numskull

Thanks everyone who’ve replied. Well, given the updates from Danoid here in the WHYDTYS3T thread, I’m not going to bother to update the OE Xenons, as the hype doesn’t match reality. Frankly, there seems to little or no difference in illumination, so I’ll just hang on to my £150 quid for now.

I have Conti AllSeason and they’re excellent.

Hmmmm…. Anyone else think that sounds like a noisy clock spring?

Sorry Graham, I should add the Columbus button says “Traffic” not “TMC”.

Yes, quite sure….

That’s odd. When I hit the TMC button, it’s starts locally but then, slowly, it continues ‘til I get the whole of the mainland U.K. It takes a minute or so to complete but it’s all there and it the. Just keeps updating. If you then tap the individual item, you get more detailed info on the incident.

Nope, the original OE units. Took that pic in June 22.

Yeah, LED are ridiculously bright at the headlamp but strangely, in a lot of applications, they’re not the huge improvement that Xenon was over Halogen.

Unsurprising on the first point and probable on the second. One other thing to remember is, in the last 10 years, most local authorities (and all in Greater London) have replaced their old, expensive-to-buy-and-run and very inefficient sodium street lighting for far cheaper, more efficient and much brighter LEDs. This could also be the reason that Xenon headlights appear to be no longer as bright as they once were. Get out into areas with little or no lighting and they’re far more acceptable. I certainly remember being amazed how good the Xenons were on our MKI Superb, compared to the Halogens on the Octavia it replaced.

Interesting that they dropped the standard size from 19” to 18”. But I agree, the Propus Aero wheels are ghastly and impossible to clean the inner rim too, so why don’t you change them for another 18” wheel in the range? However, the performance will be the same as the 19” and the 18” tyres will be quieter due to the deeper sidewall and cheaper to replace too. And it seems you’re not the only one complaining about the Propus wheels on their Skoda… see here.

According to my brother, who was a lightning engineer and designer for 35 years, during which he worked for Thorn, GE and Schneider, that statement is, I’m afraid, a complete myth; they won’t become brighter with use. Additionally, it is a myth than an LED will last for 20,000 hours. It might still “illuminate” (albeit the vast majority of Far Eastern LED’s are cheaply made and poor quality and may last 20% of those hours) but by that time, it will also be 90% less efficient than it was when it was new and is therefore, effectively useless.

No, it didn’t. I have a Racechip XLR trotted controller and the lag has gone, even when it’s set to “Normal”.

Well that is disappointing, to say the least, given Osram claims - 220% more of this, and 5,000 more metres of that! I’ll just hang on to the OE bulbs ‘til they’ve had it, as forking-out £150 for an early zero, to a potentially mediocre improvement, is a daft idea.

Yeah, it does. Interestingly, last week, JR RS explained what SLA is. I was confused, as I’d previously tried to find this abbreviation in the manual without luck, because it’s referred to as Dynamic Light Assist in the printed and online manuals I have.

In my experience, auto braking is a last resort, such as when reversing and it senses a pedestrian or vehicle. I happened the other day as I was reversing from a space in Tesco and an idiot exited a space opposite to my left and turned past the back of the car. It was a BMW driver so naturally he had the right of way. I’ve had the front warning come on several times and it did brake once when I was weaving between cars in a narrow road. I was able to override it immediately by keeping my foot on the accelerator as I wasn’t in any danger of hitting the parked car in front of me.

Yep, they look excellent; thanks JR RS. So it’s definitely a wheels off and arch liners out, to get to the headlights to change the bulbs? If so, I wonder if it’ll be possible to cut flaps - a la Audi - into the liners so their removal would not be required again?

So before I fork-out £150+ for Xenon upgrades to replace the current 7 y/o OE units (which are still fine AFAIK), could anyone who’s made the leap and upgraded, post their experiences and if they’re happy/disappointed/overjoyed etc.? I’m looking at the Osram Xenarc Nightbreaker Gen 2, which seem to be fairly new to market. Thanks in advance everyone 👍🏻

Don’t take any of their bullsh1te. They need to get leak sorted the carpets out and dried asap. As for the “courtesy” (rental) car, if they don’t have one, they can rent one or the Sales, Service or General Manager should give-up their demo car. Jesus, the complete lack of customer service from dealers these days beggar belief and that’s why I’ve dumped using them and have used a great local independent for the past two years.

Me too, as I’m planning to replace the OE units with Osram Xenarc Gen 2.

Ahhh, right.. Thanks, I thought it might be that but wasn’t sure. I’m thinking about replacing the current OE Xenon’s with Osram Xenarc Gen 2, but the fitting seems to be ridiculously difficult, so may leave it til the weather improves.

What do you mean when you say your lights are non sla? But you’re certainly brave; I hope they don’t melt your headlamp housings.

Looks like a trip to a good independent then.

Any white smoke out the back? If not, it’s unlikely to be the turbo. Oil pressure switch failure?

I expect those that will be able to help will ask what model head unit do you have?

I had this happen once a couple of years ago and a window reset seem to’ve cured it. Open all the windows. Pull all four window buttons up and keep them held-up all the way and once closed, continue to hold them up for 10-odd seconds. Keeping the ignition on, then set your mirror positions to the normal driving position and then store that position on all three memory switches. Then start the car, select reverse and position the NS mirror to the park position and store that to position one. Return the car to Park. Turn off the ignition and the NS mirror should now return to the normal driving position. Exit, close and lock the car and the drivers mirror should not move.