In case anyone is interested, I've finally found a combination of dipped beam, main beam, sidelight, cornering and foglight bulbs that I think work really nicely together and give the look I was after.

I wanted to upgrade the factory 4300k dipped beams to 6000k as it's a purer white light and (to my eye) looks sharper and more modern. I've found from past experience however that if you go any further than 6000k (i.e. 8000k +) the colour moves too far into the blue range to the detriment of performance. There's little point in having 'cool' blue bulbs that mean you can't see where the hell you're going! (And actually, I think too blue and they start to look a little 'Halfords' if you know what I mean...6000k could still be factory, it's just a little "fresher" looking)!

Of course, the issue with upgrading the dipped beam bulbs is that then your full beam, fogs, cornering lights and side lights all look yellow and dull by comparison.

So I've been trying all sorts of combinations of bulbs to get to a set that all look the same colour and offer the best performance. I think I've got there now. It wasn't cheap but I'm happy. It seems to me that in the world of car bulbs you really do get what you pay for. So...

Headlights (dipped beam).

Bought these -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/220903641492?ssP...1439.l2649

Sidelights.

I wasn't a fan of the 'standard' SMD LED upgrade for the sidelights (like you get in the kit from CrazyLEDs on eBay) as you can see each individual SMD (normally 4 of them) and I wanted a much more factory look (a single glow of light). However the single 1W LEDs gave too much of a 'spotlight' effect - again, not quite what I wanted.

So after much hunting I've found some sidelight bulbs by Osram that fit the bill. They're bloody expensive, but they have a special diffusing glass over the LED, which gives an effect which is the closest I've seen to the perfect combination of halgoen bulb style light distribution with 6000K colour and brightness. They also don't throw up any errors. These are they -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/310399553112?ssP...1439.l2649

H7 main beam.

I wasn't going to bother swapping these, as I was worried that a normal LED replacement wouldn't be bright enough for a main beam. However, I ordered the wrong bulbs for my fogs (H11s) in error before I'd picked the car up and then realised that they were right for the main beam so I gave them a try. Perfect 6000k colour, super, super bright and no errors. Again they were damn expensive but they're great!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/310392468789?ssP...1439.l2649

H8 cornering lights.

I couldn't find any LEDs that worked particularly well as cornering lights. None threw out enough light to do what these lamps are designed to do. However, these 6000k xenon effect 100W bulbs are perfect. They match the rest, are very bright and light up a nice large area when turning.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330649481800?ssP...1439.l2649

H11 Fogs.

These weren't listed as error free, so I ordered some resistors with them - however they work fine in my car without the resistors and they don't give any error messages at all. I might just be lucky...not sure?!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280662262580?ssP...1439.l2649

And that's your lot!

As you can see, with the exception of the H8s, they were all pretty much at the top end of bulb prices, but they should last forever and they look great.

I'll try and grab some pictures this evening when the sun starts to go down but taking photos of lights is notoriously difficult! Past (too many to list, but a few favs)...
2007 Porsche 997 C2S Coupe
2007 FFRR 4.2 S/C
2012 Jag XKR 5.0 S/C
2014 Merc SL500 AMG 4.7 V8 BiTurbo (remapped to 560BHP)
2011 FFRR 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE - Overfinch Conversion
2012 Porsche Cayenne Turbo
2018 AMG C63S Estate
2015 Mercedes GLE63S
2017 Maserati Levante Diesel
2017 Audi A6 Avant 3.0 Black Edition

Last edited by jfb1977 on 23rd May 2012 4:33pm. Edited 1 time in total

Good work and well documented.

Surprised you changed the dipped beam - these are pretty white/bright as standard.

Might go for the full beam upgrade though to fit in with sidelights and fogs (DRLs)

You should do the angel eyes DRL in the foglight upgrade too  .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

So..firstly an apology for the quality of these pictures. I'm not exactly a dab hand with a camera. I'm sure there's a setting on it that would work better (camera is an Olympus PEN EPL1) so if any of you are photography gurus, just let me know what settings I should be using and I'll try again!

Anyway, you'll get the idea that the colour is well matched (and I just realised I forgot to take any with the cornering lights on too - doh)!

So...sidelights only...

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Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

Excellent write up Well done

Gary

I agree, this is an excellent write up.

Could you tell me how difficult it was to remove the head & sidelights? I've had a few try's at mine but they refuse to budge, I'd love to fit my new LED sidelights, the ordinary ones look horrible next to the brilliant white of the dipped beams.
Regards..Robert. The reason women's minds are cleaner than a mans mind is that women change their minds more often!
When women say fine a mans in deep doodoo as fine has so many meanings.

Your OSRAM sidelights are *not* road legal. Just thought I'd better this point this out if this becomes a wiki.

