On 08/12/2017 at 19:02, mannyo said:

Do the Sportline headlights come with AFS?

 

Sure does.  All Superbs with factory fitted xenons have AFS.

Even the mk2 Superbs did too.

 

The mk3 Superb comes with a fancy xenon setup in the form of SmartLight Assist.  This one "masks" the high beams based on the vehicle ahead, or on coming vehicles.

Pretty cool, and useful feature.

19 hours ago, Alan_P said:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/93348/best-hid-headlight-bulbs-2016

However there are no pictures in the articles and magazines can be very biased in their reviews. I have a mate in the car manufacturing industry and he attended back so called group test. The car the supposedly won the off roaders test failed pretty much every off road test they did compared to the other vehicles but still won. Surprising the company that won had just signed a major advertising campaign with said magazine. This test was done in the Osram test facility so my be done bias there!!!! 

Another example of this kind of thing is a well known hifi magazine stating differences with more expensive HDMI cables which is just plainly wrong due to them being digital cables.

So magazines are not the best source unfortunately and a guide at best.

4 hours ago, JR RS said:

 

Sure does.  All Superbs with factory fitted xenons have AFS.

Even the mk2 Superbs did too.

 

The mk3 Superb comes with a fancy xenon setup in the form of SmartLight Assist.  This one "masks" the high beams based on the vehicle ahead, or on coming vehicles.

Pretty cool, and useful feature.

 

Pretty sure the AFS was an option on the MKII

 

Likewise SLA is an option even on the top spec L&K... in the UK at least.

2 hours ago, Gizmo said:

 

Pretty sure the AFS was an option on the MKII

If you are talking about the "dancing headlights" at switch-on, this is correct. I had it on my previous 2013 SII Greenline, but not on my current SII 140CR.

 

2 hours ago, Gizmo said:

 

Likewise SLA is an option even on the top spec L&K... in the UK at least.

I'm going to buy an L&K used in early January. Can anyone tell me what to look out for to make sure I get SLA (ISTR there is an option to enable in Infotainment - dynamic on? - but I may have dreamed that).

43 minutes ago, BriskodaJeff said:

If you are talking about the "dancing headlights" at switch-on, this is correct. I had it on my previous 2013 SII Greenline, but not on my current SII 140CR.

 

I'm going to buy an L&K used in early January. Can anyone tell me what to look out for to make sure I get SLA (ISTR there is an option to enable in Infotainment - dynamic on? - but I may have dreamed that).

 

The easiest way is to turn on the headlights and see if the ‘LED eyelashes’ light up (they are just a £100 option on the L&K)... they all have black ‘eyelashes’ inside the headlight but only the SLA ones are LEDs

 

23 minutes ago, Gizmo said:

 

The easiest way is to turn on the headlights and see if the ‘LED eyelashes’ light up

 

 

Thanks Gizmo!

4 hours ago, Gizmo said:

 

Pretty sure the AFS was an option on the MKII

 

 

It seems to be market - wise. In Scandinavia xenons included automatically AFS.

Don't worry too much about not having SLA (aka Silly Light Assist). It's useless on anything but highways with completely separated directions - a complete waste of money.

 

11 hours ago, Gizmo said:

 

Pretty sure the AFS was an option on the MKII

 

Likewise SLA is an option even on the top spec L&K... in the UK at least.

 

This is true.

 

And sadly we don't even get the choice of optioning our Superb with SLA in Oz!!

Dang-na-mit

11 hours ago, ionelmc said:

Don't worry too much about not having SLA (aka Silly Light Assist). It's useless on anything but highways with completely separated directions - a complete waste of money.

 

Thanks for this ionelmc - I think. Coming from truly awful halogens on the current car I was looking forward to the SLA. Not wanting to derail the thread, but is this others' experience? I do 25k+ UK motorway miles each year.

Far from it, I do lots of country lanes and dual carriageways and I must admit it is pretty impressive... certainly worth the £100 (on the L&K) 

 

4 hours ago, Gizmo said:

Far from it, I do lots of country lanes and dual carriageways and I must admit it is pretty impressive... certainly worth the £100 (on the L&K) 

 

Same here. Love mine. Coming from a Xenon-equipped Discovery 3, the Skoda lights were a huge step up. SLA is a boon.

likewise, SLA is very good for me.

