New light bulbs for an old car

[THE GRIFF]

I have a "N" reg daihatsu fourtrak and have known for a long time the lights aren't very bright, even on full beam it's not much brighter than most modern cars on normal beam. It's wasn't until yesterday when I was driving my mates passat I realised how bad my fourtrak was.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend any type of bulb that would be more powerful than standard ones, I have looked at these led type ones and heard mixed reports, on eBay there seems to be so many different ones all claiming they are super duper and i just don't know which ones live upto there claims.

Any links to any suitable bulbs would be appreciated, they must be legal of course.

[lees]

Halfords brilliance or super brilliance I think they are called are good, not cheap though but often on 2 for 1, I'd check the wiring on the car as well it could be causing a voltage drop if its okd and corroded at the jounts so the bulbs aren't getting full power.

[tikka.223]

Philips Xtreme Vision,had them in an old Jeep I had the reflectors in the head light werent great but these worked well.

[Rich_H]

Osram Nightbreakers are a safe bet but I reckon you might want to replace the light units themselves aswell, I bet the lenses and reflectors are well past their best.

 

New headlights are £18 a side from the seller below:

 

http://www.powerfuluk.com/products/other-vehicle-lights-headlights---standard/hl109-metalfourtrack-halogen-headlight-rhd-%28each%29---daihatsu-fourtrak.html

[THE GRIFF]

I have just got some of the halfrods bulbs, buy one get one free.

I went for the brightest ones that say they are upto 120% brighter than standard, rather than the 90% brighter ones.

I will give you an update when I have had chance to test them properly.

Edited December 17, 2012 by THE GRIFF

[Lord Geordie]

Over time your standard bulb will boil off the tungsten on the filament! This leads to duller light output! Try simply replacing the old bulbs with standards!

 

Your friends car may be running the HID system?

 

I change my headlamp bulbs every 12 month. I also buy new Bosch wiper blades each year!

 

 

[Dave-G]

It's surprising how accustomed we have become to the performance of modern headlights with separate dedicated high and low beam reflectors and bulbs and smooth 'lenses'.

 

Those old glass fronted lights are a not very bright distant memory for most drivers over 40. The dated H4 bulbed dual purpose light had to be optimised for main beam use at the expense of dipped beam performance. Whilst new headlight units or brighter bulbs may help a little the real issue is that they probably only SEEM dim compared to what you have got used to on your modern cars.

 

There is also the aspect of perceived brightness - as seen by the human eye. When I switched to the wonderfull sounding headlight bulbs referred to above for my Pinin, and my older Galaxy I barely noticed any increase in brightness. I found that whilst they may technically be emitting more light, the fact that they were a different colour temperature the main benefit was wasted - the human eye sees yellow tints easier than blue tints. Second issue was that the beams were a higher level and the old light assemblies needed to be disturbed to adjust them properly.

 

 

 

A set of extra lights - grill or roof mounted might be what you really really really want to pimp it up to bad boy standards for field use.

Edited December 18, 2012 by Dave-G

[matone]

Just upgraded the H4 `s in my old Honda with some `better` Ring bulbs for exactly the same reason as

the OP.BIG improvement,well worth doing imho.

[bedwards1966]

It may be worth trying new bulbs, as said the tungsten can boil off them.

I'd check that your getting the full voltage to the bulbs, it's not impossible that they aren't getting full power. Check the earth as well.

[Bewsher500]

pretty sure Tungsten "boils" at a slightly higher temperature than glass...but that aside

 

I tied about 5 or 6 brands of the super bright nighbreaker, Osram, phillips Halogen bulbs in 55w H7 format

I could not tell the difference between them and the standard ones even with one light with one bulb and one light with the standard bulb looking at the car

 

I spent £50 and got some aftermarket HID (caveat, you need projector lenses in your headlights for these to be effective and not look like a chavved up Saxo!)

 

to use the cliche: like night and day

no halogen comes close

[Lord Geordie]

Tungsten melting point is 3410deg c

 

Glass melt temp 1723 deg c Quartz silica glass whuch they use for halogen bulbs melts at 2000+ deg c

 

Standard incandesant bulbs filaments reach 2482 - 3000+ deg c a car halogen bulb burns hotter than that!

 

The Tungsten has to boil off to start the halogen cycle! So the fillament has to be over 3410 just to start the chemical reaction! Eventually the fillament becomes scarred and you end up with a loss of output!

Edited December 19, 2012 by Lord Geordie