E30 Zone

The other night I was out taking the touring for a spin down very dark, unlit country lanes, and apart from the beams being misaligned, the amount of illumination is very bad and doesn't light up enough of the road ahead, even when level.

What wattage lamps are standard and has anyone upgraded to brighter lamps?

I don't want to go spending 50 quid or anything right now though........

I use xenon extreme bulbs in my touring and the difference they make is unbelievable. The road is lit up with a nice white light instead of a dull yellow. They cost me £15 for a set of 2, which I believe is very good value. I bought 2 sets for obvious reasons.

Hi I use Halfords Super Brilliance,better than originals.

Okay, cheers. Hmmm, I've had French lights fitted, a legal requirement, but sure that shouldn't make a difference. I'll take a look on the 'bay'.

you can pick up a cheap hid kit for 60 sheets... I know thats above your limits but imo (as someone with dipped beams that light up a car length in front of the car and NOTHING ELSE ) i think its the only sensible thing to do.

All the uprated xenon hi vis uber white magic fairy dust bulbs in the world wont make much difference... A slight one maybe... but nothing worth writing home about.

munky30 wrote:you can pick up a cheap hid kit for 60 sheets... I know thats above your limits but imo (as someone with dipped beams that light up a car length in front of the car and NOTHING ELSE ) i think its the only sensible thing to do.

All the uprated xenon hi vis uber white magic fairy dust bulbs in the world wont make much difference... A slight one maybe... but nothing worth writing home about.

You may very well be right, Munky.......Better start saving my euros.

do you have those yellow french headlights by any chance?

Onz wrote:do you have those yellow french headlights by any chance?

I'm glad to say I don't ....lol It's very rare to see those nowadays in France.

you should put green ones on your car

i would love the yellow lenses!!! they look ace but i would not want anything to dull the lights anymore

i had some blue bulbs in before which looked nice but its a blue filter painted on the lense which made it worse.

so these 60 notes items.....are they HID? time to search the bay.

Surely the place to start would be to get them aligned properly

I wouldnt buy the bulbs from ebay, most of them are cheap sh!t. There are some new Osram ones out, my brother got some in place of his other 'brighter bulbs' and really rates them. Ill try to find out what they are called.

are these HID kits plug n play? I dont want go splicing wires and have my main beams coming on with my wipers!!!

Align, and give the lamps a bloody good clean regularly.

Aim a bit higher than usual too - but not too much.

the uprated bulbs are a big improvement over standard try osram or halfords who are doing a two for the price of one at the moment on super brilliance bulbs. easier and cheaper than hid's and all you need really.

pnd wrote:the uprated bulbs are a big improvement over standard try osram or halfords who are doing a two for the price of one at the moment on super brilliance bulbs. easier and cheaper than hid's and all you need really.

contraversial (as is my spelling)

my mates subaru legacy has just had a HID kit on and it works better than well!
im sure they are a millions times better than brighter bulbs.


has anyone using brighter bulbs had any probs with melting wires?

ric325i wrote:

pnd wrote:the uprated bulbs are a big improvement over standard try osram or halfords who are doing a two for the price of one at the moment on super brilliance bulbs. easier and cheaper than hid's and all you need really.

contraversial (as is my spelling)

my mates subaru legacy has just had a HID kit on and it works better than well!
im sure they are a millions times better than brighter bulbs.


I admit that a good hid set up will be preferable(though not by a million times) but maintain for most people the uprated bulbs set up will be adequate and a good improvement over stock for a reasonable cost.

yeah probs for a cheap quick level of improvement then they will do the trick.

as soon as i get a e30 on the road i will be buying some bright bulbs (maybe some 'rally' spec bulbs from helfrauds) because the HID kit is worth more than my car.

I like the look of the light that the hid kits give, and I can believe I wouldn't want to change once I had them, but I really can't justify spending that much money on lighting when I need other things for the car, and more importantly, for myself

I've just been out in the garden trying to get the lights aligned properly but it's not quite dark enough yet (remember I'm an hour ahead of you lot in the UK). Will get back out there later.

I'm thinking just some higher wattage lamps would do the trick, afterall isn't that what we did before all this hid lighting............?

munky30 wrote: All the uprated xenon hi vis uber white magic fairy dust bulbs in the world wont make much difference... A slight one maybe... but nothing worth writing home about.

Disagree. I have found my new bulbs to be far, far brighter and longer reaching than the old ones, and it's like driving a completly different car when dark. Just my 2 cents worth..

HID kits can be had for as little as £30 nowadays off ebay

but is the £30 HID kit any good or will it be prone to engine fire!

buy a good torch and superglue to the bonnet..... works for me

Is that an LED torch or just a regular one?

halfords "not for road use" 100w h1 bulbs ......£6.99 each ....works for me

My advice (from someone who tried 4 different sets of "uprated" bulbs) is to bite the bullet and get an HID kit, You will wonder how you lasted so long without them.

I have done 2 modifications to my car since I have had it that have really improved my enjoyment of the car, First was the chip from Ant and Second my HID kit.

Worth every penny and safety shouldn't have a price tag imo.

Stop wasting time with different coloured bulbs!
Follow the guide HERE and buy the cheapest ebay kit you can find.
You'll thank me, honest

got 2 sets of the cheap sets and no problems what so ever, they are as good a quality as the "bosch" ones that were oh so popular!

I have osram silver stars in my touring and they're just as useless as standard. Take the lights out and give the insides a good swill around with warm soapy water, that's a good starting point.

do the cheap ones last as long?
any overheating?
excessive drain on the battery?

The bulbs I was talking about are 'Osram Nightbreakers', come highly recommended and give a noticable improvement over other osram superbright bulbs.

The cheapest place ive found them is here: http://www.powerbulbs.com/product_detail.asp?prod=114 they cost £23.95 with free delivery and a free pack of phillips blue vision side light bulbs.

What is the law on HID kits though? I thought the lights had to have a self levelling system and headlight washers.

The way the police are round here whth their 'stop checks' I wouldnt want to take any chances.

Might be able to help you all on these.... i can get
osram
onbh1 osram night breaker h1
delivered for £17.00 a pair

i cant do nothing today as im not at work, but can sort on monday if you want........
also give me any other codes for bulbs and i should be able to help

o22ie wrote:Might be able to help you all on these.... i can get
osram
onbh1 osram night breaker h1
delivered for £17.00 a pair

i cant do nothing today as im not at work, but can sort on monday if you want........
also give me any other codes for bulbs and i should be able to help

I might take you up on this when I get paid for a few of my ebay bits.

Do you take paypal?

Steviec wrote:

o22ie wrote:Might be able to help you all on these.... i can get
osram
onbh1 osram night breaker h1
delivered for £17.00 a pair

i cant do nothing today as im not at work, but can sort on monday if you want........
also give me any other codes for bulbs and i should be able to help

I might take you up on this when I get paid for a few of my ebay bits.

Do you take paypal?

yeah no problem mate, paypal fine.

just rang work and we have 10 pairs of these already on the shelf,...

to admin please note i am not/nor want to be a trader... i can merely offer to fellow zoners something that i can get from work at staff rates.. all ive allowed is 1.50 for postage