You have Rallys for main and Silverstards for full?

No. Rallys for main beam, Silverstars for dipped beam.

I have the following setup:-

Side - little piddly Philips free 5W5 bulbs that came free with...

Main - Philips Blue Vision H7

Full - Philips Blue Vision H4

Fog - Philip Blue Vision H4

(I think are the right sizes :confused:)

I did buy some 5W5 LED clusters but they had 9 LEDS so wouldn't fit

For the Fabia you should have H7 for dipped beam (or main as you refer to it) and H3 for main / full beam.

The Osram Silverstars and Philips Vision Plus are both +50% output bulbs that will comprehensively outperform the Blue vision lamps for the H7 dipped beam. The X-Treme bulbs will be a noticeably better than the Silverstars or Vision Plus bulbs.

For the main or full beam, the bulb type is H3. These are available in standard or Philips Premium +30% types if you are staying with stock wattage. If you are happy to go for higher wattage, the Philips Rally or Halfords Rally in 80W or 100W rating seem to work very well as many here will testify. Remember however that the bulbs with ratings above 55W will be not strictly legal for road use.

Edit: Fogs are probably only worth changing if going to a yellow bulb. Blue light will be worse in fog than stock bulbs as blue light is more easily scattered than stock.

Chris

Rally Bulbs, 100W

eBay.co.uk Shop - Autobulbs Direct and Ghost Styling: High Performance: H1 80W RING SPORTZ BLUE XENON HEADLIGHT BULBS

I managed to find some 130 watt ones :D

Rally Bulbs, 100W

eBay.co.uk Shop - Autobulbs Direct and Ghost Styling: High Performance: H1 80W RING SPORTZ BLUE XENON HEADLIGHT BULBS

I managed to find some 130 watt ones :D

The Ring ones are well known for throwing a bit of a random pattern. I think positioning of the filament is not as good as the Osram and Philips bulbs. Also, the blue 80W are not as bright as the Osram Silverstars.

Chris.

Just ordered a set of dipped silverstars from Welcome to Power Bulbs - upgrade xenon car bulbs, headlight bulbs, autobulbs and autolamps from Philips, Osram and GE

£20 delivered with a set of "white" sidelights (£17 after discount). Enter "Launch15" at checkout for a 15% discount on this plus any other order.

Is there not a risk of causing a fire using these high wattage rally bulbs? They must draw more current is the wiring up to it. Mind you I have not heard of anyone having problems????

Is there not a risk of causing a fire using these high wattage rally bulbs? They must draw more current is the wiring up to it. Mind you I have not heard of anyone having problems????

The Osram Silverstar +50%, Philips Vision Plus +50% and Philips X-Treme +80% are standard 55W H7 bulbs that will not pull more current from your wiring.

The Rallys are higher wattage and may be of concern to you. Many here have run them without problems as the main beam.

Chris

Are there any how-to's for the Fabia headlights or are they relatively straight forward? Only I've seen lots of mention of losing bits of hands...

The theory of changing the bulbs is easy but the space to do it in is not. Driver's side I think is pretty straight forward, but passenger side I ended up removing part of the battery box to give myself a bit more room.

If you have xenons it's even tighter!

Chris

Hi all,

Just had one of my Philips Silverline bulbs go on me and was wondering what are the best bulbs on the market at the moment, have they advanced on these yet since our last dark spell?

(H7 fittament before anyone asks :P)

Or should I just go for rally bulbs ?

Cheers all

what about a HID conversion?

i did one to my vectra and its the best move i made as far as bulbs go. the lights so white and daylight like it makes driving in the dark a pleasure! after i fitting them i went to a mot station and just asked them to properly align them up. he did so without any trouble and even said how white the ligth produced was. on the plus side they dont heat up as much as normal halogen bulbs so theres no worry of melting anything. in fact i know of a few people who have upgraded to HID bulbs in their fog lights too

^

you cant fit HID lights to DE-style lights such as the Fabia's because the beam pattern isnt concentrated as it is through a projector type lense.

Ive done it, and i have a beam pattern. No one has flashed me neither. got 6000k in.

Anyone interested in a set for cheap PM me

^

you cant fit HID lights to DE-style lights such as the Fabia's because the beam pattern isnt concentrated as it is through a projector type lense.

is that the lights on the new fabia? thought they would be the same projector lens you get on factory xenons?

Nope they are Dual Eppsiloid where in the light is scattered off the back of the lense rather than through a concentrated "projector"

The theory of changing the bulbs is easy but the space to do it in is not. Driver's side I think is pretty straight forward, but passenger side I ended up removing part of the battery box to give myself a bit more room.

If you have xenons it's even tighter!

Chris

heh, no kidding! All done and dusted though, filthy but uninjured.

Can't fault powerbulbs.com - got the Phillips Xtreme H7, Blue Vision sides (freebie) and silver vision indicators for under £40 delivered, ordered on Tuesday night and arrived this morning.

I only did this because of this thread and for the cosmetics - but having removed my old bulbs the nearside dipped bulb has started to lose the tip coating! There looks to be a couple of bits floating around inside the reflector - does the main headlight front/cover come off or is it a sealed unit?

did you fit those to the dipped beam?

The Xtremes? Yes.

Get back to me on the beam pattern as I noticed a scattered wall of light either side of the car on country roads after fitting.

Ive done it, and i have a beam pattern. No one has flashed me neither. got 6000k in.

Anyone interested in a set for cheap PM me

Don't want to rain on anyones parade, But after market HiD's could potentially cause a load of grief!

