Light ’Em Up

We’ll begin our safety...        read full caption We’ll begin our safety upgrade on the passenger side. To get at the inner workings of the mirror, you must remove the door panel. Start by removing the screws that hold the panel in place. They are located at the bottom of the panel behind the handle trim. The handle trim is easily popped off with a small flathead screwdriver.

Once all the screws have been...        read full caption Once all the screws have been removed and the wire harnesses disconnected, you can remove the door panel. It is still held in place by the window gasket at the top, so it will take a little effort to remove it. Make sure that the door lock is out of the way when pulling the panel free from the door.

Remove the plastic piece that...        read full caption Remove the plastic piece that covers the front portion of the mirror mount. There is also a plastic corner trim piece that covers the factory wire harness leading from the mirror down into the door that will need to be moved. This piece has two hidden screws that hold it in place on one side and tabs on the opposite end. It can be moved sufficiently by simply prying the tabs from their slots.

Remove the three hex bolts...        read full caption Remove the three hex bolts that hold the housing to its door mount. The housing is still connected to the car by its wiring, so carefully pull the mirror from its mount.

Put on gloves to remove the...        read full caption Put on gloves to remove the mirror from its housing. Press down on the inboard side to pivot the glass on the outboard side up. Stick your fingers behind the mirror, and pry it until it snaps from the motor mount. Disconnect the heater wires from the back of the mirror, and pull the mirror from its housing.

Since we are working on the...        read full caption Since we are working on the passenger side, we will need to use the longer of the two included male wire harnesses and wiring. Pass the wire through the housing, leaving about six inches in the housing.

Replace the mirror with the...        read full caption Replace the mirror with the new signal mirror. Connect the heater wires to the back of the Muth mirror. Connect the female end of the wire harness on the mirror to the male end of the harness.

Firmly push the mirror until...        read full caption Firmly push the mirror until it snaps into place.

The wiring must be run through...        read full caption The wiring must be run through the mount and into the door. The mirror and its housing are reconnected to the mount. The wiring is then run through the rubber boot that houses the other wiring, which must pass through the door to the chassis.

The wiring from the passenger...        read full caption The wiring from the passenger side is then passed under the dashboard to the driver’s side footwell.

The wire harnesses that were...        read full caption The wire harnesses that were disconnected from the door panel are reconnected, and the door panel is put back in place. Be careful to correctly position the door pin in its hole on the door so as to avoid damage to the pin, or the lock mechanism.

After repeating the mirror...        read full caption After repeating the mirror replacement process on the driver’s side, pull the driver’s side plastic doorsill out of the vehicle, exposing the wiring.

You will have to tap into...        read full caption You will have to tap into the black wire with the green stripe and the black wire with the white stripe. The green-striped wire is for the passenger side, while the white-striped wire is for the driver’s side signal. Test each wire for current independently. When it is confirmed that they are the correct wires, splice into them. Reinstall the plastic doorsill, and go play with your red chevrons.

VW recommends that any bulb...        read full caption VW recommends that any bulb replacement be done by a servicing dealership. However, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to replace a Beetle’s headlight bulbs. First, locate the headlight latches, and lift them all the way up.

The entire headlight unit...        read full caption The entire headlight unit is pulled from the vehicle, and the wire harness is disconnected.

The back panel must be taken...        read full caption The back panel must be taken off to access the bulbs. Remove the small screw that holds the panel in place.

Remove the old bulb from the...        read full caption Remove the old bulb from the socket. Connect the wire to the new bulb, and put the bulb in the headlight, making sure that you do not touch the glass of the bulb. The driving/fog lights only require that the bulbs be pulled out from behind the front bumper and that the new bulbs be put in. Voila. Well-lit, safer driving may now begin.

Despite popular belief, being enclosed in a metal box does not preclude you from injury, especially if your box is hit by another multi-ton metal box. Judging by the way some people drive, quite a few drivers seem to think that the metal box they are encased in will protect them from anything (Especially those driving 3-ton SUVs.—MAX). Those SUV drivers may be able to survive an impact with your Euro, but what about you and your car? Rising gas prices and high insurance costs make things hard enough for today’s road-going youth. Now it seems painfully obvious that a high percentage of drivers on the road just aren’t paying attention to what’s happening around them.

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA at www.nht sa.dot.org.—MAX) accident statistics, “approximately 42 percent of all crashes and 58 percent of fatal crashes occur at night, or during other degraded visibility conditions. These 2.8 million annual police-reported crashes, including 23,000 fatal crashes, represent crashes in which reduced visibility may have been a contributing factor.” Being the champions of car modification that we are, we sought out some mods that would make it easier for people to see you, and for you to see others, without having to raise your car by three feet and adding flood lights. Muth Mirror Systems manufactures replacement mirrors with LED chevron assemblies that give people a better chance of seeing you. Because they are on the side mirrors, people are more likely to see your turn signals, as the mirrors not only protrude from your vehicle, but they also sit at eye-level for most drivers. Installation is quite easy, as long as you’re willing to take apart some of your interior and splice into the wiring.

Catz manufactures its Galaxy White bulbs for pretty much any application that you can dream of. We grabbed two pairs of H1-sized bulbs to replace the low beams and the driving/fog lights of our test Beetle. Considering that in the owner’s manual VW recommends taking your vehicle to your dealership to have the bulbs changed, we figured it might be worth showing you how it’s done, along with the mirror install. So, in the immortal words of Monty Python, “Have fun storming the castle.”