Headlights ...

[Anonymous]

Ive been looking over old posts about replaceing bulbs ... and noticed some mentions of melted plastic bits ....

how many people have upgraded their bulbs ... if so what did you use ... and have you had any melty probs ?

[xdesign]

PIAA X-treme white. No melts no problems.

They were burned of course after a year and a half.

Now I put Philips Blue Vision. Nice but now as PIAA.

[Anonymous]

Cool ... i changed the bulbs on myold P-reg corolla, and i was impressed by the difference.

been playing Need for speed underground 2 and im hoping that changing the bulbs will quall me need to modifie my car ...!!   s:roll: :roll: s:roll:    s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

[Anonymous]

ichanged to vision plus thingies, no problems at all.  

iirc the platic melting thing was something to do with a euro convertor for the direction of the beam, for driving on the wrong side of the road.

[Anonymous]

oh ok cool .... so is there anything i should not get to play it safe ? or just take the hand book in and say .... "Brighter"  ... in my best cave man impression .... ?

[Anonymous]

well the ones i got the philips vision plus i think, have been fine, they're a lot brighter, plus you get a free pair of brighter, slighlty blue side lights.  I think in general the blue tinted ones are to be kept away from, because they give out less light.

 m http://www.powerbulbs.co.uk/ m

i beleive are doing the free sidelights. And Philips Vision Plus or Osram Silver Star are the things to go for.

Other than that, be prepared to fiddle around with your hand inside the bonnet for about an hour trying to get the damn things in.

[Anonymous]

Oh im well prepared to fiddle .... The Ones on my old Corolla were a nightmare ... the one on the left was a doddle ... but the one on the right meant removing an air filter ... and the battery to get in to the little rubber cover !!

[Anonymous]

i recently did the fogs on a 206cc, as far as i could see taking off the whole front spoiler was the only way to do it.  

In the end i forced my hand up there and discoverd it wasn't the bulb but the wire.  which was fortuante.

The ones on the 2 arn't that bad, once you know whats going on, quite easy.

[Anonymous]

you would hope with no engine to get in the way it'd be a doddle!

[Slacey]

I changed mine a couple of weeks ago, and both sides took a total of ten minutes; it was a really easy job. I just checked in the owners manual for the basics and got to it.

[Anonymous]

yes, well it took me an hour,  my fault was not realising you have to twist the things!

Was the first thing i ever did to a car though,  And now with all my new expereince and socket set, i reckon i could do it in under 45mins ~ easy.

Maybe i've got short stubby fingers.

[Slacey]

yes, well it took me an hour,  my fault was not realising you have to twist the things!

Was the first thing i ever did to a car though,  And now with all my new expereince and socket set, i reckon i could do it in under 45mins ~ easy.

Maybe i've got short stubby fingers.

I guess I do have the advantage of long fingers.. and plenty of experience with pulling the car apart!

[GSB]

Stay away from anything more powerful that the standard power rating. I think its something like 55 or 60 watts. The headlight units are unable to dissipate the additional heat generated by more powerful lamps, and the reflectors start to oxidise. This ends up reducing light ouput and definition even further.

Theres plenty of options on the market for better designed lamps than the stock ones though, There are huge improvements to be had without melting your headlights.  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Anonymous]

Like what?

Are the ones i've got on rated too high,

[Tem]

Stay away from anything more powerful that the standard power rating. I think its something like 55 or 60 watts.

The pre-facelift bulbs are 55/60W (55W for driving lights, 60W for high beams).


I have a 55/100W though  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:  So the driving light is the same (in power, it does quote +50%), but there's a huge difference in the high beam. I figured since I'll be only using the high beams at +60mph and below 15C, cooling shouldn't be an issue. And if anything happens, it's just an excuse to get the facelifted lights  s8) s8)

[Anonymous]

I changed mine a couple of weeks ago, and both sides took a total of ten minutes; it was a really easy job. I just checked in the owners manual for the basics and got to it.

What did you replace em with ?

[Slacey]

What did you replace em with ?

Philips Vision Plus, which I beleive a number of others people on here use. Seem pretty good, and noticably brighter than the stock bulbs.

[Anonymous]

Well bought the bulbs yesterday from a local modders shop, they were a xenon filled bulb same specs as the standard bulbs (H4, 60/55w) and damn do they make a differnce. A very bright, and crystal clear white light. Only took about ten mins at the most.

Unfortuantly it has not put a stop to the need for me to change things about my car so looks like ill have to find some thing else cheap and easy to have a go at !!

maybe the calipers

[heathstimpson]

Well bought the bulbs yesterday from a local modders shop, they were a xenon filled bulb same specs as the standard bulbs (H4, 60/55w) and damn do they make a differnce. A very bright, and crystal clear white light. Only took about ten mins at the most.

How much were these matey  s:?: :?: s:?:

[Anonymous]

around £18 .... not too bad really ...

[heathstimpson]

around £18 .... not too bad really ...

Who was the supplier plz matey  s:?: :?: s:?:

[Anonymous]

i bought them in a little indpendent store just down the road from me (opposite tescos for anyone that knows leatherhead.) i believe that the make of the lights were a company called Ring.  (it was the only Xenon H4s they had)

[Darth Paul]

I had two sets of xenons on my old car. They only lasted six months or so.  s:evil: :evil: s:evil:   Very bright though, but a tad expensive to be replacing them every half year. So I too have the Phillips jobbies, though at £30 they are dear – but they should last as long as I own the car.

[Tem]

Hella has released a Xenon kit for H4's. I think this is the first kit that has high/low beam in the same bulb and is meant to replace H4's. This also works with the stock H4 reflectors.
(and is priced at 850 euros over here)