What headlight bulbs?

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TheInsanity1234
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Re: What headlight bulbs?

Postby TheInsanity1234 » Sun Mar 25, 2018 9:15 pm

Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:If you can change them yourself, spend a fiver and do it. Put the old ones in the glovebox or somewhere as spares.

Never changed a bulb before, but how hard can it be?

Seems like there's ample room in the engine bay behind the headlights, and shouldn't be that hard to do!

I can have a go at following the instructions in the handbook, but peculiarly, the handbook seems to be for the wrong car! I went out to sort out the fuses and tried to locate the fusebox where the book told me it should be.

It was in a totally different place! Manual said it'd be behind the edging panel on the dashboard on the passenger side.

Actual location was down in the driver's footwell, and mounted such that you could only see the fuses if you were lying on your back on the floor of the footwell... No wonder people just pay a mechanic to sort everything out these days :mrgreen:

Silk wrote:My previous and current car both have LEDs. The one previous to that Xenons. I would never buy another car with "normal" bulbs. It's like driving in candle-light by comparison. It's just incredibly annoying that you have to order a higher spec just to get the option. They should be standard on all cars IMO.

Well Xenons or LED lights were NOT an option on the Citigo when I got it, and still aren't an option. Pretty much all the city cars you see have normal halogen headlights or projector headlights, but no Xenons or LEDs. If they were, I'd happily fork out for them, but alas, they are not. I'll just have to drive around with my candle-lights :P

angus wrote:Um, didn't you complain on another thread about being dazzled? and you're looking and getting brighter bulbs?

But as Mike said, the brighter bulbs don't last as long, so get good quality, "normal" bulbs and if you can, replace both together. And save up for a car with Xenons - much brighter - haven't tried LEDs for headlights yet, but gradually changing the lights at home and school to LED, so it makes sense.

I did see H4 LEDs the other day, anyone tried replacing halogen bulbs with LED?

The bulbs on my car are...adequate at best. The headlights also came from the factory set suspiciously low, and I've never been bothered enough to figure out how to re-adjust them. Purchasing some brighter bulbs would also help me see more of the road ahead while being dazzled by the super mega bright floodlights fitted to the front of some cars. I have nothing against the LED ones, as they seem to be very good at controlling the beam pattern, but Xenons are awful for dazzling others. My issue isn't really with the brightness of opposing headlights actually, it's more to do with the poorly controlled beam patterns.

I would stay away from aftermarket LED bulbs tbh, just because the headlight reflector unit was designed around a filament being in a specific location, and you can't guarantee the LED bulb will produce light in the same place, and thus might have issues with wayward beam spread etc.

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angus
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Re: What headlight bulbs?

Postby angus » Sun Mar 25, 2018 9:25 pm

TheInsanity1234 wrote:
Never changed a bulb before, but how hard can it be?

Seems like there's ample room in the engine bay behind the headlights, and shouldn't be that hard to do!


Yeah, right!

The first time I tried to replace the bulbs on my old Scenic, it was a bumper off job and took half the weekend. I had it down to 2 hours by the time I sold the car.

When we got my daughters Polo, there was plenty of room between the engine & front of the car, but access to the DRL bulbs are in the wings.

Funnily enough, the Alfa's front bulbs are fairly easy to do, but the rears are a sod!

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Mr Cholmondeley-Warner
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Re: What headlight bulbs?

Postby Mr Cholmondeley-Warner » Sun Mar 25, 2018 9:32 pm

TheInsanity1234 wrote:I would stay away from aftermarket LED bulbs tbh

A lot of them are very cheap Chinese knock-offs, but nonetheless, they won't just be a random collection of bright LEDs dropped into a casing. An H4 bulb is a known standard and they will mostly have been at least designed to emulate it reasonably closely.
Nick

TheInsanity1234
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Re: What headlight bulbs?

Postby TheInsanity1234 » Sun Mar 25, 2018 9:55 pm

angus wrote:
TheInsanity1234 wrote:
Never changed a bulb before, but how hard can it be?

Seems like there's ample room in the engine bay behind the headlights, and shouldn't be that hard to do!


Yeah, right!

The first time I tried to replace the bulbs on my old Scenic, it was a bumper off job and took half the weekend. I had it down to 2 hours by the time I sold the car.

When we got my daughters Polo, there was plenty of room between the engine & front of the car, but access to the DRL bulbs are in the wings.

Funnily enough, the Alfa's front bulbs are fairly easy to do, but the rears are a sod!

Weirdly enough Renaults don't seem to be very good in that respect. We had a 57 reg Clio which was such a pain in the arse to change bulbs on that we just simply took it to the garage and paid the mechanic to change the bulbs. Also was the only car which seemed to happily blow bulbs every year or so. Normally the parents would change in pairs, but the Clio blew bulbs so frequently that the bulbs were never more than a few months different in age. Never had any issues with any of the other bulbs, just the dipped beam headlights.

