Recommend any good headlight bulbs?

[MonkeyVR6 0]

What if I have those funny in-pro (aka 'angel eye') headlights? :?

[ben16v 0]

whats the code for sidelights again?

 

my leds have gone off and mot soon?

 

cheers

[dinkus 10]

...H4 and H3 which is what the standard C headlight uses and H7 for In-Pros.

 

? ;)

[mariojoshi 1]

The sidelights are NOT 501 wedge fit, although many places will try to tell you that all sidelights are!

 

They are either 223s or T4Ws (i think it's t4w.. or tw4 anyhow..) Same bulb, but with two different codes.

[paul20v 0]

Are you sure about that? I have a Mark 2 as well and it definitely has all four lights on on main beam and, if you think about it, the two-light grille must have a main beam on the H4s or it wouldn't have a main beam at all :?

 

I'm not saying you wouldn't have four lights on, just that the H3s will be on and the H4s will only be on the dipped beam filament when main beam is selected unless you hold the stalk all the way back which will do the main beam filament on the H4s. Try it on your Mk2, select main beam holding the stalk back, if I'm right it should get brighter, my C did. I questioned a mate who had a Mk2 when I got my C cos I thought it was buggered and he said his had all been like that. It seemed daft to me so I was happy when the Loom sorted it out.

 

hi

there seems to be a little confusion here standard headlights on c, h4 main beam filament does come on with main beam and h3 it only becomes brighter on flash because you are supplying an extra live to the bulbs which is what the uprated loom would do,this is also true of the golf which suffers from the same problem and many other vag models of this time .

[paul20v 0]

It was the fact that you can buy bulbs that output more light but are the same wattage (Phillips, Halfords etc.), I thought the original idea of having a 55/60w limit was to stop cars having lights that could dazzle one another, mind you, domestic lightbulbs have always been sold in the same way, which can make it difficult to choose the right energy saving one, the 'equivalent to 60W conventional bulb' isn't always accurate in my experience.

I've not found 80W dipped beam elements to harm my lenses either, although I dare say they are hotter than 55W ones.

Are the Halfords (higher light output) bulbs any good?, I see they are doing BOGOF again.

 

Wattage is basically 'flow' and voltage is 'pressure' in mechanical terms.

 

The new higher light output style bulbs are just a refinement of manufacturing tolerances producing a smaller unit but one that outputs more light. By increasing the wattage you will increase the heat in the bulb but depending on the type of driving you do, lots of stop/start in town or motorway, will impact the heat in the headlight due to a cooling airflow. The lenses can take the heat but the reflector being plastic sprayed with chrome is not at all heat tolerant.

 

The whole dazzle thing is long out of the window, HIDS are terrible and the fact that a lot of MOT testers never adjust the beam pattern correctly does not help either.

hids are fantastic if you use the inpros or any projector light as they dont rely on the bulb for beam image its done with a plate in the unit

but hid does tend to have an issue with standard lights as the shielding and the light globe is never quite right in the light to give a perfect beam image

 

The Halfords 50% super brilliance bulbs are good, combined with a 30% H3 bulb I found a marked improvement over the uprated bulbs I had previously fitted and a 'whiter' light pattern with more range. However, the philips xtreme power bulbs are better again with a very crisp white beam pattern and I find that I am no longer searching for reference points when vehicles with bright lights pass me.

 

As for overall Corrado headlight performance I believe there are several issues:

- The wiring loom is too long and pulls too much power due to resistance before it reaches the bulbs.

- Headlight bulbs should be changed every 2 years (Most people just change them when they fail).

- The headlight lense is probably very pitted on most peoples cars unless they have been changed.

- The reflector being made from plastic sprayed with chrome will have degraded, again unless this has been changed.

 

All of these factors are making the quality of light output very poor, although a good clean of the lenses with some glass polish and a new set of good quality bulbs does make a huge difference.

[ben16v 0]

The sidelights are NOT 501 wedge fit, although many places will try to tell you that all sidelights are!

 

They are either 223s or T4Ws (i think it's t4w.. or tw4 anyhow..) Same bulb, but with two different codes.

 

thanks

[mattnorgrove 0]

Just fitted my uprated loom and replaced the original bulbs for Halfords 50% brighter (dipped and main) and the difference is fantastic. They had a 2 for 1 offer on the H4's for the Dipped, and went for Super Blue H3's for the High Beam, as they had none others. Gotta say, for £60 inc loom, its an amazing upgrade....