Hi

I have only had my superb a couple of months and have not really noticed how poor the headlights are until the last week or so, with it now being dark on my way into work.

Can anyone recommend any new lamps to try? I do not even know what type of lamps it has in at the moment.

Any tips guy's ?

Thanks

John

For halogen, try Philips X-Treme Vision H7. They are pretty good in my opinion. I have retro HID.

+1 on Xtreme Vision, or Osram Nighbreaker Plus .

However, if you want to match output of any decent reflector headlamp, you need to put at least 50W HID in.

What diesel wrote. I'm using 60W.

I like the sound of HID but just a little unsure as i don't fancy getting hassle from the plod. I have looked at some kits but they are only 35w.

Read this post of mine in Roomster forum

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/252326-09-projector-headlights-very-weak-help/#entry2965989

If your fears are allayed (and you have projectors like most/all Mk1 Superbs), then in post #10 of the same thread you have a search string for Ebay and similar to get 55W and 70W kits. Though the topic has been discussed many times before, search for my posts and HID. For main beams though, I recommend a different route, boosting voltage to halogen bulbs. But low beam HID works best.

I fitted Ring Xenon Ultima, supposedly upto 120% brighter on the road, they are very good in honesty and at 20 quid a pair are reasonable....maybe worth a go??

I have the 2.5 v6 and find the standard HID poor compared to those on my last car a Honda Accord Exec. However, there appeared to be a small improvement when warmed up ( or am I deluding myself?).

I have no complaints on the main beam but could not say if first owner upgraded the bulbs.

I have just fitted 50w HID (6000) to my motorbike and WOW what a difference.

Thanks Dieselv6 I will follow your guidance if I upgrade the bulbs and ballasts.

hi john,

the ring 120% bulbs are good. I've had them in my civic and were pretty good even with 14 year old reflector lenses.

Also recomend the Philips xtreme vision. Remember, if the bulb has too much blue on the coating you will loose output but it makes it whiter.

The bulbs im using atm are not entirely for road use...160watt Ring Rally bulbs. Very good but if inspected aren't for road use

As for HID's......its a grey area. "laws" are a bit vague and differe depending on where you look. If you don't have projector lenses then I wouldnt even give it a go but if you've got projectors its worth a go for the cost of a kit (£50?)

Also there are 2 kinds of projector lense, Halogen and hid. HID's generally will have a very sharp cutoff point which is normaly completely flat where as the halogens will be closer to that of a reflector beam pattern.

Actually, there is no difference between projector halogens and hids in the optics, headlight unit is exactly the same for Mk1 Superb, and in general all Hella projectors used in all VW group cars have had the same Z-beam pattern for both halogens and HID for 10+ years if not from the start.

Only halogen reflectors have different beam, but then HID conversion in reflectors invariably results in unbearable glare, do not do that.

All these 120% and 160% bulbs have also much shorter lifetimes, usually under 200 hours, even from reputable companies.

For high beam, they may be worth a try, for low beam it is a waste of time, when HID will produce still 1.5x - 2x the light of your "superbulbs" and at 35W to 50W will probably cost similar over a period of just 2 years.

160W bulbs? Not in the Mk1 Superb, even main beam will not take more than 90W actual power in repeated use, the plastic rings around the bulb will slowly melt at this power (and guess how I know that...)

Plus if you used it in the low beam, unless relayed, you may find that the voltage drop is so high you are running this bulb below 10V (and below 50% rated output ) and it is far better to run Philips Xtremes at stock 55W power. If in doubt, put xtreme in one light, 160w bulb in the other and use light meter to compare both.

there are differences, possibly not in vag lenses though.

