Octavia headlights

[Fielder]

I've just bought an Octavia 1.2 S estate. I'm very pleased with it. But I find the headlights a little low or weak. I've adjusted them with the wheel adjuster on the dash. Is there anything else that can be done? As an experiment I kept them on full beam for a few minutes, and very few cars flashed.

[Dinesy]

The Halogen headlights on the Mk3 are pretty bad.

I have an Octy Scout and my one complaint would be the headlights!

ive upgraded the bulbs but as you say the main issue is just the distance that the light is spread in front of the car.

i suspect the HiD headlights are much better!?!

[Fielder]

Interesting. If I change bulbs I want legal ones that will pass mot. 

[FluffyEyeball]

Osram and Philips do upgraded aftermarket halogen bulbs that should be a little better, and they're perfectly road legal too.

 

I had Osram Nightbreakers in a Vauxhall Corsa once and was very impressed; I'd certainly recommend them. H7 bulbs I think they were.

[Fielder]

Thank you, that's helpful.

[Fielder]

Any other suggestions?

[GoneToBeemer]

Check the aim of the lights is correct also - it may be that they have just come adjusted too low from the factory.

[Fielder]

Ah ok, I'm useless, so I'll ask the garage!

[Rodge]

I think the main problem with mine was just that they were aimed a bit low. I asked the dealer to check the headlight alignment at the first service, and they seemed to be better afterwards. I've also put some brighter bulbs in and they seem fine now.

[jerbear]

Got Osram Nightbreakers in mine now, light is definitely improved. Tried some Mitec bulbs and lights were awful so bought the H7 from ECP and although not as good as the Xenons on my old Yeti, light spread and distance is much improved. Waiting for them to do an H15 for the mains 

[norsko]

My wife bought a 2015 Fabia with halogen head light, an it was poor.

Changed to Osram Night breaker and now the lights are much better - but not great.

My wife is happy with them (she has never had xenon or LED)

[johnrowley]

nightbreakers in the dippied and orsram CBI in the H15's  massive improvement!

[Riolux]

13 hours ago, Fielder said:

I've adjusted them with the wheel adjuster on the dash.

 

Does this really do anything in the right direction? I always thought that setting 0 was the "highest" setting, and then the light dipped to compensate for increasing load in the back, i e the car sitting lower on the back wheels?

 

But I see in the manual that setting 4 is for loaded vehicle with all seats occupied, and that setting 6 is for loaded vehicle with driver only.

[stanian]

Hi, I can reccomend Ring xenon 130, I had really poor headlights on my previous Vectra and bought these, they improved things loads, the spread of light was better and the colour whiter.

 

http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/H7-Ring-Xenon-130-12V-55W-477-Halogen-Bulbs-Pair.html

 

[Fielder]

I had some h7 put in at Halfords today. They were selling two for the price of one. Going to try them soon now it's dark.

[jerbear]

On 27/01/2017 at 07:20, johnrowley said:

nightbreakers in the dippied and orsram CBI in the H15's  massive improvement!

 Haven't tried the Osram's johnrowley, have they made significant improvements to your main beam?

my main beam does seem to be painted well to the left. I assume it can be adjusted independently from the dip.?

 

Thanks

 

[johnrowley]

13 hours ago, jerbear said:

 Haven't tried the Osram's johnrowley, have they made significant improvements to your main beam?

my main beam does seem to be painted well to the left. I assume it can be adjusted independently from the dip.?

 

Thanks

 

 

Yes the cbi  do improve matters - have a vrs now and they were not in the xenon league but much better than stock . Tried the mtech's the ring 130's and a few other cheap ones but the most expensive gave the best results . 

 

Themanwithnoaim has had very good results with the mtech ones might be worth a conversation 

[johnbkidd]

Hi

have a look at my old discussion...  

 

[themanwithnoaim]

2 hours ago, johnrowley said:

 

Yes the cbi  do improve matters - have a vrs now and they were not in the xenon league but much better than stock . Tried the mtech's the ring 130's and a few other cheap ones but the most expensive gave the best results . 

 

Themanwithnoaim has had very good results with the mtech ones might be worth a conversation 

I'm running 100w MTEC'S now and their far better, no errors either

[johnrowley]

40 minutes ago, themanwithnoaim said:

I'm running 100w MTEC'S now and their far better, no errors either

 

onwards and upwards!

[fergiet]

On 27/01/2017 at 17:36, stanian said:

Hi, I can reccomend Ring xenon 130, I had really poor headlights on my previous Vectra and bought these, they improved things loads, the spread of light was better and the colour whiter.

 

http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/H7-Ring-Xenon-130-12V-55W-477-Halogen-Bulbs-Pair.html

 

Got the same bulbs from Amazon, free delivery and a lower price. Big improvement over standard bulbs.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ring-Xenon-Brighter-Headlight-RW3377/dp/B016OQPNUA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486047726&sr=8-1&keywords=H7+Ring+Xenon130

[POWYSWALES]

Not sure if this will help but last week lidl had headlight bulbs that claimed to be bi-xenon effect, at £4 could be worth a try.

[silver1011]

On 27/01/2017 at 07:49, Riolux said:

 

Does this really do anything in the right direction? I always thought that setting 0 was the "highest" setting, and then the light dipped to compensate for increasing load in the back, i e the car sitting lower on the back wheels?

 

But I see in the manual that setting 4 is for loaded vehicle with all seats occupied, and that setting 6 is for loaded vehicle with driver only.

 

As you say if the wheel is set at 0 (or all the way up) then the lights are already as high as they'll go.

 

The manual over complicates things, the higher the load then the lower the rear suspension sits and the higher the lights point - this becoming an issue for other road users.

 

After driving an Octavia MkIII with standard lights the £970 for the bi-xenon headlights seems a worthwhile investment.

[silver1011]

On 26/01/2017 at 18:38, Fielder said:

As an experiment I kept them on full beam for a few minutes, and very few cars flashed.

 

You'll probably find this was because those drivers that didn't flash you back thought two wrongs don't make a right.

 

Deliberately driving at other road users with main beam on in an effort to gauge how bright they are isn't very ... err ... bright!

[Fielder]

You wouldn't say that if you saw how low they were. Actually at low as the excellent lights on my previous Mk 2 elegance on dip.