Upgraded Bulbs - Which ones...

[marshole82 0]

Hey,

 

Gonna be upgrading my wiring loom on the headlights, fogs and main beams and i would like to upgrade to the phillips 80%+ bulbs in all 3 lights.

 

I have noticed that these come in H3 H4 H7 etc and have no idea what this is or which would fit my 91 valver.

 

Can anyone help me? :shrug:

 

Oli

[Mystic Rado 0]

The fogs and high beam spot are both H3 in standard Corrado headlights, the dip/main one is H4, so you'll need four H3s and a pair of H4s. Relaying them makes a massive difference btw, with the uprated bulbs, you won't believe how much better things are :-)

[RallyRaddo 0]

I bought the uprated relay kit a few months ago. Thought this was going to resolve the problem of trying to drive with a couple of candles. How wrong I was to think that.

 

Now the darker nights are in, I see very little difference in the light being put out. It's still like driving on sidelights & have had to resort to using front fogs on the country roads just to see where I am going.

 

I saw an advert in this months Performance VW Mag where a dealer was selling Angel Eyes for a Corrado, but with Christmas fast approaching, + £200 isn't what I want to go forking out right now.

 

I spotted among a few others, these PIAA's on the Demon Tweeks web site:

 

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/products/ProductDetail.asp?cls=MSPORT&pcode=PIAH284

 

These all look appealing:

 

# H4 draws 60/55w produces 130/120w (H-88)

# H4 draws 80/80w produces 150/150w (H-89)

# H4 draws 60/80w produces 140/165w (H600)

 

BUT.................

 

I have concerns over the heat being generated by the bulb and the integrity /safety of the headlight lens.

 

I used uprated bulbs in my old Land Rover Discovery rally car, without any problems but am assuming the Land Rover lenses are a lot thicker than a VW lens.

 

Any thoughts from anyone please?

 

Cheers

 

Kev

[marshole82 0]

on the whole loom from, i won't be buying a kit as have heard mixed reviews, i will be creating the relay circut myself and following a guide on matey-matey which seems to be pretty good. i think i will go with the phillips bulbs although more expensive. i'd be concerned of the heat output too, especially since i have not heard anything about these PIAA ones....

[craigowl 0]

RallyRaddo said - "....have had to resort to using front fogs on the country roads just to see where I am going."

 

Careful using foglights in Scotland, man. The police may well charge you if the weather is not "visibility less than 100 metres in fog or falling snow", both quite rare events. Believe me, I know of two cases personally.

[RallyRaddo 0]

Duly noted Craigowl. Much as I HATE using fogs when the weather doesn't warrant it, the lights are THAT bad, I need to use them. Thankfully it's only on the homeward journey from work at the end of the day, 90% country roads.

 

E-Mail now sent to Demon Tweeks asking about bulb temperatures, so hopefully get the bulbs replaced before too long.

 

Kev

[davidwort 0]

I've been running a 4 relay setup for my dip and main beam left/right separate relays for over 8 years now with 80/100W conventional bulbs in the main headlight unit, standard H3's in the spots.

Although I've probably only done about 45K miles in that time and not a great amount of that with the main beam switched on, I also fitted brand new headlights around the same time so I think it's a fair test of what the reflectors can withstand. They still look like new after 8 years and when you consider the original reflectors only lasted 10 years on standard 55/60W bulbs I don't think you're going to have much trouble as long as you don't go above 100W mains.

If you think about it, when you have main beam on you are generally travelling at a reasonable speed so the lights get cooled by airflow, so with 80W dips you're only going to be putting out a little more heat than standard.

I have to say, even with ageing bulbs at the moment, my relay setup with 80/100W mains is excellent, enough to make anyone who fails to dip their mains coming towards me to regret it!

[Mystic Rado 0]

Yep, I'm running much the same set-up as David, and the same on my Mark 2 GiT - more than enough light to see exactly where you're going on dip and massive illumination on mains.

 

Rallyrado, if you're running a decent uprated loom and still have poor lights, I'd check that the reflectors are still reflective - they die with age - and, if you've not already swapped the bulbs, do it. Halogen bulbs deteriorate with age too, so if you've never changed the bulbs, they could be ancient, like five years old or something. Those PIAA bulbs are stupidly expensive, either go for the Philips +80 things, or if you're sure your loom is up to it, buy some Philips Rally high wattage ones on the web.

