Date:         Wed, 14 Dec 2005 22:05:32 -0800
Reply-To:     John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Driving Lights - If not Project Twzo, what's the answer?
In-Reply-To:  <BFC658D4.4432%robertmstewart@mac.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

>
> So when I had my last Vanagon, the Carat (the one that burned up),.. I can
> remember driving at night without the brightıs on and it was a nightmare.
> I
> struggled, never having enough light to see properly.


Thanksgiving last year I drove from Yosemite to Fresno with the anemic stock
rectangular headlights. Scariest drive in my life. Every time a car went by
the other way it took 4-6 seconds for my night vision to come back well
enough to see by those dim-bulb abominations.

Whatıs the answer?
>

In my opinion additional driving lights are unnecessary if you have good
quality headlights.

First, I'd attend to the wiring. Bare minimum get the existing wire powered
directly via a relay. For preference, abandon the stock wiring and run
bigger wire to the headlights. I used four 10ga wires for hi/lo left/right,
but that's definitely overkill.

Second, now that the wiring could handle it, I'd go higher on the bulb
wattage. I've got 100/80W Xenon bulbs now, and the improvement over the weak
60/55's (or whatever the stock ones are) is substantial.

Third, get rid of those USDOT type headlights and get E-code/ECE/euro-spec
headlights. The DOT reflector pattern is ridiculously bad. And get a quality
name brand. My VWSA grill came with two round headlights by "Omega"
generously included by the vendor, and they were the worst pieces of garbage
I've ever seen. The rubber boots on the back didn't fit the H4 bulbs and the
reflectors rattled loosely in the frames. I paid $20 extra for the grill
because it came with outer lights. I should've saved that $20. Get good
headlights by Cibie or Hella.

I don't know if it's better to go with old style 7" round headlights or if
the rectangular ones are just as good. I switched to round because I wanted
the fancy grill.

--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"