xenon bulbs
- Thread starter ocallen
- Start date
mik_ok
New member
Depends what you mean - there are a lot of "xenon look" bulbs which are just bulbs with a blue-ish tinted coating to mimic the real-deal gas-discharge jobs. Strangely enough this tinting reduces the light output....
I stuck a set of Osram SilverStar in the S2 which improved the light output notably. (These are the + "x" % variety which achieve this via legal wattage but tighter winding of thinner wire to give a more concentrated, brighter light. At the expense of a little longevity). Cost me a total of £22.
I stuck a set of Osram SilverStar in the S2 which improved the light output notably. (These are the + "x" % variety which achieve this via legal wattage but tighter winding of thinner wire to give a more concentrated, brighter light. At the expense of a little longevity). Cost me a total of £22.
In addition to Mik's comments, which I wholeheartedly agree with (and didn't know how the extra light was achieved, so today has been a school day already) there are 2 other points to consider.
Firstly the wiring can cause quite significant drop in performance due to developing a high resistance primarily around the connections. Cleaning everything might help, but the real solution is to rewire the headlights using a fat power connection from the battery and a relay, close to the lamp unit. That way you will be getting the correct amount of electrics to the bulb. As standard the power to drive the lights is transferred along quite a run of wire.
The second thing to look at is the condition of the lenses. They don't tend to be corroded on the reflectors but most 944s, despite the lights being protected when they are not in use, have blasting damage to the glass which has the effect of diffusing the light. Replacing them is the only solution here.
By doing those 2 things the lights are massively improved. I can vouch for the lens replacement personally, but I never found my lights wanting in any of my 944s so maybe I have been lucky with wiring and not had to renew it - or I didn't know what I was missing.
Last thing from a personal viewpoint is that while I think proper xenon lights fitted to vehicles from new are awesome and make night driving massively less tiring I am not a great fan of aftermarket conversions. Many times I have seen people complain about xenon lights on other vehicles being too bright, but I think we all realise that not every vehicle with xenon lights is an offender here. The key I'm sure is that if they are fitted from new they have to have a very responsive self-levelling system to allow for changes in the vehicle attitude, which not only raises them so they don't point into the road under braking but lowers them so they don't dazzle oncoming drivers under acceleration, or at any time the road surface causes the vehicle to pitch. In addition to the self levelling not being fitted to aftermarket xenon conversions there is the additional problem that if the lens is not designed for xenon bulbs there can be scatter of light that becomes a nuisance where it is not a problem with halogen bulbs. This last point is doubly bad if the lenses are blasted and diffuse the light more than they are designed to.
Firstly the wiring can cause quite significant drop in performance due to developing a high resistance primarily around the connections. Cleaning everything might help, but the real solution is to rewire the headlights using a fat power connection from the battery and a relay, close to the lamp unit. That way you will be getting the correct amount of electrics to the bulb. As standard the power to drive the lights is transferred along quite a run of wire.
The second thing to look at is the condition of the lenses. They don't tend to be corroded on the reflectors but most 944s, despite the lights being protected when they are not in use, have blasting damage to the glass which has the effect of diffusing the light. Replacing them is the only solution here.
By doing those 2 things the lights are massively improved. I can vouch for the lens replacement personally, but I never found my lights wanting in any of my 944s so maybe I have been lucky with wiring and not had to renew it - or I didn't know what I was missing.
Last thing from a personal viewpoint is that while I think proper xenon lights fitted to vehicles from new are awesome and make night driving massively less tiring I am not a great fan of aftermarket conversions. Many times I have seen people complain about xenon lights on other vehicles being too bright, but I think we all realise that not every vehicle with xenon lights is an offender here. The key I'm sure is that if they are fitted from new they have to have a very responsive self-levelling system to allow for changes in the vehicle attitude, which not only raises them so they don't point into the road under braking but lowers them so they don't dazzle oncoming drivers under acceleration, or at any time the road surface causes the vehicle to pitch. In addition to the self levelling not being fitted to aftermarket xenon conversions there is the additional problem that if the lens is not designed for xenon bulbs there can be scatter of light that becomes a nuisance where it is not a problem with halogen bulbs. This last point is doubly bad if the lenses are blasted and diffuse the light more than they are designed to.
The Osram Nightbreakers and Philips Extreme bulbs are quoted as 90% and 80% brighter than standard halogens. I have used both and found them to be both brighter and whiter than a standard bulb. I wouldn'd like to say whether ore not they are as much brighter as claimed, but they are a worthwhile improvement. Easier to do than fitting relays and uprated wiring to use 100 / 160W bulbs like I used to in my old MkII Golf GTI [
]
]A good point there is that the whiteness rather than the brightness is what I think most people really want. That is why real xenons are so good - if you get 5600K or so at least, which is about what the OE lights use. The people who go for 8000K+ because they think the higher the number the more powerful and end up with blue or purple might not agree [8|]
ORIGINAL: ExAudiSi
The Osram Nightbreakers and Philips Extreme bulbs are quoted as 90% and 80% brighter than standard halogens. I have used both and found them to be both brighter and whiter than a standard bulb. I wouldn'd like to say whether ore not they are as much brighter as claimed, but they are a worthwhile improvement. Easier to do than fitting relays and uprated wiring to use 100 / 160W bulbs like I used to in my old MkII Golf GTI [
I'll second that - I've used both on my Mk2 TT, and found the Philips Extreme to be better of the two - they're certainly more durable and not much difference in light output between them. I lost both Osram Nightbreakers dipped beams within 9 months of fitting them to the TT - apparently they were a rushed release in response to the Philips Extreme series, hence problems with the earliest batch (I'm not paying 30 quid to find out if they've fixed their manufacturing problems!)...
