Hi all,
I'm sure some of you are aware of the Hella dark red (Edition 30 / R32 style) tail lights which are available on ebay. If not, these are the items in question:
LHD VW Golf MK5 5 Hella Edition 30 Dark Red Smoke Tail Lights Rear Lamp GTI R32 from goingfast_info
OR
LHD VW Golf MK5 5 Hella Edition 30 Dark Red Smoke Tail Lights Rear Lamp GTI R32 from car-style-discountAs these lights come from Germany they are obviously configured for LHD cars with the red fog lamp on the left and the clear reversing light on the right and as such must be swapped over to be legal in the UK. This can be done (I presume) by simply swapping the red and clear lenses with those from some standard UK spec lights or, if you don't have any spare and/or want to preserve your old lights in RHD configuration, by swapping the two lenses over from left to right and vice versa in the Hella lamps.
The latter is the option I chose, partly because I didn't think of trying my original parts before doing it and partly because I expected it to be much simpler than it actually was. This added trickiness is what has led me to create this topic to possibly help out anyone else who comes to do the same thing.
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Step 1: Buy the lights
Step 2: Remove the bulb holdersThis is very easy and requires the removal of three screws from each lamp, the silver bulb holder then lifts straight off to reveal the red and clear lenses which we will be swapping.
Step 3: Remove the lensesEach lens is held in place by three clips but they are surprisingly tight and I felt at risk of snapping them as well as struggling to keep each clip released while working on the other two.
In the end I found that getting a sturdy flat blade in behind one clip as shown allows you to flex it out while simultaneously pushing upwards to prevent it from simply snapping back into place.
Step 4: Modification of the lensesThis is the point where you realise the straight swap doesn't work as the lenses are asymmetrical and do not fit in the opposing side lamp housing. As you can see, the clips do not fully line up and some areas of the collar on the lens foul with the lamp housing.
Using a sharp knife and a small coping saw, I initially removed a small section of the collar and part of one of the clips to allow the lens to fit into the housing and hopefully align all the clips properly.
You can see my cuts here, I removed the material to the right of each cut / saw.
TIP: Don't leave the open housing lying around when trimming the lens so as to avoid getting trimmings inside the light.
This allowed that one clip to line up perfectly but I still found that the others were not quite in line, albeit by a much smaller amount, so I ended up doing the same to each of the three clips.
With sufficient trimming, all clips were now able to line up correctly but unfortunately the lenses do not appear to be perfectly circular. Again, their asymmetric shape proves problematic as the large retaining collar fouled on the wall of the housing to the extent that the lens cannot be fully inserted without being distorted out of shape.
I therefore sanded the collar down until it was able to clear the tapered housing wall and fit into the aperture. TIP: Really don't leave the open housing lying around when sanding the lens!.
This may take some time before it feels like you're actually making a difference but eventually it will fit. I also trimmed a small amount off the top of the clip wedge so that it was able to engage sooner and not need pushing down as hard.
Step 5: Refit the lensesYou should eventually be left with a fairly tight fitting lens and lots of shards of plastic all over your table and carpet.
Step 6: Refit the bulb holdersAs easy as the removal, three screws. Now admire your work.
Step 7: Stop admiring your work and get them on the car!
