I have ordered standard headlights on my Fabia Vrs which will be arriving shortly. Basically I am looking an simple answer to my questions on the topic.

1) Where is the best place to get Xenon bulbs to put in my standard headlights online? (I have looked on E-Bay but am unsure due to large amounts of differnt types)

2) What price range should I be looking at as I want both my main beams and sidelights to be Xenon?

3) Is there a paticular brand I should be looking at?

4) Do I have to perform any modification to the headlights?

I was not prepared to pay

As I understand it, you can't put Xenon bulbs in halogen headlights. You can get Xenon-effect bulbs, but I'd recommend going for some Osram Silverstars for dipped beam and Rallye 100W bulbs for main beams (from www.powerbulbs.co.uk) as these greatly improve visibility for

Xenons is a bit of a buzzword at the moment.

If you want to do it "properly", then you need HID (high intensity discharge IIRC) which requires the special ballasts and those are the kits that cost £300+ These are the kits that have a higher temperature (bluer light).

I bought some dipped beam "Xenon" bulbs for my fabia the other day, at £17.99 I think each, but they have a winter special offer where you buy one, get one free, so essentially, got a pair for £18 They're pretty bright, although not 50% brighter than they claim to be compared to my standard lights. But of course, they're still halogen and have a filament which glows.

Proper HID lamps use the xenon inert gas to generate the light, not the filament. It's a totally different technology.

If you want the best bang for buck, I'd look at www.powerbulbs.com and get some Osram silverstars or other.

edit: Chris beat me to it

Do a search - standard "halogen" uprated bulbs have been discusses in many threads.

Anyone who claims to have a HID Xenon bulb which gives a nice blue light for about £20 is lieing. I'd stay away from Ebay too unless the bulbs advertised are from a reputable manufacturer (osram, phillips, etc)

Hope that clarifies more than confuses

Or you could even try:

he does a nice xenon color match lamp for about

but I'd recommend going for some Osram Silverstars for dipped beam and Rallye 100W bulbs for main beams (from www.powerbulbs.co.uk) as these greatly improve visibility for

As I understand it' date=' you can't put Xenon bulbs in halogen headlights. You can get Xenon-effect bulbs, but I'd recommend going for some Osram Silverstars for dipped beam and Rallye 100W bulbs for main beams (from [url']www.powerbulbs.co.uk[/url]) as these greatly improve visibility for

Call me by the book but are the Phillips Rally 100w bulbs not illegal on public roads??

Yes they are....there is also a small chance of them affecting the headlight lens as they put out more heat than a standard bulb

Call me by the book but are the Phillips Rally 100w bulbs not illegal on public roads??

Yep, but as I only use the main beams when there's no-one else around, no-one will notice anyway I've run them for 20k miles on the Fabia and 15k miles on the Mondeo with no ill effects at all

Chris

Yep' date=' but as I only use the main beams when there's no-one else around, no-one will notice anyway I've run them for 20k miles on the Fabia and 15k miles on the Mondeo with no ill effects at all

Chris[/quote']

Just a quick question, does the car still pass an MOT with those on?

Just a quick question, does the car still pass an MOT with those on?

Yup - gone through 2 MOTS

Chris

I think it is a major problem however when people start using the 100w H4 versions Grrrr

'Xenon' halogen upgraded bulbs are an improvement over standard bulbs, I'd say about 25%. HID upgrades (within the 4000k to 7000k temperature band) are about 250% brighter than stock.

I've got a HID conversion kit on mine now (which was a royal PITA thanks to the cramped engine bay), but before that I had upgraded halogens. HID's are great, but they cost a lot more, although for the brightness increase per pound, they're cheaper than some halogen upgrades!

One thing to make sure of is that you choose bulbs on performance, not looks; I bought a pair of PIAA 'spark-blue' bulbs a while back because of the claims of appearance similar to HID's and I had no concerns with performance because of the heritage of PIAA, but the bulbs were downright dangerous - about 30% of the brightness of 'standard' bulbs. Likewise, with the high colour temperature HID's, 9000k and above, they may look pretty to some (the police don't tend to share this opinion by the way), the light output is apalling.

