Brighter bulbs?

[Edmundo2]

Can anyone recommend by brand/name, some brighter headlight bulbs for a 95 Griff500 that,

a) Do exactly that - make headlights brighter
b) Are reasonably cheap, ( seen loads on ebay etc but don't know whats good and whats not? )
c) Are easy to fit

Any advice welcome.

[Barreti]

You'd be wasting your money getting these fancy bulbs which promise the earth but don't deliver

I had the Philips Vision Plus and they won an AutoExpress bulb test.
Cost about £20 but it still wasn't enough (I live out in the countryside)

Go over to TheGriffithPAges and find the HID upgrade article I wrote. It wasn't that much more expensive, simple to fit, and a huge HUGE improvement.

[Barreti]

Here you go

Linky to the article on TheGriffithPages

[FlipFlopGriff]

Barreti said:

You'd be wasting your money getting these fancy bulbs which promise the earth but don't deliver

I had the Philips Vision Plus and they won an AutoExpress bulb test.
Cost about £20 but it still wasn't enough (I live out in the countryside)

Go over to TheGriffithPAges and find the HID upgrade article I wrote. It wasn't that much more expensive, simple to fit, and a huge HUGE improvement.

Have to disagree Ian. Mrs FFG has had these bulbs combined with David Beers brighter lights kit for about 5 years and she drives every day in all weathers. It is a big improvement. Suggest an eye test maybe?
Any 3 eyed fish locally?
FFG

[Wildfire]

I tried these and have them in the H7 Slot in my Elise. Whilst they are better than standard, and I have to say I never put the Mod-Wise kit on, the HIDs are much better.

But beware you can't use HID's as flashers, which is why I opted to keep my mains in the Elise as H7s.

I would either go with some HIDs or Sportmotive's 7" kit.

[Barreti]

Could be the brighter lights kit then FFG.

Err, yes, my eyeballs have got a bit over-square after 46 years of constant use. Can you get eyeballs re-honed?

[Wildfire]

Barreti said:

Could be the brighter lights kit then FFG.

Err, yes, my eyeballs have got a bit over-square after 46 years of constant use. Can you get eyeballs re-honed?

I believe there is some sort of laser thing that re hones the corneas or such like?

[dhf]

Barreti said:

You'd be wasting your money getting these fancy bulbs which promise the earth but don't deliver

I had the Philips Vision Plus and they won an AutoExpress bulb test.
Cost about £20 but it still wasn't enough (I live out in the countryside)

Go over to TheGriffithPAges and find the HID upgrade article I wrote. It wasn't that much more expensive, simple to fit, and a huge HUGE improvement.

do you mind me asking how much it cost and where did you get the kit ?

[Barreti]

Bought mine off Ebay from a chinese seller I think.
I was quite sceptical it would ever arrive so it was a nice surprise when it did!

This looks exactly the same as mine, except my ballasts came with just a lump of velcro on the back, not the fancy brackets
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HID-XENON-conversion-KIT-H7-...

I got the H4 bulb 6000k kit which gives a nice bright white light.

[2Munkys]

Excellent stuff; I think this is what a friend of mine has just put in his Griff. Impressed with what I saw.
I have the mod-wise kit but think I'm gonna go the HID route too.

[yellowgriff]

FlipFlopGriff said:

Barreti said:

You'd be wasting your money getting these fancy bulbs which promise the earth but don't deliver

I had the Philips Vision Plus and they won an AutoExpress bulb test.
Cost about £20 but it still wasn't enough (I live out in the countryside)

Go over to TheGriffithPAges and find the HID upgrade article I wrote. It wasn't that much more expensive, simple to fit, and a huge HUGE improvement.

Have to disagree Ian. Mrs FFG has had these bulbs combined with David Beers brighter lights kit for about 5 years and she drives every day in all weathers. It is a big improvement. Suggest an eye test maybe?
Any 3 eyed fish locally?
FFG

i purchsed Bulbs from flee bay,, Are miles better put them in dip & main beam,, work a treat on country lanes

[dhf]

Barreti said:

Bought mine off Ebay from a chinese seller I think.
I was quite sceptical it would ever arrive so it was a nice surprise when it did!

This looks exactly the same as mine, except my ballasts came with just a lump of velcro on the back, not the fancy brackets
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HID-XENON-conversion-KIT-H7-...

I got the H4 bulb 6000k kit which gives a nice bright white light.

Thanks....What is the issue of not being able to convert the high beam..?

is it a case of converting one or the other ?

if you had two kits could you convert both ?

any problems mot time ?

[Uncle Fester]

dhf said:

Thanks....What is the issue of not being able to convert the high beam..?

is it a case of converting one or the other ?

if you had two kits could you convert both ?

any problems mot time ?

I bought 2 kits and converted main and dipped. They both use the same kit.

There's no point doing just dips. An HID dip 'outreaches' the mains fitted with normal upgraded bulbs. You don't see any further, the original mains just make the illuminated area look magnolia

Fit them using the brackets provided, the glue on the back of the velcro lets go in time.

I have passed an MOT with them fitted.

The biggest drawback to them is continental driving. The original lights were too dim to notice. These really do need beam deflectors.

[dhf]

Thanks,did you use the same H4 bulb 6000K for each ? any idea what Bixenon(telescopic) type are ?

[Wildfire]

Griffiths are traditionally H1 kits, so an H4 kit won't fit.

The telescopic H4 kits are for H4 bulbs where the main and dipped are in the same bulb. From experience with minis these don't work too well. Basically it uses a motorised shield to unhide more of the filament when you go on to mains.

The issue with converting the manins is that they are used as flashers. HIDs are not instant when you fire thenm up. The flash briefly, then dim and then brighten. So when you briefly flash the mains they will not respond too well, unless you hold them down for a longer period of time.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think they're designed of on/off/on/off operation as per a flasher. I did convert mine, but just avoid flashing now.

Strangely enough I have found them brilliant in my Griffith, but less so in the projector type lights in my Elise.

[Barreti]

Bugger, I said H4 didn't I.
Sorry, I meant H1



This thread should make interesting reading for anyone considering HIDs and should hopefully answer all your questions since its 4 pages long.
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

And my apologies to the OP Edmundo2, as since I mentioned HIDs this thread has gone down that route rather than discussing bulbs which was the original question.

Edited by Barreti on Friday 31st July 11:08

[Wildfire]

In ref for the OP. If you want the bestupgrades, some Phillips Vision Plus or Osram Nightbreakers are better than Halfrauds own. But your best bet is to upgrade the wiring to make sure each unit is getting a full 12V.

Still the standard lights aren't much cop. The H4s on my Mini and S3 were way better as standard, when I did the wiring and bulbs very useable.

[dhf]

Is the Chimaera an H1 bulb ?

[David Beer]

You only have to rewire the drivers side, use the supply to these to turn on the new relays that take a supply from the starter motor. Gain 100watts in total on main beam,then add
the :legal: bulbs and that's the best you can get. I know you can be naugty and go HID,

Edited by David Beer on Sunday 2nd August 07:19

[Edmundo2]

Thanks all for the help. No probs Barretti I haven't done it yet. I think I'm going to try Davids "Brighter lights" route together with better bulbs. Reasons being I think HID will look too modern + also run the risk of MOT fail. To be honest I'm rarely driving at night and just wanted an improvement over standard. Thanks again.