VW Splitscreen LED Lighting Upgrade

There are now plenty of options available when it comes to upgrading your classic car or motorcycles lights to brighter LED versions.

We installed a set on this amazing VW Microbus Deluxe Samba and instantly noticed the improvement in brightness.

The customer had asked if there was anything we could do to improve the visibility of his Splitscreen bus when driving at night and could we improve the brightness of the aftermarket indicators that had been fitted. 

His 1957 21-window Samba had rolled out of the Wolfsburg factory with only semaphores, which were still working, so aftermarket indicators had been fitted to the bumpers in order to warn other motorists. The owner still felt, however, that they were not effective enough.

There are a lot of options on the market for LED bulbs nowadays, but it is important to be aware of a few points before purchasing.

• Prices vary and so does quality. Sometimes cheap is not best and the advertised life span of some bulbs may not be achievable.

• All headlights should have a beam pattern that meets UK requirements. There have been instances where the the beam pattern of some LED bulb upgrades have not been correct and failed MOT tests. In these cases, the headlight unit and bulb may have to be replaced together.

• The colour, or temperature range, of LED bulbs is important. We like to find bulbs that still fit with the period aesthetic of a classic vehicle. Some LED bulbs can be very white and harsh and do not match the colour of other bulbs, such as the side lights.

For this upgrade, we contacted Classic Car LEDs and discussed our requirements. They recommended a set of P45T headlight bulbs in warm white, and some suitable bright amber BA9S bulbs for the indicators.

The bulbs are a straight swap, but when changing indicator bulbs to LEDS, you also need to replace the flasher relay for a suitable electronic one, to compensate for the change in current. If you have a single indicator warning light that works when either left or right indicators are operating. 

You will also most likely need to change the indicator warning lamp to an LED bulb, and modify the wiring due to the way old cars and motorcycles used the left hand indicator circuit to ground the right hand side when operating, and vice versa.

Once the bulbs were fitted and the wiring had been modified accordingly, the difference was immediately noticeable and the customer left extremely happy.