Dear All
There seems to be plenty of adverts out there for these Blue "SuperWhite" H4 and H7 Headlamp Bulbs.
Has anyone used them?
Are they any better than the normal bulbs?
Would they be OK to pass an MOT?
If they are brighter, any problems with additional heat?
Thinking of using them in my C5
Thanks
Andrew
Headlamp Bulbs - Blue
Moderator: RichardW
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Your basic blue bulb is a bog standard halogen bulb with a coating that makes the light look blue. This coating reduces the amount of light coming out of the bulb, so they arent actually brigher than the normal bulbs.
There are some bulbs like the Philips Vision Plus and Osram Silver Star that I'd recommend over standard bulbs (these are the only ones I'd recommend). These are a normal bulb, i.e. standard wattage. They have a smaller filament that is run hotter than in your standard bulb which means they produce more light (and less heat) than a normal halogen bulb so there is no problem with additional heat or melting your wiring loom etc, the downside is that if you run an element hotter it doesn't last as long but some of this is mitigated by making the filament from a higher quality material. These sorts of bulb (the Philips and Osram) are legal, so they'll pass an MOT and brighter than a standard bulb.
There are bulbs that claim to be Xenon filled, or brighter than standard but a lot of these aren't, in fact a lot of them are cheap and particularly nasty. Autoexpress did a group test some time ago, the results were suprising. Some of the better quality standard bulbs out performed some of the cheaper "brighter" bulbs, and the cheapest blue bulbs performed particularly badly.
I've got Philips Vision Plus in my Xantia but I'm told that Osram Silver Star are marginally better, they're both a similar price which is to say that they're more expensive than your standard cheap and nasty bulbs.
What I forgot to mention is that the BIGGEST difference you can make to the performance of your headlights is to keep the lenses clean. If you think about how often you use your wash wipe to keep the screen clean, that should give you some idea of how much dirt your headlights pick up.
There are some bulbs like the Philips Vision Plus and Osram Silver Star that I'd recommend over standard bulbs (these are the only ones I'd recommend). These are a normal bulb, i.e. standard wattage. They have a smaller filament that is run hotter than in your standard bulb which means they produce more light (and less heat) than a normal halogen bulb so there is no problem with additional heat or melting your wiring loom etc, the downside is that if you run an element hotter it doesn't last as long but some of this is mitigated by making the filament from a higher quality material. These sorts of bulb (the Philips and Osram) are legal, so they'll pass an MOT and brighter than a standard bulb.
There are bulbs that claim to be Xenon filled, or brighter than standard but a lot of these aren't, in fact a lot of them are cheap and particularly nasty. Autoexpress did a group test some time ago, the results were suprising. Some of the better quality standard bulbs out performed some of the cheaper "brighter" bulbs, and the cheapest blue bulbs performed particularly badly.
I've got Philips Vision Plus in my Xantia but I'm told that Osram Silver Star are marginally better, they're both a similar price which is to say that they're more expensive than your standard cheap and nasty bulbs.
What I forgot to mention is that the BIGGEST difference you can make to the performance of your headlights is to keep the lenses clean. If you think about how often you use your wash wipe to keep the screen clean, that should give you some idea of how much dirt your headlights pick up.
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it should not make a diferants how ever new a car is to whether head lights with extra bright lighting should be burning your eye balls when the car is comming towards you or following you,i think it must be something to do with being badly set up at MOT garages,because it seems to be the case since the law tightened up on head light aime more cars seem to have lighting wrongly alined regards malcolm
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i had the philips blue vision bulbs in mine (i think thats what they were called, the legal ones anyways!) and they were good, a decent amount of light from them! i did swap thenm over for some halfrauds ones though as i got a stone chip and cracked one of the quad lamps and smashed the bulb! the halfrauds ones were a lot better i have to say, alot brighter and an awful lot blue'er but then when i looked and checked they were 80/110w and not legal! i still have them in though!
the philips ones are good as you can get them in most decent shops! and they are resonably priced for what they are!
the philips ones are good as you can get them in most decent shops! and they are resonably priced for what they are!
I've got 2 sets (4 bulbs) of H1 Vision Plus's with a set if capless Blue Vision side light bulbs.
The side lights are now white rather than yellowish, the dip beam is longer & brighter, the full beam is sooo much better light is cast much further down the road & roads signs light up much further away.
I have a contact whom can get Phillips & Osram bulbs at a good price, I ordered two sets of H1 & a set oif H4 Vision + & 2 sets of sidelights, all totaled at £50 odd pounds inc special deliv with insurance
Email me if you want to be put in contact
The side lights are now white rather than yellowish, the dip beam is longer & brighter, the full beam is sooo much better light is cast much further down the road & roads signs light up much further away.
I have a contact whom can get Phillips & Osram bulbs at a good price, I ordered two sets of H1 & a set oif H4 Vision + & 2 sets of sidelights, all totaled at £50 odd pounds inc special deliv with insurance
Email me if you want to be put in contact