Well I got my hands dirty for the first time in ages today, had to replace the Xenon bulb in my E92 325i. Hmm if ever a simple job has been made more difficult and expensive then this is one. New Bulb from Motor factor £82 + vat, Halfords £59 (didnt even bother ringing BMW). A hunt around the internet sourced one for £40 which is better but still at least double a good old halogen one. Now then fitting it is not a simple case of popping the bonnet oh no, you have to remove the wheel arch liner to then get at the bulb housing, to be fair this wasnt as hard as I was expecting but still is not a 5 minute job. (I always wondered why there are so many cars running around with one headlight not working these days, now I think I understand why).
Whilst I was at it I decided to change the spark plugs and the air filter too, the spark plugs also need the pollen filter housing and engine cover removing to get at them but both jobs all went pretty smoothly apart from the Torx bit which fell down into the engine bay never to be seen again :-(
Strangely satisfying day-off actually especially being outside on a day like this.
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I thought Xenon bulbs were meant last forever to justify their heinous cost. I'll stick with halogens, ta.
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Swapped the bulb on the V50 just before we sold it. Easy peasy lemon squeezy....
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Worth it for the illumination, though. It's a bit of a shock these days to get back behind the S60's halogens after the xenons in the LEC. Not so much the brightness, more the sharpness and clarity of the dip - much appreciated with the faded or non-existent centre and verge markings on Oxfordshire County Council's rural roads.
Xenons are now something I'll choose on any future car. Perhaps MB does them especially well but I pass a lot of Es like mine around here and never feel their lights are intrusive or over-bright - just well-directed.
Incidentally, I've had the LEC for 30 months now, done 32,000 miles and not yet had to replace a bulb. That ought to jinx it.
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Mr Beest, I will at least agree that MB, singularly, have made an impression on me that their xenons, oncoming or behind me, do seem to be properly dipped; without stray rays beaming in odd directions causing annoying dazzle.
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A colleague had an Omega a few years back which had Xenons. “Oh, I’d never want to go back to non-xenonsâ€, he said.
He’s now on his third car after the Omega, all of which have had ordinary halogen lights.
I note that I’ve not heard him complain he can’t see where he’s going.
Unless you’re somewhere (autobahn?) trying to drive at 100-plus mph on DIPPED headlights, can anybody say that they genuinely NEEDED anything more than well-designed halogen headlights?
The drive to xenons seems mainly due to needing a lower-profile lamp for more-slippery front-ends on cars (halogen projectors were poor). That, and to appeal to the ‘get out of my way’ brigade.
The new LED headlights similarly are being promoted as a new must-have fashion item (Citroen, Seat). They may use less overall power, but instead of being reflected forward, their heat is now at the back of the unit – in some cases requiring fans to keep them cool, I’m sure I read somewhere!!
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One of our cars has xenons and the other has halogens. There's a stretch of road I use most evenings which is an unlit country B road overhung with trees so when it's dark it's very dark. The xenons light it up as if it were daylight whereas the halogens provide much less, though admittedly more than adequate light.
It wouldn't be a deal breaker for me if any subsequent cars we might acquire had them or not really, but they are nice.
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Anybody driven a car with full LED headlights, if so are they better ore worse than halogens? I read on another site that MR16 12v downlighter LEDs make good DRLs.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 31 Oct 14 at 17:25
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I had Xenon's on the Mazda6. I did back to back testing with my then current car (Mondeo) with halogen lights. If I didn't think they made a difference I'd have saved money and gone for a TS2 model but got the Sport. I thought they made that much difference that it was worth the extra.
Fast forward to the previous car (Passat CC) and that came with adaptive Xenon's. And these were bi-xenons. The Mazda6 had halogen bulbs for full beam. Again bi-xenon and adaptive made for much better visibility.
For the current car (Audi A3) I'd have gone for Xenon headlights for sure whatever the car. But I thought the adaptive headlights on the Passat CC for very good so upgraded the standard lights to adaptive for the A3. And I'm glad I did. I think you also get static cornering lights too with the adaptive lighting - the Passat CC had that too.
If I'd gone for the Seat Leon then I'd have gone for the LED headlights because they were a no cost option. But to be honest I'm not so sure about them but I didn't drive a car at night. The way different LED segments go on and off etc.
I could have had LED headlights on the A3 but stuck with the cheaper Xenons :-)
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Anyone found a use for static cornering lights? The LEC has them too and apart from winking at me in our building's plate glass as I make my stately U-turn into the row I park in, they give me no benefit at all.
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I was on my bike the other day on the road, and an E class drove in a direction I wouldn't have anticipated immediately from his road position and angle if his corner light hadn't illuminated, so it was useful to me. I thought that a pretty good feature in the circumstances.
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>> Anyone found a use for static cornering lights?
