headlamp upgrade

[jonnyboy54321]

Hi all
Early (1998) 95, with the segmented lenses. Light output not up to modern standards really. Brand new bulbs as I fitted new headlamps.
Another marque's forummers reckon Osram Nightbreakers are the dogs danglies, anyone got any thoughts? Cheers.

 

[Doodle]

Yes, they're great bulbs but also make sure they're aimed properly (and by that I mean not by the MoT station).

 

[Chris]

Upgrade the wiring harness with a plug-in wiring harness upgrade kit. You can go bigger and badder with the lamps but if the wires won't carry the juice all you do is heat up the cable.

Take a piece of cable. Shove it in the back of the lamp fitting onto the main or dipped prong and switch your lights on. Then touch the other end to the battery. You should see the light jump up a notch. If you do, then clearly giving it more power is a good thing. If it doesn't change then you aren't under supplying the lamp. I did this and the difference was appreciable. I got a couple of kits from the states. Came in around £50 for the pair inc postage. The ARB one is over £100

 

[AndyCook]

I might have one of the USA kits for sale shortly

Sent from my GT-P1010 using Tapatalk 2

 

[jonnyboy54321]

drop me a note as and when with some details please then Andy, cheers

 

[adrianr]

I got the same kit as Chris - nice to be able to see where I am going in the dark!! Does make an appreciable difference.

 

[froggy Steve]

Just buy a chuffin great big light bar! Amazing
Steve

 

[Towpack]

You could try a HID upgrade kit, the only problem being they work very well in some headlight units and are terrible, bordering on dangerous in others so ideally you could do with trying one out first if possible. On my 80 they work perfect (good focus and light spread) in the inboard main beams but were shite in the outer main/low beam units with dual filament H4 bulbs so I upgraded the inner mains to HID and fitted some Phillips Extreme halogen filament bulbs, same wattage as OE, in the outers. I also have 2 bumper mounted Hella HID driving lamps. The difference between HID and even the brightest filament bulbs is huge. Never had a problem with the OE wiring personally. Routing a wire direct to the battery made no difference.

 

[Chris]

In my newer (by one year) 80 the headlights are vastly better. I shall stick the wiring kit in just because I can. But the lights are actually very good

 

[clivehorridge]

I went to HIDs and like Chris said, the scatter on the beams was all over the place. When I had the re spray, of corse everything was stripped off for the prep. When I got the car back the lights were fantastic. He said with care, the HIDs can be set much better! And he was right!