Headlamp bulbs

Just had a dip beam bulb go. Loads on Flea bay, some quoting 100watt which is nearly double the standard bulb. Anyone changed to these high watt and/or xenon bulbs??
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The "xenon" bulbs are a nice gimmic, but don't expect anything spectacular from them. There is no real xenon in them, they just mimic the cool xenon light. But since they don't cost that much more, why not. Looks a bit better if you ask me. Putting in real xenon light units costs a lot for a bit more light...

Don't know about the 100W ones...

250dt said:

Just had a dip beam bulb go. Loads on Flea bay, some quoting 100watt which is nearly double the standard bulb. Anyone changed to these high watt and/or xenon bulbs??
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Click to expand...

The Xenon filament bulbs use a mix of xenon gas in them to enable the filaments to run hotter which gives a brighter whiter light. Good ones are well worth fitting but only use the ones which are legal & the same wattage as your original bulbs so they don't overload the wiring/switch.

Thanks,
They are only a fiver a pair (55w), I'll order some and see.........maybe
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For info 100 watt are illegal for use on the road! :d

and the high output bulbs have thinner filaments to burn brighter, so they tend not to last as long .

to follow up on mhm's comment, they don't like hitting sleeping policemen at speed or pot holed farm tracks, it breaks the filament.

fitted blue xenon later replaced with yellow xenon found blue gave brighter output on close objects but crap on unlit roads poor visibility at distance

I wouldn't bother with the cheap ebay xenon lookalikes. I bought a set for about a fiver and they were no different from standard. You would be better shelling out for the Philips Extreme bulbs (at about £15 a pair on ebay) - noticeable difference, nice sharper bright white beam which is better than OE.

I put a set of Osram Nightbreakers in a new style Mini when I had it. The standard bulbs in the plastic headlights were poor. The Osrams were the same wattage but gave a crisper image. It was really noticeable when I put the ordinary ones back in when I sold the car as it was dire - like it used to be when you had 45watt bulbs in car with a dynamo.