I was one of the rare few who looked for brightness rather than whiteness - the OEM Audi ones are truly shocking - so much so that I've binned them, they're not worth using on the road!
You're dead right about Osram Silver Star...I fitted them on the family SAAB and was very pleased with them, but they both blew within 9 months or so. And both in the same week, and in the middle of France, so never again!!
edh
New member
Thanks to this thread....After 3 years of ownership I finally did something to improve the lights
halfords have a 2 for 1 offer on their "90% brighter" bulbs, so I thought it was worth £18.50 and a few minutes of my time
I scraped off the euro lens masks, cleaned up the lenses, fitted the bulbs - I'm impressed by the improvement [][]
halfords have a 2 for 1 offer on their "90% brighter" bulbs, so I thought it was worth £18.50 and a few minutes of my time
I scraped off the euro lens masks, cleaned up the lenses, fitted the bulbs - I'm impressed by the improvement [
][]
I would exercise extreme caution in fitting illegal uprated wattage bulbs. If you are involved in an accident where the other party suggests they crashed because they were dazzled by your lights they will check your bulbs. It they are found to be illegal the insurers will take a swift step backwards and you will be in all sorts of trouble.
As Fen notes, and to my personal experience, if your wiring and lamps are good, 944 headlamps are as good as most cars in normal driving conditions.
I might have "accidentally" fitted 100w bulbs myself once and, in honesty they were too bright. Reflective signs would dazzle and the contrast between the illuminated area and the darkness was so extreme as to remove any vision outside of the light pool.
As Fen notes, and to my personal experience, if your wiring and lamps are good, 944 headlamps are as good as most cars in normal driving conditions.
I might have "accidentally" fitted 100w bulbs myself once and, in honesty they were too bright. Reflective signs would dazzle and the contrast between the illuminated area and the darkness was so extreme as to remove any vision outside of the light pool.
mik_ok
New member
I accidentally fitted 90w/130w bulbs to a hot hatch once. Okay okay - it was an MG Maestro EFi. Yeah ok - much underrated car OK? [
]Anyway - I accidentally had to replace them every couple of months as they exhibited a higher propensity to blow than Linda Lovelace [&:] and I might also have accidentally eventually melted my indicator stalk via an accidental decision that upgrading the fuse as opposed to the wiring room would probably be adequate. But surely thats what youth is for? [
] []
Not two phrases one sees used together very often. [
]Was that "much underrated" or "much berated" [
]We decry the death of the British car industry but, unfortunately, in several cases it died 30 years ago. It just continued through its final spasms of death producing some of the worst cars ever seen. Granted some lesser developed and communist countries produced some/mostly pretty unpleasant cars but at least they had an excuse.
Sorry - this has nothing to do with lights. [&o]
mik_ok
New member
Sorry for keeping it a bit off topic, but yes...under-rated. [:-]
In fact there was a What Car multiple hot-hatch group test suplement (no less) circa 1985 which the Maestro EFi won (!) beating even the Golf Gti MkII into 2nd place . If you ignored the fact it looked like your gran in a miniskirt ~ it went well in a straight line and handled tidily - if a little prone to slightly snappy lift-off-oversteer. The fact no-one loved them made them a very cheap 2nd hand purchase.....hence my interest []
Mine was killed by the rust monster. (and my pride [] )
In fact there was a What Car multiple hot-hatch group test suplement (no less) circa 1985 which the Maestro EFi won (!) beating even the Golf Gti MkII into 2nd place . If you ignored the fact it looked like your gran in a miniskirt ~ it went well in a straight line and handled tidily - if a little prone to slightly snappy lift-off-oversteer. The fact no-one loved them made them a very cheap 2nd hand purchase.....hence my interest [
]Mine was killed by the rust monster. (and my pride [
] )[] I had an MG Montego Turbo. It was the ugliest, rustiest car i have ever had. The brakes were truly awful, and the torque steer would almost rip your arms out from the sockets
But, i absolutely loved it[8D]
Wafting past high end motors, with their owners looking truly shocked at this horrendous thing with holes in the rear arches and non existent door bottoms, was great fun[]
Oh and that lift off oversteer was someting else wasnt it!!!!!!! I had the tail wagging a few times[]
Do you think we might have gone slightly off topic here?
] I had an MG Montego Turbo. It was the ugliest, rustiest car i have ever had. The brakes were truly awful, and the torque steer would almost rip your arms out from the socketsBut, i absolutely loved it[8D]
Wafting past high end motors, with their owners looking truly shocked at this horrendous thing with holes in the rear arches and non existent door bottoms, was great fun[
]Oh and that lift off oversteer was someting else wasnt it!!!!!!! I had the tail wagging a few times[
]Do you think we might have gone slightly off topic here?
Well while we are off topic, had two allegros - both free - were actually very entertaining in the corners in a rolly polly way, used to drive the A31 regularly and would enter roundabouts with the inside wheel smoking on the brakes, and a smidge of lift off oversteer could be coaxed through the square steering wheel, could make up many hundreds of meters on 'faster' cars, remember being overtaken about 10 times by the same 3 series in increasingly aggressive fashion - on the straight bits - he really didn't like being passed by the aggro. First one was short term as I wanted the engine for a mini, 2nd one had an A+ engine from an MG metro that someone had bothered to fit ?!? I broke the crank in half.
Tony
Tony
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