I uprated the H7 headlamp bulbs in my car with Ring xenon ultima and they have lasted 3 and 4 months respectively. The retailer is going to replace them free of charge for another make which is very good of them but I'm wondering if anyone else has had the same issue?

 

 

To get higher light outputs from filament bulbs you almost always lose bulb life, but I was getting several years from the uprated bulbs in my last Octavia. I was using Philips extreme visions IIRC. 

I got around 3 months from one of my first Osram Nightbreaker Unlimited, they replaced it FOC. Then got 6 months out of them. Philips ones did last longer. With coming home/leaving lights and them coming on in tunnels etc the longevity will be compromised.

I reverted back to standard bulbs too as the higher rated / performance bulbs had a significantly shorter life.

I uprated the H7 headlamp bulbs in my car with Ring xenon ultima and they have lasted 3 and 4 months respectively. The retailer is going to replace them free of charge for another make which is very good of them but I'm wondering if anyone else has had the same issue?

 

Have you considered a HID kit?

 

As long as you buy a quality kit, fit it correctly and drive considerately (manually adjust the headlight level from the dash switch when carrying heavy loads) then I've found they offer a huge improvement during the winter months.

 

Does the Outdoor have headlight washers? If so then this removes even more doubt come MOT time.

When my car was being NCTd in Ireland in December last year, the tester leaned on the wing while testing the lights to check whether the automatic leveling function was working correctly. If the UK testing is similar then the days of getting away with HID installations without automatic leveling may be numbered.

Simply leaning on the wing doesn't activate the self leveling headlights on my factory fitted xenon equipped Octavia.

 

He'd be far better watching them self-check against a wall when the ignition is turned on.

 

Are you sure the bloke didn't have a bad back and was resting 

He spent a lot of time leaning on the wing while looking at the readings on the headlight testing tool, so this is what it looks like he was doing anyway... I had the lights adjusted upwards a lot directly after buying the car too, so I was a little worried when I saw him spend so long on the light levels.

Hi silver1011. I have considered the HID kit but having waded through all the posts on the forum regarding this issue I left it as there was so much conflicting information and advise.

 

Can you advise on the steps regarding VCDS and parts required for my 2013 car?

 

The Outdoor does have headlamp washers although I've pulled the fuse on mine as it was using daft amounts of screen wash.

HID kits divide opinion that is for sure.

 

The great thing about the MkII Superb is it uses the same projector type headlights / lenses whether it leaves the factory with halogen or xenon's (within reason, there are some small changes but the principle is the same). HID kits really are only suitable for projector type headlights. Fitting them to a headlight with reflector type lenses creates issues with scatter which is where all of the dazzling and complaints tend to arise.

 

The first thing to consider is the quality of the kit. There are lots of cheap Chinese kits out there. The best kit (as per the thread linked below) has been fitted to many MkII Octavia's and my MkII Superb and is trusted to be a very good quality kit. It comes from a seller on eBay called London Colour (small digital ballasts, ceramic bulb bases, high grade silicon wire, CE approved etc.).

 

A lot of pages but worth a read...

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/264447-hid-aftermaket-kit-help-for-definitive-how-to/?hl=%20definitive%20%20hid

 

There are two types of HID kit, CANBUS-friendly and non-CANBUS.

 

The CANBUS system on modern cars (inc. the MkII Superb) monitors the cars bulbs and flags an error message on the dash if a bulb blows. If you fit a non-CANBUS kit to a Superb it will work but you will get the blown-bulb warning on constantly.

 

However, the so-called CANBUS-friendly kits have (in a few cases) proven to be not so friendly. They contain load resistors to fool the CANBUS system into thinking all is OK. These have been known to result in module failures and wiper motor failures etc.

 

So the best thing to do is get the non-CANBUS kits and instead properly code the car to tell it that xenon bulbs are fitted to prevent the blown-bulb warning. This is what I have done.

 

This is the kit, you need to ask for H7 for the Superb...

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/XENON-HID-CONVERSION-KIT-H1-H3-H7-H9-H11-HB3-HB4-9006-/330379335700

 

You can also choose the colour, 4300K is OEM (same as the factory xenon's) although some prefer 5000K. Don't go higher as they get too blue and light output diminishes.

 

The kit is simple to install, instructions are included (and the thread earlier also shows what to look out for), however you do need VCDS to code the car during the fitting. This is why most people go for the CANBUS-friendly kits as they can't find access to VCDS, although the coding takes seconds, the longest bit is booting up the laptop!

 

I've been running my London Colour HID kit now for almost two years (so two winters) and have covered almost 60,000 miles with the headlights on roughly 3 hours a day during the darker months without issue. They really are a big improvement over halogen.

 

The concerns over their legality are genuine and should be considered carefully. Cars with xenon headlights should have auto-leveling (sensors on the suspension detect a heavy load in the boot and do the job of lowering the beam for you as to avoid dazzling other road users) and have headlight washers as any scatter of the beam through dirt on the lens can also dazzle.

 

I've found using some common sense (manually adjusting the beam using the knob next to the headlight switch and keeping the lights clean with a cloth) ensure I don't danger other drivers, in fact I've yet to be flashed and I do a lot of rural driving on unlit roads with lots of corners and crests.

 

My car has also passed it's first MOT at a Skoda main dealer without issue.

 

The choice is yours but I wouldn't go back. My only note is to make sure my next car has them fitted already!

Edited 9 April, 201511 yr by silver1011

I bought a box of 10 bulbs from the local cheap shop for tenner , they last as long as any amazingly

Me and a mate had a pair of Vectra B's that would blow anything other than a gen GM bulb, he held the record at 20 mins for one bulb, a good one would go for ten days.