Headlamp woes

[bearded_ed]

So. Last Saturday I fitted a HID kit, it was a fair bit of a faff because we didn't take the wheels off and then the kit needed one connector to be reversed to make it work.

Then came the faff of jamming the whole lot in the headlights.

I thought I succeed but it appears that long the way I messed up the rubber seal on the back covers because now I have very wet lights!!! (bone dry before)

HIDs work most of the time but it seems like a connection is loose as occasionally either the left or right won't work for a bit then on a restart of the car, it'll be back on.

Anyway, I got new rear covers because although I read you can flip the gasket over on the originals, I figured at 15 years old they deserved replacement.

My question is, if this doesn't work and it keeps getting wet and also the lights have Intermittent issues.... What's the brightest bulb I can bang in the normal halogens? Because when the HID kit works, they're brilliant. And I really don't want to go back to a normal useless halogen.

Sadly I don't have spare cash to splash out on Lucas's projector upgrade

 

[lucasxdiniz]

Second best to a HID kit is a simple LED conversion. You already have adaptors for the headlight housing (I assume because of the HID bulbs), so just order a decent set of H7 LEDs from Amazon or eBay. I had one in my E85 and it certainly worked better than the 150%Brighter Halfords Bulbs that were there before.

 

[bearded_ed]

Second best to a HID kit is a simple LED conversion. You already have adaptors for the headlight housing (I assume because of the HID bulbs), so just order a decent set of H7 LEDs from Amazon or eBay. I had one in my E85 and it certainly worked better than the 150%Brighter Halfords Bulbs that were there before.

Thanks Lucas, I think this is what you were telling me about a while back!

I was reading something just now that led bulbs are actually illegal?! Did yours go through an MOT?

 

[lucasxdiniz]

Second best to a HID kit is a simple LED conversion. You already have adaptors for the headlight housing (I assume because of the HID bulbs), so just order a decent set of H7 LEDs from Amazon or eBay. I had one in my E85 and it certainly worked better than the 150%Brighter Halfords Bulbs that were there before.

Thanks Lucas, I think this is what you were telling me about a while back!

I was reading something just now that led bulbs are actually illegal?! Did yours go through an MOT?

In the same sense your HID kit is illegal as you don't have auto-levelling headlights (and maybe headlight washers). My old E85 is now my mum's and it passed its MOT last week with no advisories; the aim is perfect, and the bulbs are not stupidly bright and it looks more OEM than HID kits. Even 5000k ones look blueish whereas the LED just looks pure white.