Rating: Very pricey but very cool looking and a vast improvement over stock!

Car: 1997 GTI VR6

Colors Available: clear & "Black-Out" (Black-Out's use a plastic 'target' in the headlight lens that allows light to pass directly through, but the black color of the target reflects off of the chrome surfaces inside the headlight and makes them appear black.)

Cost: Go to Virtual World Parts for the latest pricing. If your car is not black, you may also want to get the shrouds painted which will add to the cost.

Required Tools: Phillips & flathead screwdriver, wire cutters, electrical tape, metric socket set

Time: Less than an hour.

Installation:

Since the headlights come with complete instructions, I'm not going to repeat them... I will only offer suggestions. Installing the headlights was very easy thanks to Mike Potter's fit-kit (Mike owns Virtual World Parts.) All the brackets lined-up nicely and the wiring harnesses were a breeze to use. The most difficulty I had was trying to wire the city driving lights (a small bulb in the high beam that goes on with the low beams.) My car was on a hoist, so I tapped into the corner marker wires from beneath the car rather than on top. Getting the headlights to fit nicely was also somewhat difficult since each light has four mounting brackets... all of which can move. I bolted the lights in and then slowly lowered my hood to check for an even gap around the lights, and I made sure that one light wasn't sticking out further than the other (this required some bending of the brackets.) The final difficulty I had was aiming the lights! What a pain-in-the-butt! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND AIMING THE LIGHTS BEFORE THE GRILL IS REINSTALLED. You can access the aiming screws from the front of the lights, but it is almost impossible to get at them from the rear once installed since there is no room for a tool or your hand (at least on a VR6.)

Aiming Instructions:

1. First, fill gas tank, equalize tire pressure, park vehicle on a flat, level surface 25 ft from a wall.
2. Mark a vertical line (A) on wall at the center of your vehicle.
3. Mark a horizontal line (B) on wall at the same height as the center of your lamps.
4. Mark vertical lines (C1 & C2) at the center of your lamps.
5. Mark a horizontal line (D) three inches below the line B.

Low Beams: The correct visual aim for low beams is with the top edge of teh beam at horizontal D. The point at which the cutoff begins to rise to the right should be located straight ahead of the lamp at the intersection of D and C.

High Beams: The correct visual aim for high beams is with the center of the high intensity zone at horizontal B, straight ahead of the lamp as indicatd by circles at C1 and C2. Cover adjacent headlights when aiming four lamp system.

Impressions:

The first time I saw dual-round headlights I thought, "Damn! I need those!" Then I saw the price and I found out that they are made for the German Golf A3's and that they don't fit our cars without hours of modifications. I was also told by New Dimensions that I would need a high power wiring harness, which is not true. I then opted for Kamei headlight masks. Soon after, I saw Mike Potter's Website (www.parts4vws.com) which not only had a decent price for the lights, he claimed his lights installed in as little as 20 minutes! It takes a little longer than that, but his fit-kit is great and the install was relatively easy, not to mention I didn't bastardize my car so I could put the stock lights back in with out any problems!

The first thing I noticed (aside from the killer look of the new lights) is that they are really bright and have a very sharp cut-off point. Imaging your factory fog-lights being four times larger! The low-beams are so bright that I don't use the high-beams and I can't use the lows with the fogs or else I seem to blind other drivers (yes, I have them aimed correctly.) The high-beams are 'pencil beams' which focus the light way ahead of your car just as driving lights do. There are several other brands of dual-round headlights on the market (ABT, Votex, Projekt Zwo) and I personally prefer the look of the Hella's, not to mention that Hella is the only brand that uses a projector beam headlight (like your foglights) and they are the only company that specializes in making lights for almost every automobile manufacturer in the world!

Yes, the Hella's are expensive, but they are more than just a cosmetic modification in my opinion (contrary to what I originally thought.) If you can afford to spend $500 just for headlights, I can tell you I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

Todd Taylor
'97 GTI VR6