johnnyMTEC Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 searching the forum I see a lot of halogen to xenon conversions so I thought i would this thread. Just how hard is it to convert xenon lights to halogens? Is it just headlights out or is it a whole tracing it all back to the source of the lighting? I just prefer halogens over xenons all advice appreciated. StuBeeDoo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuBeeDoo Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 I've only driven a couple of cars with xenons, but both times I was underwhelmed. So I don't see what all the xenon fuss is about. Mind, I always run good quality (Osram, Philips or Bosch) halogen bulbs and make sure the aim is c**k-on. I wonder if the people who are pro-xenon only notice a big difference because they're used to cheap and/or poorly-aimed halogen bulbs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz 330 Cs Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 I went from an ST200 with well aim headlights to the Clubsport with OEM Xenons and the difference is night and day. Maybe the two cars you're referring to Stu had pap aftermarket kits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruesta Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 I went from an ST200 with well aim headlights to the Clubsport with OEM Xenons and the difference is night and day. Maybe the two cars you're referring to Stu had pap aftermarket kits. I have to second this. My old E46 had halogens and the new one OEM xenon, the xenon's are so much better. I've had xenons on previous cars too and they are always way better than anything halogen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyMTEC Posted October 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 I too was underwhelmed. Maybe because being a 2001 car they're early versions of xenons? But I run Osram night breakers on mybike and they're better than the xenons on my car......and my bike is 4 years older so there's no clever reflectors. If I get another car I'll make sure it's not got xenons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 You guys must have had poorly Xenons.. When working properly they're a million times better than halogens! lol. The newer Xenons are again a million times better than the older Xenons. One problem i've seen consistently is that most people will replace burnt Xenon bulbs with eBay specials! I'm sorry but it's the same as Halogen bulbs - you get what you pay for! There's a reason BMW charge £140 per D2S bulb (which you can actually find for ~£50 each online). When I bought my car a bulb failed me some months later. I replaced them initially with eBay specials and they were crap! Found the OEM Philips bulbs from another supplier for £45 each at the time and it was literally nigh-and-day the difference! 1st make sure your current setup is working properly. If you still want to "downgrade" then offer a headlight swap on the forum here - I bet there'll be a queue of people willing to literally bite your arms and legs off for OEM Xenons.. lol Maxtek, Ruesta, MICK 330 and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bungers Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 searching the forum I see a lot of halogen to xenon conversions so I thought i would this thread. Just how hard is it to convert xenon lights to halogens? Is it just headlights out or is it a whole tracing it all back to the source of the lighting? I just prefer halogens over xenons all advice appreciated. I think you're slightly nuts but to go from xenons to halogen you'd need to replace the headlights and the LCM and get them coded so the headlight adjust dial works. You might just need new bulbs and the lenses cleaning as they should be miles better than halogens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz 330 Cs Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 There's no "should be" about it. They are. End of story. Some of you boys must be Conk eyed Ruesta and Naj 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxtek Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 If you do go through with the swap I'd be very happy to take your xenon's off your hands! Unfortunately I have a facelift E46 so we can't do a straight swap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooge Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 Its almost too much hassle for the gain. Better off buying crap Xenon bulbs and making do with the naff light output. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kermitthefrog Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 The 330cd which I recently sold had aftermarket xenons, which were much better than the halogens they replaced. Now my Clubsport has factory xenons and the improvement is miles better again. This should put it into perspective for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edges Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 I have a facelift coupe with halogen projector lights... I'll swap for xenons in a heartbeat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stonesie Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 I don't get this at all, my last car was 'only' a Corsa but it was a late 2012 model and I fitted Osram Night breaker unlimited bulbs in H7 flavour, so, Perfect reflectors and lenses with +110% halogen bulbs and my Xenons on my 2002 E46 blow them away through lenses peppered with stone chips On high beam, forget it, there is no comparison. They did need some tweaking to get the beam pattern how I like it as they came set very low... Lots of cars are like that, I see many with a beam pattern that only extends 30' infront of the car, bloody useless that is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuBeeDoo Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 (edited) At the end of the day (excuse the pun...), it only really matters if you do a lot of driving on unlit roads in the dead of night. I don't. Maybe that's why xenons didn't impress me. All my night driving (and I don't do much of it) is on urban roads, where the beams don't have to actually light the way. Edited October 15, 2015 by StuBeeDoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naj Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 As others have said. You get what you pay for. I've got quad bixenons now, got a pair of decent HID's with decent projectors and got a pair of eBay HID's