Car Headlight Bulbs

[munkee]

Righty my headlights are so wank really really dim at night and unless on full beam i cant see shit when im driving. I pulled the bulbs out today and they are phillips h7 55w 12v bulbs. Ive done some googling and i cant seem to find any decent online places to get bulbs from they are all usually really shitty places that i aint going to risk using (not that im mr paranoid but they just look wank so the service no doubt cant be much better). I think you can get them upto 130w? i dunno eitherway i want some f**k off powerful bulbs that are going to be overkill at the least. So basically h7 silly overpowered bulbs where from?

[mods]

either get some xeon bulbs that fit, although very pricey, or go to halfords and see what they have there.

[Bionic Balls]

if the bulb isn't broken then they're probably supposed to be like that! Maybe they're just mis-aligned...pointing in the wrong direction kinda thing- best go to the garage and ask

[Danny]

Anything over 55w is illegal for road use.

[munkee]

Anything over 55w is illegal for road use.

Ive seen bulbs that are 55w but output to 100w for instance and say on them that they are road legal

[CurtisRider]

Ive seen bulbs that are 55w but output to 100w for instance and say on them that they are road legal

don't believe everything you read....usually those 'amazing' claims tend to be rather dissapointing

you may get tempted by the xenon alike bulbs, they really aren't all that, i found mine to be just slightly better than my standard bulbs, the whiter light does seem to make things clearer, but they aren't worth it til your old bulbs blow...however they do look cool, but then, if you are driving, you cant see them cos you are inside

if you intend on keeping your car for a while, save up and buy an HID kit, thats next on my to buy list for my car, certainly seems worthwhile if you do alot of nighttime driving

[Bucky]

go for some higher wattage bulbs from halford or somewhere like that.

you can use any wattage bulbs you like aslong as they dont dazzle other drivers, IIRC.

some cars just have shite headlights no matter what you do, my mates saxo was awful and waynios coupé lights are crap too.

your other option is to get a HID conversion kit from ebay.

basically unplug your bulb, plug the conector into the converter and then plug the converter into the new bulb and hey presto HID's

£90 ish i think.

[Bill_B]

I think you can get 75/110W bulbs (not sure on exact ratings) but much higher than your 55/60W in there currently, in a std H4 fitment.

the good points are:

they are notably brighter due to higher wattage,

they are no more expensive than std bulbs

the bad points are:

more watts = more heat, if you have plastic lenses and reflectors the may well melt

they are illegal (if you lights are lousy and these are a bit brighter no one should notice, I ran them for years in my 306, passed MOTs etc)

more power needed, if you power wires are thin they could be overloaded and melt (may need larger fuses too)!

you can try them and check the wiring and lamp housing temperatures after 10/20/30/45mins to check they are not overheating.

you may find just cleaning all your connectors and maybe fitting new, thicker earth cables from your lights helps.

[nmt_oli]

I run 80/130w main H4 bulbs, that 80w dipped, 130w main beam, also have 2 spots that run 55w each on full beam. somehoe managed to get though MOT too, even with blue bulbs, my LED sidelights failed though.

Custom relayed wiring loom and fuses so it doesnt melt the existing loom, much much brighter than std, and cheaper than a HID kit. a Dual HID kit for H4, so you get dip and full is £150+

[Bill_B]

How come LED sidelights failed? I'm thinking of fitting these becase my sidelights are a pain to remove (well for some reason you cannot get them out, so you have to take arch liner out and go in behing the wing to the back of the lamp housing) and I thought these could be a good long term solution.

are they white or blue LEDS?

[nmt_oli]

There white LEDs, but my H4 bulbs are VERY blue (makes them whiter when on), so if you look head on onto the lights when on sides they look blue ish, i think thats why they failed.

[CurtisRider]

Custom relayed wiring loom and fuses so it doesnt melt the existing loom, much much brighter than std, and cheaper than a HID kit. a Dual HID kit for H4, so you get dip and full is £150+

but you don't use the HID bulbs for main, only for dip, as they take too long to warm up? so are no good for flashing and stuff, well, so george seamons told me anyway...

[nmt_oli]

In that case youd have no full beam, you can't fit two bulbs in a a single H4 light! My H4 bulbs have 2 filaments, on for dip, one for full. you can get HID kits that do that, a twin bulb in one unit with 4 ballasts.

Some cars run two seperate bulbs for dipped and full though.

[munkee]

Right went to halfords and got some new bulbs. Some of those laser blue ones.. 55w.. or whatever. The bitch at the checkout was searching all over the box to see if they were "road legal" and i was like.. look missus.. if you sell ones that arent road legal.. and you arent willing to let me buy them.. why bother having them in the first place?. She then gave up looking and just put them through even though i had already seen it says road legal on them. meh eitherway gonna give them a test tonight if they are wank ill just get a hid kit like bucky said off ebay.

[CurtisRider]

In that case youd have no full beam, you can't fit two bulbs in a a single H4 light! My H4 bulbs have 2 filaments, on for dip, one for full. you can get HID kits that do that, a twin bulb in one unit with 4 ballasts.

Some cars run two seperate bulbs for dipped and full though.

in my cars case you still retain the full beam as normal, just replace the dip, but i think mines h7, i didn't realise that some cars have a dual filament bulb, all the cars i've seen have 2 bulbs, so excuse my ignorance. with a twin hid, how do you flash? seeing as they take a few seconds to properly light up, it makes them illegal?

[nmt_oli]

can't comment im afraid, havent had any personal experience. on my golf it would be ok if i kept filament spots, they would still flash. I wasnt aware flashing was a legal requirement anyway, my golf doesnt have a facility for it, you have to quickly put full beam on then off. or hold the stalk so the switch doesnt quite click in, but light up full.