Headlamp Bulbs - Blue

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andrewhall
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Headlamp Bulbs - Blue

Post by andrewhall »

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
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Kowalski
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Post by Kowalski »

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.
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Post by Peter.N. »

The more expensive bulbs are also more accuratly constructed giving you a better aligned beam. I couldn't get the lights on my XM to adjust properly (synchronise main and dip beams) until I fitted some decent bulbs.
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Post by Stuart McB »

Tried Osram silver stars in my old Xsara. You can tell the difference. Nice white light with a better beam length over the standard Citroen bulbs.
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Post by citronut »

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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Post by drpau »

Had some of those osram silver stars on my last car- mad a massive difference - much brighter and whiter. I'd recommend them. I got mine much cheaper off ebay as well so have a look on there...
The Xenon''s do annoy me- often it looks like a blue flashing light and I think its the Police.....[:I]
kid
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Post by kid »

ill osram silverstar that!
a noticeable improvement on standard bulbs. try ebay, you should buy a set for between £12 and £15, h4's may be marginally cheaper
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Post by cornishbx16v »

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!
JohnT
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Post by JohnT »

They are better but the quality is suspect.... bulbs that cost £8 each should last a bit longer than a three months. Two different cars with two failures. I bought them off E Bay! Perhaps Halfords are a better bet?
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Post by zzf00l »

Hi Guys
Just to confirm the Philips Bulbs are as follows: Philips H4 Vision Plus for which I paid the princely sum of £19.95 and boy they are worth every penny!
Ian
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Post by rossnunn »

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
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