Philips X-treme Power +80% bulbs

The Philips Xtreme Power +80% xenon headlight bulbs have been awarded the prestigious Auto Express Magazine "Accessory of the Year 2007", and Auto Express Best Buy in the 2007 Auto Express Auto Bulbs Test.

Philips X-treme Power headlamps project up to 80% more light on the road ahead and use the latest in xenon headlight bulb technology from Phillips Automotive Lighting.

The light is powerful and intense, and the extra quality and quantity of light provided by the Phillips X-treme Power lamps make them ideal for drivers who consider safety as there highest priority.

X-treme Power is fully homologated for use in all European countries without restriction as replacement for conventional lamps. It is compatible with most head lighting units, including today's modern complex-shape headlights.

Here are some of the benefits of Philips Xtreme Power:-

- Philips X-treme Power delivers up to an astounding 80% more light than standard halogen bulbs.
- DOT legal, and come with the same quality and performance we used in Philips OEMs bulbs around the world.
- X-treme Power is a new "must have" for motoring enthusiasts and high performance drivers providing a crisp, white xenon light.
- Interchangeable with existing H4 (472) and H7 (499) headlight bulb fittings.
- Legal for road use and safe to use with plastic lenses.
- Awarded Auto Express "Accessory of the Year 2007".

This is what Auto Express had to say about Philips Xtreme Power:-

"This is so new, we could not randomly select test samples, so cannot include it in our assessment. Yet performance of our pre production unit was staggering. Even compared with the current benchmark plus 50% bulbs, the difference was immediate and dramatic. Philips claim an 80 per cent improvement over standard units, but we think that this is conservative."

Philips Extreme Power +80% Headlight bulbs are sold in a pack of 2 and are available in H4 and H7 fittings.

OSRAM Night Breaker +90% 12v 55w bulbs

With OSRAM's NIGHT BREAKER™ family of lamps, OSRAM is breaking records for the power and colour of headlights. Compared with standard car lamps, they shine up to 90% more light on to the road and produce a 10% whiter light.

Maximum performance make NIGHT BREAKER™ lamps particularly attractive for active and safety-conscious drivers. Improved illumination of the road provides optimum visibility for the driver and therefore optimum safety. NIGHTBREAKER™ lamps also make your driving experience more comfortable.

Drivers find the whiter light stronger and more pleasant than ordinary light, which is also of great benefit on long journeys.

OSRAM Night Breakers are available in H1, H3, H4, H7 and H11.

HID Xenon Headlights

When we decided to upgrade the headlights on our 2002 1.8 Turbo New Beetle Colour Concept, we wanted to fit a HID kit to give it the ultimate xenon light.

HID means High Intensity Discharge the advatages of HID Xenon Headlights are:

More light output
Whiter light
Longer service life (HID bulbs will last, on the average, 3 to 5 times as long as a halogen bulb)

The first thing i wanted to consider was the law when it came to HID kits and I found the following by the Department of Transport:

Aftermarket HID headlamps
December 2006

In the Department's view it is not legal to sell or use after market HID lighting kits, for converting conventional Halogen headlamps to HID Xenon. If a customer wants to convert his vehicle to Xenon HID he must purchase completely new Xenon HID headlamps. The reason for this is that the existing lens and reflector are designed around a Halogen filament bulb, working to very precise tolerances. If one places a HID "burner" (bulb) in the headlamp, the beam pattern will not be correct, there will be glare in some places and not enough light in other places within the beam pattern.

The following is the legal rationale:

The Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989 regulate the situation in the UK.
Under these Regulations, HID/Gas Discharge/Xenon headlamps are not mentioned and therefore they are not permitted according to the strict letter of the law.

However new vehicles have HID headlamps. This is because they comply to European type approval Regulations. The UK cannot refuse to register a vehicle with a European type approval. These are to ECE Regulation 98 (for the HID headlamps which are tested on a rig in a laboratory) and ECE Regulation 48 (Lighting Installation on the vehicle).

For the after market, a used vehicle cannot obtain type approval because it is only applicable for new vehicles. However we feel that saying "HID is banned in the after market" would not be reasonable. Instead we should make analogies with new vehicles. It would be reasonable to require HID in the after market to meet the same safety standards as on new vehicles. The same level of safety should apply.

Therefore a HID headlamp unit sold in the after market should:

1. be type approved to ECE Regulation 98 as a component.

2. when fitted to the vehicle should enable ECE Regulation 48 to be complied with (although no government inspection will take place).

3. Comply with RVLR as far as "use" is concerned.

In practice this means:

1. The headlamp unit (outer lens, reflector, bulb) shall be type approved to ECE 98 and be "e-marked" to demonstrate this. That can only be done by the headlamp supplier - Hella, Valeo etc. who must test the headlamp in an independent laboratory.

2. Once fitted to the vehicle it must have headlamp cleaning and self-levelling (which can be for the headlamp or can be in the vehicle suspension - some expensive estate cars have "self-levelling suspension" and that is adequate). Also the dipped beam must stay on with the main beam.

3. The headlamp must be maintained in good working order, kept clean, and aligned/adjusted correctly like any other headlamp.

Under the Road Traffic Act 1988 it is an offence to supply, fit or use vehicle parts which are not legal.

In summary it is not permitted to convert an existing halogen headlamp unit for use with HID bulbs. The entire headlamp unit must be replaced with one designed and approved for use with HID bulbs and it must be installed in accordance with the rules stated above.

My understanding of the above was that as long as the HID lights meet the standards of new car HID's then they are legal. If you want to read this off there site click here.

For the New Beetle we needed a H1 HID Xenon Headlight kit which we purchased a 6000k super white kit from Autobulbs Direct. The kit came with full easy to follow instructions and took about an hour to fit. Fitting consisted of removing the existing H1 healight bulbs and drilling a hole in the cap that covered the rear of the headlight to allow the HID bulb and wireing to feed out of the headlight unit. No wireing knowledge is required the kit connects directly to the existing wireing.

The quality of light from the kit was fantastic an increadably bright white light that lit up the road ahead. We drove the car for over twelve months with this kit fitted in which time we were never flashed by oncoming traffic and passed the MOT with no issues.

Over all for £100 the look and benefit of these kits is great you can pay over six time as much for a factory fitted kit!

Upgrade of sidelights and main beams on Skoda Fabia vRS

We've upgraded the bulbs for our Skoda Fabia vRS this week. Since we got into the VW scene this is generally one of the first mods we do as its fairly easy and gets rid of those unsightly orange bulbs.

We purchased the following; H7 Osram Night Breaker +90% 12v 55w bulbs, along with 581 Silver Indicators bulbs to get rid of those horrible orange indicator a personal style thing I know and then because they look great at night LED Side lights (501 Super Bright White).

The Osram Nightbrakers are definatly a vast improvment over standard bulb, they give a very white light (not HID white) but definaly needs a second look to comifirm they arnt HID.

I think next to upgrade on the vRS are the fog lights to get rid of the yellow light completly.