Decent Head light Bulbs

[Krash67 8]

Can anybody suggest a decent bulb upgrade for the front lights and which won't cause potential wiring issues at later date?

 

ta

[jackherer 543]

Osram are pretty good but I'm not convinced brand makes a huge difference. As long as you stick with the correct wattage rating (55/60w IIRC) the wiring will be fine, if you go over that the wiring eventually melts where it connects to the fusebox.

 

If your lights aren't bright enough you might get some improvement by cleaning and/or replacing the earth blocks either side of the radiator, problems with these affect headlight brightness significantly.

[welshpug 1,657]

If you want to uprate the bulbs beyond an oem spec I would highly recommend a stand-alone relayed wiring loom that uses the original feeds as a trigger, this will reduce the chances of melting the fusebox and light stalk massively.

 

its a very common mod in the VW world.

 

I just found this on ebay, staggeringly cheap though you may have to wait a few weeks for it as its coming direct from China.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/H4-Headlight-Headlamp-Light-Bulb-Relay-Wiring-Harness-Socket-Plug-Wire-Kit/192284936495

 

the usual price for something like this is closer to £35!!  you'd struggle to make it yourself for £7.40!

[Krash67 8]

2 hours ago, jackherer said:

Osram are pretty good but I'm not convinced brand makes a huge difference. As long as you stick with the correct wattage rating (55/60w IIRC) the wiring will be fine, if you go over that the wiring eventually melts where it connects to the fusebox.

 

If your lights aren't bright enough you might get some improvement by cleaning and/or replacing the earth blocks either side of the radiator, problems with these affect headlight brightness significantly.

Thanks for the heads up on the earth blocks.

1 hour ago, welshpug said:

If you want to uprate the bulbs beyond an oem spec I would highly recommend a stand-alone relayed wiring loom that uses the original feeds as a trigger, this will reduce the chances of melting the fusebox and light stalk massively.

 

its a very common mod in the VW world.

 

I just found this on ebay, staggeringly cheap though you may have to wait a few weeks for it as its coming direct from China.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/H4-Headlight-Headlamp-Light-Bulb-Relay-Wiring-Harness-Socket-Plug-Wire-Kit/192284936495

 

the usual price for something like this is closer to £35!!  you'd struggle to make it yourself for £7.40!

This option I had considered for a spots, but will bare this in mind for main head lights. Thanks

Edited December 28, 2017 by Krash67

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

I’ve read some food reviews of Phillips racing vision bulbs. E marked road legal supposed to be very good. Downside is a shorter lifespan in hours. I’ve bought a pair to try in my night rally car that I’m building.

[allanallen 528 2 Cars]

Are they the 150% ones Tom? I  put a pair in the pronton before that last 12 car, wasn’t massively impressed but there was a lot of fog so I’ll reserve judgement, similar range to the high watt bulbs I had in previously but more focused, not as wide beam, oh and a lot whiter. 

I’d like to try some of the PIAA high wattage ones but they’re pretty £££££ 

 

To the OP, make sure your headlights are in good nick, old reflectors and dirty glass make for pretty poor lights. 

Well worth upgrading the driving lights too, I put night breakers in mine and was surprised by the difference. 

 

Edited December 28, 2017 by allanallen

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Yes I think so, I’ve got them now so we will see. The Proton seems to have a strange beam pattern anyway, the 205 lights were always much better!

[nixonmi16 5]

I did the relay upgrade last week makes a big difference in light output. But check if you have a voltage drop first mine was over 1v from battery voltage.

there was no fault in loom so I just copied the late 405 lighting system. I just split the loom near the n/s strut and fitted the relay in the box that house the horn relay. 

[allanallen 528 2 Cars]

2 hours ago, Tom Fenton said:

Yes I think so, I’ve got them now so we will see. The Proton seems to have a strange beam pattern anyway, the 205 lights were always much better!

Old 205 ran 130/90 bulbs too! 

 

Whats happened to to your boy racer LED ones? Not natB friendly but would you recommend them on a road car or did they end up pissing you off? 

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

The LED things are in the Turbo, can’t fault them to be honest apart from the colour output doesn’t suit a 205!

Good light output and full beam, maybe a bit short on range but no worse than the conventional bulbs that came out. The only downside is that for some reason probably due to the low current draw, the standard driving lamps work strangely, when you pull full Beam they come on as normal, but when you dip again the driving lamp relay somehow stays latched in so the driving lights don’t extinguish. I’ve just unplugged them as the led bulbs in the main headlights are plenty good enough. Won 2 night scatters with them in and that’s with ME driving !

[jackherer 543]

On 28/12/2017 at 1:31 PM, welshpug said:

I just found this on ebay, staggeringly cheap though you may have to wait a few weeks for it as its coming direct from China.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/H4-Headlight-Headlamp-Light-Bulb-Relay-Wiring-Harness-Socket-Plug-Wire-Kit/192284936495

 

the usual price for something like this is closer to £35!!  you'd struggle to make it yourself for £7.40!

I bought one of these half expecting it to be throwaway rubbish but it arrived today (ordered on the 28th Dec) and it is surprisingly well made. You'd more than struggle to make this yourself for £7.40, if you only bought enough parts to make 1 it would probably cost far more. I'm trying to find fault with it and all I can see is the relays which are potted and might not be the highest quality but even if they aren't it would be easy to swap them out.

[Mikey S 29 1 Cars]

Philips xtreme vision. I use them in all my cars, much better than the Osram night breakers. Rated at around 450 hrs of life. Ran them in my Tiguan for the past two years and not had one go yet. Have the rally vision 150% in the main beam.

 

Mike

Edited January 6, 2018 by Mikey S

[Biggles 65]

I'm assuming your reflectors & lenses are in good condition...

 

No-one else has suggested it - HIDs - or do they not work in 205 lamps ?  Only tried them in my rally car which is quad 5 1/4" lamps (2xH4 outers, 2xH3 inner) but they they were so good I abandoned the plan for 2 up 2 down spot lights as I don't feel I need them.  They're Hawk kits off eBay & plug straight into the existing loom - 35W 6000K - and I really can't fault them.

[welshpug 1,657]

hid dont work in a non projector type headlamp, terrible beam pattern, massive glare.

[Krash67 8]

Thanks guys, you've gave me plenty to go on