[Critical_Mass 10]

Just bought 2 x Halfords 90%+ H4 bulbs £18.99 each. BUT Buy one get one FREE at the mo!!!! 8)

[RallyRaddo 0]

E-Mail now sent to Demon Tweeks asking about bulb temperatures, so hopefully get the bulbs replaced before too long.

 

Kev

 

Demon Tweeks didn't reply, so just as well I telephoned PIAA directly .........

 

According to "Joe", there will be no temperature problems with the H4 80/80w (150/150w) He also said these bulbs are used by all the top rally teams (Subaru, Mitsubishi etc) so now he can also tell future callers that Kev uses them too :clap:

 

Will order a pair of these on Friday and fingers crossed, they do the trick. If they don't then I will struggle through till after Christmas & upgrade to Angel Eyes. Couldn't find anywhere on the Web that sold standard Corrado headlights & have a feeling A/Eyes from Venom will be cheaper that standard VAG sourced ones.

 

Marshole, you got those Phillips yet?

 

Kev

 

[Mystic Rado 0]

The PIAA H4s appear to cost 66 quid plus VAT each, that's about £150 for two. You could probably buy some Angel Eyes for not that much more. Plus if you do buy InPros or similar, they use H7s, so the H4s will be useless to you.

 

Autoexpress tested PIAA bulbs and said this:

 

'If you’d spent the better part of £50 on these, you’d be disappointed. Despite claims of producing 110/100W instead of the standard 60/55W, we saw little sign of it in the tunnel. And to make matters worse, one of the samples created too much glare.' H4 bulb test. They did another test last month and the Philips X-treme 80 plus won - here.

 

If you haven't stuck some new standard or uprated bulbs in already, give it a try, the Halfords ones sound like a good buy at the moment and at BOGOF you could buy six of them or the Philips X-treme for the price of a single PIAA. Honest mate, I'm running Philips 100/80 Rally bulbs with an uprated loom and they are ace - like these.

 

Anyway, good luck sorting it out, bad lights are crap.

[RallyRaddo 0]

Excellent info Mystic, thanks!

 

The PIAA's were £86 for the pair delivered, but as you say, with the Halfrauds deal, it's worth following up.

 

Cheers

 

Kev

[RallyRaddo 0]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CA-hdcwp50Q

 

 

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/products/230061/lightbulb_test.html

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I'm running Philips 100/80 Rally bulbs with an uprated loom and they are ace - like these.

 

Hmmmm, tempted, VERY tempted. I did the 4 relay / 4 fuse setup a long time ago, with 30 amp cable, but there's the whole legality issue for me with those bulbs. I have the kind of luck where I'd get rumbled by the fuzz for it.

 

How are they lasting for you?

 

I ran some 100W/150Ws several years ago in my MK1 Jetta, and they were just plain nuts! I got flashed by pretty much everyone coming the opposite way and that was just on dipped beams, and yep, they were correctly aligned. Massively bright. I used to get so much glare off traffic cones, it actually made it difficult to see properly through road works.

They were awesome bulbs, but i just couldn't relax enough to enjoy them due to blinding people and the potential threat of Inspector Morse pulling me over. Oh, and the small matter of them lasting

 

Rally Bulbs are just that, for Rallying. They're not endurance bulbs.

 

Still tempted to risk it though :lol:

[Mystic Rado 0]

The ones in my Mk 2 have lasted for ever, or at least two to three years of regular driving - 100/80 H4s and 100 H3s. I don't get flashed and I've never been pulled for them, they've also been through MoTs not problema, both on the Golf and the Corrado. They seem to last fine and Philips make good bulbs.

 

I was concerned about annoying oncoming traffic when I first fitted them, but with just 80 on dip, it doesn't seem to be an issue as long as your alignment is right. They're still putting out less lumens than factory-fitted HIDs and at least they're not at eyeline level, like those bloody Landrover Discoverys.

 

I was a lot less happy when I briefly had an HID kit fitted. That gave an appalling beam pattern in the Corrado and while it was a lot better in the round headights on the Golf, with a really clean cut-off, the main beam performance sucked and I felt like I was driving around with a big sign saying 'nick me' on my windscreen. I'd take a loomed and high-wattage bulbed Corrado over an HID kit every time :-)

 

I do have some proper HID projectors and ballasts sitting waiting to be housed in a spare set of headlight housings, but I've never got round to doing anything with them, partly because I can see where I'm going anyway and I kind of like the stock look.

