Headlight upgrade
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Headlight upgrade
For all you Mk 3 owners suffering with poor headlights (thats pretty much everyone) heres how to improve them.
First off make sure you headlight alignment is correct. This is checked on the MOT, but if you have adjusted the ride height since then get them checked. Most MOT placese will do this for a small charge or free if your lucky !
Decent headlight bulbs, don't get any of those barry ones off ebay or the like. Get yourself some philips vision plus H4's (available from powerbulbs.com) that are standard wattage, so not illegal. They will have a slight improvement over normal ones and give you a good base for the next mod.
Headlight wiring loom, they make a huge improvemennt to lighting due to the voltage drop in the standard wiring. The voltage drop in these are negligible, so you get the full voltage and brighter beam. You can see so much further and the light is a very intense white. These are avilable from pitstop developments, where i got mine from.
The only thing i found is the negative battery lead was a couple of inches shorter than I would of liked, but it still fitted ok.
After these three steps you will be amazed how good the polo headlights can be. Driving at night is a lot more enjoyable.
Money well spent I think.
First off make sure you headlight alignment is correct. This is checked on the MOT, but if you have adjusted the ride height since then get them checked. Most MOT placese will do this for a small charge or free if your lucky !
Decent headlight bulbs, don't get any of those barry ones off ebay or the like. Get yourself some philips vision plus H4's (available from powerbulbs.com) that are standard wattage, so not illegal. They will have a slight improvement over normal ones and give you a good base for the next mod.
Headlight wiring loom, they make a huge improvemennt to lighting due to the voltage drop in the standard wiring. The voltage drop in these are negligible, so you get the full voltage and brighter beam. You can see so much further and the light is a very intense white. These are avilable from pitstop developments, where i got mine from.
The only thing i found is the negative battery lead was a couple of inches shorter than I would of liked, but it still fitted ok.
After these three steps you will be amazed how good the polo headlights can be. Driving at night is a lot more enjoyable.
Money well spent I think.
I already have Phillips Vision Plus bulbs, and have done for a while now (bought from www.powerbulbs.co.uk ). They really are fantastic, not only are they a super bright white (which improves the asthetics of your car) but there really is a LOT more light on the road. A real improvement. I've also just recently upgraded my sidelight bulbs with some xenon white ones from www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk
Lamp codes:
Full/dipped: H4
Sidelights: 233
Lamp codes:
Full/dipped: H4
Sidelights: 233
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I've given my headlights the full treatment...
1) Washed them out
2) Fitted Philips Vision Plus bulbs
3) Uprated Wiring Loom (DIY)
Venom do an uprated loom for 65 quid - but the parts (4 relays and 2 waterproof fuseholders) cost less than a tenner.
Would be interested to see how much the pitstop one is tho!!
1) Washed them out
2) Fitted Philips Vision Plus bulbs
3) Uprated Wiring Loom (DIY)
Venom do an uprated loom for 65 quid - but the parts (4 relays and 2 waterproof fuseholders) cost less than a tenner.
Would be interested to see how much the pitstop one is tho!!
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I can do that on mine by rerouting the wiring slightly. I've actually got a spare fly lead in the car in case one of the relays fails!!Gareth_GT_Hatch wrote:yeah before and after pics would have been good, or better yet one side sorted and the other side not. Good effort though.
Nothing's broken yet tho - touch wood!!
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Ok guys - I was feeling bored so I went out and did a bit of reverse engineering. I must say I'm astounded by the results...
The golf was parked a bit too close in front to get a head on pic - but here it is from the side...
From the other side...
And projection onto the golf parked in front...
Now these pics aren't much to go by, but my Mk1 human eyeball backs up the results. The relayed light seems nearly twice as bright as the original!!
This is the first time I've seen a comparison and I'm blown away by it quite frankly!! The only thing I did before was measure the voltage drop, which was 0.5V after (using the original earth) compared to 1.5V before.
It's obviously the last couple of volts which really light the bulb up!!
I'd be interested to get 14.4V through it now!!
The current battery kicks out about 13
The golf was parked a bit too close in front to get a head on pic - but here it is from the side...
From the other side...
And projection onto the golf parked in front...
Now these pics aren't much to go by, but my Mk1 human eyeball backs up the results. The relayed light seems nearly twice as bright as the original!!
This is the first time I've seen a comparison and I'm blown away by it quite frankly!! The only thing I did before was measure the voltage drop, which was 0.5V after (using the original earth) compared to 1.5V before.
It's obviously the last couple of volts which really light the bulb up!!
I'd be interested to get 14.4V through it now!!
The current battery kicks out about 13
I was planning to clean my lights out and upgrade the bulbs. I may, if I have time replace the one light (which has been cleaned) with a new phillips brigher bulb. And get a few pics.
So one light will be clean with brighter bulb and the other will not be clean with original bulb.
will perhaps get pics on wednesday.
James,
So one light will be clean with brighter bulb and the other will not be clean with original bulb.
will perhaps get pics on wednesday.
James,
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