Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2000 17:36:04 -0800
Reply-To: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Subject: Re: Xenon headlight bulbs... any opinions?
In-Reply-To: <B631B2A0.250F%res07cqd@gte.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
I sell headlights and bulbs for most all VW and Audi models and I stock
three kinds of Bulbs:
- Hella UV Free 55/60W H4
- Hella UV Free 80/100W H4
- Autopal 55/60W H4
I have tried all sorts of bulbs in my Quattro and Syncro
- Hella Yellow Star
- Hella France Spec Yellow lights
- Philips All Weather
- "No Name" Xeon
Now... the next part of this is what is the purpose of these lights. To
look cool or to look where you are going?
All these Xeon lights that are out there that give the blue tint to your
lights are illegal here in BC as well as most other provinces and states.
The RCMP here had no problem giving me a warning for these lights. Besides
the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) how did they perform... terrible
actually - there was less light output than a standard 55/60W bulb. This
may be due to the fact that your eyes don't like blue and were not designed
to see things in blue.
The French / Belgian lights are neat and downright awesome in the winter as
yellow light goes thru rain and snow a lot better than white light. But
these are also yellow (very) on low beam and instead of a warning I got a
$75 ticket for these... so they are not so cool! :0
I am running the Hella Yellow Stars in my Syncro in the high beams. These
have a very good yellow tint to the light, but not a true yellow bulb. No
problems with these as they are high beam only.
The Philips all weather are a gimmick IMHO - no difference in rain or snow
or fog.
Hella UV Free - true white light with no blue content. These bulbs are
excellent. I have the 80/100s in all my vehicles.
Autopal (Generic) H4 - these are the old fashioned halogen lights. Work
well, but the Hella UV frees are better and only slightly more expensive.
Conclusion... get a set of Hella "UV Free" H4 bulbs and get a set of yellow
fog lights to supplement them in bad weather.
David Marshall
Fast Forward Autobahn Sport Tuning
4356 Quesnel Hixon Road
Quesnel BC Canada V2J 6Z3
mailto:info@fastforward.ca http://www.fastforward.ca
Phone: (250) 992 7775 FAX: (250) 992 1160
. Vanagon Accessories and Engine Conversions
. Transporter, Unimog and Iltis Sales
. European Lighting for most Audi and Volkswagen models
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of K. Taylor
Sent: November 10, 2000 2:12 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Xenon headlight bulbs... any opinions?
Anyone on the list have opinions about the new (to me, at least) Xenon
headling bulbs, such as the many being auctioned on eBay? They're the bulbs
that you may have seen on other vehicles at night with the color of the
light being almost a blue cast when compared with traditional headlights.
(It's not a blue light, but appears to be blue tinted when compared with
traditional headlights that have a slight yellowing cast to them.) Here's a
link to one of the vendors:
<http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=491428465
&r=0&t=0>
My son mentioned that he had heard that the amount of light they put out
might be illegal.
Ken
