Headlight Globes

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Originally Posted by trevor

I was I the same boat and tried going a brighter light but still wasnt to my liking. Since I have converted to 55watt 6000k (bright white light). They are awesome. But before anyone attacks me about putting HID into a head light that isn't a projector; I have angled my right light as far to the left as possible. I have been flashed twice but one time was coming over a hill and with a 2" lift and him driving a commodore my headlights were gonna be in his eyes no matter what. There are kits in eBay for less than 100, be sure to get bi xenon as the other has a halogen for high beams and that means your low beams are brighter than your highs. Its all pretty much universal, my lights (as with most I think) are H4 so buy that kit if you want. My spotties are H9 which weren't advertised but just ask and they should have them for the same price.

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Since I'm a visitor to this section I'll be polite, and merely point out that retrofitting HID's into 'Incandescent' headlights is not a Good Thing and there are sound technical reasons why they will ALWAYS emit dangerous, distracting and downright annoying (read: Road-Rage) glare.

The specular nature of HID's is distracting at the best of times including when fitted as OEM in properly (?) designed luminaires. They are worse when dropped into your 'incandescent-designed' Disco headlights.

Also, you get what you pay for. A pair of dealextreme-priced HID's had to be unglued from their bases and laboriously re-aligned when I tried a set in the low beam of a Jap import. - Still not 100%, and will need an internal baffle to reduce the glare....

By the way, is the awesome-ness of your 55W/6000K HID's in relation to how they light up the road ? - is the road surface nice and BRIGHT ? How well do they light up (on low beam) those green freeway signs? - and the road-edge markers.... are they dazzling at 500 metres too?
-Why is that a Good Thing?

Most 35w HID's put out nearly twice the light of a good incandescent, so if you neeeeeeed 55W on low beam, maybe its time you had your eyes checked.... Or get rid of your 'Mafia-Tint' windscreen..... :p:p:p

By the way, dunno what its like over on your side, but over here folk don't flash (its illeagal...) for anything less than half a dozen spotlights burning out their eyeballs. Not like it was 20 or so years ago...

Parting thought, on a country road its easy for oncoming drivers to behave like moths... Paradoxically, the brighter your lights, the more they do and slower to react, are they...

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Originally Posted by trevor

The EGR removal is also illegal and makes a car unroadworthy yet there are more than a few of us that have removed it for a variety of reasons.

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I think your missing the point, A blocked off ERG won't annoy other road users. But illegally fitted HID head light globes do.
A oncoming cop car wouldn't look twice at you with an EGR removal, but blinding them with HID would. I too get annoyed with those illegal HID conversions, they they do blind, remember a 4wd is higher off the ground than a normal car so the lights are higher too. HID globes are NOT DESIGNED FOR STANDARD LENS AND REFLECTORS. I don't care what drivers who fit them think. They are annoying to other drivers, so it's selfishness.

I'll leave this thread at this. If you are going to fit HID'S then spend the time, money and research to do it properly. I can tell you that I did the research years ago and it paid off as I haven't been pulled over or flashed a crazy number of times (only 2 ambiguous flashings). Cheapo HID are the main issue as they aren't designed with motorists in mind. Without changing the headlights there are a number of steps that must be taken to avoid blinding people, they're on the net somewhere; it involves a large open area. I am quite happy with my setup and spent a few hours aligning the lights and bulbs etc so I wasn't like other motorists on the road with aftermarket HID's. I experimented with my brothers commodore and dads patrol and both were fine in regards to glare/dispersion etc from my D2. Long story short, do it properly, research and don't simply buy the cheapest kit you can find.
That is all :p

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Originally Posted by alpick

the traxide wiring upgrade kit and some of the new super white type globes did wonders for my night vision!

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Paul this is well worth investigating.

On my old D2 (2000 model) I wasn't happy with the lighting - through Drivesafe on this forum I bought a headlight loom upgrade kit. Great results.

Mine included a driving light kit too... but this old thread will show you some before and after shots (Sorry they are blury).

Also gives you an idea of what was involved in the installation...

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/technical-...g-upgrade.html

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/verandah/4...rade-kits.html

Also Traxide has been a long time sponsor of this site.... I like to help support the guys that support us. ;)

cheers, Mark

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Originally Posted by Disco EMU

I've got the Nava plus 100's in my 2000 D2 ... made a noticable difference.

