Best headlight upgrade

Kiran

I'm after people's opinions on what the best "bang for your buck" upgrade you can do for headlights. I have a car and a couple of motorcycles that I would like to upgrade and I'm trying to work out if its better to go cheap, as in a super bright bulb or go for LED or HID conversion.


Any thoughts?

tykesi

I doubt it's a good idea to go cheap otherwise you'll just look like all the chavs driving around with their 'bling' lights pointing in all directions blinding other road users and looking like t!ts.

There's a site I think gets good reviews HID supermarket or HID direct or something, have a look on there and see the options for your particular car/bikes.

Stoke

HID conversions are wrongly illegal (well an MOT failure at least), but the reason they're illegal is because too many people install them incorrectly and dangerously. If you go down the HID route, you must ensure the light is shielded correctly or is part of a projector. Otherwise the light is thrown out everywhere and blinds oncoming motorists.

LED lighting is different. Depends which lamp you pick.

wgl2014

On an older car or bike it can be worth replacing the headlight reflectors and replacing (or upgrading) the wiring. Some people I know have added a relay and direct power from the battery as the standard old wiring was supplying lots of heat but little current!
I would be wary of adding non-roadlegal bulbs or HID's into a headlight unit that's not designed for them.
LED's can also be an issue as although they look fantastic close up such as illuminating garage doors or nearby trees they have very little projection and range.

reeac

If, by any chance, they are old enough to be plain tungsten so called sealed beam units as opposed to quartz halogen then you can easily upgrade to the latter at a cost of around £50 per pair. I did this a year ago with my 1958 MGA roadster. I chose Wipac 7 inch round units with "free form" reflectors and plain glass which give slightly more output than the older style where the beam shaping is done by an array of small prisms in the glass.

Gloomendoom

wgl2014 wrote: »

LED's can also be an issue as although they look fantastic close up such as illuminating garage doors or nearby trees they have very little projection and range.

Cheap ones can also ruin your radio reception.

Joe_Horner

Stoke wrote: »

HID conversions are wrongly illegal (well an MOT failure at least), but the reason they're illegal is because too many people install them incorrectly and dangerously. If you go down the HID route, you must ensure the light is shielded correctly or is part of a projector. Otherwise the light is thrown out everywhere and blinds oncoming motorists.

LED lighting is different. Depends which lamp you pick.

It's absolutely right that "conversions" where HID burners are fitted to existing halogen lamp units (reflector or projector) are illegal because the optical requirements of the two are completely different and it will cause dazzle.

LEDs also require headlamp cleaning and self levelling systems in all cases to meet the relevant EU regulations.

And before anyone gets all Brexity about that, it's only under EU regulations that either of these are allowed. The UK regs don't approve either system for road use so, without the loophole that we have to allow stuff that's allowed in Europe, they'd all be illegal over here....

Mercdriver

Joe_Horner wrote: »

It's absolutely right that "conversions" where HID burners are fitted to existing halogen lamp units (reflector or projector) are illegal because the optical requirements of the two are completely different and it will cause dazzle.

LEDs also require headlamp cleaning and self levelling systems in all cases to meet the relevant EU regulations.

And before anyone gets all Brexity about that, it's only under EU regulations that either of these are allowed. The UK regs don't approve either system for road use so, without the loophole that we have to allow stuff that's allowed in Europe, they'd all be illegal over here....

As far as I am aware, it is HID that requires the washing element. My E class had HID and self levelling. My CX5 has ORM LED and has self levelling but not a light washer.

Joe_Horner

Mercdriver wrote: »

As far as I am aware, it is HID that requires the washing element. My E class had HID and self levelling. My CX5 has ORM LED and has self levelling but not a light washer.

The washer requirement is actually dependent on the total luminous output of the unit. Any dipped-beam light sources with a total luminous flux greater than 2000 lumens - even filament bulbs if you can find any that bright - require washers.

Pretty much any HID unit will exceed 2k lumens but an OEM may well design an LED system to stay within that limit.

Most, if not all, aftermarket "conversion" LED units advertise outputs of over 2k lumen - that's the whole point of them, they're supposed to be bright! Whether the cheap ones actually achieve it is another matter, of course... But their claimed output would need (type approved) washers fitted.

For leveling, it's only required when needed to maintain headlight aim between prescribed limits from "driver only" to "driver + max boot load" conditions. Given the tight modern limits, that means pretty much all cars.

It must be automatic, except that para 6.2.6.2.2 allow for manual adjusters that can be operated from the driver's seat. But that exception doesn't apply to any LED lights or any over 2k lumens. So both of those must have auto leveling fitted.

6.2.9. Other requirements

The requirements of paragraph 5.5.2 shall not apply to dipped-beam headlamps.
Dipped-beam headlamps with a light source or LED module(s) producing the principal dipped beam and having a total objective luminous flux which exceeds 2 000 lumen shall only be installed in conjunction with the installation of headlamp cleaning device(s) according to Regulation No 45 (12).
With respect to vertical inclination the provisions of paragraph 6.2.6.2.2 above shall not be applied for dipped-beam headlamps:
(a)
with LED module(s) producing the principal dipped beam; or
(b)
with a light source producing the principal dipped beam and having an objective luminous flux which exceeds 2 000 lumen.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:42011X1206(03)

guy999

Hi
Purchased Ring Xenon 130 , H7 bulbs for my car, about £20 for the pair off ebay, after reading an autoexpress best car headlight review, last winter.

Just a basic bulb upgrade, for standard headlights, but I'm really happy with the upgrade now that its dark at 4pm!

JP1978

tykesi wrote: »

I doubt it's a good idea to go cheap otherwise you'll just look like all the chavs driving around with their 'bling' lights pointing in all directions blinding other road users and looking like t!ts.

There's a site I think gets good reviews HID supermarket or HID direct or something, have a look on there and see the options for your particular car/bikes.

Erm.... Erm..... in the first paragraph you tell the OP not to go cheap and have bling lights pointing everywhere and then tell the OP to get bling lights that point everywhere? :rotfl: