Headlight bulb upgrade. Worth it?

[KungFuPanda]

I've got an ageing 2002 Mondeo with very poor headlights.

Amazon currently have a deal on Osram Night Breaker H7 bulbs. Would these appreciably improve the headlight performance at all? Or would I be better off saving my money and just buying new regular bulbs?

[Puddenchucker]

Based on my experience (Skoda Octavia / H4 bulbs) high quality +50% bulbs from Phillips or Osram do make an appreciable difference.
The only note of caution is that generally the brighter the bulb, the shorter its life.

[Saleen836]

KungFuPanda said:

I've got an ageing 2002 Mondeo with very poor headlights.

Amazon currently have a deal on Osram Night Breaker H7 bulbs. Would these appreciably improve the headlight performance at all? Or would I be better off saving my money and just buying new regular bulbs?

How long have the current bulbs been in situ?

If more than a few years just replacing like for like will make a noticeable difference

[bigdom]

KungFuPanda said:

I've got an ageing 2002 Mondeo with very poor headlights.

Would these appreciably improve the headlight performance at all? Or would I be better off saving my money and just buying new regular bulbs?

The missus had a pool car 2 years ago for about 6 months waiting for new car to be built (3 yr old Qashqui). Standard H7 were borderline dangerous in that car on 60 mph unlit roads. Night Breakers made a dramatic difference. For £20 it's a no brainer.

[mike9009]

Decent bulbs will make a difference, IME.

The other thing on older cars is treating the lens to a good polish. The plastics can degrade making them cloudy and diminishing the light output. Plenty of DIY kits about, but on my 40 year old van I just replaced the lens. Now, although not like modern lights, at least I have a chance of seeing stuff.......

[5s Alive]

Osram Nightbreaker were better than standard but didn't last long in our previous car so settled on Philips White vision that were still going strong after 5 years. Easily a match for and possibly better than the LED headlights on our new car.

[LeeM135i]

Put a set in my wife’s Fabia and it made the world of difference, not xenon or LED bright but significantly better than the standard bulbs.

[shtu]

As above, yes they definitely make a worthwhile difference. I've used the Osrams in a few different cars over the years and never regretted it.

I've not had any problems with longevity, do watch out for suspiciously-cheap ones from random sellers - like so many things there are fakes about.

[MitchT]

I put Osram Nighbreakers in my old E36 3 Series. They have improved things somewhat, though not enough to adequately illuminate the black void ahead when my eyes shut down because an oncoming vehicle has HIDs.

[Heaveho]

The above went from horribly dated yellow standard bulbs to the above 6k Twenty20 LEDs from HIDs4U in Southampton. The beam cut off is exactly the same as standard, and they're much brighter than standard. They have built in fans. The cost is a fright. I purchased 8 bulbs in total, inc sidelights and foglights, the all in price was £260!!!

Nevertheless, the difference in night vision is worth it.

[Benni]

The best upgrade I did on my humble Dacia Lodgy was fitting Philips H4 LED bulbs.
The are type approved and street legal in Germany, much brighter than Night Breakers.
The power consumption is only ~25/30 watt, which extends the life of the steering column light switch,
because Dacia is running the full power on the switch without relays, cheapskates.
Both Philips and Osram LEDs are getting legal for more and more cars from 90s/2000s,
I don´t know if the are available or legal in England.