[fordy86]

Hi, I want to change the lamps to something brighter/whiter in my 05 megane 2. Is there any suggestions for the best to get? also the fog lamps too I'd want to change them to the same 'colour' as the headlights, is this possible and is it a big job as in the manual it says to change these contact a dealer

My bike has a 110w superwhite bulb in but iv read posts on here saying higher wattage isn't advised for the car?

Cheers

 

[T25JJT]

Hi,
I've got some osram nightbreakers in mine which are pretty good.
They are whiter and seem a little brighter than standard bulbs and comply with regulations/mot too.

I'd recommend eBay for them though as they are £30 a set otherwise.

 

[AutoPilot]

I've had Nightbreakers in mine but the dipped beams only lasted 18 months; they were the improved version with longer life.

Performance bulbs won't last as long as regular bulbs but, if spending again, I'd try the Philips equivalent as they're supposed to outlast the Osrams and provide similar performance.

Assuming they're available in whatever size goes in the foglamps, you'd be able to change those as well although (IMO) a waste of money given how rarely foglamps are used.

I'm guessing the legality issue is the same with bikes (?) but high wattage bulbs are illegal in cars (not that anyone would take them out to check!) - being able to run them depends upon the wiring and resistance of the lenses to heat.

 

[coup]

What are your headlamp bulb fitment sizes?

100w bulbs are available, but , they may be illegal and could at least blow your fuses /damage the lamps themselves.
I use nightbreakers ,about £13 a pair from ebay.
They are "whiter" than normal replacement bulbs.
They have a slight bluish layer on the glass which cuts the yellow slightly.
Halfords own hi performance bulbs..actually made by varta I think arent too bad..

Dont go for the "cool blue..really daz blue white bulbs from ebay.. they will give you less light than normal yellow bulbs.
They are just regular halogen/xenon type bulbs with blue paint on.
. Good if you like a "chav blue" effect,not good for seeing with.

There is a certain amount of bs with bulbs advertised as Xenon!.
They could be just normal bulbs with xenon gas.. or a xenon halogen mix.
The "real" xenon bulbs(actually HID or arclite) may actually have halogen or some other noble gas in them as the xenon/halogen aspect is just to give light while the bulbs warm up.
Something like the flourescent strip lights in your house.
They dont give instant light when turned on..its flash flash and 15 seconds later you can see ..not great for motoring.

Imho HID or arclite are the way to go for standard headlamp reflectors,if you can get "R" bulbs.. H7R I use.
That is HID bulbs with a ballast resistor
Go for bulbs about 5000k colour rating,,4300k is ideal.

Once its warmed up it wont look "chav".

The legalities: Shrouded or "R" hid bulbs will work wuthout glare and give much better light.
(see below)

The legalities:
Forget about xenon/halogen/neon , just in terms of HID or arclite bulbs, they need to be oem fitted with lvling systems and headlamp washers for MoT.

Normal HID bulbs will throw light and glare all over with a HID bulb in a filament bulb housing.
This is less with 35 w bulbs ,which provide more light than regular 55w filament bulbs , but its still there.

For MoT you cant really use HID bulbs at all in headlamps unless they were original fitment.You can change back to the normal bulbs for the MoT,but thats a personal choice.

The regulations require a self leveling lamp sytem and a headlamp wash wipe system for HID lighjts, even if oem fitment.

Me , I use the H7R 55w HID bulbs on my low beam. Its really good for me.I use normal nightbreakers on hi beam.
driving lamps are 35w HID.

There is one case where I might be inconveniencing other road users.. thats in slow town traffic at night in light rain.

Its connected with the regs above.headlamp wash wipe? who cares. For HID in the above conditions its relevant.
The light is so powerfull that whether you fit them yourself or they came with the car as reflector or focused beam lamps,raindrops on the lens will provide some glare.

In that sense even if you have "R"bulbs,If you dont have headlamp wipe you could give glare at low speeds.

Me?..Ill chance it until definite regs come in here.As it is the number of folks who dont even go to dipped beam in a reasonable time makes me less likely to "turn the other cheek",facial or otherwise.

 

[T25JJT]

Coup, where did you get your kit from? Did you just put the bulbs into the standard head lights?
I've um'ed and ah'ed over getting myself some hid lamps as there are kits fairly cheap on eBay but just haven't had the guts to go for it yet...