As for 100w bulbs, each to their own - I personally have stuck with upgraded halogens for main beam, I'd rather not put my wiring loom through nearly twice the current load, but maybe I'm overcautious.

Hope this has helped.

I honestly don't see the point in buying these aftermarket 'kits' (H.I.D that is) when you could simply buy the factory fitted option for not much more ?

P*ssing about in the engine bay for hours on end to fit a 'kit' that is sub standard to the factory one ?

I could understand it if someone had decided that later on they made a mistake not to purchase the option, but to muck about wih a conversion that has no washers, suitable water bottle, and most importantly warranted and factory fitted, waste of time as far as i'm concerned. Sooner buy Silverstars etc and live with the mistake.

In my case, my car was bought second hand and besides, AFAIK, didn't have HID's as a factory option. My kit was indeed fiddly to fit, but well worth it. I think that any time spent under the bonnet of a car is good time, even if you don't achieve much, you're learning about the car and accumlating a knowledge that may be useful should anything ever go wrong.

My HID kit was less than £130 including P&P and the results are superb. I agree, they're probably not built to the same tolerances as the OEM product . . . but on the other hand they might been even made in the same factory. Time will tell as to their reliability.

Besides, I can still easily change my sidelights and mainbeams, and my HID dipped too if I ever need to.

If you do run a HID kit without the Washers and Auto-leveling system you are in all honesty breaking the law, although its a grey area most sellers of GHID kits state in teh small print that they recommend these kits be used on private ground or for show / display purposes.

It not yet a requirement of the MOT to look at Xenons in respect of the 'other' bist that you ned but its going that way - MOTs are getting stricter (I have a mate who is an MOT inspector)..

Also, IMO, I don't think HID kits are worth it; the hassle, the risk to other road users, etc.

But each to their own

In my case, my car was bought second hand and besides, AFAIK, didn't have HID's as a factory option. My kit was indeed fiddly to fit, but well worth it. I think that any time spent under the bonnet of a car is good time, even if you don't achieve much, you're learning about the car and accumlating a knowledge that may be useful should anything ever go wrong.

My HID kit was less than

Ok folks I have decided to get Osram Silverstars for my low beam off a guy on e-bay who is doing a good price. Looked at powerbulbs.co.uk and got Phillips Blue Vision H3's for main beam along with a free set of Philips Blue Vision W5W sidelight bulbs. I've got all this for under

Ma$er, your side light & Main beam are integrated in the same lens. Dipped the other one. Someone will give you advice on the fittment of the bulbs.

I believe it is only the projector lens headlights which have sidlelights in the main beam area, with standard headlights it's in the dipped beam area.

Changing the bulbs is fairly straightforwards, undo the bonnet and inside . .. :

For the drivers side:

Unclip the black plastic cover to the headlight assembly. The sidelight is a small plastic cylinder with two wires coming out of it, near to the bottom of the assembly (you can judge where it is by looking at the outside of the headlight and then looking inside). This plastic cylinder is fiddly but it just pulls out, give it a bit of a twist as you do it - it comes out quite suddenly, though.

The dipped beam is on the outside of the assembly - pull the electrical plug off the end of the bulb, so you are faced with the two prongs that are the bulb contacts. The wire frame unclips (if you look closely you'll figure out the mechanism), swings around the the bulb comes out. Replace the new bulb with the indentation in the flange at the top, might need a bit of fiddling to get it to seat properly. Swing the clip back and plug the power supply back. The same story with the main beam.

For the passenger side:

the only difference here is that I find it a lot easier if you remove the side of the battery cover nearest the headlight, three clips about an inch down from the top, pull the cover out slightly then upwards. Gives you a bit more space. Then, as for the drivers side.

The Fiesta you are referring to sounds like it has H4 bulbs - combined main beam and dipped filaments in one bulb, the furby has seperate reflectors and bulbs.

Hope this has helped!

Ok folks I have decided to get Osram Silverstars for my low beam off a guy on e-bay who is doing a good price. Looked at powerbulbs.co.uk and got Phillips Blue Vision H3's for main beam along with a free set of Philips Blue Vision W5W sidelight bulbs. I've got all this for under