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crap headlights
http://www.gt4dc.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7237		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  jon_st205 [ Thu Dec 04, 2014 11:52 pm ]
Post subject:  crap headlights
I'd forgotten just how bad they are! Alignment and pattern look OK, just a lack of brightness on dipped. Don't want hids without projectors. Nightbreakers?
Author:  TrackToyFour [ Fri Dec 05, 2014 1:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: crap headlights
Projectors without HID's are a big improvement by themselves. A few have come up for sale recently on the FB groups. HID's in the standard lights work as well but they look a bit old fashioned now.
Author:  jon_st205 [ Fri Dec 05, 2014 2:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: crap headlights
Cheers, prefer to wait on projectors as the big cost of sillystrut replacement is looming. Hids with the old reflector style give a lot of scatter and can dazzle others. Will stick some dodgy white bulbs in for now.
Author:  two_OH_five [ Fri Dec 05, 2014 12:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: crap headlights
Probably worth pulling all the connectors off the lights and giving everything a clean if you're changing bulbs. Ditto for the fuses and relays in the light circuits. Putting it back together with a smear of vaseline may help too. The light circuits are subjected to fairly high currents which can speed oxidation of contacts.

The wiring for the main beams is also on the thin end of adequate too. I would expect an improvement if you ran a chunky power feed and used the loom power feeds to switch relays

I run hid bulbs in one of mine and according to the mot rig the pattern is actually fairly good.

Good modern bulbs and a little tlc on the wiring will probably produce good results

I'm actually wondering if I can retrofit 205 headlights to my beamer as the xenons on that are terrible. That's the first car I've owned where I find I have to slow down at night because I can't see where I'm going - although I've had a few cars in the past that naturally slowed at night due to insufficient grunt to simultaneously power lights and wheels :lol:
Author:  TrackToyFour [ Fri Dec 05, 2014 9:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: crap headlights
I remember Muddy running some uprated bulbs in his red ST205 with non-projector headlights and being very impressed with the lights on the Swiss trip during a torrential downpour in pitch dark. No idea what they were though. It does illustrate what's possible with the standard units.
Author:  two_OH_five [ Sat Dec 06, 2014 1:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: crap headlights
I had Ring (IIRC) super double extra wow uprated halogens before I went hid and they were certainly a good upgrade, especially for sensible money at the time

Even Hannibal has (to me) better lights than the BMW although after experiencing the sick glow worm output of cdb's 202 it's possible Hannibal has uprated bulbs too
Author:  bricktop [ Fri Dec 12, 2014 10:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: crap headlights
All my cars apart from my ST205 have H.I.D's. Didn't really want to add even more weight to the old girl so I knocked up a loom with a relay for dipped beam on my projectors. Powered straight from 12v instead of going through the switch gear etc. This made a massive improvement. More than when I put some ring 120% bulbs in.
Author:  Nibbles [ Fri Dec 12, 2014 6:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: crap headlights
The trouble with higher power bulbs on standard wiring is that the voltage drop in the wiring increases further and you end up with rather brown lights anyway. The best way is to try to find more efficient bulbs - i.e. more light for the same electrical power in.
Author:  NoGT4 [ Sat Dec 13, 2014 2:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: crap headlights
I have just fitted a pair of Halfords advanced, ultra brilliance bulbs, up to 120% brighter but the same 51W.

Micro filament technology and 100% Xenon gas for optimum performance.

£30.00 each, but buy one get one free.



I fitted one first and put the lights on, and was surprised how yellow the original ones were in comparison :)

These are a great improvement :)

HB4 fitting, so a direct replacement.

Sent from my Sony Xperia Tablet
Author:  TrackToyFour [ Sat Dec 13, 2014 6:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: crap headlights
Good info :D
Author:  jon_st205 [ Sun Dec 14, 2014 5:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: crap headlights
I'm a bit too cheap for Halfords prices, though I admit I have some goodwill towards them when they exchanged a car battery for me today under warranty despite no receipt :)

I purchased a set of Xenon's (full set of HB3's, HB4's and H3's) from fleabay for 11 quid, all fitted up fine and look much better. The real proof will be the B-road lanes coming home in the dark tomorrow though. I'm still really tempted by projectors but at ~£400 they just feel a bit too expensive for me.

Out of interest does anyone know the technical reason why LED bulbs do not seem to work in gen6's? Well mine at least. So far I tried known working LED's in the sidelights & number plate pods but with no success. The gen7 used these just fine and they help give a more modern appearance.
Author:  NoGT4 [ Sun Dec 14, 2014 5:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: crap headlights
Looking forward to hearing if they are better, suspect that they will be :-)
Are they the same wattage as standard?

Projector lamps are not cheap but improve the lighting and make the car look more modern.

I bought mine from Halfords for the same reason as you, drove from work on the B roads as the motorway was a bit broken and struggled to see the road :-(



Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk
Author:  TrackToyFour [ Sun Dec 14, 2014 7:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: crap headlights
jon_st205 wrote:
Out of interest does anyone know the technical reason why LED bulbs do not seem to work in gen6's? Well mine at least. So far I tried known working LED's in the sidelights & number plate pods but with no success. The gen7 used these just fine and they help give a more modern appearance.

I believe you can make the LED's work but you need to fit a ballast resistor to emulate the resistance of the normal bulb filament. I've heard that some LED's come with these built in but not sure how reliable that info is or if they are the right emulation spec.
Author:  asdrewq [ Tue Dec 23, 2014 10:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: crap headlights
I can't see a reason why they didn't work in the numberplate or sidelight positions. You would only see problems if you use them in the indicator circuit, where as mentioned you would need to either use a resistor to dissipate the same power as a regular bulbs would, or a solid state flasher relay which is compatible with LEDs, otherwise the blink rate will be too fast.

For headlights, bypass the stock wiring so you have minimal voltage drop at the headlights, and fit some Philips 9012 HIR bulbs (after minor modification to one tab on the base to allow fitment into hb3/hb4)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PHILIPS-9012L ... 0607310217

At 14.2v these give 2000lm+, and the celica OEM reflectors actually aren't that bad when compared with most cars of the era.

Edit - jut remembered, the st205 has a brake light warning circuit, so if you fit LED's in place of brake lights it will trigger this if the load is too low.
Author:  Muddy Water [ Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: crap headlights
TrackToyFour wrote:
I remember Muddy running some uprated bulbs in his red ST205 with non-projector headlights and being very impressed with the lights on the Swiss trip during a torrential downpour in pitch dark. No idea what they were though. It does illustrate what's possible with the standard units.

I have been sorting out the garage today and came across these bulbs.
They are (9005 and 9006) EUROLITE by Toucan (better than Phillips and Osram).
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