I've tested many bulbs in H4 guise, not using a light meter but simply which lights the road up better and i've found the 130/160w ring rally bulbs to be pretty good and no problems with low lifespan. same goes for the philips xtreme vision, Ring 120%+ and many others

As for actual power....they will not pull 130/160w. Would be interesting to clamp them and work out the actual watts being pulled

H4 are a different animal altogether, they usually end up in a large volume reflector and heat is less of a problem there. Superb's lights are H7 low beam and H3 projector fog, H3 reflector high beam. The last 2 lights do have a problem with 90W+ power.

Actual power from 130W bulb would be approximately 90W on Superb's wiring, so borderline, 160W would be over 100W and too much for prolonged use, at least in the Superb's lights.

But that is beside the point that the 160W bulb will produce only about 1700 lumens due to large voltage drop (below 10V, and bulb will still take 100W and melt the housing). Far better to relay the bulbs with Schottky diode bypass for some softer start, e.g. relayed Osram NB+ / Philips Xtreme will produce ~1800 lumen from just stock 55W, and if you put a voltage booster and soft-start them to 15V, they will make 2500+ lumen taking still about 65W (but longevity will drop to 100 hours, so it is a good trick for high beam only).

HID kit beats all of the above in low beam due to longevity and far lower power consumed, works out cheaper in the long run unless you drive only in daytime.

As dieselV6 has pointed out:

No matter what, I would definitively get some relay cabling directly from the battery to your headlamps, then you'll see a huge improvement. The normal wiring sucks huge...

H4 are a different animal altogether, they usually end up in a large volume reflector and heat is less of a problem there. Superb's lights are H7 low beam and H3 projector fog, H3 reflector high beam. The last 2 lights do have a problem with 90W+ power.

Actual power from 130W bulb would be approximately 90W on Superb's wiring, so borderline, 160W would be over 100W and too much for prolonged use, at least in the Superb's lights.

But that is beside the point that the 160W bulb will produce only about 1700 lumens due to large voltage drop (below 10V, and bulb will still take 100W and melt the housing). Far better to relay the bulbs with Schottky diode bypass for some softer start, e.g. relayed Osram NB+ / Philips Xtreme will produce ~1800 lumen from just stock 55W, and if you put a voltage booster and soft-start them to 15V, they will make 2500+ lumen taking still about 65W (but longevity will drop to 100 hours, so it is a good trick for high beam only).

HID kit beats all of the above in low beam due to longevity and far lower power consumed, works out cheaper in the long run unless you drive only in daytime.

its true my expirence has been with different kind of bulbs but they are not in a large housing. Have you even seen a 6th gen 5dr civic headlights? They are not big at all.

Also, if your bulbs are seeing 10v you have much bigger issues than poor headlights

The problem with HID is getting a decent beam pattern and the fact that none of the kits are EU marked or 100% legal. Thats a massive grey area because some MOT stations are passing them when they shouldnt really. Its more of a get it and see if you can get a decent beam pattern from it.

I saw a 106 yesterday which was a perfect example of why they need to sort the legislation out. It was blinding everyone but probably passed an mot like that

Right now I'm in the middle of doing some improvements to my bi-xenon headlights (OEM - Elegance trim).

For a start, I am replacing the headlights themselves for much younger ones in better condition.

Removing and cleaning the shield.

Replacing the fresnel lens in the projector with a clear ZKW one. OEM one gives a blurred yellowing beam.

Relaying the main beam straight to the battery. Nightbreaker H3 bulbs too.

Installing a pair of Osram Silver Star +30% output (at 35W) award winning D2S bulbs.

5xLED DRL strips in the bumper to preserve those new powerful HID bulbs in daytime. WIll take before and after photos and post here when completed. Just need some time to do it, not easy with two small kids and days being as short as they are now!

Will these ones be any good? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261090668315?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

Been quite busy with work so not had the time to do anything about the lights yet.

looks ok to me

its true my expirence has been with different kind of bulbs but they are not in a large housing. Have you even seen a 6th gen 5dr civic headlights? They are not big at all.

