Any suggestions for a Halogen Bulb upgrade for my Kodiaq

[C2atb]

I suppose I’m a bad selfish man .

Most people wouldn’t approve of the rest of the car either but all reversible and the way I like it . 

Edited 31 December, 2018 by C2atb

[Platlet]

If the setup of the Kodiaq is the same as my Octavia Scout mk2 then I would steer well clear of a HID upgrade. It is well publicised (on this forum) that due to the high voltage start-up of the bulbs it eventually burns out the front wiper motor!! Strange but true. I chose not to and fitted Osram night breakers in my Octy.

[silver1011]

Only if you fit the CANBUS-friendly kits to avoid having to code them properly.

 

Using the non-CANBUS friendly HID kits on the Octavia and then coding the car to think it left the factory with xenon headlights prevented the issue (damaging the BCM / CECM).

[--Doug--]

Interesting thread...

 

I ordered a Kodiaq SE Technology back in September 2018 and it has halogen headlights as standard and there was no option that I could see to specify full LED headlights. I really appreciate a good dipped beam and specified bi-xenon with AFS on my current Octavia Scout which was new in March 2016. It's been fantastic so I'm not looking forward to returning to halogen headlights which seems like a serious retrograde step on a £30,000+ car in 2019. Why did ŠKODA not just fit full LED hadlights right across the range in 2019?

 

I've been watching developments in aftermarket LED lamps for a few years to see if any become road legal or even have an acceptable brightness and beam pattern. I think I'll end up just fitting a decent set of extra bright Philips H7 lamps rather than try to fit aftermarket HID or LED kits.

 

I did a quick eBay search to see what used LED headlights cost from breakers and the few that were listed cost between £200 and £400 per side. Gulp.

 

I can't add much to ye olde "blinded bi xenon" debate except to say that I have noticed that vehicles with high mounted (presumably) factory fitted HID or LED lamps (e.g. Range Rovers) dazzle on dipped beam by default but I don't suppose that bothers the owners. I seldom get flashed in the Octavia but my old 2005 Audi TT had extremely bright HIDs. I remember being shocked when similar cars came up behind me how bright they were.

 

Doug

Edited 21 February, 2019 by --Doug--

[Yogi-Bear]

2 hours ago, --Doug-- said:

which seems like a serious retrograde step on a £30,000+ car

 

Only the SE Technology isn't a £30,000+ car... every variant of Kodiaq that costs anywhere near £30,000 has LED headlights.

[--Doug--]

20 hours ago, WiggosSideburns said:

 

Only the SE Technology isn't a £30,000+ car... every variant of Kodiaq that costs anywhere near £30,000 has LED headlights.

The SE Technology 2.0 TDi 150 PS 4x4 DSG I ordered with three options including metallic paint is a £30,000+ car. I'm pretty sure when I checked on the car configurator last year that it started from around £28,500 so near enough to round up?

 

Most Kodiaqs come in at over £30,000 U.K. list price before discounts so in my book the Kodiaq is a "£30,000 car".

 

Doug

[Yogi-Bear]

9 minutes ago, --Doug-- said:

I'm pretty sure when I checked on the car configurator last year that it started from around £28,500 so near enough to round up?

 

That's the starting price of an SEL, which has full LED headlights. So I stand by my comment.

 

Your car was £30k because of your choice of engine and gearbox. The starting price for the SE Tech - and therefore the price for the 'trim' and equipment it has - was a lot lower.

[silver1011]

From January 2018...

 

[Yogi-Bear]

1 hour ago, silver1011 said:

From January 2018...

 

Wow. Didn’t realise it was that much...

 

Only being available as a diesel (thanks to being aimed at company car drivers and so low BIK) doesn’t help - a petrol SEL would actually be a lot better value thanks to retail promos etc.

[--Doug--]

On 22/02/2019 at 17:00, WiggosSideburns said:

 

That's the starting price of an SEL, which has full LED headlights. So I stand by my comment.

 

Your car was £30k because of your choice of engine and gearbox. The starting price for the SE Tech - and therefore the price for the 'trim' and equipment it has - was a lot lower.