[KipVR 1]

I fitted some Halfords Rally bulbs when i fitted a loom five odd years ago and yes they are brilliant! they were still in there working until I took the car off the road last year, although I'm sure the heat from the bulbs has caused the plastic tabs on the casing to go brittle quicker and I had a couple break (which is an expensive break)....I have now purchased new headlights and plan to fit xeons.....

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Cool, I think I'll go with those Philips bulbs then. Thanks chaps.

 

The 100/150s I used were back in 1993, so I think things may have improved since then :lol:

[_leon_ 0]

Why not convert to HIDs? I'm looking for some early next year

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Because of what Mystic Rado said earlier :wink:

 

The projection beam is crap with Corrado lamps apparently. I believe what he's saying because he put a heck of a lot of time and effort into it :D

 

Just ordered the 90W100WH4s and 100W H3s. £49 delivered for all 4, not bad!

[davidwort 0]

I have heard recently that some of these 30/50/80% higher light output H4's don't maintain their brightness for long, far worse than an ordinary 55/60W Halogen bulb, of course this isn't picked up in magazine tests.

If this is the case then sticking to a set of new 80/100W bulbs may be better for me as my old ones have lasted for years with consistently good output.

The main reason for a change is one of my 80/100s popped after 5 or so years use and I'm running a 55/60W I had knocking around in one headlight at the mo.

 

Anyone have any long term experience of the Halfords or Phillips higher light output bulbs?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yep, me. I bought the Phillips Extreme +80% last year and the H4's have "gone off" already. The H3s are still very bright though, but they get seldom used.

[davidwort 0]

....I have now purchased new headlights and plan to fit xeons.....

 

 

will that be a 2GHz or 3.2GHz version :)

[_leon_ 0]

Ah i either read too quickly or neglected to read. Or maybe it was a lurking manager nearby ;)

 

MysticRado - you're using the Phillips Rally bulbs? Kev what and where did you buy?

[Mystic Rado 0]

Yeah, I'm using the Philips Rally, bear in mind you need an uprated loom or you risk frying your wiring, switchgear etc, you might need to uprate the fuses in the loom as well.

 

On the HID front, it's not as simple as people like to thing. Reflector headlights are designed to work with a specific halogen bulb and a light source in an exact position generated by a filament. HIDs work completely differently, they strike an arc across gas to produce light often in a different plane to a halogen filament, so to work acceptably they have to be in the exact same spot and in the same orientation as the halogen bulb they replace.

 

So that's kind of finnicky anyway. They're also producing a lot more light, so having a sharp cut-off is important. Most OE HIDs use projectors designed specifically for HID. Halogen projectors can also give okay results.

 

I also reckon the Corrado headlight design isn't fantastic. The shield that sits in front of the bulb didn't seem to work well with the particular design of HID bi-xenon bulb I had, which were the HIDS4U.co.uk bi-xenon ones. Bottom line is that I had a crap beam pattern. It may be that some HID kits work better, I've never actually seen anyone post a Corrado HID beam shot on this forum though. So anyway, that's my take on it. The same kit worked much better in the round headlights on my Mark 2 GiT with a sharp cut-off btw.

 

It may be with the right HID kit you can get acceptable results, but unless I'd seen an identical kit in action in a Corrado, I'd be wary. And then there's all the dubious legality bit as well...

[KipVR 1]

....I have now purchased new headlights and plan to fit xeons.....

 

 

will that be a 2GHz or 3.2GHz version :)

 

Ha ha, oops :grin:

 

It may be with the right HID kit you can get acceptable results

 

I hope so because I really wanted to fit HID's but if your saying they don't shed the light well then I definately don't want to fit them as I don't wan't to be one of those inconsiderate ******* that blind people coming the other way. Phat and Coxylaad have both fitted Xenons and post up pics of the cut off, both of which seem fine though :shrug:

 

Just ordered the 90W100WH4s and 100W H3s. £49 delivered for all 4, not bad!

Kev, when you've got them in can you post up a comparison pic before and after?