Headlights Hella or TYC
I’ve used TYC many times and no issues to report.
I believe I have these on my S70 and they've lasted several years now with no visible clouding or any issues whatsoever. Good buy imo.
I scored a set of NOS Hella headlights and sold my crosshairs which I found out were aftermarket. The beam pattern is much better already, I ordered a set of Daniel Stern's H4 bulbs so I'll actually be able to see at night now.
OEM Volkswagen halogen headlights are your best bet -- at least these days. The ones VW actually equipped their Mk5's with from the factory have a VW logo on the shield in front of the low-beam bulb: He indicated there were several manufacturers that made those for VW as an OEM product. I'm most familiar with Hella, one of those brands, which of course is a world-class brand. Hella has also offered headlights on the aftermarket, that are identical to the ones they manufactured for VW, and tend to be somewaht cheaper. The only subtle difference is that those have a crosshatch pattern in the shield instead of the VW logo:
I can also confirm the Hella headlights are the same quality as oe
I think I got TYC housings from rock auto for about $300. No issues with aiming them and the cut off was much more clear than my faded oem lights. They came with bulbs but the headlights were really dim so I replaced them. At first had some moisture problems but that went away. Think they have capa certification also.
I just replaced mine with the TYC ones from rockauto.
The quality of the injection molding on the backs is obviously a little different from the originals, but the optics are at least good. Overall I'm pretty happy with them
Hella offers headlights that function the same as OE but without the BMW stamp and perhaps slightly less bright.
Do yourself a favor and don't change original Hella headlights for aftermarket crap. The beam pattern will suck, you won't see a thing and they do a poor job of copying the look of the originals so all look like balls.
Don't get TYC. My beam pattern is poor, and I had cast metal parts inside the headlights get soft and bend from the heat.
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