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I've not tried them but want to say I read somewhere they throw the beam pattern way off. I could be compeltly wrong / talking about different bulb or even car mind.
Try the Philips X-treme Ultinon, not cheap but they totally transform the night vision and make driving a lot safer. The beam pattern remains the same and you will not disturb oncoming vehicles.
Try the Philips X-treme Ultinon, not cheap but they totally transform the night vision and make driving a lot safer. The beam pattern remains the same and you will not disturb oncoming vehicles.
The Osram night breakers or the phillips equivalent , don’t get cheap bulbs on ebay , i did and wasted a load of money trying different brands , i put the osram ones in in the end and they were a lot better than the standard hid bulbs , if yours is not hid i would still recommend the same brands but there uprated versions ie the night breaker ,plus get your lights adjusted adds a lot more throw of light , night time driving is now way better 👍
Full beam is fine. They are indeed bright, so good for off-road use, but absolutely useless for on-road use [and not remotely road legal]. Its a shame that so much effort was spent designing this, only to be let down by the manufacturer not checking it actually had the LEDs in the correct places for a H4 bulb.
we have been using the new Gen2 PIAA H4 LED kits in a few of our own vehicles for 6months or so now and they transform the cars ability whilst retaining the traditional beam patterns and such to the point that both in night-time driving with a colleague and also under MOT conditions there have been no issues at all..........
we used them on our own first due to not wanting the issues that appeared with HID retro-fit kits where most were a nonsense and just threw random light everywhere
As mentioned. H4 and H2 bulbs require precise location of the bulb filament (the actual source of light) in the headlamp in order for the reflector to focus the light and create the correct beam pattern. Any lamp that uses a parabolic reflector (all car headlamps) has to have the bulb/light source fixed and aligned in a specific manner to project a proper focused beam.
This is especially true for 'crystal' headlamps that use complex surface reflectors to create the beam pattern.
Think of a overhead projector at school/college and how you focus it to get clear text. It's the same principals with headlamp reflectors. Apart from you can't adjust it (apart from jiggling the bulb about in the holder or bending/grinding the location tabs).
Even cheap and nasty halogen bulbs can throw off the beam focus and cause excessive scatter meaning light isn't being focused to where you want it and just scattered upwards and outwards rather than down and front (and dazzling oncoming traffic in the process). Same for HID retrofits, which is why most fail MOTs.
Generally the type of headlamp will dictate how good bulbs with bad filament alignment will work:
Fresnel lenses (traditional old style headlamp with a H4 bulb): Beam pattern present, but lots of scatter.
Complex surface headlamps (crystal/clear lens, usually a H7 bulb): No beam pattern at all or incorrect beam pattern. Light scattered everywhere or just one big blob in the middle (also common with badly fitted bulbs).
Projector headlamps (use a variety of bulb types, typically HB3/9005 or D2S. Beam pattern present, but dull beam and poor overall brightness (as the rear reflector can't focus the beam towards the prism lens at the front).
The latter (projectors) are the most tolerant type of headlamp for aftermarket bulbs, the worst case is poor brightness.
Edit: Beware of fake Osrams and Phillips bulbs on online shops and on ebay/amazon etc. They are in very very good counterfeit packaging, and sometimes sold at the same retail price as genuine!
Last edited by ALi-B; 02 December 2020 at 09:21 AM.
we have been using the new Gen2 PIAA H4 LED kits in a few of our own vehicles for 6months or so now and they transform the cars ability whilst retaining the traditional beam patterns and such to the point that both in night-time driving with a colleague and also under MOT conditions there have been no issues at all..........
we used them on our own first due to not wanting the issues that appeared with HID retro-fit kits where most were a nonsense and just threw random light everywhere
I think PIAA are probably the only company I'd trust to produce a good retrofit.
Back in the day I just used 90/130watt H4 bulbs. IIRC Lucas part number LLB490. But the PIAA versions seemed to last longer (they all tended to lose brightness as they aged). Also had to rewire the light circuits in some cars due to voltage drops (Jag was the worst, despite having wiring twice as thick as a Classic Impreza ).
Last edited by ALi-B; 02 December 2020 at 09:34 AM.
Yea got the night breakers think I posted pictures of the lights vs stand bulbs. There good but always looking for better lights.
Originally Posted by Vxr2010
The Osram night breakers or the phillips equivalent , don’t get cheap bulbs on ebay , i did and wasted a load of money trying different brands , i put the osram ones in in the end and they were a lot better than the standard hid bulbs , if yours is not hid i would still recommend the same brands but there uprated versions ie the night breaker ,plus get your lights adjusted adds a lot more throw of light , night time driving is now way better 👍
Not a chance I’d be installing anything but a proper branded LED conversion kit that is proven good. The Bugeye had a set installed when I bought it and they did this:
Thats not even mentioning the beam problems. One review on that eBay page states they get loads of flashes from others because they’re dazzling them but they don’t care because they’re bright. Yeah, but you’re blinding everybody coming the other way you ****!
No idea on brand but I would guess it’s like a lot of things to come from China that they all come from the same factory just with a different brand name applied.
You will love the build quality of the Philips ones I mentioned earlier, from the box to the actual product which looks totally OEM.
I can't rate them highly enough.
I bought some aftermarket lights for my truck, then ordered xenons from USA supplier (but UK spec). Following a chap who did the conversion I set about pulling apart the aftermarket lights, removing the halogen lamp assembly and installing xenon with optics. After many hours, results are two xenons with flat cutoffs to UK standards. The lamps are all run through fused relay assembly off the battery
Even with truck lights 4 1/2 ft above ground level I don't dazzle anyone, until I go full beam, then everything is illuminated
I had use them before and my opinion is that they work about the same as aftermarket HID kits. Brighter but also more glare for oncoming traffics.
I think they will be a good upgrade to the standard halogen bulbs as long as you don't get the cheapest of the cheapest kits. Those have the LED diode way off from the correct location needed for good beam pattern. Also don't forget to realign the headlamps after installing the kit, that helps reduce the glare for others.
Of course the best option is to retrofit projectors into the housing and I have done so for my own car. It makes a world of difference and the beam cutoff is extremely sharp like a Mercedes. It's quite simple to do and there is plug and play projector kits for H4 bulbs too, no more hacking the headlight housing trying to figure out how to retrofit. Look into doing the projector retrofit and I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
I've just fitted Chinese H1 LED to my blobeye. Could do with being a bit brighter but better than the standard halogen and definitely whiter (theres no such thing as white halogen bulbs, I've tried multiple versions).
the dust cover is 1/4 inch away from closing but I was able to wrap electrical tape around it to seal it. This is comparison to a supposed "white" 150% halogen.
I had use them before and my opinion is that they work about the same as aftermarket HID kits. Brighter but also more glare for oncoming traffics.
I think they will be a good upgrade to the standard halogen bulbs as long as you don't get the cheapest of the cheapest kits. Those have the LED diode way off from the correct location needed for good beam pattern. Also don't forget to realign the headlamps after installing the kit, that helps reduce the glare for others.
Of course the best option is to retrofit projectors into the housing and I have done so for my own car. It makes a world of difference and the beam cutoff is extremely sharp like a Mercedes. It's quite simple to do and there is plug and play projector kits for H4 bulbs too, no more hacking the headlight housing trying to figure out how to retrofit. Look into doing the projector retrofit and I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
This applies for any car with reflector type headlights but my experience is specifically for the GC8.
Check this video out, it tests a lot of different LED bulb kits and you can see different brands that have kits that look the same but they perform differently.
01 December 2020, 08:59 PM
LED headlight upgrade
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