with eBay cheapy projectors.. The difference between those alone is drastic! Even though I spent £110 on my decent HID's.. OEM HID's are marginally better. That's also reflected in the price of the OEMs vs the Morimotos. That's why it makes me laugh when people replace good OEM Xenon bulbs or good halogen lamps.. For eBay special £20 HID's and then complain that they're not good lol Via Mobile Telecommunications Device StuBeeDoo and momo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennno2005 Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 (edited) As others have said. You get what you pay for. That's why it makes me laugh when people replace good OEM Xenon bulbs or good halogen lamps.. For eBay special £20 HID's and then complain that they're not good lol Via Mobile Telecommunications Device Not sure I agree with that. The HID kits on eBay are all the same, all made in china in the same boxes. I fitted a set of cheapo ones to my EP3 Civic Type R and they were much better than the standard OEM halogen lights. The car did have projector headlights though (like all cars fitted with OEM Xenons) which I think is what makes the difference in terms of how effective aftermarket HID's are. Edited October 15, 2015 by ben.embrey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naj Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 As others have said. You get what you pay for. That's why it makes me laugh when people replace good OEM Xenon bulbs or good halogen lamps.. For eBay special £20 HID's and then complain that they're not good lol Via Mobile Telecommunications Device Not sure I agree with that. The HID kits on eBay are all the same, all made in china in the same boxes. I fitted a set of cheapo ones to my EP3 Civic Type R and they were much better than the standard OEM halogen lights. The car did have projector headlights though (like all cars fitted with OEM Xenons) which I think is what makes the difference in terms of how effective aftermarket HID's are. There's a massive difference between OEM Halogens and "good" halogens. (In my opinion of course) Also to add to my previous post, I find some people assume a white or a blue light is "brighter" than a "yellow" or halogen light. This common misconception is (again, my opinion) the reason why everyone raves about HID's yada yada. In all reality, even Im considering to buy 2 new pairs of HID's with 4.3k bulbs as opposed to 6k to squeeze out every last Lumen for this winter nights we have ahead of us Via Mobile Telecommunications Device Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennno2005 Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 (edited) As others have said. You get what you pay for. That's why it makes me laugh when people replace good OEM Xenon bulbs or good halogen lamps.. For eBay special £20 HID's and then complain that they're not good lol Via Mobile Telecommunications Device Not sure I agree with that. The HID kits on eBay are all the same, all made in china in the same boxes. I fitted a set of cheapo ones to my EP3 Civic Type R and they were much better than the standard OEM halogen lights. The car did have projector headlights though (like all cars fitted with OEM Xenons) which I think is what makes the difference in terms of how effective aftermarket HID's are. There's a massive difference between OEM Halogens and "good" halogens. (In my opinion of course) I wasn't talking about Halogen lights. I was talking about HID's. Are you saying I could have replaced the OEM Halogens with some other sort of Halogen that would have been better than the HID kit I fitted? Edited October 15, 2015 by ben.embrey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kermitthefrog Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 As others have said. You get what you pay for. That's why it makes me laugh when people replace good OEM Xenon bulbs or good halogen lamps.. For eBay special £20 HID's and then complain that they're not good lol Via Mobile Telecommunications Device Not sure I agree with that. The HID kits on eBay are all the same, all made in china in the same boxes. I fitted a set of cheapo ones to my EP3 Civic Type R and they were much better than the standard OEM halogen lights. The car did have projector headlights though (like all cars fitted with OEM Xenons) which I think is what makes the difference in terms of how effective aftermarket HID's are. There's a massive difference between OEM Halogens and "good" halogens. (In my opinion of course) I wasn't talking about Halogen lights. I was talking about HID's. Are you saying I could have replaced the OEM Halogens with some other sort of Halogen that would have been better than the HID kit I fitted? Maybe yes, Osram Nightbreakers. StuBeeDoo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Streek Posted October 16, 2015 Report Share Posted October 16, 2015 I have Osram night breakers in my Touring. They are only marginally better than the OEM halogens they replaced. In no way are they superior to a decent set of HID's Agreed with what was said above, 4300K will give better light output (more lumens) than higher K reated bulbs. The lower the K the more light emitted, just means it will be yellower, but you'll be able to see more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naj Posted October 16, 2015 Report Share Posted October 16, 2015 I was comparing decent halogens like Osram Nightbreakers and cheap and nasty HID's Via Mobile Telecommunications Device Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bungers Posted October 16, 2015 Report Share Posted October 16, 2015 Agreed with what was said above, 4300K will give better light output (more lumens) than higher K reated bulbs. The lower the K the more light emitted, just means it will be yellower, but you'll be able to see more. Generally that's correct, however Kelvin is a measurement of colour temperature, not light output. For instance, Osram's night breakers are 4350K and have a light output of 3200 lumens. Their CBI's have the same light output, but have a colour temperature of 5000K. This is why I always choose them as you're getting a whiter light with the same light output. The output of the ebay specials is generally terrible, the colours are all over the place too - I ran a set of '5000K' specials over the summer and they looked almost purple compared to the CBI's I refitted for the winter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
