Quick HID bulbs question

[Jim Bowen 1]

Complete kit with all the ballasts, the relay and wiring.

 

It's an H4 Hi/Low fitment, so for cars where a single headlamp bulb is used for both dipped (low) beam and full (high) beam.

 

 

The kit is a direct fit for H4 bulb headlamps:

• Remove your halogen bulbs and fit the HID bulbs - you may need to widen the rubber dust cap behind the headlamp to allow the HID wiring through.[/*:m:c8b74]
  
• Locate the HID ballasts (one per bulb) in the engine bay and secure with either sticky pads or the supplied brackets[/*:m:c8b74]
  
• Locate the relay (needed for the hi/low function) and attach the positive cable to the battery and earth the negative cable to the chassis/engine block[/*:m:c8b74]
  
• Plug all the parts together and turn the lights on![/*:m:c8b74]

 

This kit uses a moving reflector to switch between the two beam patterns and not an old Halogen bulb to do the high beam function (which is what my Corsa kit did and was crap on high beam).

The kit in my Corsa took me 30 mins to fit and that included removing the headlamps."

 

 

Is this any good for a corrado? will it improve things?

 

i really know feck all about these things?

 

Many thanks

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Do the search mate, this topic has been covered a few times already.

 

The consensus was you get mixed results with HIDs when using the standard glass headlight panels. The refraction is all wrong.

 

I don't like these hi/lows. There's a big delay when flicking to high beams, so you can't really flash people through gaps.

 

Personally speaking, save your cash and fit the new Phillips Extreme bulbs. Proper white light. You can see just how white because the original H3 spots are yellow in comparison!! Can't wait until Phillips dish out the H3 bulbs to go with the excellent H4s.

[Jim Bowen 1]

i did just buy some bulbs from halfords that were meant to be good, they even claim to be "super" :!

 

yet superman is amazing, he is a "super" man, i would expect a "super" bulb to be equally as amazing, when in reality they are just ok

 

i think i'll give the HID a miss, although is the refraction much different to a normal bulb? I would of thought the light is gonna act the same but be brighter?

[dinkus 10]

Have you got an uprated headlight loom? That made the biggest difference to my lights and when combined with some of the (legal) 40% brighter type bulbs you can actually see pretty well at night.

 

Be careful with the (illegal) higher wattage bulbs tho - I bought some headlights off someone a few weeks ago and when I looked inside the plastic connector that plugs onto the bulb had melted!

[Jim Bowen 1]

found this while searching = fab info, i was just needing to find out what the kit pictured is

 

http://the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewtopic. ... d&start=15

 

@Dinkus, no i don't have an uprated loom, just the one that came with car (i assumed its standard), The guy i bought car from seemed to like his VW's but didn't know much about the little problems with corrados

 

i'll check nothing has melted, i just have the halfords super brilliance, came in a gold box :! = must be special :lol:

[Yandards 0]

You won't cook the lenses when the using the correct wattage bulbs; the Halfords super brilliance ones and the philips extreme power ones are both using standard wattage and getting the extra from decreasing the tolerances on the manufacture for a better quality of product. Dinkus is referring to bulbs that are sold for 'off-road use only' and are around 100w instead of 55w.

 

I would avoid HIDS myself, especially if using standard reflectors, mostly for the reasons that Kev has mentioned but on top of that a HID kit in the wrong headlight can really blind people driving the other way, especially in the wet.

[Mystic Rado 0]

I found a very similar kit - one from hids4u.co.uk didn't really work well with the headlight design in my 'rado and I'm about the rip the thing out and go back to halogen. It's also more complicated to fit to a Corrado because you'll need to drill holes in the back of the removable headlight access cover things to feed the wiring through to the bulb.

 

I'm wary of saying the kit won't work as there seems to be so many variable involved, but I found that I got a very poor beam pattern with the Corrado. The lighting was massively worse than the uprated loom / bulb set-up I have in my Mark 2.

 

I'll probably chuck the HID kit in the Golf just to see how it performs with a conventional round headlight, but to be honest, I'd go with an uprated loom and possibly higher wattage or the new Philips 80%+ bulbs first.

 

I have the gubbins to retrofit some proper HID projectors into a spare headlight set at some point, but not the time right now - too busy riding my bike :-)

[dinkus 10]

Yup to all Yan says, the bulbs you've got will be fine, but the illegal 100W+ ones will melt stuff.

