Brighter Headlights

Fri Jan 19, 2018 5:24 pm

Hi
Can anyone recommend replacement headlight bulbs for my 1989 E30? I know the standard ones are well known for not really giving off much light.
Would be great if somebody has a link to some decent brighter modern bulbs
Thanks for any help.
Cheers

Nick

Fri Jan 19, 2018 8:29 pm

osram nightbreaker H1, 55W & a lot brighter than standard.

Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:02 pm

Cheers

Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:08 pm

no worries, their about £20 a pair or less on ebay.

Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:11 pm

Do they fit both sets of headlights?

Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:22 pm

Nick_S wrote:Do they fit both sets of headlights?

in a word, yes.

Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:23 pm

Perfect, thanks. Ordering them now

Fri Jan 19, 2018 10:18 pm

... Or install HIDs which cost about the same.

Sat Jan 20, 2018 8:07 am

Cloggy Saint wrote:... Or install HIDs which cost about the same.

well there is that as well, just be sure to get a decent set.

Sat Jan 20, 2018 10:13 am

steve_k wrote:
Cloggy Saint wrote:... Or install HIDs which cost about the same.
well there is that as well, just be sure to get a decent set.

I've had no trouble at all using the cheapest stuff on ebay. Been using them for many years, and reported my first failure (ballast) in a thread on here just a couple of moths ago.
HIDs can only be used for the dipped beams, though, because they can't be switched on and off for short periods.
Main beams can now be taken care of by LED bulbs, which, if nothing else, allows a reasonable match to the colour of HIDs.
I've still only used them on the main beams of an '03 Corsa, and on that, they've transformed night driving from being borderline dangerous to at least being able to see where you're going, even if that's not where you want to be going (it is a Corsa).
The beam pattern is bad, and they push out a lot of radio frequency interference, but they're certainly bright.
OP says E30 (dipped?) beams are poor. They give out as much light as any modern day headlamp that uses a 55W halogen lamp, but they have a tightly controlled beam pattern, with a very sharp cut off, so they do need to be aimed upwards as much as is allowable.

Sat Jan 20, 2018 10:17 am

thanks for the input Brian, been thinking of using LEDS for a while, they seem cheap enough to keep a few spare in the clove box,

as for the HIDS, last set i got cost me £15 & i've had them a few years with no problems so far.

as for the corsa, yep they are a bit wayward at times.

Sat Jan 20, 2018 10:30 am

In cars of the 60's and 70's the cabling simply ran through the light switch and there was a fair bit of voltage drop, so an improvement could be had by fitting a relay, I realise that the E30 already uses relays, so is there any significant voltage drop, can any improvement be made?

Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:53 pm

Compared to my last car,a mk2 Golf GTI with high-output bulbs and a relay-kit hooked up to the battery, my pre-facelift-lamps are at least as good if not better.

Making sure the lamp earth-point on the nearside inner-wing was clean is all i've done.

Sat Jan 20, 2018 1:36 pm

There will be a small voltage drop in the cable on an E30, but this will have been taken into account by the original designers. You can make ANY incandescent lamp brighter by whacking up the voltage fed to it, but this will be at the expense of its life.
Shortly after the change over for ordinary domestic lamps from tungsten incandescent to cfls (compact fluorescent), and 100/150 W lamps became unavailable, some unscrupulous retailers began selling off 100w 110V building site lamps to unsuspecting and naive customers. I received several call outs to customers complaining of lamps 'blowing' after a very short period of use because of this. The lamps were spectacularly bright, for the short time they lasted.