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Same for my 2004 D2a. Much brighter. Headlight units are bugger to get out with an ARB bull bar though.

A double relay on each side and heavy gauge wiring teamed with reputable brand QH bulbs like Bosch or Hella 130/90 or 140/100. The earth wire should also be heavy gauge and go back to the battery or to the first terminal from the battery.

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Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

A double relay on each side and heavy gauge wiring teamed with reputable brand QH bulbs like Bosch or Hella 130/90 or 140/100. The earth wire should also be heavy gauge and go back to the battery or to the first terminal from the battery.

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That's a lot of power being used and a lot of heat being generated for little difference to a plus 100 bulb. Have you encountered any problems with the lenses?

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Originally Posted by bsperka

That's a lot of power being used and a lot of heat being generated for little difference to a plus 100 bulb. Have you encountered any problems with the lenses?

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Not in the County. It has glass semi-sealed light units. The Falcon ute used to brown up with 60/55's but a hit with brasso every few months fixes it before it gets rough and scaly. Takes 5 minutes after you have washed the car, if you are one of those who bothers.

You sure do get good night vision though. Think about how little you use high beams particularly if you are a city dweller. A brilliant low beam makes good sense. Up and down the New England or Pacific at night these days you rarely get the high beams on for any goodly length of time except in the wee hours. Too much traffic.

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Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Not in the County. It has glass semi-sealed light units. The Falcon ute used to brown up with 60/55's but a hit with brasso every few months fixes it before it gets rough and scaly. Takes 5 minutes after you have washed the car, if you are one of those who bothers.

You sure do get good night vision though. Think about how little you use high beams particularly if you are a city dweller. A brilliant low beam makes good sense. Up and down the New England or Pacific at night these days you rarely get the high beams on for any goodly length of time except in the wee hours. Too much traffic.

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Brian,

The glass handles the heat way better than the polycarbonate, which is a form of plastic. Before better lower watt bulbs were available, I used to run 100W in my old XB Falcon, with schneider glass replacement for Halogen bulbs. I wouldn't dream of doing this to any new car from 1980 onwards, as the heat buggers up the plastic pretty quickly. The problem that you talked about in your old Falcon (I'd say from the fact that you indicated it browned up that it is a model after 1980 or so - I think the XD was the first Falcon with poly lenses, but it may have been later? ), is the poly has been UV affected.

I understand that all poly lenses have a UV protection on them when made, but this fails over time and the plastic starts to get 'sun burnt', and starts to oxidise as well, hence the browning. Polishing removes the sunburn, but as there is no UV protection, it comes back. Meguirs plastix provides UV protection, as well as stripping away the sunburnt material - I apply it about every month or so when I'm washing the car. Takes about 3 to 5 minutes to do both lenses, including getting the product out of the cupboard.

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Originally Posted by bsperka

Brian,

The glass handles the heat way better than the polycarbonate, which is a form of plastic. Before better lower watt bulbs were available, I used to run 100W in my old XB Falcon, with schneider glass replacement for Halogen bulbs. I wouldn't dream of doing this to any new car from 1980 onwards, as the heat buggers up the plastic pretty quickly. The problem that you talked about in your old Falcon (I'd say from the fact that you indicated it browned up that it is a model after 1980 or so - I think the XD was the first Falcon with poly lenses, but it may have been later? ), is the poly has been UV affected.

I understand that all poly lenses have a UV protection on them when made, but this fails over time and the plastic starts to get 'sun burnt', and starts to oxidise as well, hence the browning. Polishing removes the sunburn, but as there is no UV protection, it comes back. Meguirs plastix provides UV protection, as well as stripping away the sunburnt material - I apply it about every month or so when I'm washing the car. Takes about 3 to 5 minutes to do both lenses, including getting the product out of the cupboard.

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The Falcon is a fairly late model and the Ford dealer told me to go back to 60/55 bulbs after I complained about the browning. Other late model cars we have had go brown also. I am not a car washer so have to remember to polish the lenses every so often.I notice a lot of cars with discoloured lenses whilst walking around the Coles car park. The perspex stone shields I have on the headlights and the Hella searchlight on the County don't discolour. Is this another example of manufacturers using the cheapest, or using Euro materials that don't suit Australia? Like the infamous plastic bits in French cars that lasted a matter of weeks in the tropics.