidelights’ and I should program as xenons without sidelights

    Thanks

    -David

  144. Hi Nick,
    Very useful blog and post. I wanted to ask you, I have a 2014 E550 and need to get rid of the DRL as the car does not allow me to dim the headlights at night. Because I drive through various security check points, they require you to dim the headlights at night which this car doesn’t allow you to do (Canadian spec). The local dealership here says its impossible to do, so now I am wondering for other creative ways to fix this issue. Your help would be much appreciated.

    Kind Regards.

    Rk

  145. Hi RK – I have no idea on an E550, you might want to check some Mercedes forums and see if they have a similar option. Your other (more drastic) alternative is to simply just remove the bulb, but that might trigger some kind of “bulb out” warning that might get annoying over time.

  147. What is the reason you redid the resistors to 25w 150hm when you added the LED city lights?? Did you hook both City and DRL lights to these resistors?

  148. No, they are seperate resistors. The reason I redid them was to use something with lower watts (25W rather than 50W) so they burned a little less hot.

  150. Hi Phil – I have my doubts on if they’re really error free, but if you feel up to it then give it a shot and report back here and let me know how it goes! They seem like they’ll be compatible anyway, just a question on if they need resistors and if so what wattage/ohms.

  151. Hey Nick! Big fan of your blog, I’ve used it to do my RS6 grille rework. I also have a question, the link for the DRL’s is missing. Can you please point me in the direction of the bulbs that you purchased? Thanks!

  153. Nick,

    I used Safari on iOS and on macOS. I didn’t try any other browser (I should have) but that link worked for me! I appreciate it.

  154. Strange, I can’t replicate it in Safari…it’s an Amazon link module that uses JS, I wonder if you have an adblocker or plugin that is blocking the script perhaps. Thanks for letting me know either way 🙂

  155. Nick,

    If I follow what you did above on my 2007 Audi A4 Quattro 3.2 Ltr changing to LED’s it will eliminate any error codes? Also do you have a better photo of the resistor being wired to the brown and yellow wires?

  157. Thanks Nick. Everything worked perfect with no error codes. Do I follow pretty much the same steps if going to LED Fog Lights using the resisters? I had some Led Fog lights with the plug in resistors (Not Hardwired) and I still had the Error code come up.. Any thoughts on that?

  158. I’ve never tried LED fog lights before so I can’t speak from personal experience, but wiring them should be just the same. My guess is the in-line resistors that came with the kit aren’t quite strong enough, so you can either add a low wattage/ohm resistor or you could take the built-in resistor out of the circut and just use the aftermarket ones.

  159. I have the auto leveling and cornering HID’s on my A4, and honestly don’t think very much of the headlight quality. Get in an S2000 or a TSX and you have great visibility, but my newer car has worse lights. I wish there was an easy way to swap in TSX projectors or something.

  161. Hey Nick,
    Love the blog. I am about to take my bumber off and do the CC mod and replace my headlights and DRL ect.
    it looks like the link to the bulb you used is dead. I was able to find these led bulbs though.
    do you think these would work fine just as plug and play? with no additional wiring?
    https://www.amazon.com/SYLVANIA-1156-White-Contains-Bulbs/dp/B01A77UHG2/ref=sr_1_5?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1518202132&sr=1-5&keywords=1156%2Bled%2BDRL%2Bbulbs&th=1

  162. Those would work, but I don’t like that there are no LEDs on the front part of the “bulb” so nothing projecting light outward, which is the most important part. I like these better, and updated the post to link to them: http://amzn.to/2C8sT49

    In terms of plug and play, Audi/VW are particularly sensitive, so even “error free” bulbs tend to throw errors most if not all of the time. I wouldn’t count on it, and taking the bumper off is a big enough PITA that I’d recommend at least buying the resistors so that if they throw an error, you can put them on before reinstalling everything.

  164. Hi Christopher – I really wouldn’t recommend changing your OEM xenons to LEDs in this case. You’d have to remove the ballast wiring, redo the car’s coding to think it has halogens (otherwise you’ll get error codes for lack of HID Ballast signal), and even then I’m not sure it would work. What is your goal for changing from xenon to LED? If it is simply looks, I’d recommend getting new xenon bulbs that are a bluer color, something in the 6000k-7000k range should do the trick.

  165. Sry for the confusion. I’m talking in regards to changing my DRL, Back up lights and city lights to LED’s. Not my main headlights which are already the upgraded adaptive xenon HID sport/premium package option. Thnx

  166. Hey Nick. One of the HID’s burnt out and while I was checking out the light I accidentally pulled out a wire from my resistor in my DRL’s. I bought the car a few years back so I never did the wiring myself but was wondering if you think i need to buy a whole new resistor with the wires already attached like it was or if there was any way to reattach the wire back inside the current resistor?

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