took a test drive of the new bmw 528i xdrive a couple of days ago and there was only one thing that struck me, the car is great by the way, but probably better as a RWD, anyway, if I was to compare my OEM xenons on the 197 with new bulbs fitted in august 2011 to the light that this new BMW emits I would be comparing the sun with... a blown off candle... what might be wrong with my headlights that they give out so little light, or what is the phenomena of the bmw xenons working so good.... the bulbs in my 197 are brand new, I heard that in some cars the reflectors get burned out in time, but that can be fixed quite easily, what else should I be looking for ?? does the ballast or the igniter affect the light emitted by the bulb??? thanks for help!
All the ballast does is supply a higher voltage to ignite the xenon gas on start up, the ignitor is what in basic terms is put the ballast voltage to the bulb to get it started thn drops the voltage bak down to 12v once ignited. So i dont think thats the priblem. Whats the wattage + colour temp of your new bulbs
the bulbs are standard philips 4300k 35W D2S.... it must be the burned out reflectors then... or just the fact that clios projectors are not as good as the competition uses, maybe I could have them changed for a set of some better ones ??? like they do making non xenon headlights to a projector lens xenons....
bump someone did put bixenon projector into a ph2 headlight... wonder if he/she ever had a chance to compare it with the OEM 197 xenon... that could be interesting.... oh and yesterday I parked up next to a supermarket with my headlights going straight into the wall of the building which was like 10 - 15 metres away, it was already dark and I could see it that the lights were really not up to a xenon standard, turned highbeams on and there was no difference on the wall, meaning the highbeam is working, the whole projector unit goes up a little, but there was no visible difference in light on the wall, as normally I guess I should be able to see a slight blueish color of the xenons and then the yellowish halogen unit above ( high beam ).... so I turned them off, back on again and I could swear that they were brighter.... feels like the bulb are giving pretty good light right after they start up, but then after a while they dim.... maybe its faulty bulbs...
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Isn't bixenon just xenon dip and xenon main beam? If so it won't make any difference as surely you are just comparing dip beam on the Clio with dip beam on the Beemer?
I have noticed that Beemers do seem to have excellent headlamps, certainly better than my elderly Focus.
I have noticed that Beemers do seem to have excellent headlamps, certainly better than my elderly Focus.
yes bixenon is just main beam and high beam at the same xenon light source, same projector with a flap inside, anyway, the question is does a different projector give better light than the OEM projector of a 197... as I cant see anything else being different, the BMWs use D2S such as the clio does, so what is making such a massive difference... my guess would be the projector unit which from what I heard is easily exchangeable... no MOT issues as well as my car has xenons as standard, will investigate this further,
Is answer to your qestion, the standard projectors are in no way up to standards. The design seems to be quite ancient.
yes but if you look at the projector lenses that are sold separately from disassembled lets say bmw units they don't look far superior to the renault ones just from the outside... I think I will try messing with some other bulbs first, might be the ones I bought are just pure ****
I recently fitted new Philips bulbs and it made a huge difference over the standard bulbs. But aren't the standard clio bulbs 55w rather than 35w or is this only applicable to standard H7 figment bulbs? If your 40w down in total between the two headlights it would explain the poor light output??
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It could be the bulbs themselves. I cycled through a few aftermarket bulbs and a couple of ballasts in my previous car and the difference in light output was very noticeable. The basic rule of the more you pay the better it got was predictably true
I initially had a HID kit which cost £120 (the bulbs were £45 for a pair) 35w 4300k and the light output was great, really crisp and clear. I then fitted a cheaper kit which I obtained for free (retailed for £50, bulbs were about £20 a pair) yet had a supposedly better light output what with the kit having 50 watt 5000k bulbs.
The supposedly brighter yet cheaper kit was instantly noticeable as being less bright, took longer to reach full brightness upon activation of the headlights and eventually dimmed over time due to the fact they were burning out the inside of the projectors. Waste of money bah.
Conclusion...buy the most expensive bulbs and ballasts you can afford imo.
Also my brother has a 2009 3 series and the light output on his car is awesome, but as far as I know the BMW OEM HID setups cost around £1000 so it's unlikely the Clios could get equal quality without some fancy (and expensive!) retrofitting.
I initially had a HID kit which cost £120 (the bulbs were £45 for a pair) 35w 4300k and the light output was great, really crisp and clear. I then fitted a cheaper kit which I obtained for free (retailed for £50, bulbs were about £20 a pair) yet had a supposedly better light output what with the kit having 50 watt 5000k bulbs.
The supposedly brighter yet cheaper kit was instantly noticeable as being less bright, took longer to reach full brightness upon activation of the headlights and eventually dimmed over time due to the fact they were burning out the inside of the projectors. Waste of money bah.
Conclusion...buy the most expensive bulbs and ballasts you can afford imo.
Also my brother has a 2009 3 series and the light output on his car is awesome, but as far as I know the BMW OEM HID setups cost around £1000 so it's unlikely the Clios could get equal quality without some fancy (and expensive!) retrofitting.
think I'll try fitting one of the old bulbs and should see how it performs, the one I left for ice is the original bulb that was fitted in the factory, over 5 years old a little yellowish but will be a good test to see the real efficiency of the new bulbs, if the 5 year old outperforms the new one... I am off to get a refund!!! need some free time though as it does require taking the bumper off...
