Any good 5008/R10W LED bulbs? I know, I know...

[N8N]

I'm going to try the Sylvania Zevos in the brake lights of my Mk4 GTI, probably should have done that immediately on receipt as I now have Golf taillights as the original, now unobtanium GTI taillights were destroyed when I was rear ended... I figure that quicker rise time can't hurt. Hopefully they work in these lights, I don't want to be disappointed.

Question though: are there any good 5008/R10W bulbs available? Red in color? I wouldn't mind using LEDs for the taillights as well, as since I can't get original US GTI taillights I have a pair of smoked Euro tails coming from Ukraine and I figure they'll last longer if I keep the heat out of them. I'm also going to be adding the rear fog light while I'm at it (which is another P21W so no problem) Eventually I may do LEDs for turn signals and reverse but I'm starting with the important ones first.

I know this is a contentious subject, I'm really only interested in solutions that have no drawbacks compared to incandescent. I know the Zevos are considered "possibly acceptable but check before use" but I don't see any 5008s in that line.

Thanks!

 

[N8N]

I got my care package from Ukraine last night, and I can see that the reflector on both taillights is both a little warped and split over the R10W taillight bulb, so I really would like to get an LED for this position to prevent farther damage. I don't have the original taillights for the car to look at because they were destroyed in a rear end collision back in April, so I can't say if those experienced similar damage or not. I don't know the history of the taillights that are on the car now other than they appear to be used taillights from a Mk4 Golf (amber turn signal rather than clear/very lightly smoked as original)

Anyway, any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Unrelated: the aspherical side mirrors are the shiznit for driving on the highway. Yet another Euro thing that is technically illegal here in the US but works better than our domestic market stuff.

 

[RHS-113]

Unfortunately I don't have any bulb recommendations but I want to ask, did you ever consider a pair of Hella magic colour taillights? There's a pair for sale here and here, and some smoked ones here, along with somebody selling some green ones here. ECS tuning also claims to have OEM euro MK4 taillights too, that ship out next year.

 

[N8N]

The ones I got look very much like the ECS ones you link, although the smoking isn't as dark. And they were much more economical. I've found that when I want Euro-market goodies for one of my cars, it often pays to get on the 'bay, find a seller in eastern Europe (I've bought from both Poland and Ukraine) who has some/most of what I want and just send a message with a wish list. Sure it takes a month or so and there's no warranty, but I have saved a lot of money that way.

my taillights:

Correct taillights for a US market GTI:

My car is silver so the original taillights looked great but apparently those are hard to find so I had to do something else.

 

[N8N]

Mine doesn't look this nice, but apparently those were used on Euro GTIs so you get the idea.

This Mk4 Golf GTI is for sale with EIGHT miles on the clock

Yep, that’s just eight miles. Anyone fancy a brand-new 25th Anniversary GTI?

www.topgear.com

 

[N8N]

Follow up: would these be any good?

#89 67 97 98 1155 LED Replacement | BA15S Base | 12V | Aero-Lites

Exact dimensional LED replacement for the 12-Volt AC/DC globe shaped single-contact bayonet base bulbs (Ba15s). Will fit all applications requiring a BA15S base style, but specifically used as a retrofit for applications requiring a low-profile bulb where a standard size bulb will not fit...

www.aero-lites.com

(89 appears to be the closest equivalent to a R10W)