Specifications:

Manufacturer: OSRAM

Model: LEDriving W5W

Part Number: 2850CW-02B

Bulb Type: LED

Bulb Wattage: 1W

Bulb Voltage: 12v

Bulb Base: W2.1x9.5d

Number of Bulbs in Pack: 2

Road Legal: No! These are for offroad use only. They are not ECE approved for public roads.

Retail Price: £24.99

Usage: These are 5w wedge bulbs used in vehicle sidelights Land Rover Addict
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I think they look fantastic - matching lights has been one of my issues over the years, but never bothered with fogs - that's attention to detail

Any idea why the side lights aren't approved for road use ? Too bright ?

Guessing so - it's like fitting 100w lights over 55w, or as it seems not E-Marked.

Not worth the risk IMHO - as it's an easy excuse for the insurance to negate your policy. Land Rover Addict
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Last edited by DMRR on 3rd Jun 2012 6:08pm. Edited 1 time in total

Be careful with the H7's too - the ebay site isn't very clear on whether those are 55w or 100w - but there is a tiny warning near the bottom of the page!

I've also LED'd mine, but made sure everything complied. Land Rover Addict
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Thanks for the heads up!

I should probably say that I was just sharing my experience in matching the colour of the lights, but it's very true that some of them might not be road legal etc.

Any modifications are done at your own risk etc etc. Past (too many to list, but a few favs)...
2007 Porsche 997 C2S Coupe
2007 FFRR 4.2 S/C
2012 Jag XKR 5.0 S/C
2014 Merc SL500 AMG 4.7 V8 BiTurbo (remapped to 560BHP)
2011 FFRR 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE - Overfinch Conversion
2012 Porsche Cayenne Turbo
2018 AMG C63S Estate
2015 Mercedes GLE63S
2017 Maserati Levante Diesel
2017 Audi A6 Avant 3.0 Black Edition

ambulancekidd wrote:

Could you tell me how difficult it was to remove the head & sidelights? I've had a few try's at mine but they refuse to budge, I'd love to fit my new LED sidelights, the ordinary ones look horrible next to the brilliant white of the dipped beams.
Regards..Robert.

It's a doddle Robert, but you just need to ensure you follow the instructions in your owners manual properly. There's a whole section on replacing bulbs.

You need to remove the grille first (3 screws), then there are 3 screws holding in each headlight unit. Once you've undone them the lights just slide out and then you'll be able to remove the various bulbs very easily.

It's 20 minutes tops to do both sides.  Past (too many to list, but a few favs)...
2007 Porsche 997 C2S Coupe
2007 FFRR 4.2 S/C
2012 Jag XKR 5.0 S/C
2014 Merc SL500 AMG 4.7 V8 BiTurbo (remapped to 560BHP)
2011 FFRR 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE - Overfinch Conversion
2012 Porsche Cayenne Turbo
2018 AMG C63S Estate
2015 Mercedes GLE63S
2017 Maserati Levante Diesel
2017 Audi A6 Avant 3.0 Black Edition

Guys - I just did a bit of work on my headlights (colour coding the orange reflector) and noticed that the 100W H8 bulb in the cornering light is actually beginning to melt the headlight housing and mark the actual lens of the headlight.

I'll be honest, I knew it'd burn brighter, but I didn't even think that it'd burn that much hotter too.

As per other posts on this thread - DO NOT USE 100W bulbs!!  Past (too many to list, but a few favs)...
2007 Porsche 997 C2S Coupe
2007 FFRR 4.2 S/C
2012 Jag XKR 5.0 S/C
2014 Merc SL500 AMG 4.7 V8 BiTurbo (remapped to 560BHP)
2011 FFRR 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE - Overfinch Conversion
2012 Porsche Cayenne Turbo
2018 AMG C63S Estate
2015 Mercedes GLE63S
2017 Maserati Levante Diesel
2017 Audi A6 Avant 3.0 Black Edition

i think that's been well documented that 100 watt bulbs are hotter than 55 watt and they are totally illegal in the uk unless used in spots... ... - .- -.




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Well, clearly I'd missed those documents!

Perhaps naviely I was just applying the same logic as for household light bulbs - i.e. 100w is brighter than a 60w etc.

Anyway, crisis averted and the proper bulbs are back in there now... Past (too many to list, but a few favs)...
2007 Porsche 997 C2S Coupe
2007 FFRR 4.2 S/C
2012 Jag XKR 5.0 S/C
2014 Merc SL500 AMG 4.7 V8 BiTurbo (remapped to 560BHP)
2011 FFRR 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE - Overfinch Conversion
2012 Porsche Cayenne Turbo
2018 AMG C63S Estate
2015 Mercedes GLE63S
2017 Maserati Levante Diesel
2017 Audi A6 Avant 3.0 Black Edition

it was easier back in the day when headlamps were made of glass and not plastic. I had 90/130 in my Jetta as well as a few spots on the front - it was great lol cheers
Rich