 

[coup]

This is the seller I got the dipped beam H7 kit from.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/55W-12V-2...arParts_SM&hash=item1c2150c628#ht_8413wt_1163

4300k bulb colour ,strong blue for 15 sec as bulb warms up after that it goes a nice white with just a vague hint of blue.
Most car manufacturers provide oem HID lights with a 4300k-5000k range so that colour will look the least "aftermarket add on!".

That colour range also provides the highest light output among HID bulbs.

Make sure you get the H7R bulbs ,the shrouded ones for your reflector , otherwise there will be a glare halo.

Some earlier laguna's were apparently one of the few types of cars fitted with HID reflector based headlamps as oem fittings..

Oh yeh bulb length..
H7 HID bulbs are 42 mm long .

The original H7 normal bulb is 40mm long.
On my car the tip of a 42 mm bulb will foul the metal reflector in front of a bulb in the headlamp housing

You can get 40 mm HID H7 bulbs. These are known as H7C !
!!!! Why didnt they make them all 40mm long? something to do with slightly reduced bulb life sigh.
So what I would ideally have needed is HID H7RC bulbs.
I havent seen those listed anywhere.
I had to make up a "spacer" .I used 2mm approx fencing wire ,bent and cut to shape for each side.
Coat hanger wire might be the right diameter too.
Extra hassle but seems to be working fine.

 

[T25JJT]

They seem very reasonably priced... Is it a simple case of plug and play?
I know the earlier Laguna's had xenon kits and I've seen a phase 2 with projector style headlights too. I have been toying with the idea of changing mine to one of these but it seems like a bit too much work to bother with.
Did you just message them for your bulb?

 

[coup]

Almost plug and play but you do have to drill a hole for the wiring in the plastic cover on the rear of the headlamp and find somewhere to mount the ballast resistor.
+ what I mentioned above about the length of the bulb.

If its a H12 bulb like my foglamps it really is plug n play.

Yeh I sent them a message about the type and colour of bulb I wanted while the order was being processed.

You can get more expensive kits .. uk stock etc if you want them faster.Slimline digital ballast resistors are supposed to be better,theyre smaller anyway.
My fog/driving bulbs are analogue ballast resistors.

 

[T25JJT]

Have you changed all your bulbs to these then?

 

[coup]

http://www.renaultforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=852551&postcount=80

 

[T25JJT]

For some reason I can't see the rest of the thread but just to confirm...
You've fit hid to your dipped beam and fog lights, night breakers to your main beam and led's to side lights and drl's?

 

[lomas2012]

for defs get yourself a set of HIDS.. I have 8000K ones in my laguna in both the headlights and fogs.. but watch what your buying off ebay cause most of the HID kits are cheap jap SH**E..

 

[T25JJT]

I've certainly been tempted a few times... Been scared off though by stories over the legality of them. That's why I was looking at OEM spec but that's a lot of hard work.

 

[coup]

look at it like this.

If your model has a variant with HID lamps , change over the whole system including the wash wipe parts.

If you have reflector headlamps , use the R bulbs for low beam whatever the fitment is .The original impetus for low glare bulbs in reflector lamps came from mercedes.OEM designation for them is like ds2 I think.
Even then if you fit them and submit for a MOT in the UK they probably wont pass cos they have no wash wipe and self leveling.
Whether you refit the normal bulbs for an MOT is a personal decision..good we still have some.

Fitting them on hi beam is kinda a waste of time cos they take awhile to warm up and give full light output.
There are kits for dual beam setups .but ..

Fog lamps/driving/spot lamps.
Mine are called fog/driving lamps in the manual
With 35w hid's they provide a lot nore light low down at night.
There is not MOT legislation on those afaik..
The beam is much lower and I find it very usefull.
By fitting HID, H12 in my case it really makes them driving lamps and useless in fog .The returned glare is so high from water droplets that its worse than using hi beam normal bulbs in fog.
Just something to be aware of.

 

[T25JJT]

You've convinced me, I'll get the H7r kit from where you said a bit later then. I've got nearly a year til my MOT so I'll worry about that then

 

[coup]

:d
just tryin to give some info..
Problems could be
Drilling the hole in the plastic cover for the grommet with the wires.
an exact size hole cutter would be best .

Making up a spacer if the full size h7R bulbs are too long
When the kit arrives:
Check and see where your present dipped beams are on a wall/garage door about 15 ft away . Mark the centre of the beam spots with a cross made of masking tape or similar on the wall.Mark the position of the wheels with something if you are going to move the car before fitting the kit.