Our Yeti's been fine... Don't think they've changed the bulbs since they bought the car... maybe that's in more need of replacement bulbs!

Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:
TheInsanity1234 wrote:I would stay away from aftermarket LED bulbs tbh

A lot of them are very cheap Chinese knock-offs, but nonetheless, they won't just be a random collection of bright LEDs dropped into a casing. An H4 bulb is a known standard and they will mostly have been at least designed to emulate it reasonably closely.

Good point... Might have a look in Halfords tomorrow and see what they've got. Can't hurt, since it's £20 of free money I've got.

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GTR1400MAN
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Re: What headlight bulbs?

Postby GTR1400MAN » Mon Mar 26, 2018 8:29 am

TheInsanity1234 wrote:Purchasing some brighter bulbs would also help me see more of the road ahead while being dazzled by the super mega bright floodlights fitted to the front of some cars.

The irony of this topic about upgrading headlights and the other running con-currently of Headlights being too bright, just about sums up the situation.

We had a 50/55w and 21w rear law for a reason. The Genie is now out of the bottle and I'm not sure how/when he will be rammed back in and the cork replaced.

This Light War with cars, lorries, motorcycles, cycles, etc. all wanting/using brighter lights can not be won. The standard was there to prevent just what is happening. :(

Hopefully in a few years we'll look back on history and wonder how we ever let it get so bad ... but I have my doubts.

Just off to see if I can fit one of these on my motorcycle! :0 :lol:

Mike Roberts - Now riding a Triumph Explorer XRT. My username comes from my 50K miles on a Kawasaki 1400GTR, after many years on Hondas of various shapes and styles. - https://tinyurl.com/mikerobertsonyoutube

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Strangely Brown
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Re: What headlight bulbs?

Postby Strangely Brown » Mon Mar 26, 2018 9:01 am

One thing to bear in mind when fitting alternate lighting components, whether it be bulbs or whatever... make sure that the vehicle "check system" is not affected by any different voltage or resistance in the circuit that causes the vehicle to register a fault. I have seen aftermarket LED tail light units cause the check-system to show a permanent dash warning. If in doubt, go OE.

martine
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Re: What headlight bulbs?

Postby martine » Mon Mar 26, 2018 9:12 am

angus wrote:...I did see H4 LEDs the other day, anyone tried replacing halogen bulbs with LED?

Don't LEDs come under the same legislation as Xenons...perhaps not? Certainly with Xenons you have to have headlight leveling and headlight washers...the recent MOT changes have made this an item that is now checked and will result in an MOT fail if they are not fitted and working.

I'm like Silk :shock: ...I specifically chose a new Focus MK3 ST3 to get the Xenons rather than replace it old MK2 ST2 (which came with Xenons) with the same variant (MK3 ST2 doesn't).
Martin - Bristol Advanced Motorists: IMI National Observer, Group Secretary, Masters (dist), DSA: ADI, Fleet, RoSPA (Dip)

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jont-
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Re: What headlight bulbs?

Postby jont- » Mon Mar 26, 2018 9:22 am

martine wrote:.the recent MOT changes have made this an item that is now checked and will result in an MOT fail if they are not fitted and working.

Yeah, yeah, just like the requirement to check DPFs. Or even the old emissions tests. There will still be plenty of MoT centres that pass vehicles they shouldn't. :evil:

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Re: What headlight bulbs?

Postby Gareth » Mon Mar 26, 2018 10:41 am

martine wrote:Certainly with Xenons you have to have headlight leveling and headlight washers

Isn't that only above 2000 lumens? See https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/tra ... 66-23e.pdf
there is only the road, nothing but the road ...

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Horse
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Re: What headlight bulbs?

Postby Horse » Mon Mar 26, 2018 11:09 am

angus wrote:
TheInsanity1234 wrote:
Never changed a bulb before, but how hard can it be?

Seems like there's ample room in the engine bay behind the headlights, and shouldn't be that hard to do!

The first time I tried to replace the bulbs on my old Scenic, it was a bumper off job and took half the weekend. I had it down to 2 hours by the time I sold the car.


Is it the Ford Ka that you're supposed to take the front wheel off, to remove the inner wing, to change the bulb? Although it's just possible with the wheel on full lock.

Last time I changed the Ibiza's bulbs, I managed to drop one of the spring clips. Looked underneath the car . . . not there. No, it's resting in some plate/heatshield . . . Luckily, I had a little gizmo I bought years ago (but had never used) - effectively an extending car aerial with a magnet on the end!

TI; be warned: don't touch the glass of the bulb, the grease from your fingers can create hotspots and shorten their life (IIRC).
Your 'standard' is how you drive alone, not how you drive during a test.


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