On 11/12/2017 at 16:10, panmat said:

likewise, SLA is very good for me.

 

Same for me.

I love SLA too.

 

Today it saved me from having collision with a deer =). Was driving behind a bus and the deer ran from field and without the right high beam (we drive on right side) I wouldn't see far enough to see it will run right in front of me.

Well I ended up going for the Osram CBI.    Arrived yesterday and I attempted to change them this morning - there's absolutely no way I can fit my hands into the area behind the bulb.  I managed to get the plastic cover off but couldn't get any purchase on the base of the bulb unit.    I think I'm going to have to try removing the light clusters tomorrow when I have more time, it looks like 3-4 torx screws need to be removed.  If this needs a dealer visit I won't be happy, it's only changing a bulb 

Lighting technology has advanced so much in the last few years, for anyone that doubts that different lights with the same Lms won't have different characteristics, just go to your local supermarket's meat counter, the meat will look different under the cabinet lighting than it will under the shops ambient lighting.

 

The marketing today is also a pet hate of mine, it doesn't have to be a bargain, they just need to make you believe it is one or convince you that you have a problem their product can solve when it really isn't a problem, thankfully we have forums such as this to ask for real world experiences! 

2 hours ago, penguin17 said:

Well I ended up going for the Osram CBI.    Arrived yesterday and I attempted to change them this morning - there's absolutely no way I can fit my hands into the area behind the bulb.  I managed to get the plastic cover off but couldn't get any purchase on the base of the bulb unit.    I think I'm going to have to try removing the light clusters tomorrow when I have more time, it looks like 3-4 torx screws need to be removed.  If this needs a dealer visit I won't be happy, it's only changing a bulb 

 

Easiest way to change Xenon bulbs on S3 you need to take off front wheels and wheelhouse liners. Then you can access the headlights back and easily replace the bulbs.

P.S.: When you manage to get this done, please share experiences =) I'm also thinking to buy new bulbs for my S3. But I was thinking to get something more 5500K so its more "LED" look (I love the very white look on the road, the current little "yellow" looks bit old). However I am not sure if its worth the investment.

Edited 14 December, 20178 yr by JackySi

I have pretty large hands but had no problem replacing the s3 bulbs. Got a few bruises though. Was 10 mins for both sides max.

Edited 14 December, 20178 yr by Csory

12 hours ago, MaddicIrl said:

Lighting technology has advanced so much in the last few years, for anyone that doubts that different lights with the same Lms won't have different characteristics, just go to your local supermarket's meat counter, the meat will look different under the cabinet lighting than it will under the shops ambient lighting.

 

The marketing today is also a pet hate of mine, it doesn't have to be a bargain, they just need to make you believe it is one or convince you that you have a problem their product can solve when it really isn't a problem, thankfully we have forums such as this to ask for real world experiences! 

But are said "experiences" valid? Who actually recorded the difference (to make it simple lets just pretend white balance and other photography nerd stuff don't matter)? I think people might falsely get the impression that new bulbs are better just because color looks different, but in fact visibility has not improved (or even got worse - eg: colder color in rain).

7 minutes ago, ionelmc said:

But are said "experiences" valid? Who actually recorded the difference (to make it simple lets just pretend white balance and other photography nerd stuff don't matter)? I think people might falsely get the impression that new bulbs are better just because color looks different, but in fact visibility has not improved (or even got worse - eg: colder color in rain).

Are you one of those people that needs to check the ground is there before getting out of bed? What do you suggest people base their decision on? Marketing or real peoples experience?

I would honestly love to put LED's instead of Xenons into the AFS chasis. Remove balast and put LED driver directly on the PLUS that comes into Xenon balast. Should be doable but I am no expert to know how ^^. This guy did it: 

And he was kind to answer few questions to me, so I have feeling  its not that hard to do. Now with LED you do get more Lumens so this also makes brighter light on paper. But its probably street illegal.