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EU Conversion

9K views 45 replies 14 participants last post by  DadillacATS 
#1 ·
Hello!

I live in EU and I know I can buy ATS EU version here.
But I have opportunity to get one from Canada for a better price.
So here is few questions that some of you may help with.

1. There is no HID so no problem with washers but can I adjust the lights 1.3% as required in EU or would I need to swap the headlights?
2. Rear turning signal. They looks red (even EU version) but must emit orange light. How this looks like in US/CA version?
3. Rear fog light? How much effort to enable it?
4. What else should be change or re-program?

Appreciate your help !
 
#2 ·
I have no idea about prices between countries. My knowledge is the USA ATS.

The China ATS is known as ATS-L, which is longer than the USA model, I think 5" longer. I don't know length the EU version is.

ATS has 4 trim levels: Base, Luxury, Performance, Premium.
In 2017, Perf became Prem Lux and Premium became Premium Perf.
My point is for you to verify what is on the cars you compare. The higher price ATS might have nicer equipment, not
counting lower miles or better condition. Even the 2nd Trim Luxury has better adjusting leather seats and may have heated seats,
Nav and better stereo. You can compare trims on the Cadillac website.

I am sure you can adjust the headlights. Guys in the forum talk about adjusting mis-aimed headlights.

The rear lights look read, but the turn signals look orange when blinking.

By rear fog light, if you mean the reverse light, I don't know how you would enable it. Never heard of doing that.

Maybe someone else is involved with knowing the differences per country. I am just an ATS owner.
 
#3 ·
I'm not sure how much work it will be, but it would probably be a lot. The North American ATSes tend to be specific for this market, so no extra wires. You would most likely need those for the headlight height adjustments and for the rear fog light (typically, the super bright red dot in one or both brake light housings). Also, I've never seen an ATS tail light with amber signals which are very much required outside of North America. I'm not sure how Cadillac does it in Europe and China, honestly.

That said, anything can be done. My parents brought their US spec Nissan Juke to Portugal and had all the same conversions done that you listed in about a week or two. I have no idea what they paid and I don't know how elegant the conversion was, but I do know they ended up saving thousands of dollars doing it that way.
 
#4 ·
So the only problem I see now is just the fog light...
EU version has all red housing but blinking orange. Same thing said artscadillac.
I hoping the tail lights are the same and GM install EU stalk (for rear fog light) + some software updates...
If so the conversion is not a big deal.
The car I'm interesting to buy has halogen headlights and no washers installed and this is fully legal in EU.
Model equipped with HID does need to have a washers in EU, US version does not have them ... (why?)
 
#7 ·
I suspect the primary reason for washers with HID is they don't throw enough heat to the front of the headlights to melt snow/ice unlike the various incandescent illumination sources.

If the hardware/software isn't there to activate the rear fog lights you should be able to add an auxiliary control switch under dash if that will meet EU requirements. Running a control wire through the ATS isn't difficult but trying to retrofit a stalk and software for EU spec could be.

My 2002 Olds Aurora had rear fog lights and I miss them. In addition to making the car far more visible from behind in the snow/fog/rain they were also bright enough that if anyone was tailgating you at night turning them on caused the following driver to quickly fall back. Just make sure that whatever changes you make actually comply with the EU regulations; it is sort of like building codes where it is easy to run afoul of the fine print and makes it easy to waste a lot of money on a seemingly workable solution that won't pass inspection if you don't understand all of the sub-points and "gotchas" of the regs.
 
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#15 ·
Right ....
I was wandering where the fog light is embedded to and I was 90% sure they embedded it to tail lights ...
This answer was very important to me for further researching :) Thanks!

Conversion still looks possible to me without to much effort ...

I will come back to this thread as soon as I get more details :)
 
#16 ·
TPMS use different frequency as well home link.
But I heard this can be easily reprogrammed. Once reprogrammed to EU version TPMS error will light on. So would need new TPMS sensors or keep US without home link :)
Also for EU light would need new wiring and reprogram. Not a big deal but additional work to do.
Alternatively I found aftermarket tail lights that should fit without additional wiring..
https://www.ebay.com/itm/13-18-Cadi...h=item2aa57822d4:g:654AAOSw9INaxsr6:rk:3:pf:0
I'm waiting confirmation from the seller.
For park light I found simple solution: dual color led bulb :)
The car it's on the way, once arrived I will describe step-by-step conversion procedure.
 
#17 ·
Guys...
I need your confirmation.
Is there version with amber turning signal on US market?
By watching YT movies I saw all blinking amber but friend of mine made a video and it looks red...looks orange when you are very close to it.
I'm so confused now...
Can some of you could post an image/video of your tail lights in action please?
 
#22 · (Edited)
Guys, how about China market? Is US taillight are same for US and China?
Red flashing or yellow? How many pins in the socket? Anyone knows that?
This could be a key information for my conversion process :)

I saw many taillight on AliX whitch yellow/orange signals.
I wander if they will fit US. Seller says plug & play.

I purchased this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/13-18-Cadi...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

It comes with 4-to-6 pins cable. But unfortunately does not works... flashing red instead yellow and do hyper flashing ...
There is one member on this forum who had the same problem with the same tail light (same seller).
So i wandering whether it was a bad taillights or something extra must be done like programming...
The seller ensured me they made for US models and simple plug&play procedure.

I slowly loosing my patience ...
 
#23 ·
Have you considered replacing the turn signal lamps with the highest brightness yellow LED's you can find? Yellow mixed with red will provide an orange/amber output so a high brightness LED combined with the red lens color may be sufficient to provide the orange/amber color that you need. I don't know if the color shifted illumination will be sufficient but it is a fairly cheap solution you can try quickly, as an alternative an ultra-bright white LED with a yellow color shift filter might also work.

It would be a simple matter if the ATS tail light assembly was like that of my Z06 which uses a clear housing and the LED emission wavelength is chosen to provide the required color making it easy to meet the requirements for export.
 

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#25 ·
The Rearfog light (Ausrian Law) is only allowed on the left side (Driver) and in the middle.
The Rear Foglight on my OEM European ATS is in the middle inside the Case from the reverse light.The Housing is White, the light red.

If you want a picture, I take on
 
#29 · (Edited)
Whoa that is cool...I kinda want to try and get hold of this housing now and swap it in haha. Looks like it is the same overall physical housing as USDM in terms of how it fits in the diffuser, just a question of how to wire it up. There must be a 3rd reflector bucket/bulb socket in the middle. Got any pics of the back of the reverse light/rear fog housing? Can you see a part number?

EDIT: Ebay/internet searches yielded no results. This could be harder than I thought.
 
#28 ·
""Have you considered replacing the turn signal lamps with the highest brightness yellow LED's you can find? Yellow mixed with red will provide an orange/amber output so a high brightness LED combined with the red lens color may be sufficient to provide the orange/amber color that you need. I don't know if the color shifted illumination will be sufficient but it is a fairly cheap solution you can try quickly, as an alternative an ultra-bright white LED with a yellow color shift filter might also work.

It would be a simple matter if the ATS tail light assembly was like that of my Z06 which uses a clear housing and the LED emission wavelength is chosen to provide the required color making it easy to meet the requirements for export.""

Light assemblies are sealed units--not individual bulbs
 
#32 ·
At daytime I can looking for more information
Had any time to get more photos of your reverse light/rear fog housing or look for a part number on it? I am scouring the internet looking for one of these and have come up with nothing lol. Are there wrecking yards in Europe? Anyone know where I can find salvage parts for a European ATS?
 
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