I posted this email i received on an other thread but bu66ered if i can find it

The Department cannot provide an authoritative interpretation of the law; that is a matter for the courts.

In the Department's view it is not legal to sell or use after market HID lighting kits, for converting conventional Halogen headlamps to HID Xenon. If a customer wants to convert his vehicle to Xenon HID he must purchase completely new Xenon HID headlamps. The reason for this is that the existing lens and reflector are designed around a Halogen filament bulb, working to very precise tolerances. If one places a HID "burner" (bulb) in the headlamp, the beam pattern will not be correct, there will be glare in some places and not enough light in other places within the beam pattern.

The Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989 (RVLR) regulate the situation in the UK.Under these Regulations, HID/Gas Discharge/Xenon headlamps are not mentioned and therefore they are not permitted according to the strict letter of the law. However new vehicles have HID headlamps. This is because they comply to European type approval Regulations. The UK cannot refuse to register a vehicle with a European type approval. These are to ECE Regulation 98 (for the HID headlamps which are tested on a rig in a laboratory) and ECE Regulation 48 (Lighting Installation on the vehicle). For the after market, a used vehicle cannot obtain type approval because it is only applicable for new vehicles. However we feel that saying "HID is banned in the after market" would not be reasonable. Instead we should make analogies with new vehicles.It would be reasonable to require HID in the after market to meet the same safety standards as on new vehicles.

Therefore a HID headlamp unit sold in the after market should:

1. be type approved to ECE Regulation 98 as a component;

2. when fitted to the vehicle should enable ECE Regulation 48 to be complied with;

3. Comply with RVLR as far as "use" is concerned. In practice this means:

(a) the headlamp unit (outer lens, reflector, bulb) shall be type approved to ECE 98 and be "e-marked" to demonstrate this. That can only be done by the headlamp supplier - Hella, Valeo etc. who must test the headlamp in an independent laboratory (NB a headlamp originally fitted with a halogen bulb will not have ECE 98 approval so a HID bulb cannot be installed in these lamps);

( once fitted to the vehicle it must have headlamp cleaning and self-levelling (which can be for the headlamp or can be in the vehicle suspension - some cars have "self-levelling suspension" and that is adequate). Also the dipped beam must stay on with the main beam.

© the headlamp must be maintained in good working order, kept clean, and aligned/adjusted correctly like any other headlamp.

Under the Road Traffic Act 1988 it is an offence to supply, fit or use vehicle parts which are not legal. In summary it is not permitted to convert an existing halogen headlamp unit for use with HID bulbs. The entire headlamp unit must be replaced with one designed and approved for use with HID bulbs and it must be installed in accordance with the rules stated above.

Yours sincerely

Jillian Smith

DfT - Transport Technology and Standards

In short, if VOSA, VSA or whatever they call themselves these days, conduct roadside checks you could have a prohibition served on your motor- Sorry but best you know!

Get back to me on the beam pattern as I noticed a scattered wall of light either side of the car on country roads after fitting.

Does this shed any light (ahaha) on it?

My thoughts are that it hasn't changed - it's just MUCH brighter and thus more noticable.

Yes thats exactly what mine are like.

A note of caution.

I fitted X-treme H7's to my 55 Ambient tdi 140 a few days back, and today whilst cleaning I noticed a dark grey "staining" of the lens immediately in front of the dipped beam reflector.

It's worse on one than the other, but definitely noticeable. Changed back to the originals. Wasn’t there when I fitted the x-tremes.

Have these bulbs burnt the lenses? If so I’m not well pleased!!

Anyone else suffered this?

Letter to Philips me-thinks.

Rgds

A note of caution.

I fitted X-treme H7's to my 55 Ambient tdi 140 a few days back, and today whilst cleaning I noticed a dark grey "staining" of the lens immediately in front of the dipped beam reflector.

It's worse on one than the other, but definitely noticeable. Changed back to the originals. Wasn’t there when I fitted the x-tremes.

Have these bulbs burnt the lenses? If so I’m not well pleased!!

Anyone else suffered this?

Letter to Philips me-thinks.

Rgds

That sounds very odd. The bulbs have a standard 55W consumption and should make less heat than stock bulbs as more energy is transmitted as light. Overheated polycarbonate tends to go yellow or milky if the lenses are made of polycarbonate that is.

Chris

I agree. 55w more light less heat. Checked the bulbs and they are marked 55w.

Attached some photo's. Hope they explain, but it was very difficult to capture by camera, and other reflections distract, so I have identified some of the problem marks on the worst unit.

The photo's have also been "equalised" to exaggerate the marks.

Rgds

Andy

I agree. 55w more light less heat. Checked the bulbs and they are marked 55w.

Attached some photo's. Hope they explain, but it was very difficult to capture by camera, and other reflections distract, so I have identified some of the problem marks on the worst unit.

The photo's have also been "equalised" to exaggerate the marks.

Rgds

Andy

Hi Andy

That looks like contamination has got into the headlight shell to me. I will check the MR2 projectors more closely, but have not noticed anything like it yet. UV damage would take longer than three weeks. Could be heat damage, are you sure you just did not notice it previously? If it is new damage, letter to Philips would be in order.

Chris

I'm getting a set of X-treme's now. A bulb popped the other day, so I'm running around in the one the spare bulb kit had in it - and that's now empty. Looking forward to getting them in now that winter's coming.

Oh, and the squeeze doing the nearside bulb changes was so bad I had to put my battery in the boot. Honest. :P