UPDATE****
See newest Dynamic Style Euro Tail Light installation starting on Post #49 of this thread:
***
Haven't seen any others post with completed swaps in NA and I had worked with forum member ZERO815 in creating his first harness for the Tiguan. He has done extensive work on the MQB Golf platform (sweeping turn signal tail lights on the GTI and R, for example). See image below of his Harness.
All images are with running lights on. For videos search youtube until I upload something as there are a lot uploaded already.
Brakes:
Reverse Light:
Turn Signal:
Rear Fog light (drivers side only):
So the good news is its relatively simple and near identical to the method of the mk7 Golf's. Please reach out to forum member ZERO815 if interested in help with coding and a harness that is needed for the swap. You will want to locate your own tail lights (and switch if wanting rear fog functionality) as well, which can be bought from a number of European sources.
Tail Lights Parts:
5NA945207C - Left Outer
5NA945208C - Right Outer
5NA945307D - Left Inner
5NA945308D - Right Inner
Switch (only necessary if utilizing rear fog lights):
5G0941431BD - AUTO Switch with front and rear fog options
Harness:
Contact ZERO815 for details.
Coding:
Again, contact ZERO815. Coding will be provided with the harness.
HOW TO:
ZERO815 provides very good documentation for the mk7 Golf swap that is 90% relevant to the Tiguan. The main challenge is removing rear hatch trim, C pillar trim and roof liner. Then you need to run the harness between lights (inner and outer) following existing wiring looms and zip tie it together. You'll need time and patience as taking some of the panels require some care and tools. ZERO815 cable is better than any other I've used, and its as easy as plugging things in like a piggy back wiring system. No requirements to insert new pins into harnesses, etc. And I've helped perfect the lengths of the harness as well so everything is clean and tidy.
I'll save the main instructions to be shared when you acquire your harness but here are some points and images (click on the images for larger pictures):
Removing Lights:
The inner are easy if you remove the rear hatch card first (see below), or if you pop out the access doors you can remove the two 8mm nuts holding them in, unplug the harness and they pop right out. The outer are also easy. If you look under the C pillar opening at the bottom of your trunk you'll see a vented grill. This pops out with a flat head screwdriver on both sides giving you access to the big white wing nut like quick release. Righty-Tighty, Lefty-Loosey. Unscrew it, it only turns maybe 180 or 360 degrees and stays there but just pulls the light in. Then unclip the harness (pull the red tab up first then push in the release clasp that exposes and then pull out the harness). Then the light should come straight out.
Rear Hatch Card:
3 x T20 screws need to be removed from the rear hatch card.
Follow instructions in removing the rear hatch pieces but most of them all just pull out and are held in place with metal spring clips. The hatch card is removed by the same forced edge pulling after removing those 3 T20 screws. Be careful before fully removing the hatch card as there are 2 wiring harnesses attached to it (the LED trunk light on the left, and the power tail gate buttons on the right).
Headliner:
The headliner can be pulled down after pulling back the rubber seal and using a trim tool to edge it out, once out there are 3 metal spring clips holding the headliner to the roof.
C Pillar:
The C pillar trim is a little tougher. First remove the T30 screws holding the rear folding seat releases on either side (just pull the handles all the way back and you can reach them no problem). There is also a 3rd T30 holding the grocery bag clip on the passenger side.
The C Pillar trim is on there tight and needs to be pried out now. Best to pull back all the rubber trim just like the headliner, and use a flashlight to see into the crack and find where to pull out for each clip. There is a chance these clips can fall off and down into the deep depths of the trim - you'll never see them again unless you take a lot of the trim apart and it isn't easy. I dropped two but had spares so didn't fish them out - no rattling yet either so they are staying wherever they are. They should mostly stay in place however.
Running Wires:
There is an outer tail light harness that runs from the outer tail lights up the c pillar that you will have to fish through to connect up with an inner tail light harness that goes from the rear hatch to the central Accordion style cable grommets between the door opening. Between the inner tail lights there is also a wire that ties everything together for both sides. End result for the hatch looks like the following:
For the C pillar run I used a little bit of felt tape to hold the cable closer to the rubber seal so as to stay away from getting pinched in the metal spring clips when putting it all together. Just ensure you make a clear path when you run yours.
Accordion Cable Grommet:
This is a real pain. They brake easy so be very careful. Check out videos on youtube for installing mk7 golf european tail lights (lots of them) for some tips but essentially if you remove and unclip the headliner as above you'll be able to access the bottom portion of the accordion grommet clips and undo them. I couldn't get the top undone as I did not want to break them. Its very hard to get a scewdriver in from the side to push in the clip (they are similar to how the interior light lenses are attached, with a push in tab on one side and a solid hook edge on the other). If they brake you are going to have water damage so be careful. Running the wiring harness through is a little tricky so use a wire fishing line tool or a really thick Ziptie like I did (see images) to help pull the harness through. Drivers side is tougher because there is more wiring running through it. Also, best to unclip the wiring harness block on the drivers side and detach the cables so that you can get in behind the door frame to run the wiring through the Grommet easier. This is where you will be connecting two harnesses together - one from the inner tail light, the other from the outer tail light.
Tips:
- The harness clips on the smaller thinner wire ends are hard to undue if you accidentally clip them together (there is a very tiny tab that you can pry under the side to release if you do. Inspect the cable clips before putting them together. The large clips for the actual tail lights are simple.
- Before putting all the trim pieces back together, do your coding and make sure everything works.
- Use Zip ties or even better, felt tape (you can buy rolls of the stuff on amazon) to avoid rattles. its good stuff to have on hand anyway.
- Don't over stretch the harness, they should fit just right with a little bit of slack following natural paths of already run cable looms, try different runs to shorten if needed.
- If you have Rear Scandinavian DRLs coded you may run into an issue with the new taillights like I did. ZERO815 helped me through it (he's in Germany and speaks German so yeah he knows what all the gibberish is in OBD11/VAGCOM). Was a simple fix, but feel free to reach out before hand if you want further details.
Thats it. Loving the new look, suits the Golf R exhaust and always thought the rear on the R-Line was a little lacking compared to the rest of the car. Really happy I did this.
Good luck and enjoy!
