I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: improving my useless headlights
I do realise that the whole topic of replacement H7 bulbs has been discussed many times before, but most of the threads are quite old and I’m wondering what the current thinking is regarding the best bulbs to get.
The low beams on my NC3/Mk3.75 are the most useless, dim, ineffective, pointless so-called headlights that I’ve ever has the misfortune to experience on any car that I have ever owned or driven – let alone on a sports car that is designed to be driven, err, enthusiastically. To add insult to injury, Mazda seem to have made replacing the bulbs more difficult than most manufacturers make a complete engine strip-down and rebuild.
Unfortunately, from reading lots of reviews it seems that, in general, the brighter the replacement bulb, the shorter its life is
My requirements are:
Must provide (much) more light output than the current 55W bulbs
Decent life expectancy (I don’t want to have to go through the whole car-up-on-axle-stands and find-a-double-jointed-friend routine of replacing the bulbs too often)
Must be legal (pass MoT) and not dazzle oncoming drivers
Must be plug-and-play (I don’t want to risk burning out the wiring or switch and I’d probably prefer not to try moving to LED or HID)
Cost is not an issue (within reason…) and I don’t care what they look like, as long as they work well
So which H7 bulbs should I get? Philips X-treme? Philips RacingVision? Osram Night Breaker Laser? Ring Xenon 130? Vosla? Others?
Supplementary question: although the H9 high beams are actually not too bad, while I’m replacing my bulbs is there a recommended brand that I should replace them with?
I’ve heard lots of people give good reviews of the night breakers, but i’ve no experience of them.
I only drive my car when the sun shines, so the only time the headlights come on is a day before and during the MOT.
The pair of Night Breakers I fitted (with skinned knuckles but not fiddling with wheel arch liners) four years ago in my NC are only slightly brighter than the Michiba (OEM) pair I took out, one of those had died after only 18,000 miles. However the seeing after four years is still excellent, good and bright, but then the headlamp lenses are also still crystal clear.
Duo-Box from the H7 Night Breakers carrying the spare Michiba bulb still working and looking like new, but then so did the failed one.
I fitted the Philips Bulbs to my other car ( 18 plate Pug 208 ) and I’m pleased with the results, definitely brighter and crisper compared to the originals.
And yes ,in this day and age , of comfort motoring, and all manner of things like SatNav and reliable maintenance free this and that, I can’t believe that car manufacturers can’t incorporate easy access to things like Bulbs which need replacing from time to time, wheels off, arches out !! WTF were they thinking.
P.S Look at the bulb life which is usually printed on the packaging.
Bulb life is in the lap of the gods. My old Triumph motorcycle used to eat dip filaments regularly, purely because of the vibration and the hot metal of the filament being much weaker than when cold. So I accepted the fact of its short life, and went for the most powerful and brightest that would fit!
I assume this is what happened with my NC as I hit a bad pothole in the dark with left front (it was that or the truck coming the other way), and that filament failed instantly.
So I carry a spare bulbs kit in each car, and have practised how to change them. The NC kit now also has a dumpy screwdriver to release the wheelarch liner plastic pegs - no skinned knuckles this way.
I’d quite like to change the bulbs on my MK3 , but the thought of jacking up the car, removing the wheels, and then the wheel arches, with my gnarly knackered 62 year old hands, I just keep putting it off, if it was a fairly straight forward job , I’d have done it by now, I can’t believe its such a rigmarole.
It’s not that bad!
No jacking up needed, nor wheels off.
Side lights are easy from inside the engine compartment
Main beams are easy(ish) from inside.
Dips are fiddly but possible from inside, although easier through the wheel arch on passenger side, just turn the wheel away, and bend the liner aside.
Front Indicators are a definite wheel arch access job.
LED replacement headlight bulbs used to be a no no as they were not precisely made enough to focus the beams properly.
This has now changed and they are now made by established manufacturers like Philips.
They are fairly expensive but are bright, white and should have good longevity.
Legality is dubious though.
OK cheers, doing it without taking wheels off sounds better , I’m getting lazy in my old age , plus I have fingers like a bunch of sausages .
It’s the dip bulbs I want to replace first .
Boz
Thanks - Ive been looking at these (not-road-legal) Philips LEDs. Before I shell out £120 for a pair of bulbs, have you (or anybody else on here) fitted these to an MX-5, and if so was the improvement in lighting worthwhile?
Also, would you know whether they are just plug-and-play in the NC? I’ve read comments about having to use an adaptor, cable tie a control box to the light fitting, and not being able to replace the dust cap that fits behind the bulb.
(Thanks also to everybody else who has been responded - all comments are being taken on board!)
Depending on what you end up with, even with good access LEDs of any make can be a nightmare to fit with extra wiring, driver boxes and physical adaptors.
NC? You might not physically fit one into the space behind the NC fuse box because of a big heat-sink sticking out on the back, this can compromise your choices.
See these two videos and make up your own mind. The man speaks good sense!
