Halogen Headlight quality

[PierreNel1982]

I have a standard Halogen bulb setup for main and dipped. To say the least that even upgrading to white light bulbs they are woeful.
On the motorway any car I go past or that passes me, their spread is way better, This includes corsas and KA's , sad.
Any recommendations for other Halogen Brands or HID Kits? I have self leveling rear suspension and projectors for the dipped beams.

[PierreNel1982]

Sorry, forgot to day that Im a sucker for the whiter HID type lights 4500-5000k range. Standard HID type, not the bluer 6000-10000k
The stock yellow halogens are a travesty on a car like this,
Halogen or HID kit experience that anyone can recommend.

Thanks

[X5Sport]

There are a few kit suppliers. Have a look at somewhere such as HIDS4U or Hids-direct on line. You’ll need bulbs and ballasts. Not seen anyone on the Forum do it to the E70 but the E53 was often upgraded to 55W Hid kits.

Be careful with you choice of actual bulbs due to the cheapo Chinese options have poor arc positioning and focus, leading to glare.

[PierreNel1982]

Thanks for the help. Decided to go for Osram nightbreaker series. Little worried about running HID's and my car isnt certified to run them.
Insurance implications etc. Also bought a kit to polish and clear up the lenses, they dont look happy. Hope all the small improvements add up.

[PierreNel1982]

Hi All. Update. I got Osram Night Breaker Laser H7s for the dipped and H1s for the mains. Main headlights have a big big huge difference, definitely noticeable. Dipped beam however I cant see any difference!! Might as well not spent the extra as they were dam expensive for halogen bulbs.

Im stumped, this makes no sense at all and Im irritated. I really really needed an improvement in the dipped beam. Cant believe how poor they are still vs anything next to me on the road at night. Im really thinking of a HID conversion Kit, but has anyone done this or an LED conversion kit from a proper website not Ebay. Im concerned the beam pattern will be ruined even though I have projectors in the units. Dont want to end up with something even worse.

Cheers.

[sapphireblack]

I have read that Philips Ultinon bulbs are better than HID albeit not cheap, but cheaper i'd guess than any worthwhile HID kit.

Strictly speaking Ultinon bulbs are off road use only. Strictly speaking HIDs require a washer system if not already fitted.

[X5Sport]

As above, HIDS4U are good. What you could do is buy the equivalent 35W igniter (ballast) unit ab=nd a set of proper HID bulbs such as Osram Nightbreaker. You will probably need to modify the lamp mount itself in the headlight because they are different to the standard.

A few members have fitted 55W kits - that may mean Chinese lamps - as an alternative. I’m sure there are threads in here about it.

If the arc in the HID bulb is in the right place then there should be no issues with glare/focus. The problem with the ‘copy’ bulbs is that the arc is often in the wrong place or badly formed so causes poor light in the road and/or glare.

[Wayfarer]

Hi

I have seen this on other forums and presume everyone is aware of the changes to the MoT effective from Jan 21, the advise below is from another site, apologies if everyone is already aware or it’s been subsequently updated

Please note that since January 2021, the MOT Inspection manual has been updated to include LED bulbs.

Section 4.1.4 now states the following:

“Existing halogen headlamp units should not be converted to be used with high intensity discharge (HID) or light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp.”

This is a brand new update that seems to only focus on headlights.

There are no mentions to fail other LED bulbs such as brake lights, tail lights or reversing lights.

The web link is https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspect ... es/updates and its section 4.14

[sapphireblack]

Probably a long overdue requirement tbh. Too many 'cowboys' on the road.

Look at the Ultinon bulb option, has to be worthy of consideration.

[X5Sport]

I think we’ve all been blinded some some poor conversions so I guess this was inevitable. If headlight units weren’t such silly money I would try to do it properly. When I asked BMW for the price of the official LED upgrade for my X6 I was quoted £6k just in parts. That wasn’t even remotely funny or justifiable. Each LED lamp unit on our Gran Tourer is more than £2k without the LED. Easy to see why folks want to diy.