If I remember correctly, the 2001~2005 had a different nose and much nicer headlamps than the 1999~2000. A friend had a 1999 at one time, and I remember us getting a new nose and later year headlights for it.

If anyone has gone this route, I would appreciate some input.

 

yes. what do you need to know?

 

Looking for verification of my remember.

If going stock, I think it would be NOY1-50-030A for the bumper and NC72-51-OKOD and NC72-51-OLOD for the lights.....

The kid (Grandson) is looking at aftermarket nose and lights, and while the lights seem to call out the correct years, the aftermarket bumpers(wizdom) seem to all call out 99~05.

If my memory serves me correctly, the difference to accept the lights is in the bumper. Would the aftermarket bumpers need to be modified by the purchaser, and if so, is it difficult?

 

Yes, the 01-05 headlights are smaller so the 01-05 bumper has appropriately sized holes. All the fasteners are the same. I would expect any aftermarket bumper to need some massaging to fit but I don't know how difficult that would be.

The 99-00 use a single H4 bulb with dual filaments for low beam and high beam. The 01-05 has 9006 low beam and 9005 high beam. You'll need to make or purchase two dapters that are H4 male on one end and 9005 and 9006 female on the other. I made crappy ones that kept failing so I ended up buying a pair here: H4 to 9006 low and 9005 high beam | Innovative Wiring LLC. Very well made and they haven't given me any trouble.

With just the adapters you'll only be able to have high or low beams on at once. In order to get both beams on at the same time, get a relay to power the low beams off separate wiring. The headlights are ground switched. I installed an HID kit and the relay gave me low and high functionality.

 

this is illegal anyway.

 

Yes and no. On 01-05 cars the low beams and high beams are run simultaneously by default. In California, and I suspect many other states, it's legal to have at most 4 front lights on at the same time:
CA Codes (veh:24400-24411)
To accommodate this, the fogs will turn off in 01-05 cars if you put the high beams on. A modded 99-00 won't have this functionality, so if you don't manually turn off the foglights it becomes illegal to have the high beams on.

Of course, aftermarket HID kits are a different story.

 

In my experience, it also doesn't throw appreciably more light onto the road, at least with H4-style lights.

When you switched from low to high beam on my '92 Jetta, both filaments would stay on until you released the stalk. The difference between lows on and off was barely noticeable.

Maybe this is different when your highs and lows are separate bulbs, but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't.

 

I used either-low-or-high configuration for a while after putting in my 2001 headlights and it was pretty shitty. Would not recommend. The 01 high beams are great for illuminating the sides of the road but they don't put out light as far down range as the low beams do. So, in situations where I needed to put the highbeams on, like very dark backroads, I would gain visibility of the roadside and be better able to see approaching deer but I would have to drive slower to avoid outrunning the lights. Overall it was better than using the horrible 99-00 lights but not as much of an improvement as I wanted.

 

WOW, glad I asked. I had thought that the 2001~2005 headlights were larger.

Does this mean that aftermarket bumpers have smaller holes that would accommodate the 2001~2005 headlamps?

 

Here's a picture of an 01-05 headlamp assembly with a 99-00 bumper. Note the gap at the bottom and the overlap in the corner. So I guess the 01-05 lamps are shorter but wider



In theory, if the aftermarket bumper is labelled as for an 01-05 car then it should be sized appropriately. But proceed with caution and look at reviews. If the bumper says its for 99-05 cars, don't buy. I went with an OEM bumper because I couldn't find an aftermarket one with decent reviews for a good price.

 

Thanks!