Xenon conversion

[maxbozon]

Hi everyone!

I have got a question about headlights. Has anyone ever tried to do replace typical halogen lights in X300 (and probably X308s as well) with aftermarket Xenon HID conversion kits available on the market? I just like how xenon shines on the road surface and it certainly gives that 'look' to the car, the only thing it should not be too 'blueish', just a nice white light, like those factory fitted to new cars.

In principle it is easy to find these on eBay, but obviously quality is a big question there. More trustworthy is something like this: http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/h3-hid ... rsion-kit/. I've heard there are Philips (or Bosch?) Xenon HID kits, but I haven't seen them on the UK market. Has anyone tried to use these kits, maybe on other cars?

Are they actually road legal, and how do they pass MOTs?

Any comments and suggestions are welcome!

[dhdove]

Max

Whilst Xenon headlamps are fantastic in their light output and the view of the road that they afford, my understanding is that Xenon headlamps must be self levelling to satisfy MoT requirements and therefore most of these after-market kits will not be legal.
I may be wrong so perhaps someone can clarify?
However, excellent results can be obtained from Philips pro extreme bulbs, which are a simple replacement and totally legal. Perhaps you should look into these as an alternative?

Regards
TonyS

[J44EAG]

Tonys view on the subject mirrors my own understanding of retro fitting Xenon conversion units. I agree fully with his observations.

The Philips are one option. Halfords Extreme Brilliance are another. Both appear in write ups to be pretty evenly matched offering lux values at the optimum of 7000 value white light which is road legal and best for night vision.

My own car is fitted with Extreme Brilliance lamps which claim to offer a 90% increase in illumination power. I`ve no reason to doubt the claim. I was more than pleased with the result and transformed the rather poor yellowish light offered by the factory fitted lamps to a much more usable white light improvement. These lamps are road legal at 55watt and you will not encounter any MOT issues. You will certainly notice an improvement in lighting with a set of either Philips or Halfords lamps installed. An easy fit and an improvement for a humble £20 or so only. Definitely a quick answer to disappointing headlight performance.

Mike

[maxbozon]

I have used some Philips super bright bulbs (on XJ40) before as well - and I was quite happy with them: improvement was very obvious!

So probably to clarify my question a bit more: apart from looking for brighter light output I am specifically interested in Xenon HIDs as a device It is more about the fact of fitting and how it goes (is it legal? is it reliable?) and less about the question which is better/cost efficient. Not saying, that I'm desperately want to get these, just trying to understand is it an option at all

[maxbozon]

[update]

Some further research proved that aftermarket xenon HID are to become illegal. From 2012 new rules for MOT procedure stipulate, that if the car is fitted with HIDs it should have operational self-leveling light beam and headlamps cleaning systems: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Ow ... DG_4022109.

As it appeared, since xenon HIDs usually produce a lot more (4-5 times) light flux, wrong positioning (insecure mount as well) or any dirt on a lens (as it refracts light) can cause blinding of drivers in oncoming vehicles, which is not good. For this reason headlight installation should have a self-leveling system, that is, if someone will happen to put a big load of bricks in a boot, car's light beam will go up, and this system should 'catch' this change and guide the beams further down.

Unless there will be aftermarket systems that provide this self-leveling mechanics there is no way have legal xenon, plus one has to have headlight washers! At the moment I could only find these simple light bulb replacement kits.

However, I could find some new headlamp assemblies for newer and more mass cars made to this standard by original equipment manufacturer. One example is Hella and Ford Focus. Hella is(was) producing all headlamp assemblies for Ford Focus, which are(were) made to use with halogen lamps, at the same time they also make aftermarket modules containing all necessary xenon HID hardware, including new lens and mechanics, to replace standard modules -- these should be legal, I think.

The end of the story...

P.S. If someone decides to make proper HIDs for Jaguars I might buy that! In the end, I guess, that should retrofit into all X300, X308 and XJ40 with round headlights.