[hems77]

hi

ive been thinking about replacing all the front bulbs on my e90 for a while now. given that my understanding of the different types (xenons, LED, halo, angel etc etc) is limited, i thought id ask on here. also my dipped beam on the drivers side went out today, so have a good excuse to change em all.

my car just has the standard yellow looking (halogen i take it?) bulbs. id like to swap the dipped beam, main beam, side lights and fog lights for a bright white bulb. just trying to understand can all these be changed like for like with white ones? and which ones to get? probably do the all ones in the headlight first and the fogs later.

where is the best place to buy em from? and what bulbs should i look out for? (size, brand, model etc???)

also is it hard changing em? ive read you have to take the bumper off, surely this cant be right???

thanks for your help!

[R80TER]

personally i would go for the halfords super brilliance range, i fitted them in mine and i was very impressed with the increased performance. not cheap though at £25 a bulb, but i got them on BOGOF so £50 the lot...

You can change 1 each side from inside the engine bay, and the out bulbs are changed via the wheel arch. there is an inspection flap you remove. It is a bitch of a job, if halfords want to charge £2 a bulb to fit, take them up on it! LOL

[hems77]

anyone else pls???

really want to order some soon as my dipped beam has gone.

cheers

[m@rk]

It's a few years since I ran a non Xenon fitted car but a few things come to mind.

Forget the fake Xenon bulbs, blue bulbs and other boy racer tat. It may LOOK pretty but on a dark road in the rain, you need as much light on the road as you can get not a pretty blue glow.

Now here is the info you need.

Every year, Autoexpress do a review of headlamp bulbs. A proper test which is scientifically measured etc.

The last one was in October 2009 and can be found here

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/product...e_test_30.html

This year Philips won across the board. To be fair they always do and in the past when I have switched to them, the difference between them and the standard fit no brand bulbs has been clear to see.

Also remember that the performance of bulbs gets worse over time so even though your bulbs might still be working, they may not be kicking out anywhere near as much light as they did when new (regardless of brand)

Somewhere like www.powerbulbs.com (who I have used in the past) can supply a pair of the winning Philips vision plus bulbs (which in my view as the best money can buy) for less than £25. For that sort of cash, is it worth buying anything but the winners?

[magic77]

Philips power vision plus from powerbulbs always have worked wonders for me and last a decent lenght of time, plus if you google it theres always a discount code around you can use at powerbulbs,

THey perform a lot better than halfords range, I found anyway this being the case

[hems77]

thanks for the replies guys.

think ive seen these on powerbulbs - can anyone give me a link to be sure im looking at the right ones?

also are these a direct replacement for H7's?

what do i need or should i get for side-lights and fog lights?

cheers

[hems77]

Originally Posted by magic77

Philips power vision plus from powerbulbs always have worked wonders for me and last a decent lenght of time, plus if you google it theres always a discount code around you can use at powerbulbs,

THey perform a lot better than halfords range, I found anyway this being the case

are these white looking bulbs or standard yellow-ish ones??

[makammo]

Osram Nightbreakers here.

Used silverstars when they were the previous most powerful osrams, but fitted these to the BM and there's a world of difference.

I'll try and dig out some comparison pictures I took

[makammo]

p.s. if you go on ebay you can get a pair for 12 quid + another couple for delivery. Only works out to around 26 or so for 4 H7's which is a far cry better than Halfords wanting 26 quid per bulb (they don't do BOGOF anymore)

[hems77]

Originally Posted by marlonmarc

p.s. if you go on ebay you can get a pair for 12 quid + another couple for delivery. Only works out to around 26 or so for 4 H7's which is a far cry better than Halfords wanting 26 quid per bulb (they don't do BOGOF anymore)

thanks. was looking at the philips power vision plus's from powerbulbs.com. but they're £25 a pair and need 4 for both main and dipped beams (they're both H7 right?).

ill look for these on ebay! would be interested to see ur pics for comparison.

cheers

[magic77]

dont both upgrading your high beam how often do you use it, You will not find better bulbs than the philips, get a pair for your norma driving lights and jsut keep what ever you have for high beam it will be a money well spent

[magic77]

Powerbulbs discount code 10% off code ER28TW

[hems77]

Originally Posted by magic77

Powerbulbs discount code 10% off code ER28TW

thanks for the code! although now im really confused as to which to get.

probably philips but blue vision or vision plus?

cheers