headlights? or are they?

[alan13henderson]

hi
got a 99 northface thats a bit dangerous to drive at any speed on dark country lanes in the dark.
What do people do for decent legal headlights?
tried Xenon bulbs - no noticeable difference - probably conned by the wording on ebay?
reflectors are fine, just dim on dip and main is better but still not great.
see kits on ebay but state not mot friendly
Any bright ideas?
ta

 

[BIGHVM]

hi
got a 99 northface thats a bit dangerous to drive at any speed on dark country lanes in the dark.
What do people do for decent legal headlights?
tried Xenon bulbs - no noticeable difference - probably conned by the wording on ebay?
reflectors are fine, just dim on dip and main is better but still not great.
see kits on ebay but state not mot friendly
Any bright ideas?
ta

I have the same model and year, I changed mine for halfords mega ultra bright brilliance jobs, have a look at the premium range, its a straight swap, dead easy and you will notice the differance.

 

[janolsson]

I put osram nightbreakers in my saab, good lamps

 

[mike213735]

I too have a 2000 North Face and think the lights are.....rubbish...

I'm looking to upgrade soon!

What bulbs do we have??? H4?

Thanks
Mike

 

[PHaTGRoB]

Actually, I think the Ex's lights are quite good. They're as good a the headlamps in the S40 I commute in and far better than our A4 even though both of those have Philips X-treme Vision bulbs. The Ex's are also much better than most of the American vehicles I had to drive up and down a mountain in the depths of night when working in Hawaii a few years ago.
Here I am sticking up for the thing as it sits MOT-less on the drive!!!! Typical.

 

[blueka]

get some of them halo projector jobs off ebay...


Si

 

[JonC]

Interesting thread already!

I'm on my 2nd 98 having wrecked one already. That one had a 35W HID kit fitted - a dipping one - and it passed its MOT. I wasn't that impressed with them though. Very white light and huge spread but not massive range which is what I'd hoped for.

I don't know about the North Face but I reckon the standard Explorers have very restrictive lenses. I was thinking of putting something more radical in the auxiliaries to extend the range and thus keeping the good spread. Then the Toymota came the other way and......

If you have a look a Steve's (SB98) setup, he's got US imported clear lenses which I reckon would work well with the right HID units. He's got HIDs but says they're not MOT friendly though I think this might be that they're just uber-powerful! Pick the right ones and there's no reason not to pass AND run good lights!

 

[jcasey007]

I find bigger is better

so headlights are H4 ultrawhite 65/80watt from Demon Tweeks

Cibee 8 inch spots with 130 watts each

Aux driving lights with 65 watts each

I can see for miles on main beam and inches on dip but when I flash people they know they have been flashed

 

[Bubble18-30]

I'm running sneaky 100w White Xenon's in mine - passed the MOT with no probs! On dipped beam they are good, brighter that the originals but don't really extend visibility any further. On full beam they just light the sky - it's like someone chopped the light in half! - might be something to do with my lack of front foglamps?

 

[alan13henderson]

Hi again,
My main interest is dipped beam
main beam is just fine and makes the problem seem worse.
Driving along country lane on main, car coming and drop back to dip and its like the lights have gone out, regullarly have to slow right down.
I fitted a pair of ebay Xenon H4 Extreme White Light Headlight Bulbs with the claim to increase visability by 50% over Standard Halogen Bulbs. There was improvement on main but not dip.
I guess my 335I Msport has spoilt me with its football ground floodlights

 

[jcasey007]

best for dipped is my 65/80watt H4's as the dipped is 15 watt brighter, helps a bit and MOT OK

 

[regorsmith]

My lights are naff too...!!!
Got some halo projectors ready to fit, but not a cheap option.
If i'd read this thread first i'd have probably gone for the 65/85 option and found that would do the job.

Oh well, c'est la vie...