Bosch Bi-Xenon HID kit on Ebay

[redIX]

Going for £125. This seems a little cheap to me.

Anyone had any experience of fitting to an S1? Presumably it will replace the main beam hi/low?

I don't really know that much about this subject, but have done a search on previous threads, but there's not much information for us old S1 drivers!

Your help would be appreciated, thanks.

[Grinnders]

I've just installed a "Bosch" HID H4 Hi/Lo kit in my S1 (and passed an MOT) from ebay. Cost a little less than the price you're quoting. Email me at [e-mail] with all your questions and I'll help you out with hints & tips... no access from work though. Or U2U me @ SELOC. I go by the alias of Grinnders there too.

Edited by Grinnders on Friday 5th October 13:08

[redIX]

Thanks very much for your help, Grinnders.

I have copped out though, and bought Philips X-Treme Power H4 bulbs instead. Supposed to give 80% more light than standard, and operate at the same power. At least they will be lightweight and easier to fit. I will post photo comparisons it anyone’s interested.

I thought the “Bosch” kit seemed cheap though. Are they actually Bosch, or look-alikes?

[s111dpc]

redIX said:

Thanks very much for your help, Grinnders.

I have copped out though, and bought Philips X-Treme Power H4 bulbs instead. Supposed to give 80% more light than standard, and operate at the same power. At least they will be lightweight and easier to fit. I will post photo comparisons it anyone’s interested.

I thought the “Bosch” kit seemed cheap though. Are they actually Bosch, or look-alikes?

Been thinking about these bulbs myself, so would be interested in your views once you've fitted them.

[Grinnders]

I will post some pics of my conversion. However bright you go for with Halogens they will still look yellow... the ones I bought claim to be made on a parallel production line to Bosch hence my quotation marks. whether they are or not, who knows ??? Do Bosch have factories in China ?

But they work and they're less than half the price of Geary or Evo's.

Edited by Grinnders on Friday 5th October 14:22

[Grinnders]

Spot the difference ? the bulb on the left is one of Geary's Osram Silverstars 50% brighter so I think you may still find that your upgrade will be only marginally better if at all. Of course it is driving where it counts and the examples on many retailers websites are reasonably indicative of the delta between Halogen and Xenon.



Here's both converted in Lo Beam


And here's how yellow my spots now look on Hi Beam


My digital camera is circa 7 years old and obviously it is difficult to tell from full on glare that Hi is definitely brighter than Lo.. but it is. These are 4300k which is common for factory fit and are probably not quite as blue as my camera has reproduced them. I couldn't mess with the camera settings too much as I felt a bit conspicuous as it was !!!

[Grinnders]

Are the Philips Halogen or Xenon ? As you can get Xenon bulbs that are not High Intensity Discharge. And I'd be interested in seeing a comparison of your conversion (one old v one new) as I am contemplating what to do with my Spotlights, and the delta between your H4s will guide me for the spot H1s. Xenon H1 (£25) v Xenon HID H1 (£100)

[redIX]

The Philips X-Treme are halogen, not Xenon. I've only just ordered them, so expect to wait a week or two before I can post photos.

As long as they are as good as the slightly illegal bulbs my car was supplied with, I'll be quite happy.

I could honestly not understand why people complained about the elise's lights, when I picked mine up from Bell & Colvill. A month or so later when one of them blew, I went round to Halfrauds, considered the options, decided that my "standard" bulbs were good enough, and bought a standard replacement. I was, how can I say, a little disappoited, when I got home and noticed the difference between the two bulbs. I think I'd been running around with something like 100/130 bulbs instead of standard 55/60. But Bell & Colvill were very apologetic when I phoned with my concerns about my wiring loom, and did offer to pay for the replacement (legal and recommended) bulbs!