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C30 Headlamp Bulb Upgrade

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Old Feb 5th, 2019, 13:06   #11
Bonefishblues
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Originally Posted by Tannaton View Post
[post deleted as I'd not read the thread fully and it's all been said... LED's are mostly sh*t, if Nightbreaker unlimited's aren't good enough then you need to change your projectors...]
Quoting your deleted post to say that I would have stayed with N+ bulbs had they lasted longer than 6 months (both sets)
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Old Feb 6th, 2019, 19:02   #12
GSB
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Hi guys, new member here.

I too have been pondering the ridiculously poor light output of my C30’s headlights since I picked it up last week.

A look at the headlight units themselves has revealed that they have previously been fitted with an HID ‘upgrade’ of dubious quality (or a hungry badger has knawed holes in the back of my headlights and half the wiring), net result is the reflectors are toast and the Osram night breaker laser lamps I put in are currently putting out less additional light than a clipper lighter waved at an Ed Sheeran gig.

Properly designed LED’s are unbelievably good, I have an Audi with matrix headlights and they are beyond excellent, but throwing a LED or an HID lamp into a housing it was never designed for will never replicate them, and I’m unwilling to run illegal lights. This leaves me with the option of new OEM headlights (££££££-ouch), or fitting the new H7 modules from retrofitlab as suggested by T5R92001.

Thing is, these E46 clones are based on a decades old design and are far from perfect, so perhaps fitting something like a 50mm Hella 1BL 009 071-001 into the headlight housing would offer something with more modern output? It’s fully legal, it’s halogen so doesn’t need self levelling tech, and it looks like it should be fairly easy to fit... Which begs the question, has anyone done it?
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Old Feb 7th, 2019, 15:20   #13
MDS40
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My advice to you - get one of those : Osram NB Laser or something similar in NightBreaker range.
Then take out your projectors, clean lenses, inspect the chrome coatong and you should be sorted.[/QUOTE]

Exactly what i did, osram Laser fitted after the lens clean and a bit of upward adjustment and now a heck of a lot better.
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Old Feb 7th, 2019, 16:28   #14
T5R92011
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Originally Posted by GSB View Post
Hi guys, new member here.

I too have been pondering the ridiculously poor light output of my C30’s headlights since I picked it up last week.

A look at the headlight units themselves has revealed that they have previously been fitted with an HID ‘upgrade’ of dubious quality (or a hungry badger has knawed holes in the back of my headlights and half the wiring), net result is the reflectors are toast and the Osram night breaker laser lamps I put in are currently putting out less additional light than a clipper lighter waved at an Ed Sheeran gig.

Properly designed LED’s are unbelievably good, I have an Audi with matrix headlights and they are beyond excellent, but throwing a LED or an HID lamp into a housing it was never designed for will never replicate them, and I’m unwilling to run illegal lights. This leaves me with the option of new OEM headlights (££££££-ouch), or fitting the new H7 modules from retrofitlab as suggested by T5R92001.

Thing is, these E46 clones are based on a decades old design and are far from perfect, so perhaps fitting something like a 50mm Hella 1BL 009 071-001 into the headlight housing would offer something with more modern output? It’s fully legal, it’s halogen so doesn’t need self levelling tech, and it looks like it should be fairly easy to fit... Which begs the question, has anyone done it?
I don't believe anyone has done that. Not on this forum at least.

With regards to retrofit lab projectors (with clear lens):

New Projectors + H7 Halogen bulbs = Excellent headlamps. Halogen simplicity with "modern" razer sharp cut off... feels special and far superior to other halogen headlamps.

New Projectors + 35watt HID Kit
= VERY bright at hotspot. On par (or very nearly on par) with any OEM LED setup in terms of brightness. Some eye strain for driver due to intensity + sharp cutoff.

New Projectors + 55watt HID Kit = Overkill. Don't do this. Not recommended.

Option 1 is the best compromise between simplicity, performance and expense. Your car will go from rubbish headlights, to excellent legal headlights and you can experiement with as many bulb brands and choices as you like.
Option 2 & 3 are complicated and involved to setup properly. Enthusiast job really.
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Last edited by T5R92011; Feb 7th, 2019 at 16:33.
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Old Feb 7th, 2019, 18:25   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GSB View Post
Thing is, these E46 clones are based on a decades old design and are far from perfect, so perhaps fitting something like a 50mm Hella 1BL 009 071-001 into the headlight housing would offer something with more modern output? It’s fully legal, it’s halogen so doesn’t need self levelling tech, and it looks like it should be fairly easy to fit... Which begs the question, has anyone done it?
I heard people using different projectors than Bosch AL "E46", yes. Mini1 or other types, or with correct mounting bracket technically ANY projector that fits there can be used. E46 type is old design, yes, but still works good and you can also have it in H7 flavor so much less hassle than trying to fit Hella BL types.
Also, H7E46 from RFL does offer "modern output" aswell, with laser-sharp cutoff and moving flap even if you use H7 bulb, and also are so easy to retrofit that fiddling with not-matching Hellas seem pointless.
Now, I get it fully if you want to fit some oddballs because of its LED/HID performance, but then your argument on "legality" goes out anyway so its kinda of catch 21 anyway.

In our case, honestly, using Bosch AL clone is best option,only question is do you go HID or H7.
any way will outperform OEM ones, thats a given :}
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Old Feb 11th, 2019, 11:07   #16
Jerry1975
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Swapped the stock H7 dipped beam bulbs at the weekend for some Osram Nighbreaker Lazer H7 jobs and removed and cleaned up the rather filthy projector lenses.

The flaking of the silver paint was negligible so I just put it all back together and the improvement was pretty good.

You can even see the lights shining on the road in front of you now, which is a big improvement

Whole thing took me no longer than 25 minutes.

They will have to do for now until such time as I can be bothered upgrading to an HID set up.

Thanks for your help on here as always.

J
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