The main thing is the height.If the new HID spots on the wall are at the height of the old ones,great .If not you may have to turn the adjusters a little.
I did on mine.
I also spent maybe 100-150 in total including about 70 for the HID kits, trying lots of different bulbs and leds in the drl and fog sockets (not in the H7 headlamps).
Gl if you switch them.

 

[T25JJT]

I've already fit LED's everywhere I can (footwell, interior, side lights and numberplate lights) which I had from my Saab.
The head lights are also up-rated ones from out my Saab (can't remember what make, ring blue I think) with my dipped beams being the Night Breakers.
I couldn't get to my fog lights so they are still standard...
I would like to fit the HID's and maybe evn a set of DRL's too if I can find an ignition live in the engine bay area.
It's only an hours job to swap the bulbs back round again come MOT time (access is tight on the Laguna's)

 

[coup]

I've already fit LED's everywhere I can (footwell, interior, side lights and numberplate lights) which I had from my Saab.
The head lights are also up-rated ones from out my Saab (can't remember what make, ring blue I think) with my dipped beams being the Night Breakers.
I couldn't get to my fog lights so they are still standard...
I would like to fit the HID's and maybe evn a set of DRL's too if I can find an ignition live in the engine bay area.
It's only an hours job to swap the bulbs back round again come MOT time (access is tight on the Laguna's)

I have interior leds in place of the regular filaments ,everywhere except the drivers door light.So many other circuits are controlled off that it doesnt like a low resistance led in there
Fog lights, on mine you can get at just about thru the front plastic wheelwell covers if you take out the screws.
The drl's on mine.I turned off the cicuit(via computer options) that enables them at all.
They are now wired into the sidelight bulbs ,with leds the reduced wattage is no more than normal sidelights would have ,so Im running 4. bulbs on the sidelight circuit.
Im not advocating bulb switching to pass an MOT,if you wanna do it thas up to you.
Me personally I will switch mine ,when the time comes for the Irish version of it just in case..I also dont wanna be a pain to other road users /get stopped by the lads in blue,hence the R bulbs.

It could be that addons in MOT land are np..then again here in Ireland,there is a "we are the govt " generated clampdown on naughty boy racers for MOT/NCT.
If youre 17 your damn lucky we let you on the road in your 1000 cc panda.How dare you tart it up and try and frighten grannies and mechanics with your loud exhausts.
The girls are much more sensible ,aside from the 100mph dash from Dublin airport into the city I had with a couple of headlight flashing air stewardesses .
Yeh they won , my testosterone had a reality check at the jump the q of cars at traffic lights by going into the oncoming lane :d.

Ive seen threads for tuning boxes for example where posters get thru the MOT with them fitted,me Id prefer not to chance it.

There is a post/thread by Ahmed24 on the vagaries of the renault drl's and the use of pwm in the circuit.Hes the guy with a rs replica project.

 

[T25JJT]

I don't think the tuning box would be an issue on mine as it is set quite low (had problems when it was set higher, think you already know about that one though )
I d like the idea of the DRL's though. Was thinking maybe a strip of LED's discreetly along the top of the lights or something. If done properly they could look quite good IMO.
The only reason I would potentially bulb swop would be because I know it would fail. If it was easy enough to fit the self leveling and wash system then I would. I have heard about sensors on the axels etc though
I certainly wouldn't want to annoy other drivers (as I wouldn't want it done to me...) so wouldn't fit anything that wasn't recomended/suitable for my car.

As for being chased by "flashing air stewardesses" then I wouldn't be complaining :d

I didn't know about the drivers door light though, I've replaced all of mine with LED's. Is that the same with all Renaults or just the newer ones?

 

[Savy1]

Seriously, there are things to look about when purchasing bulbs for your head lights...
1. Large difficulty to change any bulb due to the position of the headlights (Reanult Mk2).
2. If you have to fit any Regulators, extra harneses or whatever to make your modified bulbs work like LED one's you will need to modify your headlight caps (that cost£9 each - in case you break them)
3. The type of bulbs you use need to be Low UV or with UV filter not to damage the plastic of the headlights (yellowish tint). This is written in your car manual.
4. The bulbs need to be same voltage or it will melt your plug due to heat.

In my opinion 55W Xenon Super white lights are the best to avoid hastle.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/H7-55W-12...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item1e701595ff