 

The standard headlight wiring is pants - you get 11v at best to the bulbs, but with an uprated loom you get the full 12v+

 

It's also an advantage because you're then not running the full headlight current through the headlight switch, so it doesn't get warm and less likely to go crunch.

[Mystic Rado 0]

Will the 100-watt bulbs really melt stuff? I use 100/90 H4s and 100-watt H3s in my Golf with an uprated loom without problems and a good beam pattern. Which bits melt on the 'rado?

[Yandards 0]

The reflector, this means a new headlight unit at around silly money a side. (£200 IIRC)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The 100+ Watt bulbs blow like nobody's business aswell...... especially if sat in traffic and there's no airflow over the lense to cool them.

 

As Pinkus Panther says, an uprated loom is key and I'd recommend a full on relay and fuse per bulb job :-)

 

The Phillips Extremes really are excellent. They're the ONLY "+50%" type bulb I've put in and thought, wow, they do actually work.

 

Reason being the bulb tube is actually a lot smaller than a standard H4 and phillips have crammed in even more gas, so the combination of more gas compacted into a smaller tube results in what I would class as pure white light by Corrado standards. As mentioned before, I have Halfords He-Man Super Spider Man spandex shiney H3s, but the Phillips Extreme H4s p1ss all over them......so come on Phyllis, where are those H3s??!??

[vwdeviant 0]

So are the Phyllis H4's readily available now Kev? Last I heard they were "on Back order" so went out and bought the Halfords He-Man Super Spider Man spandex shiney H4's on BOGOF...

[Yandards 0]

So are the Phyllis H4's readily available now Kev? Last I heard they were "on Back order" so went out and bought the Halfords He-Man Super Spider Man spandex shiney H4's on BOGOF...

 

I've got 2 sets sat in the garage ATM, one set fitted to the VR.

 

Really good bulb even without the uprated loom.

[coolrado 0]

I have been running standard H4's with 130W halfords rally H3's for the high beam on an upraded loom for 6 months now and the headlights and wiring loom have coped absolutely fine so far,

no melted reflectors and no melted connectors even after an 8 hour long drive mostly at night on empty country roads where the lights where on high beam most of the time,

but then the H4's have a reflector in front of them that would probably focus the heat on to the rear reflector more so that may cause a problem.

I had a word with a guy from a company that was selling Hi/Lo HID kits at one of the shows and he suggested that the reflector in front of the normal bulb in the housing should be removed when using some HID kits as it will mess the pattern up.

[dinkus 10]

I've no idea what bulbs the headlights I bought had been running, but the connector for the H4 bulb had properly melted - the metal contacts were still making a connection, but the plastic had melted the thing in place and took a fair bit of jiggery pokery to get it off the contacts.

[coolrado 0]

The H3's dont have a plastic connector on them so that is probably why they have been ok for me.

[Yandards 0]

I think running the H3s at a higher wattage you may well get away with, especially if you are driving as the airflow over the lights helps to keep the temps down.

 

I would not recommend them but I will state that doing the same thing to your H4s will cook your reflectors, especially as you will be using this stuck in traffic in town with all the heatsoaked joy that that brings.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

So are the Phyllis H4's readily available now Kev? Last I heard they were "on Back order" so went out and bought the Halfords He-Man Super Spider Man spandex shiney H4's on BOGOF...

 

Last time I looked they were, but I had to wait nearly a month for mine!

[Mystic Rado 0]

I had a word with a guy from a company that was selling Hi/Lo HID kits at one of the shows and he suggested that the reflector in front of the normal bulb in the housing should be removed when using some HID kits as it will mess the pattern up.

 

That's interesting - I'm guessing he means the metal bipod with a hole thing in it that slots in front of the bulb. I was thinking that myself, but I couldn't be arsed with pulling the headlight apart to see if it worked, then having to put it back in again if it didn't...

[corradog60stage4 0]

the stock wiring is not adequate to run higher wattage rated bulbs. you would need to relay them or replace the existing wiring with more heavy duty gauge wiring to take the increase in load the 100watt plus bulbs require. Even with the electrical upgrade there is high chance that the housing or lens may melt or crack because of the heat.

 

I run HID in my lows, highs, and fogs and they emit only 35watts of heat so no issues with melting or cracking housings. Also i have them relayed so no strain on my electrical too.

 

But everyones decision or choice is their personal preferences.