Replace headlights

[BaronGlory]

Hey guys, I want to know how and is the process of changing out the headlights hard? I know that Felicias have the H4 type headlights, I would like to swap the factory lights to Halogens, I have a 2001 Felicia so face lift model do I have to take out the entire headlight unit or can I just swap the lights out without taking the housing out? Thank you.

[RicardoM]

Hi and welcome to this forum.

The procedure of replacing the headlight bulbs is described in FELICIA Owner's Manual. See page 123 here.

 

By the way, factory headlight bulbs are halogen type already.

[BaronGlory]

Hey RichardM, thank you for the reply I'm going to take a look at page 123 in my owners manual. And I kinda figured they were halogen I want to put in something a bit stronger and brighter. Thank you again,

[RicardoM]

Philips, Osram, and others promise the moon based on their marketing. In reality there is no real improvement, except for those that paid too much money on those bulbs and don't want to admit their loss.

 

In real life there is only one solution that I am aware for classic Skoda owners. See here.

[RainbowFire]

If you search on here for Polo 6N headlights, it has been said that (with a little time, patience and adjustment) you can those in a Felicia (or possibly from a Vectra). These will let you use projectors instead of reflectors, and in turn use some HIDs or LEDs with a much better (and more accurate) beam pattern to just putting HIDs in reflectors (which will result in mouch more light, but very little of it actually being usefully put on to the road). The 6N have separate assemblies for dipped and main-beam which also resolves the issue with the H4 trying to do 2 jobs at once, and failing at both.

 

Obviously this won't be done with Skoda OE parts, but the end results seem to be in keeping with the overall look of the Felicia. (Depends on how "purist" you are)

 

The conversion seems to have been popular amoung the Czech Felicia owners/forums.

 

If you are really handy, you can create your own.....projectors are fairly easy to come by, or take from another car (The ones in a BMW E36 separate from the headlight unit very easily for example) From there.....the sky is the limit.

 

A good set of LEDs beat a good set of HIDs now too, especially as they are "instant" and don't need to warm-up like HID. So you can use LED in main-beam too.

[BaronGlory]

@RainbowFire, I like the idea of projectors on a Felicia but I have nowhere near the skills of putting something like that together. Czechs are crazy about their Felicia's and they will do anything to tune and modify that car that's for sure. And the H4's I'm looking at are the Silverstars 2.0 that claim 30m distance and ~40% more brightness. Can you recommend me some H4's that are a bit more on the white/cool side and won't bust my wallet? Thanks.

 

Edited 24 February, 2017 by BaronGlory

[RainbowFire]

It is possible that one of the Czechs might have something for sale

 

To be honest, H4 has no real route for improvement. It was a cheap solution and suffers from it. 2 filaments in 1 reflector that's trying to do 2 jobs was never going to work with any effectiveness. I have a Nissan 100NX that uses H4. The best I could do was to strap on a pair of driving lights to come on with the main-beam and have them activate the fog-lights as well. Great when there's no-one else around, but back to the kakky H4 when they are.

[RicardoM]

BaronGlory

What say the Slovakian law makers about modified headlights and MOT? Do they allow driving with projectors as headlights on Felicia?

Edited 25 February, 2017 by RicardoM

[BaronGlory]

35 minutes ago, RicardoM said:

BaronGlory

What say the Slovakian law makers about modified headlights and MOT? Do they allow driving with projectors as headlights on Felicia?

I'm pretty sure you can drive with projectors on the Felicia. I'm really thinking about buying better H4's the ones I have aren't so bright at night.

[RainbowFire]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Philips-H4-Hi-Lo-beam-6200k-LED-150-23W-Headlight-bulb-lamp-White-light-12953-/122167200184

 

.......although probably more than what you'd ever want to pay for H4 (or for any headlight upgrade).