Valeo lamps are better detailed, especially with regard to dirt ingress sealing.

rotodiesel.

Could not agree more, very true, recently looked at Mk1 Superb vs Roomster headlamps.

Other than dirt sealing, Hella lamps suffer from excessive voltage drops within the units (poor unplated connectors, thin wires, common earths etc) and the optical unit tends to fall off the ball pins when the car is dropped off a transporter. It's easy enough to pop them back on - but an MOT failure for the average punter.

The tourist lever detailing is unspeakably bad - my dealer wanted £200 to remove the lamps (twice) to set and replace these for a foreign trip. Of course, there's an easier way but I wonder if any suckers paid up.

All true points, but the VW/Skoda beancounters sniffed a profit margin to be had, and "counterbalanced" the better wiring with 30% thinner wires in the loom to the headlight (1 vs 1.5), So net result is a loss of light. Also, the tourist lever on e.g. Skoda Roomster and Ford Fiesta (also Valeo) is at least as bad if not worse than the Mk1 Superb's, at least on Mk1 Superb there was access to it via main beam cap.

I also think the Valeo units perform better from new; observations being based on a number of newish vehicles.

Could not agree less, I saw the Valeo lamps in action on a Roomster and on a Fiesta. Birthday cake candles compared to MK1 Superb's Hellas. could be due entirely to the beancounter's intervention as detailed above, though.

Valeo got the OE business for the Mk2 Superb headlamps - they were probably cheaper as well.

..true, and also probably were sold on a prospect of saving in the wiring costs, because in principle the headlamp unit is better wired, why should customers get more light anyway .

So in summary, all the better points of Valeo lights got "addressed" by making the external wiring and access to the lights worse

My wife's new Roomster arrives in May, first jobs on the car are talking to BCM/J519 about headlight warnings, then HID kit for dipped beams and a ground shifter/booster for rest of the front lights. Skid plate and towbar with fully relayed electrics will follow. Was to be the other way, but after seeing how poor the Valeo lamps output is I decided they warrant immediate intervention.

Edited 12 March, 201214 yr by dieselV6

/me slaps dieselV6

Thread is from 2010... come on! :-)

Didn't notice though the points I made are still valid.

Especially the tourist levers, on Mk1 Superb the "bent screwdriver" method was sufficient to change them. On the 1.6CR Roomster I am getting for my wife, it's likely to be the ''triple bent screwdriver with laser guidance" method