996 Litronic/Xenon Upgrade

[Jefferson Steelflex]

Having spent some quality time in my '04 996 over the past few weeks, I have found the Xenon headlights far less effective than I would have hoped, certainly when compared to my '16 Golf. I appreciate that lighting technology has come a long way, but the difference between the two is quite large both in terms of throw and brightness.

Now I understand the 996 Xenons are far better than the base halogen option so I sympathise with those with the normal bulbs (they must be like candles), but I would like to see if I can improve the performance somewhat.

I've read a few articles on this, and understand that the design of the headlight plays a significant part, so i'm open to options if there is any way in improving things somewhat. In terms of options, would I see the significant benefit from:

- fitting new bulbs (4300k is supposed to be best?). I'd assume some form of brightness improvement at least.
- fitting upgrade bulbs or ballast?
- doing something to the headlight unit itself

If anyone can share some helpful tips, I'd be very appreciative

[MrJingles705]

What state are the lenses in? have they yellowed/hazed at all?

[Jefferson Steelflex]

MrJingles705 said:

What state are the lenses in? have they yellowed/hazed at all?

The external 'glass' is perfect, they were machine polished a few months ago when I got the car. The interior lens piece looks like it's opaque by design, so it looks like everything is as standard.

[steveo3002]

got a used car the other week with xenons and could barely see where i was going , fitted some replacement bulbs and its now much much better , its gone from terrible to pretty impressive

i used these as i was too mean to spend £100 each on known brands (not sure what fittment yours is )

https://www.hids-direct.co.uk/yeaky-lighting-d2s-3...

be very carefull of fake phillips /osram

[EGTE]

Found this on another forum:

==============================================

Whereas incandescent bulbs "go out" by breaking the filament, HID bulbs such as yours "fade" over ~10+ years, resulting in color change and worse output. This is why if you see 10+ year old German cars on the road, such as Audis, and they're not riced out, the lights are fading to bluish/purple because the owner hasn't changed them.

I think the stock bulb life is supposed to be 2200-2600 hours? It depends on how much you drive at night as well, or if you drive with projectors on.
Also, turning projectors on is a lot worse for the bulb longevity, than KEEPING it on. In other words, don't flick them on/off 100 times in 10 minutes. Another reason you shouldn't drive with the headlight switch in AUTO position, because it flicks them on unnecessarily when you're in tunnels or parking garages. Even then, you should use incandescent bulb DRL's instead.

Some projector headlight models, such as B6 ECE's and E46 BMW's, are known for burning the projector reflector bowls. The vapor-deposited 90-100% reflective aluminum coating (expensive process) eventually goes brown/black/faded, and light output is SERIOUSLY hindered.
A cheap fix is finding some good used ones. Depending on what headlights you have, it can be easy. Maybe find a front-end-crashed car with trashed headlights and pay $20 for the bowls. Or find somebody who swapped them out for a projector retrofit job.

========================================

So new bulbs may well do the trick.

[pete]

I was about to post something similar on the decrease in light output from HIDs over both run time and number of cycles. Whether yours will be perceptibly dimmer after 13 years depends how often the car has been driven with the lights on, and also how often they have been switched on and off. My 996 Turbo S HIDs from 2005 are certainly much worse than my Cayenne's lights, but hard to know if that's just the age of the design; I may fit new HID bulbs if I decide to keep it into the new year.