I have just bought a Niseko and am quite disappointed with the headlights. May not have been helped by having suspension lowered. I’m looking at the most cost effective way of improving them. Can anyone help?
David
Welcome to NC ownership. By and large, the headlights are pretty “pants”. I had mine polished and different bulbs installed and they still don’t cut the mustard really…
I think it’s down to the foibles of the NC together with the seat belt retraction woe 
I swapped my bulbs for Osram Halogen Night Breakers, LED front fog lights and side lights. I also swapped out the indicators for daytime running light switchback LED’s.
The job removes most of the skin from your knuckles, but there is definitely a noticeable improvement. The full beam is quite impressive now and I don’t feel like I’ve got candles for dipped beams.
The front fogs are super bright, but I’m conscious that there perhaps too bright for ‘normal’ (non foggy) conditions.
Hid kit.
Ok apart from MOT time .
Existing halogen headlamp units on vehicles first used on or after 1 April 1986 must not be converted to be used with high intensity discharge (HID) or light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp for light source and lamp not compatible.
Last year I swopped the original (?) 15 year old bulbs in both dip and main beam for a set of H7 + H9 PIAA Hyper Arros bulbs. Whilst not offering the ultimate brightness compared with others they do claim better durability and knowing how much of a pain changing these on the NC is I went for longevity. Also swopped the sidelight lamps for some “whiter” ones to try to match the headlamps. I decided to remove the front bumper rather than go in through the top or remove the wheelarch flaps.This made the job much easier and enabled a clean up of the front reinforcement at the same time.
Results can be seen below
Dipped Beam:
Main Beam
I also added a pair of LED strips in the front grille wired up to a 5 pin changeover relay for DRL,s as I wanted to keep the existing fog lights. So far these have worked well without any problems.
Technically correct however, I’ve not had any issues on my last 2 tests. Tester can’t remove anything and can’t consult any databases or use prior knowledge so I’d wonder how they would know? The ballasts are hidden and the wiring is taped into the factory loom. Beam pattern is superb, levelling function works as intended and I’d say they were at least 2x better than halogen but yes you are correct so I guess it’s down to chance.
Hi
The tester looks at the start up procedure and doesnt need to remove anything
A hid will fire up and get brighter an LED will come on more instantly a lot faster than a halogen this is written in the testers procedure for inspection of headlights
The Headlights them selves have markings on them so the tester knows if there halogen lights originally Led or Hid all headlights have markings either on the lens or body etc to tell you what bulb type is meant to be fitted
As far as the Mx5 is concerned the fact you have a headlight level device that can be adjusted by the user and no headlamp cleaning devices screams after market
99% of oem fitted Hid lights have headlight cleaning and self leveling headlights
I agree in your case beam pattern in a projector headlamp will be spot on
problem is there coming down on this harder as theres so many people putting kits in headlights that have terrible beam images and glare for oncoming vehicles and other road users
The latest update on this was effective from 22 march 2021
