MAD EVO 4

Whats the best on the market ?

c.h.r.i.s

Ive just ordered some Philips Exteme.

Meant to be good, so thought i would give them a go.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PHILIPS-X-TREME-POWER-H4-EXTREME-XTREME-XENON-BULBS_W0QQitemZ380099355839QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_C arsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item38009935583 9&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1301|66%3A2| 65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

Si B

iTrader: (59)

A HID kit for £100 from Xenonshop on the MLR.

Worth every penny and light (boom boom!) years ahead of the "Zenon" bulbs etc you can buy.

Si

MAD EVO 4

maybe later in the yr for the evo but this is for my everyday drive, not really worth HID

BM08

The bulbs are no where near £100 though.

Depends how much hes got to spend on lighting

MAD EVO 4

I only want to buy to normal head light bulbs for my daily drive

BM08

Theres a guy on a bmw forum i visit he said Osram something or other were whiter and brighter than philips? if that helps

Dangerous Malcolm..

As the other fella said, Philips X-treme power are good, they got top honours from Auto Express.

tabetha

I have philips x treme in one car and the latest osram nightbreaker in another car.
There is very little in it, but the x treme is better, the light is very HID like on dip in colour, main beam is more yellowy like a normal bulb.
On the astra that uses the x treme I have wired the dip so it is on all the time the lights are switched on even on main beam, makes a BIG difference, and doesn't kill the bulbs.
I do a lot of night driving in the countryside, but have just bought a HID kit from HID DIRECT, a H4-4 35W BI Xenon, better than the H4-3, was £81.49 delivered the next day.
Prior to having nightbreaker and x treme I had 130/90 watt bulbs(with relays), and the x treme/nightbreaker are around 2-3 times the brightness despite being lower wattage.
tabetha

MAD EVO 4

ok ill go for the philips x-treme bulbs

C4llyT

Phillips off road rally for me.

Dal_

iTrader: (2)

The Halfords Super Brilliance ones are pretty good. Normally got some sort of BOGOF going as well.

HID ones fitted as aftermarket can be illegal remember:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/drs/hidheadlamps

tabetha

It's a debateable area at best, bit like VOSA stating to fail certain cars with bulbs that are e marked because the tester thinks they look too blue, even though they are e marked as been through a light machine to measure colour!!
tabetha

Dal_

iTrader: (2)

I totally agree tabetha.. I know loads of people that get MOTs with no problem having HIDs. Just providing information for people to make their own decision. Notice I didn't say not to fit them

c.h.r.i.s

Easy to do ?

tabetha

I know, just the luck of the draw with tester, my one says so long as it has a correct beam pattern and appears a normal colour he doesn't care if it is a candle inside so long as it works!!
tabetha

C4llyT

Why do you want dip on with main, no point seeing what main beam lights up a split second previous.
Like having fogs on for better vision, gives you 0.1 seconds to react to a hazard

tabetha

Hi,
Yes it is a piece of cake, all you have to do is have the lights relayed first, then simply take a wire from the output of the main light switch and link this to the output of the stalk dip wire, so dip is always fed, selecting main beam via the stalk simply turns the main on or off.
To see the effect simply pull back on the dip/main stalk when driving at night, do this only for a few seconds to see if you will like it, some don't, but this will show what the simple mod looks like.
It is LEGAL and MOT passable too.
tabetha

C4llyT

Can see what you mean about liking it, have noticed when doing this, just don't see the point from a visibility aspect.
Not having a dig tabs.

tabetha

I do it as round here in Norfolkshire, there are rabbits deer etc running all over the place at night, so every little helps.
I like the way the foreground stays illuminated even on main beam, instead of losing the immediate lit up area in front of the car.
Not for everyone but I like it, I never thought you were having a dig!!, as I say some like it some don't, just mentioned it as it is a freebie to do.
I first did this on my mk4 escort, as the lights were unbelievably bad, even with 160/100 watt bulbs in them, fitted 4 extra lights on in the end two cibie main/dip units, two main beam units all between the headlights!!
tabetha

Ginge !

the HID are not legal, fucks me off being blinded by some idiot on the motorway when there fitted !!!!

they scatter the light too much due to the reflectors in the headlamps

later cars will be fine but early motors with glass headlamps aint !

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

As ginge says, aftermarket hid kits are illegal whichever way you look at it. Someone from my local area was pulled at a vosa roadside check and was bumfucked for his.

Its not just glass reflectors, they dont work properly in modern day headlamps either, my car failed its mot with them fitted. They don't give the right beam output as the reflectors just cant handle the intensity of them. I had a hid kit on my old car, I got fucked off with being flashed all the time, and they are shit compared to proper hids like i have on my car now!

Dal_

iTrader: (2)

You're lucky that the ST170 did come with an optional HiD pack so you have properly designed HiD lamp assemblies you can put in to replace the halogen ones.

That's the only way to get them properly fitted, much like jags etc that had that option. It'd be interesting to see the direct difference between a Halogen ST170 and a HiD ST170 beam pattern / range..

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

I think the beam pattern is pretty much the same as an ordinary focus with halogen bulbs. On my old focus i had halogen st170 headlamps on it, and the beam was about the same as my xenons i have now. When i fitted the hid kit to my old car though, the beam pattern was non existant!

I don't think my xenons beam goes any further but it is noticeably wider than a halogen bulb, and of course, a lot more like daylight!

Dal_

iTrader: (2)

Hmm interesting. I'd imagine the parabola behind the HiD compensates for the difference in the HiD bulbs light pattern to give a similar spread of light, albeit brighter and wider.

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Here's my old car, and the difference between halogen and HID, you can see even from that pic how awful the beam pattern would be!!

Dal_

iTrader: (2)

Blooming heck!

Oncoming dazzle central!

I think people forget that having clean lenses can give you 50% brighter lights too..lol