Xenon bulbs

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Alfie

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Has anyone tried or had any experience with fitting these cheap Xenon bulbs off eBay in place of the normal headlamp bulbs?
 
Alfie said:
Has anyone tried or had any experience with fitting these cheap Xenon bulbs off eBay in place of the normal headlamp bulbs?


Next door neighbour has tried many bulbs 9many of whoch used to have a short life too - in the end he is now fedup cos he cannot get that proper xenon look that he now is going to upgrade to the oem xenon headlamps (without the leving system). Not only do bi=enons look good but the vision is just superb at night.
 
Haven't tried any of the cheaper ones but have got PIAA Extreme White's on the W203. Was looking at Bi-Xenons but am pleased with the look & colour of the PIAA bulbs and now may just get the facelift W203 clear halogen lights and use the PIAA bulbs (if they still fit!).

The Philips Silver Vision? & Osram bulbs are supposed to be pretty good, I wouldn't try any of the bulbs on ebay.
 
I had PIAA Extreme Whites on my C240 and then Osram Silver Stars on high beam on my CLK. The PIAA ones were MILES better. Much whiter light, and brighter too. No comparison really.
 
As I recently posted "Have just installed legal OSRAM SILVER STAR+50% Xenons H4s in headlights as recommended by Auto Express. Seem much better on the open road but down side is increased light reflection from large road signs." cost was £18.45 the pair including postage from www.care4car.com orsimilar price from www.powerbulbs.co.uk
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Thanks guys, I'll give them a go. It doesnt seem worth bothering with the eBay offerings when Osram/Philips are so cheap anyway.
 
OEM bulbs

The auto express article also stated that Philips, Osram and GE supply car manufacturers, and build their own bulbs to their customers' standards, which are higher than the law requires. Buy one of their packs and you get two of their bulbs. Others, such as Halfords, Lucas, Bosch and Hella, use suppliers, and regularly change them. So best to stick with Philips or Osram for consistancy of quality seems to be the message. ;)
 
hey there. have you considered fitting an HID conversion kit? m8 of mine got one from the US for his golf. fitted himself. <whispers>not strictly legal</whispers> but looks the absolute dogs! you can just put normal bulbs back in when it comes to mot time....or find a friendly mot garage ;-)

here's an example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=23009&item=7970308266&tc=photo

seriously considering it myself.
 
simonl said:
hey there. have you considered fitting an HID conversion kit? m8 of mine got one from the US for his golf. fitted himself. <whispers>not strictly legal</whispers> but looks the absolute dogs! you can just put normal bulbs back in when it comes to mot time....or find a friendly mot garage ;-)

here's an example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=23009&item=7970308266&tc=photo

seriously considering it myself.
Nothing illegal about it at all.

In order to pass the MOT the headlamps need to function and point the right direction, that's it! :)
 
This place is offering plug and play HID conversions. Havn't used them so can't say if they are any good or not, but seems to be another option.

www.hids4u.co.uk

Nick
 
Shude said:
Nothing illegal about it at all.

In order to pass the MOT the headlamps need to function and point the right direction, that's it! :)

i thought if u had xenons in UK you needed self-levelling mechanism and headlamp washer jets? :confused:
 
simonl said:
i thought if u had xenons in UK you needed self-levelling mechanism and headlamp washer jets? :confused:
That's for OEMs only AFAIK, although legend has it that some new Minis come with HID and they have no headlamp wash...
 
I can understand the reasons for leveling systems but why headlamp washers??
 
blicky_1 said:
I can understand the reasons for leveling systems but why headlamp washers??


so the dirt on the lens doesnt disrupt and scatter the beam ....
 
blicky_1 said:
I can understand the reasons for leveling systems but why headlamp washers??
I can't understand the reason for levelling! It only auto-levels when you start up the engine so anything done after that (like putting several sacks of gravel in the boot) will upset the level of the headlamps. Having a dial or lever to adjust seems more reasonable!
 
If anybody is considering fitting a set of aftermarket Xenons, PM me. I have for sale a pair of genuine new Hella ballast / starters plus lamp units.
I have a pair of Phillips D2R bulbs (4.7K colour temp) plus a pair of H7 conversion bulbs (6K colour temp). I also have a pair of bulb failure compensator units.

This is all brand new stuff. I already have a xenon conversion on my dipped beams, I was going to convert the high beams but after buying the gear I started to have reservations about the high beam conversion. Xenons don't like being 'flashed' or run for short periods of time, so a high beam conversion may not be totally practical.

These aren't the cheapo e-bay units manufactured in the far east, Hella ballasts are supposed to be one of the best available.

PS - my car sailed through its MOT with aftermarket xenons. The beam pattern was perfect - contrary to comments from some people who think that you face immediate prosecution and the death penalty for the installation of equipment that exists solely to blind oncoming drivers.....

PS - once you have driven at night with xenons, you don't want to go back to halogen.

PPS - oldies like me can remember when halogens were introduced. The same comments were said then!

Paul G
 
Paul Grainger said:
If anybody is considering fitting a set of aftermarket Xenons, PM me. I have for sale a pair of genuine new Hella ballast / starters plus lamp units.
I have a pair of Phillips D2R bulbs (4.7K colour temp) plus a pair of H7 conversion bulbs (6K colour temp). I also have a pair of bulb failure compensator units.

This is all brand new stuff. I already have a xenon conversion on my dipped beams, I was going to convert the high beams but after buying the gear I started to have reservations about the high beam conversion. Xenons don't like being 'flashed' or run for short periods of time, so a high beam conversion may not be totally practical.

These aren't the cheapo e-bay units manufactured in the far east, Hella ballasts are supposed to be one of the best available.

PS - my car sailed through its MOT with aftermarket xenons. The beam pattern was perfect - contrary to comments from some people who think that you face immediate prosecution and the death penalty for the installation of equipment that exists solely to blind oncoming drivers.....

PS - once you have driven at night with xenons, you don't want to go back to halogen.

PPS - oldies like me can remember when halogens were introduced. The same comments were said then!

Paul G

I might be interested for my CLK cabrio. Can you PM me with price details etc?
 
grober said:
The auto express article also stated that Philips, Osram and GE supply car manufacturers, and build their own bulbs to their customers' standards, which are higher than the law requires. Buy one of their packs and you get two of their bulbs. Others, such as Halfords, Lucas, Bosch and Hella, use suppliers, and regularly change them. So best to stick with Philips or Osram for consistancy of quality seems to be the message. ;)

Has anyone fitted either of these to a CLK cabrio? If so what parts were required or did they just slot in in-place of the halogen ones?

Thanks
 
As far as I know your clk will use standard halogen h7 bulbs. So its the h7 fitment type of osram silver stars you will require. If you go to www.powerbulbs.co.uk and use their fitment guide that will give you the correct part nos.
 

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