Best white headlamp bulbs

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reflexboy

MB Enthusiast
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Feb 23, 2005
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Location
Surrey, UK
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E350 CDi Sport&SLK250CDi AMG Sport
Don’t shout at me because I have defected from MB (my partner still has a Merc!).
I now have a vehicle with standard halogen headlamps and they are very yellow. Can anyone recommend a halogen bulb that gives a whiter light please?
 
Osram Nightbreaker or Osram Cool Blue...
I have the cool blue in my c class, much better that standard halogens
 
i had Osram Nightbreakers in my c class and they were better i also had the Philips X-treme vision also but didn't notice any real difference between the pair. I just looked for the best deal
 
Thanks guys. I’m just really after a whiter light. I’m not really after bulbs with a blue tinge though
 
+1 for night breakers
 
I thought that LED "bulbs"were not optimally designed to work in headlights designed for Halogen bulbs and therefore the emitted beam was not focused properly?

Which makes them illegal.

Replacement LED's lamps are getting better and one of the big manufacturers, Philips has been trying to get an LED lamp ECE approved but have still not achieved that. As far as I am aware that means there are no LED replacement lamps that can be legally fitted in headlights designed for halogen lamps.
 
Which makes them illegal.

Replacement LED's lamps are getting better and one of the big manufacturers, Philips has been trying to get an LED lamp ECE approved but have still not achieved that. As far as I am aware that means there are no LED replacement lamps that can be legally fitted in headlights deigned for halogen lamps.

But to some people this will not matter because they value aesthetics over function and legality.
 
Retrofit Xenon Headlamps... it is the best solution (although pricey)

I wouldn't buy a car without xenons now.
 
Some new type LED bulbs are designed to work in halogen projector housing, producing an almost exact light pattern (better actually, as it's more evenly distributed), but they are expensive, and not road legal.
 
I had a few sets of Osram Nightbreakers Unlimted (NBU) bulbs and they were fantastic, but at some point I got fed-up with replacing them so I am now back to normal Halogens. Not as white or as bright as the NBU but they easily last several years. So I guess there's an unavoidable trade-off between brightness and longevity. Still, if you don't mind the 6 to 12 months service life, then the Osram NBU is a fantastic bulb.
 
My old W203 is fitted with Xenon headlights and they are excellent. However, my GT4 I fitted with LED replacement bulbs 3 years ago and they've passed 3 consecutive MOTs with no issues. They are bright and cast an even, focussed beam. So despite their 'legality', I wouldn't go back to technology that the Victorians would recognise!
 
Autocar seem to run reviews in these nearly every month it seems.

If it helps, I have LEDs in my current car and, although they look great, they don't light up the night very well.
 
Autocar seem to run reviews in these nearly every month it seems.

If it helps, I have LEDs in my current car and, although they look great, they don't light up the night very well.
I'm surprised at that. With my GT4 over the years I tried every 'ordinary' bulb, including PIAA ones which cost over £90 a set, and my current LED bulbs blow them all out of the water. Maybe I'm just lucky that the Toyota headlamps must seem to suit them better than others...
 
Just put the Night Breakers in they are the simplest and best solution to your problem. You will notice a huge difference and they do no appear blue.
 
My old W203 is fitted with Xenon headlights and they are excellent. However, my GT4 I fitted with LED replacement bulbs 3 years ago and they've passed 3 consecutive MOTs with no issues. They are bright and cast an even, focussed beam. So despite their 'legality', I wouldn't go back to technology that the Victorians would recognise!

You can do as you please, however just to say that saying 'passed MOT' in this context is either misleading or ignorant.

It reminds me of those who say that a second-hand car does not need to be checked over because 'it just passed it's MOT'.

So, once more...:

1. The MOT only checks a very limited set of test items. More specifically to your post, it does not check the beam pattern, distance, Lumens, or whether it dazzles oncoming traffic. So 'passed MOT' does not mean that your headlamps are legal, safe to use, or fit for purpose.

2. If all you care about is 'passing the MOT', then - unlike PDF removal and other illegal modifications - you can easily change the bulbs back to Halogen for the annual MOT... which kind of renders the 'passed MOT' argument as neither here not there.

3. Passing an MOT is a mandatory - but not sufficient - requirement for roadworthiness. Your insurance can still be void if you drive a car that has been illegally modified, regardless of whether it passed its MOT or not.


4. The sort of test required to establish if aftermarket LED bulbs fitted in Halogen headlamps are safe to use and meet the European safely criteria can only be carried-out in laboratory environment, and this can't be achieved during a routine MOT test. And the fact that no bulb manufacturer managed to get the CE or E mark for aftermarket LED bulbs suggests that at current these bulbs do not meet European safety requirements.

So in summary... fit whichever bulbs you like, but 'passed MOT' just doesn't come into it.
 
You can do as you please, however just to say that saying 'passed MOT' in this context is either misleading or ignorant.

It is neither. The 'legality' of LED lights were queried, and I know some folk worry about such things.

All I was doing was confirming that my LED bulbs passed 3 consecutive MOTs of which an 'MOT' is the most face to face most of us get to an authority over our cars. I use to have illegal HID bulbs which I did swap out for an MOT as they were instantly identifiable as they took some seconds to warm up. Now I am quite happy to have illegal LED bulbs, and at least I know they are set properly in that they don't blind oncoming traffic, unlike many other cars I pass at night which are aimed incorrectly and blind oncoming traffic, whether they are legal or not.

So in summary, my LED bulbs have passed 3 MOTs, it's a statement of fact, nothing more, nothing less...
 

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