On that Passat CC and Audi A3, they illuminate to the side of the road. So sat at a junction they throw light to the side. I think they also come on when the wheel is turned enough to illuminate the verge to the side of the road. Hard to tell if that's not just the adaptive lights though.
The A3 has a setting for cornering lights so it can be off, auto or dynamic.... I think. Not played with that function to be honest.
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I'd hate to think what the cost of a replacement front or rear light cluster is on my car though! Bad enough the fronts are HID xenons, but with the LED daytime running light strip at the front and LED lights at the back.... Expensive no doubt. Look good mind :-) Not that I see them much apart from when unlocking/locking the car at night.
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Oddly the Octavia is first car I have had in ages that has blown a bulb. Brake lights as it happens, and they were dead easy to change. Previously the only headlight bulb I have changed was on a Mk 3 Fiesta, which I managed in the semi dark of a multi storey car park with no tools whatsoever.
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>> >> Anyone found a use for static cornering lights?
>>
Most Audi, BMW and Mercedes drivers have yet to find a use for indicators. ;-)
And having read Crankcase's post above, it seems the factory have anticipated this.
Last edited by: Harleyman on Fri 31 Oct 14 at 22:58
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mega snip quote!!!!!
>> I could have had LED headlights on the A3 but stuck with the cheaper Xenons
>> :-)
>>
What?
Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 1 Nov 14 at 12:34
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>> What?
For those claiming HID bi-xenon headlights don't make a difference to driving and therefore safety, go and try them. Well worth the expenditure IMO.
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Drive a little less fast at night and stop blinding other drivers.
As for Drl's well............
As for Citroen Drl's I'd smash every one of them if I could see after being blinded by them.
Great driver's in yesterday mornings fog. Drl's and no rears. Hang 'em I say
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>> Drive a little less fast at night and stop blinding other drivers.
>>
It's not about driving at speed. They provide much better light.
But factory fit xenons which auto adjust the lights are fine. It's the muppets with xenon style bulbs in halogen light units that are the bigger problem. And those using main beam when they shouldn't.
I didn't pay up for the infinitely variable range control for the lights because that needed a costly extra.
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>> I didn't pay up for the infinitely variable range control for the lights because that
>> needed a costly extra.
No. They wouldn't be infinitely variable - but they might be continuously variable between finite limits.
Sorry, I have got my pedant hat on tonight.
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MD wouldn't like them either way. He's probably never had HID Xenon lights. I'd say they are a safety feature.
But badly adjusted or some prat with xenon type bulbs in a normal headlamp unit is wrong!
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My car has a sort of little wheel you can turn to raise and lower the headlights independently of dip/main. I don't think it has those super-bright bulbs though. The lights are OK, but my eyesight isn't what it was. Every little helps.
There's a removable flap in the front wing-liner giving access to the backs of the light clusters, and changing bulbs isn't difficult. Not very good quality fittings though. You shove the flap roughly into position an hope for the best. And I think Chrysler has outgrown the Rootes group and bought Mercedes. Something like that anyway.
There are some tasty Mercedeses about.
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>> My car has a sort of little wheel you can turn to raise and lower the headlights independently of
>> dip/main. I don't think it has those super-bright bulbs though.
Well if you had factory fit (and therefore legal) HID lights there would be no adjustment for range as you say you have. A perquisite is auto adjust for range.
When you start a HID equipped car it will adjust/calibrate the light. When dark enough you can see if adjust. For adaptive lighting it also adjusts/calibrates for left to right.
Added bonus is you can (in VAG cars at least) switch from RHD to LHD for lights,
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Is that the Citroen DS3's DRLs in particular MD?
If so, I'm 100% with you on that.
I'm not at all convinced by DRLs. In daylight, unless a car is coming at you out of the sun (in which circumstances I always use dipped headlights), I'm fairly confident I can see a car without it having to have DRLs on it.
If the daylight or visibility is not good, then drivers should have switched their lights on anyway, so is DRLs' purpose to provide lowest-common-denominator cover for lazy or inattentive drivers?
As more and more cars have DRLs, with no standard-ish location or style or brightness, oncoming traffic just becomes a kind of higher-speed fairground carnival, where, if anything, it seems more difficult to pick-out the individual cars.
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My take on static cornering lights is " A Muppet with fog lights on and a failed bulb ".
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Eye test time then, ON. They use a separate bulb in the same housing, nowhere near as bright as the fog lamp.
};---)
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>> Eye test time then, ON. They use a separate bulb in the same housing, nowhere
>> near as bright as the fog lamp.
>> };---)
>>
Maybe the same could be said of those who need corners to be illuminated with a pathetic styling light. :)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 1 Nov 14 at 10:05
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If that's aimed at me then it's reading comprehension test time too.
}:---P
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Its been a week now and I am amazed at how much difference changing the plugs and air filter has made. Despite a service history I am having my doubts if these have been changed in a long time. The Air filter is my fault as I forgot the last time the oil/filter was done.
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Lovely day for it ! - Alastairw
