That make them passable.
Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]
- Thread starter CrzRsn
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Are there any good, legal replacements out there for old cars now? I don't really have an issue with Halogens, they're better than sealed beam candles! People were driving McLaren F1s with Halogen lights and they didn't cra... oh wait they did.
It's true that we can't use them forever though, same as gas lamps.
It's true that we can't use them forever though, same as gas lamps.
Not from what I’ve seen. You’re talking about building a new housing that aims the light pattern different from the halogen housing. This is why any aftermarket “brighter than stock” bulbs usually blind people. There’s a type of bulb I got when I had my mustang based on what Viper said when he had his. A type I think called Sylvania XtraVision.
I find that you're essentially outrunning halogens at anything above ~60mph. Whiter halogens help improve contrast and make it easier to see what a given thing is, but they aren't actually pushing out the illuminated range.
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I guess I just don't see the difference. Both of the vehicles I have had with HID just don't throw light out near as far as a decent set of halogen.
These are the bulbs I usually use: https://www.sylvania-automotive.com...halogen-headlight-bulb-2-pack/9006SU.BP2.html
These are the bulbs I usually use: https://www.sylvania-automotive.com...halogen-headlight-bulb-2-pack/9006SU.BP2.html
gaasc
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Well, it depends.
With sealed beams the answer is yes. the fact that they are standard sized means that there is a blueprint the aftermarket can follow knowing that they are tackling a large portion of people without having to make concessions for it to fit this or that car.
Let me use my cars as an example, as I am naturally more familiar with them. Two of them use the standard H6054 sealed beams. These are 5x7" (12.7 x 17.18cm for those of you who are imperially challenged). One of them has quad lamps on 4x6" size (this would be 10.16 x 15.24cm).
There are a couple of ways to go around this. If you want to maintain the "sealed beam" approach to things. A number of reputable manufacturers will sell you direct-fit LED replacement. Unsurprisingly, these are drop-in solutions as LED generally requires less power for a given output.
Truck-Lite (DOT compliant) (5x7) - $200 per unit
J.W Speaker (Heated, DOT, ECE compliant) (5x7) - $330 per unit
Phillips (DOT compliant) (4X6) - 180 per unit
All the manufacturers listed above have options in both sizes as well as the rounded 7". J.W speaker is the only one that has confirmed heated and ECE compliant offerings (the others may also be ECE compliant, I did not find confirmation of it) At the very least, they offer sensible, modern beam patterns to go with the increase in luminosity.
If you are not afraid of rolling your own, you can do an HID/H4 conversion. This, by its very nature will not be strictly speaking legal, but companies such as Hella will happily sell you ECE-compliant housings. They're old-style fluted though. Not a fan of that and it does limit your options to kits which are of roughly a similar luminosity of halogen or the lower tier of OEM HID-LED implementations (1800-2300lm per bulb)
But how about the corolla...
...
I'm fucked.
Sealed beams really did get the last laugh on this matter. if I want to do a lighting upgrade to the corolla (which is a very mainstream, extremely well-sold vehicle that is still under 10 years), My options are:
1. Buy weird, no-name housings with a moving part to do low/high beams. call me a bluff-old traditionalist, but I just get the sense that's the bit that fails two months in. either that or the "DRLs". Anything that is not easily user-fixed. At least they are DOT certified
2. buy a quality projector and then do the retrofit myself, using an oven, a dremel, a knife, and very precise instructions. Now, I am not a fan of non-reversible modifications at the best of times. For someone who cares about not blinding people, this is more akin to bomb disposal.
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Perc
Very Odd Looking Vehicular Object
Are you talking high beam or low beam here? Yes, bi-xenon setups usually have abysmal highbeams, sometimes dangerously so. My Insignia with its adaptive Hella AFL lights was the exception from that rule. But it seems that the highbeam is an afterthought in most bi-xenon projectors. The low beam is usually good, though. Wide and bright with a clear cut-off.
The US and Europe use different headlight bulbs for the most part and I'm talking European bulbs here since that's what I know, The only bulb I've experienced where "uprated" bulbs make one bit of difference is the good old H4, the one with dual filaments. The H7 is stressed as is and there doesn't seem to be much bulb manufacturers can do to improve things any further.
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The BRZ low beams are not great, compared to the Frontier with the uprated halogen bulbs, but it's high beams are pretty good, but again, not as good as the Frontier.
I'm sure part of this has to do with how high the headlights are from the ground. With truck's being about a meter up and the BRZ being less than half that.
I'd be interested in seeing if you could get your hands on set of EU market headlights, perhaps those are better.
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I think part of the problem is they need a good polish. The second is they don't seem to point high enough. Need to adjust them with the car off.
E-approved retrofit led-bulbs are coming soon. The new regulations should be in place by mid-year.
The first street legal bulbs will likely be H11 and some turn signal bulb.
The only credible source I've found so far is in finnish: https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-12220584
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public
Captain Slow Charging
Invested in a used set of Continental winter tires and W202 ET37 steelies so the car feels a little more sure-footed. Had to get a spare set of steelies because I don't want to scrap the car with "too good" tires on it, but if needs must, I'll scrap it with the beat up alloys and near studless tires and sell this set later on. And yeah, the alloys are 7J so 185 tires would have been a bit of stretch as well.
The sills made a tasty crunching sound when my tire guy lifted it up. I'm not sure but it may be that this car has some rust under the side skirts.
public
Captain Slow Charging
And yeah, here are the old tires:
Not great, Bob!
Not great, Bob!
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Looks like it belongs on r/Battlecars, it just needs the off road suspension Shad's 190E had. I really liked that Death Race-spec, "Busy steering!" 190E.
They were like frickin' lasers when new. The *DRLs* illuminated more than any other car I'd owned (in fact, the first night drive I didn't even realize the headlights were off until halfway through). Around 100,000 miles they had dimmed to about the state they were when I sold it. Probably a combination of dimming and the housings weathering. Not too sure about vertical aim - make sure you haven't bumped the aim adjustment knob in the cabin, anything other than 'full up' is useless.
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I wondered if a change in bulb would help. What is with the vertical aim knob?
The idea is if you squat the back of the car down with... Like, a boot full of lead, you can aim the lights down to avoid blinding people. No matter how much junk I put in the trunk, I never needed it.
It's the little wheel on the dash left of the steering column.
Perc
Very Odd Looking Vehicular Object
Here, all cars since the 90's or so have that, it's required by law. If you got xenons (or rather: if you have more than a specific amount of lumens) you need auto leveling lights with ride height sensors front and rear. I think the car industry even invented a lower-output xenon bulb to get around having to fit the auto leveling gubbins. They're not common, LED took over and that was that.
captain_70s
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The sills made a tasty crunching sound when my tire guy lifted it up. I'm not sure but it may be that this car has some rust under the side skirts.
Is that a self tapping screw holding the side skirt on? Quality.
The '04 Saab I was running for a while had auto levelling lights. They broke when a sensor went funny and just defaulted to the lowest setting. Resetting them isn't fun as you need the right software to plug in to tell the car it's on level ground and can now calibrate. Posher Triumph Acclaims had headlight adjust in the cabin controlled with some sort of hydraulic system, mine is poverty spec so you have to adjust the lights manually with a screwdriver...