Headlight bulbs, worth changing for these 75% brighter ones?

slimgym · Post by **slimgym** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 11:30 pm

Keep seeing claims of 50% and 75% brighter and I admit the 206cc's lights aren't all that good on dark country lanes.. Has anyone swapped the original bulbs for something else and found an improvement?

Autoexpress tested them a while back but it's a bit hard to know if they're better or worse than the pug ones!

http://www.powerbulbs.co.uk has a large selection including the recommended Osram Silver H7 at Â£25 a pair.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 12:43 am

i actually thought the standard lights were pretty good on the CC. the ones on my quads were poor in comparison but i would be happy enough with the standard bulbs for standard lights.

marcelnl · Post by **marcelnl** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 9:27 am

I am using these 50% brighter bulbs for quite a while now (first in my Laguna and now in my 407 ) and I absolutely love them, they add about 10 -15 meters of illuminated road in front of you

Will use them in my cc too, because I remember the headlights in my '99 206 SX and there I needed more light ! (especialy at Autobahn speeds

)

slimgym · Post by **slimgym** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 12:22 pm

I am using these 50% brighter bulbs for quite a while now and I absolutely love them

Sounds good, which one are you using? Is it one of the "bluer" ones (which I quite fancy ...) or just a normal white one?

marcelnl · Post by **marcelnl** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 4:33 pm

I am using these 50% brighter bulbs for quite a while now and I absolutely love them
Sounds good, which one are you using? Is it one of the "bluer" ones (which I quite fancy ...) or just a normal white one?

I'm using Philips Visionplus, although the 407 uses H1 as dipped lights (and H7 as Highbeam, got me fooled there.... so I am driving all Visionplus powered now

) ...those H1 bulbs do have a blue-ish tip and shine a bit more blue-ish than normal lights

The H7 are a lot whiter than the regular, I personally do not care so much for the blue-ish effect , as it is produced by a filter and that eats up some of the light....

I will buy these Visionplus for the CC in a couple of days too, they do wear a bit faster but I sure don't wanna save on the wrong end with things like light and tyres etc....

edit; just read the manual; H7 times two it is , should be laying around from the Laguna

Robby_bobby_boo · Post by **Robby_bobby_boo** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 7:11 pm

Hi
I have used the Xenon bulbs and they do give a whiter light with slightly better coverage that the standard ones.
The blue tint is meant to help in winter conditions and cut through fog snow rain etc, something to do with light frequencies sounds like bolloks to me but they do look different

The other option is to fit higher wattage bulbs, put these in my RS and they were wicked 130w main beam and 100w dipped beam, you can get them in a few shops for off road use (even Halfords sold them).

I never had any problems with the RS wiring but your might need to consider whether they will be suitable for the Pug.

slimgym · Post by **slimgym** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 7:14 pm

Most places seem to be Â£26 a pair inc delivery but an ebay seller is doing them at Â£20 inc delivery a pair "buy it now" or Â£24 inc del on his website. Seems to be the cheapest.

Would you change both the main and dipped or just the main? Don't know how much mileage there would be in changing the dipped, but in for a penny, in for forty quid ...

Robby_bobby_boo · Post by **Robby_bobby_boo** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 7:17 pm

change the dipped, thats what makes the biggest difference

slimgym · Post by **slimgym** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 7:18 pm

The blue tint is meant to help in winter conditions and cut through fog snow rain etc
One of the websites I found said the forward and down light was white, but the light seen by approaching cars was blue..?!

I found quite a few websites doing higher wattage bulbs but I think you're asking to be tugged over every five mins, like changing the indicators and stop/tail for those aftermarket LEDs in the shape of bulbs ...

marcelnl · Post by **marcelnl** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 7:20 pm

Most places seem to be Â£26 a pair inc delivery but an ebay seller is doing them at Â£20 inc delivery a pair "buy it now" or Â£24 inc del on his website. Seems to be the cheapest.

Would you change both the main and dipped or just the main? Don't know how much mileage there would be in changing the dipped, but in for a penny, in for forty quid ...

I can not offer any help as to the mileage

but mine usually last for about a year (or 50.000 km), but mileage seems to be improved with the later series bulbs (especially now I stopped driving with lights on @day to make a somewhat more difficult target for laserquesting roadshows that are too common in my area

)

I would change both only when you use your full beam a lot, or have t o rely on it on tricky twisty backroads...

slimgym · Post by **slimgym** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 7:25 pm

>> Don't know how much mileage there would be in changing the dipped, but in for a penny...
>mileage seems to be improved with the later series bulbs
Ahh, sorry, my turn of phrase, I meant was it worth doing both or just the dipped, not how long they'd last!

It was actually the unlit country roads when on full beam I thought it was a bit poor! Oh well, both it is

marcelnl · Post by **marcelnl** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 7:43 pm

>> Don't know how much mileage there would be in changing the dipped, but in for a penny...
>mileage seems to be improved with the later series bulbs
Ahh, sorry, my turn of phrase, I meant was it worth doing both or just the dipped, not how long they'd last!

It was actually the unlit country roads when on full beam I thought it was a bit poor! Oh well, both it is

One bit of advice, please do check the adjustment after changing....before you know you are driving about illuminating the sky and wondering where the extra light is supposed to be ....
(better to have it checked if you have'nt got easy access to a wall to mark the edges of the lighting spots. I usually end up adjusting the beam a tad higher than the mech do but I compensate for that with the light adjustment a notch down in normal traffic, where on backroads I turn it back to the zero position and need

)

marcelnl · Post by **marcelnl** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 7:45 pm

The blue tint is meant to help in winter conditions and cut through fog snow rain etc
One of the websites I found said the forward and down light was white, but the light seen by approaching cars was blue..?!

I found quite a few websites doing higher wattage bulbs but I think you're asking to be tugged over every five mins, like changing the indicators and stop/tail for those aftermarket LEDs in the shape of bulbs ...

marketing blahblah goes a long way, go for the visionplus or Osram equivalent as brands DO matter, most other brands come with poorly fitted filaments and are causing a lot of blinding to both yourself and other drivers(proven in several tests in the german motoring magazines)

slimgym · Post by **slimgym** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 12:33 am

marketing blahblah goes a long way, go for the visionplus or Osram equivalent as brands DO matter

Thank you!

In the end I bought four Philips Vision Plus from Autostylin on Ebay for Ã‚Â£39 delivered. They are on the Autostylin website for Ã‚Â£48 too, but he regularly auctions them "buy it now" at Ã‚Â£39.

Changed the dipped and main beam, and yes there is a considerable difference. Very pleased indeed. The alignment is fine and I've not run any approaching cars off the roads yet ...

Thank you to all for advice. Oh and especially the other thread which explained how to detach the water filler nozzle to change the offside bulb! Why isn't that in the manual?!