Hi all, the wife really likes the white LED lights in our Macan, and since she drives the Cayenne everyday, she asked if the interior lights can be replaced.

I know some members mentioned various bulb types and some even went with BMW's LED kits, but I'm wondering if anyone had any experience with some of the kits sellers put together on eBay.

The kits on eBay range from $17-$80, and some from China and some from Germany. I know you get what you paid for, so I'm leaning toward the higher price ones, but I just want to make sure these aren't the same as the cheap ones just with crazy markups.

Thanks for any advice!

 

I went with these and have been very pleased with them:

http://www.bold-sport.com/store/inde...product_id=123

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...ml#post4590407

I believe the footwell lights (the ones up/under the dash and seats) use the same part as various VW/Audi models. Mine already had those in LED so I didn't have to change them.

 

I did the conversion just a few days back.

On my Cayenne 2011, I had to change the following interior bulbs to LEDs :

1. trunk lights (2 in the hatch and on on the ceiling at the back of the car)
2. door curtesy lights
3. footwell lights
4. mirror puddle lights (still need to change those)

The reading lights and dome light were already LED on my car (which was kind of stupid - why the dome light and reading light are LEDs, when the trunk light which is also on the headliner, only further back is incandescent? - I guess only porsche knows the answer).

1. Trunk. There are 3 bulbs.

1.1 The one on the headliner is a 42mm festoon type LED. I bought one of these:




There are also types without the canbus feature - not sure if it is needed in this location (it prevents the burnt bulb error msg) - I got them just in case. Please also note that the OEM bulb is 43mm, not 41-42mm as the LEDs. It will fit a bit loose, so you have to gently sqeeze the two metal parts that hold the festoon before inserting the bulb. Please note that most LEDs will only work one way - if you insert one and it doesn't work, just flip it 180 degrees.

1.2 The two in the hatch are W5W type.

I bought two similar to those:




You need one that emits the light in all directions and is not too long.

2. Door curtesy lights use the same W5W omni directional LED as the hatch - you need 4 more to do the doors.

3. Footwell lights. Now these are a bit tricky. They use a side firing, FLAT LEDs (non flat will not fit!):




The problem with those is that even the ones with the least amount of LED chips, still have way too much light output, which make the car interior a bit rice looking to my taste (my Audi S5, which has the factory footwell LEDs, uses a low output, single chip LED in this location, so the lighting is much more subtle).

I bought some black heat shrink tubing and put it over the LED, cutting the small square hole to make single LED visible:



This way I have reduded the light output 4-fold. Now the light output is more or less similar to OE. Tip: you may need to sqeeze the metal parts that hold the bulb together before inserting the LED - otherwise the contact may be intermittent and the LED will not work at times.

There is vid on youtube which shows how to take off and open the foot well lights which I found very helpful:


4. Mirror puddle lights - still need to change those, but have problems with getting the color painted upper part of the mirror housing off. All I know is that you need W5W LED for this location as well.

BTW - if you happen to short one of the lights as I did with the festoon with the screwdriver - don't worry. They will come back the next time you open/close the car.

Hope this helps!

 

I decided to go OEM (just for the sake of it) and relaced the aftermarket footwell LED with the OEM ones (VW part number: 5G0947409):



I bought 5 (4 for footwells and 1 for glovebox) for $40 on ebay. Used but as new condition. Work the same as aftermarket ones I described in my post above (after I taped out 3 out of 4 LED elements), but are true 100% plug & play. Installing them took me 10 minuts max, 8 of which I've spent wriggling with the rears.

If anyone still has the regular bulbs, this is a MUST have mod:



Driver side - regular bulb, passenger side - OEM LED.

Best $40 I've spent on a car.