Yes, indeed that’s fascinating and interesting, many thanks.

[Yogi-Bear]

42 minutes ago, --Doug-- said:

Yes, indeed that’s fascinating and interesting, many thanks.

 

You're welcome.

[Panosnaval]

On 30/12/2018 at 13:20, C2atb said:

No pics sorry , new chip style led LED . I did have to correct the left hand headlamp beam for some reason as it seemed to pointing over to the right from factory . 

While yes not strictly legal in UK with the setting of the beam relatively low power and a less scatter chip led and beam adjusted  . I’ve never been flashed at also friends in front have advised no glare . 

No bulb warnings on either high or low beam 

 

Hi,

 

This is Panos from Greece. Just a question please, how you managed to access the mid beam bulbs? Especially when you need to unscrew the base of the bulb? Did you remove the headlight?

 

Thanks

[Winston_Wolf]

Hi Panos, l assume “mid beam” is referring to the main (i.e. dipped) beam headlights. I replaced the halogen H7 bulbs in these last month without having to remove the headlight units.  Refitting the bulb holders is not an easy task though as the access is very restricted, especially if you have large hands. You have to use just the tips of your fingers to twist the holder back into its locking position.

 

I replaced my H7 bulbs with “Bosch Plus 90” ones (£12 a pair on Amazon) and the performance improvement is staggering. They give a much brighter and whiter light. That said, I think that with the original bulbs my Kodiaq probably had the worst performing headlights that I’ve had on a car in the last 25 years, very dim and extremely yellow in colour.  I really couldn’t believe just how bad they were when I first drove the car at night on an unlit road.

[silver1011]

1 hour ago, Winston_Wolf said:

Hi Panos, l assume “mid beam” is referring to the main (i.e. dipped) beam headlights.

 

Main beam is high beam is full beam...

 

 

Dipped headlights or low beam...

 

[silver1011]

4 hours ago, Panosnaval said:

Hi,

 

This is Panos from Greece. Just a question please, how you managed to access the mid beam bulbs? Especially when you need to unscrew the base of the bulb? Did you remove the headlight?

 

Thanks

 

Presumably you have the entry level halogen (non-LED) headlights?

 

From the owner's manual...

 

 

[Winston_Wolf]

42 minutes ago, silver1011 said:

 

Main beam is high beam is full beam...

 

 

Dipped headlights or low beam...

 

OK, thanks - bad choice of words.  For the avoidance of doubt, I was referring to the dipped low beam bulbs which are a pain to change. The high beam ones are however very easy to access.

[Panosnaval]

Thank you all for your replies.

 

Sorry for the concussion, I was referring to the low beam (dipped) bulbs that are very difficult to reach. I'm thinking for Led bulbs with new chip technology that give better concentration of the light.

 

If you replaced with same length halogen bulbs then you was ok as you just turned the holder left and put it out. Hope will last long.

 

But led bulbs are bigger in length and have different base so another issue is if I will need to unscrew the base you see in front of the holder. This cannot be done for sure...you can't even put a screwdriver over there.

[silver1011]

No doubt legislation in Greece is different to here in the UK, but there aren't any H7 LED bulbs that are E-Marked, therefore they're not legal for use on UK roads.

 

Also, bear in mind that quite a few people have successfully retrofitted LED dipped headlight bulbs to their reflector-type headlights, and quickly removed them. Have a quick search over in the Octavia and Superb sections.

 

They simply don't work effectively. The halogen / reflector headlights are specifically designed for the light output from filament bulbs. The LED's are brighter, but not when retrofitted to headlights designed to work with regular bulbs.

 

 

[C2atb]

A H7 led kit if good quality will be exactly the same length and fitment . The cheap big ones are bad and the beam is just scattered with no cut off . The bulb holders are a bit tricky to get into but you don’t need to take the light out . To take the light out it’s bumper off job  

[Panosnaval]

Thank you very much, i have seen the mini led kits that are exactly of the same length with halogen. so your kit was just plug and play and all fitted?