just bought a Puma 2001 for my mother and driving it up here in the country roads at night realise how crap the headlights are.


Anyone know of an upgrade for the standard bulbs?
Cant leave it as it us now, as totally useless.

 

I don't know what bulbs they take, but AUTOEXPRESS just did a giant bulb test.
The philips extreme won, available in H4 and H7, I have these in H4 fitment on my other halfs astra mk3.
If your car takes H4 or 7, get some, most awsome bulb I have ever used.
Prior to that I had 130/90 bulbs in the astra, and these babies(extreme) are way way better, brighter with a surgically sharp cutoff.
The light on dip is filtered so it resembles identically HID 4300K, ie daylight, they are not far behind HID at all.
I rewire my cars so that dip stays on on main beam as well, helps enormously, would need to be relayed though, don't know if puma's are ?
You can certainly fit the extreme bulbs as they are 60/55 std wattage without any mods at all, and plastic headlight friendly too.
I have used also osram silverstar, and they are my second choice if puma is not H4 or 7.
tabetha

 

as above i use phillips bulbs in my mk6 fiesta there really good

 

The puma uses HB3 type bulbs so that kinda rules out the mainstream.

The philips ones are really good if you can find them in HB3 but in a recent Autoexpress test (can't remember when) the Halfords own 'Super Brilliance" come out with a really good score.



I've got some to put in mine in the next day or so as Halfords have a 2-for-1 on the go at the moment.

You have to be careful with really bright lights with a puma headlight, as the outer shell is plastic, not glass. Extreme light = extreme heat if your not carefull and will distort / discolour the plastic

 

The philips extreme are 60/55 or 55 watts so no hotter than std, just much better materials, and construction, and safe for plastic lenses etc as friend now has them with this for twoo weeks no probs.
tabetha

 

thanks

 

Put them in yesterday and there is a noticable difference. It's much 'whiter' and more defined. By defined I mean that you can actually see where the light ends, rather than sort of fading after 10ft in front of the car.
It's suprising how yellow the old lights must have been compared to the new ones. Well worth doing.

 

I was looking at them yesterday, but tryingto find one of the best bulbs with H3 and H4 fittings, seems a lot are moving away from H3, just wanted to keep all the light colour the same!!
tabetha

 

sounds like some good advice, think i'll upgrade the lights on my wifes puma, didn't realise they were that bad!

 

Ive got an hid upgrade in my frp and they are honestly the best lighting source i have seen in a car, the only thing is there are not fully road legal so it could cause problems when its mot time if they check

 

So long as beam pattern is ok they are NOT part of the MOT.
tabetha

 

Just because it's not part of the MOT, doesn't make them legal.

Currently there are no after market Puma headlight assemblies designed specifically for HiD lamps, therefore adding them to std headlight assemblies is illegal. Strictly speaking of course. Whether PC Plod would ever know is another matter

 

I did not say they were legal, did I, NO is the answer to save you searching.
The are plenty of things illegal, that are accepted as everyday occurences, aspects of driving and cars are no different.
It is LEGAL for a MALE to urinate on the on the rear wheel of his car in public, so long as his right hand is on the car, it is illegal to break a boiled egg at the sharp end, it is LEGAL for a lady to be topless in public, but ONLY in a FISH STORE.
So I don't think many people will worry about legalities, so long as safe do you ?
tabetha

 

Easy tiger... just stating the case that's all....

 

so what is the answer
what bulbs should I buy for my mums puma?

 

These worked fine for me. About 30% more light I'd say.

 

My HID retro fit kit failed the mot on my mondeo, and i've heard about 90% of the kits on the market will. Its because they are just so fooking bright, the light bleeds all over the place, and its impossible to get a good beam pattern.

Philips blue vision are pretty good