Headlight Bulbs?

[dannysmith909]

My standard headlights are shit unless they are on full beam you can hardly see. Whats the brightest and best headlight bulbs available?

[Cam]

H.I.D's imo make such a difference on a saxo.

[dan_dan_the_saxo_man]

literally yesterday i put h4 high/low h.i.d's on at 6000k...i dont see what the problem is with them...they look brilliant!

[geraintthomas]

Originally Posted by dan_dan_the_saxo_man

literally yesterday i put h4 high/low h.i.d's on at 6000k...i dont see what the problem is with them...they look brilliant!

Well that's just it, you can't simply throw HID's into the standard housing and just think "Wehey! Away we go!". That's what the problem is.

HID's straight into standard housing with no mods = no beam pattern = glare = dangerous for others. You need to shield them first.

[Craig_B]

Originally Posted by geraintthomas

Well that's just it, you can't simply throw HID's into the standard housing and just think "Wehey! Away we go!". That's what the problem is.

HID's straight into standard housing with no mods = no beam pattern = glare = dangerous for others. You need to shield them first.

This!! Get blinded by so many car's around by me.

I couldn't be arsed with HID's as I have reflector headlights on my Clio 197. If i had projectors I would consider them.

Just last night I bought all new bulbs for the front. I went for:

1. Phillips Diamond Vision 5000k bulbs (not road legal but a decent equivilent to HID's
2. 5 White Led sidelights
3. Silver indicators that flash amber

[geraintthomas]

Mind you though, I do have HID's in my reflector housing - BUT you HAVE to mod them.

Basically you need custom made glare shields - the ones you can buy are pretty shit. They stop light reflecting upwards into other drivers eyes.

These:


After that you can get a pretty decent pattern that won't blind others.



Believe it or not, that's HID's in reflector headlights.. only they have glare shields fitted - which is what I've done

[Craig_B]

Looks good lad! Good to see someone not just putting them in and being done with them! and thinking about other road users

[geraintthomas]

Originally Posted by Craig_B

Looks good lad! Good to see someone not just putting them in and being done with them! and thinking about other road users

Well that's just it. I love HID's in my car, but at the end of the day if they're blinding others then I'd refuse to have them. Mine aren't that good as shown in the image, but I'm still trying different shield shapes to see what gives the best output.

After I've found the best shield shape that gives the best beam pattern, I'll post a thread on here

[AnthonyMartin]

wont xenon bulbs do?

[geraintthomas]

Originally Posted by AnthonyMartin

wont xenon bulbs do?

Halogen bulbs filled with xenon gas aren't that much of an improvement. They are brighter, and you can get some fantastic halogen bulbs out there - but cut a long story short, nothing really compares to a Xenon HID kit.

You can get look-a-like HID halogen bulbs, that give off that cool white light with a decent amount of brightness. I've had them myself before and was very impressed, so I can give details of the exact ones if anyone wants?

[Brettles1986]

Please

[ReV0h_VTS]

I'd love some new lights on mine, i think the ones i have on are standard but not entirely sure.

[chinkostu]

100W jobbies and a few hours polishing the glass. brighter

[geraintthomas]

Right. Chinkostu is on the right lines. Give this a good read..

Basically, if you want to stick with halogens for whatever reason then to be perfectly honest, your best bet is to get the brightest ones you can get which are legal. Osram Nightbreakers are an example - but be warned, these lights are actually yellow.

If you want the cool blue effect of HID's and to have decent visibility, then you should try some 'MTEC 100W Super-White Xenon H4' bulbs. These below:



The glass on these are coloured blue, but the light given off isn't actually blue. In simple terms it just cancels out the yellow 'halogen' light, making a white light.

Now as you'd imagine, any colour or tint on the bulb means that it's blocking the light and won't be as bright - and you're absolutely right (I rhymed!). This is where the 100W comes in. If you get the 100W version of the MTEC bulbs, it punches through the colour tint a lot better than your standard 'legal' 55W bulbs, and therefore makes a bright cool white light, that isn't that dim due to the blue coating, and isn't stupidly bright from the 100W power.

Here's some images showing the exact bulbs:




NOTE: It's impossible to get cool white looking halogen's that are extremely bright. It's either cool-white & dimmer, or yellow-ish & brighter. These bulbs are the best I've found that give off a blue-ish light, while still giving off a decent amount of light. These bulbs are by no means very bright - they only look good and give decent visibility.

If you want very bright, white/blue lights then you'll just have to get HID's.

Hope this helps!

[geraintthomas]

To put it even more simpler:

55W = Road legal.
100W = Illegal
HID = Illegal (unless manufacture fitted)

From Worst to Best:

Blue-tinted halogens 55W (MTEC, Phillips, etc) = Cool white colour, terrible visibility due to colour tint.
Standard Halogens 55W = Standard light.
Blue-tinted halogens 100W (MTEC, Phillips, etc) = Cool white colour, decent brightness due to extra power.
Bright Halogens 100W = Very bright, but yellowish colour due to no colour tint.
H.I.D. Xenon Kit = Brighest, best colour, best visibility.


I should post a separate thread on this honestly..

[dan_dan_the_saxo_man]

Originally Posted by geraintthomas

Well that's just it, you can't simply throw HID's into the standard housing and just think "Wehey! Away we go!". That's what the problem is.

HID's straight into standard housing with no mods = no beam pattern = glare = dangerous for others. You need to shield them first.

sorry they came shielded

[dan_dan_the_saxo_man]

but now im wondering...do i take the standard headlight shield thing out? seeing tho the bulb already has one? because it hink its double reflecting if u get me and making weird lines...the lights arent in peoples faces they are nicely covering the floor...but i dont like the lines in the light.

[geraintthomas]

Not too sure, wouldn't like to say. The upper part of the bulb is still doing its job, I just think it stops the lower part from doing it. I'd leave it as it is if I were you unless you're retro fitting.

[dan_dan_the_saxo_man]

ok thanks for that