Also, if your bulbs are seeing 10v you have much bigger issues than poor headlights

The problem with HID is getting a decent beam pattern and the fact that none of the kits are EU marked or 100% legal. Thats a massive grey area because some MOT stations are passing them when they shouldnt really. Its more of a get it and see if you can get a decent beam pattern from it.

I saw a 106 yesterday which was a perfect example of why they need to sort the legislation out. It was blinding everyone but probably passed an mot like that

Any H4 housing is lat least 2x larger than projector housing, this is due to bulb design

That 106 had reflectors not projectors, do not use hids in reflectors unless it is factory fit. I have yet to see a successful HID reflector conversion that does not blind with glare

10V-11V loaded constant high beam bulb voltage (ie when both low beam and high beam bulbs are lit) in Superb is standard. (high beam not held on flash, indicator lever in high beam constant on position), engine running. This is because high beams in this position are stealing power from low beam circuit, no relays in stock wiring there. Hence the large voltage drop (3 switches in line, fuse box and a long double forward/return run of <2.5sqmm wiring).

PS. The HID kit shown above looks OK, but I prefer to buy from sellers who advertise lumen rating as well, you should be looking at 4500+ lumens / lamp..

Sorry for interupt theme, but I didnt want to open new topic, I just interest did anyone of you tried to improve light in boot? I would agree that headlights are poor, but buble in boot....man!

Yes i did, why?

I used LED strips and a constant 12V driver with 9 ~ 20V input.

Can you post photo to see how it looks like?

Can you post photo to see how it looks like?

It's about 1000 Lumens @ 4000 Kelvin

Edited 17 November, 201213 yr by Cown

Tnx, it look sooo much better than Oem bulb.

Right now I'm in the middle of doing some improvements to my bi-xenon headlights (OEM - Elegance trim).

For a start, I am replacing the headlights themselves for much younger ones in better condition.

Removing and cleaning the shield.

Replacing the fresnel lens in the projector with a clear ZKW one. OEM one gives a blurred yellowing beam.

Relaying the main beam straight to the battery. Nightbreaker H3 bulbs too.

Installing a pair of Osram Silver Star +30% output (at 35W) award winning D2S bulbs.

5xLED DRL strips in the bumper to preserve those new powerful HID bulbs in daytime. WIll take before and after photos and post here when completed. Just need some time to do it, not easy with two small kids and days being as short as they are now!

OK, finally settled for OSRAM COOL BLUE INTENSE OR CBI D2S bulbs and OSRAM Nightbreaker H3 for main beam. The Nightbreakers were around £10 for the pair, and the CBIs I imported from Germany, around £85 delivered. On UK ebay they are £115 delivered. Did the change in a bit of a hurry so I did not remove the projectors as I intended for a clean up, but I did give the reflectors a bit of a wipe with a cloth as much as I could by inserting my finger through the bulb hole (D2S) and it did pick up some black dirt.

Put it all together again and then went for a drive. Immediately the results were fascinating. Even though the road was wet and dark there was significantly improved vision, longer and wider beam and significantly brighter despite being very very slightly blue, which, with the cheap imported bulbs tends to mean low light output (those are 6000K, while the CBIs are 5000K).

The other impressive thing is that the main beams blend perfectly between xenons and halogens, similar light colour and the main, just like the dipped beams are equally impressive, much better distance vision and unlike in the past, now there is no distinguishing line between dip and main.

Yesterday I covered another 280 miles, mostly in the dark and the rain and there is no comparison with the old Philips 85122 bulbs. Those were pretty bad in the dry, and in the wet were outright dangerous as the dark/black wet road surface reflected no light at all.

I look forward to a dry night drive now! I can sense another "wow!" coming! What's also interesting is that the D2S bulbs should take a 100 hrs or so to bed in so can only get better still! I am very very happy and can only recommend this setup to anyone who is not happy with their ageing bi-xenons.

Thanks for this, been pondering weather I would be better changing the very aging DS2's in mine.