mb Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 Headlight main-beam bulb failed so I bought some of these to replace them with – purportedly giving 80% more light than a standard bulb. Was hoping to get something that was a closer match to the low beam xenons but worried about the blue coating on some of the alternatives either not being EC marked or looking “chavvy”. The main reason for posting is to confirm that it is possible but tricky to change the head-light bulbs without removing the bumper. The driver’s side one was awkward as has to be done blind, undoing the 2 x T20s allows just enough room to pull the lamp fitting from the back of the bulb. There is a wire clip that needs squeezing together to undo them, the bulb can then be swapped over, re-clipping the wire is a little complicated, the plastic fitting then needs to be pushed back onto the pins of the bulb. A quick test by flashing main-beam showed the light to be brighter & whiter than the passenger side so I decided to change the other side. The battery here prevented me getting sufficient access (arguably neither side has sufficient access !) but by removing the battery the passenger side can be changed quite easily. Testing the main beams with the xenons on was rather disappointing as the colour did not match the white of the xenons. Driving at night showed some improvement over the standard bulbs but not really enough to justify the high price (35) in my opinion ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbucket Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 In my experience the only way to get a whiter light is with the chavy blue coating. I have Halfords Ultra Blue which are somewhat illegal at 80w, but seem to give the whitest light of anything I have tried. I did have philips blue visions on the R as the high beam and they werent too bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mb Posted October 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 Thanks, Would like a whiter light but the combination of unnecessary expense, blue coating & changing the bulbs again means I will be sticking with these for a while ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilGT Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 What type of side light does the MK5 R32 take? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbucket Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 W5W I would guess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattcony Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 Has anyone thought about getting a retrofit HID Xenon kit for main beam ?? Iv just ordered a Bi-Xenon upgrade kit for my Ranger Pick Up that I use for work. Its not been fitted yet as its still winging its way from China as we speak Id been thinking about a kit for a bit then found out a mate had already ordered and fitted 2 kits for his Z3/M, from the same place in china. There ISO 9001:2000 & E-mark Certified, really well made and have had a fantastic improvment esp from behind the wheel. The kit is plug and play in terms of the wiring so its not hard to fit at all Price is dependant on bulb type, as my ranger is both dip and main in one bulb I had no option but to get a Bi-Xenon kit which cost £68 delivered. But a Main beam kit for the Mk4 golf for the H1 bulb would only be £46 delivered !!! Im very tempted for the Golf, im just going to wait and see how the 1st kit goes This is the Kit And this is the Guy where iv ordered from, ebay Link My mate has had 3 kits in total now, 2 for his Z3 and 1 for his bro's motor bike have all arived in 4 days and been spot on. Cheers Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mb Posted October 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 This has crossed my mind, had no idea they were that cheap. The bit that put me off was running the wires out of the headlight casing easily (the ballasts for low-beam take up most of the back of the headlight) & relying on something rather after market of possibly questionable quality for something as useful to me as headlights (albeit main beam only) - let me know how you get on as would be interested. I also thought that the mainbeam was lit all the time & had a shield that moved due to the delay when they fire up ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattcony Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 [ QUOTE ] I also thought that the mainbeam was lit all the time & had a shield that moved due to the delay when they fire up ? [/ QUOTE ] Correct, but thats only on Bi-Xenons Cheers Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mb Posted October 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 Now I am confused as I had always assumed the "bi" part meant main & low beam ! So with these do you think there would be a delay when lighting main beam so not much use for flashing ? I must say in use the Philips bulbs have given some improvement & are quite a close match to the xenons so from the driver's seat they are better than looking at the lights from the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattcony Posted October 23, 2007 Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 Well after all that, my Kit showed up at 8am this morning, only 3 working days from China ! The build quality and finish of the kit is fantastic I have to say, as they say " you couldn't make if for that much" Not one to mess about I got to the office this morning and got the truck in the workshop and started stripping down the front and fitted the kit. It took me just under an hour to fit and was quite simple to do. The results are amazing going from Halogen to Xenon, the STD lights in the truck really are poor and you have a better vantage point to start with sitting up high. There just like any other factory fit kit, you turn the switch and they flicker as they charge up and that’s it. As for dip and main beam the bulb is on all the time and it is just 1 tube that does both dip and main, the part that makes them swap over is done by moving the unit so part of the tube is blocked using a guard thus reducing the emitting light. There is a solenoid that flicks the tube in and out as per the animated clip adjusting the exposed part. It does go with a bit of a clunk but nothing major. So if you flashed with this bi-xenon kit with dip beam already on the flash is instant, if you flash with no lights i.e. day time the kit comes on fully for a few seconds then goes off so not so much a flash but an on/off. I’m sure a £300 kit may have a better flash facility but for £68 im not complaining. I don’t think loosing an instant flash is much to worry about, having the xenon’s for general driving far out ways that, if any of you out there have other cars with non Xenon’s id seriously consider a kit especially now winter is here. Getting up in the dark and coming home in the dark is no fun now. At the weekend when I have time ill open the bonnet on the R32 and see if a kit will fit easily for converting main beam on the mk4’s I know its tight but im sure there will be room for the ballast resistor packs somewhere Cheers Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gti_Fly Posted October 23, 2007 Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 Matt, did u go for the 6000k ones mate? Let us know wot the colour looks like, and preferably wot does the colour look like in relation of the mk4 R32 hid's I'm thinking of getting a set of these H4 ones for my banger mk3 Golf and don't want them to look blue in anyway!! white is all i want cheers bud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mb Posted October 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 Good one Matt, glad the kit sounds good - the ballasts would be the least of my worries with an install - I wonder if the original ballasts would run the low/main "bulbs" of your kit as could wire in the old high beam as a "driving light" so you get xenon dip & xenon + halogen main ? Let me know how you get on ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattcony Posted October 23, 2007 Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 I did get the 6000k ones yes, up really close looking at the lense it does look slightly blue, but from behind the wheel there white. Ill try get the x2 side by side at the weekend and compare Cheers Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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