Questions about upgrading the front lights to be brighter and more reliable

[dramblys]

Hello,

I've been recently having a struggle with my dipped beam h1 lights. Not only are they not very bright, but also they fail quite often and replacement is not a 20 min job.

I was looking at upgrading them to xenon or led, but obviously got to the point wether they are legal or not.

As far as I understand retrofitting h1 bulb with LED or xenon bulb/kit is illegal because they are too bright or the shape of the light beam gets deformed?

Is there someone who had modified theirs to conform to the legal standards or have some different upgrades to make the bulbs more brighter and longer lasting?

It was fine for me while I was driving even though visibility is next to none and the new cars behind me with dipped beams enlighten the road for me better than my own car does, haha. But my wife is going to be a new driver and using the car this winter and just want to make it safer for her so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

 

[Trawa]

Installed a HID retrofit kit in mine, no issues with the cutoff or beam pattern at all. Housings already have the mounting points for ballasts so it's plug and play with some extra zip ties or velcro needed to tidy up the wiring.

Technically illegal but the bulb isn't visible so if the beam pattern is correct it'll pass MOT.

Personally I'd go for HID over LEDs but that's just my personal bias. You can find some more install pics in my gallery thread.

 

[Richard B]

I had a horrendous run of failing H1 bulbs on low beam (dipped). It turned out that despite my confidence that I had it worked out, I was still managing to not seat the bulbs propely. It's been 2 years on the same set now (cheap aliexpress bulbs) and I drive with lights on day and night.

 

[dramblys]

I had a horrendous run of failing H1 bulbs on low beam (dipped). It turned out that despite my confidence that I had it worked out, I was still managing to not seat the bulbs propely. It's been 2 years on the same set now (cheap aliexpress bulbs) and I drive with lights on day and night.

Thanks for your reply. I always keep thinking that I may be not seating my bulbs right, but it's always so difficult cause i've been sticking them in through the wheel arch. This time I'll be trying to remove the bumper and the headlight unit for the first time, maybe it's going to yield better results. At least that way I can be sure that the bulbs won't end up touching anything.

Also looked at Trawa's HID retrofit, but haven't had time to fully research and commit to either bulbs yet, but thanks for sharing. Those are some great news indeed