Zenon Headlights

[Hailstone]

I have a 987 Boxster 2.7 with standard headlights and the brightness of the beam looks very poor to my other car which has Zenon as standard.
Has anyone fitted Zenon bulbs or other inexpensive upgrades and found they work successfully

 

[Nick_USA]

I know some who have swapped out the standard bulbs. However, you have to make sure they draw the same current as it can throw a bulb blown error on the instrument cluster.

 

[BartyB]

Nick is quite correct, but many kits will include ballast resistors to compensate, as will many LED lamp conversions. However, be aware that apart from the official Porsche kit, most aftermarket Xenon conversion kits won't pass an MoT test as they're not E marked and therefore not approved for use in the EC. This is largely because the existing reflectors aren't designed to use a discharge lamp and don't include the precision made cut-offs that accurately shape the beam to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic. I believe the Porsche kit includes new reflectors, which are approved and largely accounts somewhat for the big difference in cost.

If you do fit an aftermarket kit, you might get nice bright headlamps but you risk dazzling oncoming traffic, getting pulled by Plod under Construction & Use, invalidating your insurance and failing the MoT unless you swap the lamps back for the Test. And, from the ones I've seen, most Xenon kits are made in China and many are of dubious quality. Caveat emptor.

 

[berty987]

There is no official kit for the 987 , only the 986 has the option to drop in the xenon headlamp in place of the standard halogen. The 987 headlamp and control wiring is more advanced as it has CAN bus sensing and the wiring is different . The only option on a 987 is to fit the aftermarket (china etc) kit. Check the kit is compatable wih CAN bus equipped cars. Look at the reviews and how to artivles on planet-9.com and boxa.net for pointers os a functioning kit.

 

[Black80XSA]

I've got a xenon kit in my MY06 987S, and it doesn't throw any errors (it didn;t when previously fitted to my 986 either). The UK MOT test is changing and will include checking for non standard bulbs and other items (engine remaps too!). Plod isn't interested - about 15% of cars on the road only have one operational headlight so its very unlikely they'll ever do anything unless you go for a kit with really purple light output (the higher the k rating the more blue/purple it is).

The 987 headlamp is a projector beam style so has a lot better control of the headlight beam than the old reflector units in the 986 series cars, you are less likely to dazzle any ongoing traffic. I never got flashed int he 986 and never in the 987 either. Early cars don't seem to be throw errors on the computer, but newer cars will (can be overcome with resistors), although i don't know when the cut off is.

You could try Osram Nightbreaker or Philips Extreme Plus bulbs - these are halogen bulbs with a higher percentage of xenon gas in their mixture, and an optimised filament for improved light output. £20 a set.


If you do go down the xenon kit route then suggest you look at hids4u website - uk based and probably better quality and after service than a cheap Chinese kit off ebay.

 

[spyderman]

ORIGINAL: Black80XSA
Plod isn't interested - about 15% of cars on the road only have one operational headlight...

And in today's fog, about 15% were driving about with no lights at all. For goodness sake people, read the highway code: headlights are mandatory in fog! Glad to see every Porsche I saw - and waved at - had their headlights on.

Sorry - rant over. Isn't there something in the vehicle regs about having to have headlight washers too?

 

[garyw]

I actually saw a learner today with no lights on....[]
What chance if they aren't even training them to turn their lights on!! [:'(]

 

[BartyB]

And then there are the ones that insist on burning my retinas out by having their ruddy rear fogs on when visibility is down to a mere 10 miles..... grrrr.