Osram or phillips for replacement/original ?

[Audicfc]

My driver side headlight has just went out, was flickering one night then next night it was completely out.

My car is a 2014 a3 sline, does anyone know what brand and model bulb this would have came with from new ?
I was thinking about replacing them with either:
Osram Xenarc - £43 for single bulb
Osram nightbreaker - £160 a pair
Phillips xtreme vision gen2 - £71 for single bulb

Has anyone took there 8v to halfords and got then to fit it for £9 ? Looks a lot of time and effort to get to the bulb and not sure how well they would get the job done doing it in a busy car park but looks the cheapest option if they can do it right they have both the osrams in stock at around £50 and £83 singles for both models mentioned above

 

[NHN]

Steer clear of Halfords imho, they have some good tools but fitting things is a big no no.

Also consider led bulbs to replace the xenon's, my D3S bulbs are now led & no errors at all.

 

[Audicfc]

Will probs give halfords a miss but just not sure how much labour a garage would charge for it as it looks like an annoying job.

I’m just going to stay with d3s xenons but just can’t decide if the nightbreaker osram would be that much better than the standard osram bulbs, seen a few reviews saying not much difference for the price difference but seen a few saying they are really good so not sure what to buy yet

 

[ChatYTB]

My driver side headlight has just went out, was flickering one night then next night it was completely out.

My car is a 2014 a3 sline, does anyone know what brand and model bulb this would have came with from new ?
I was thinking about replacing them with either:
Osram Xenarc - £43 for single bulb
Osram nightbreaker - £160 a pair
Phillips xtreme vision gen2 - £71 for single bulb

Has anyone took there 8v to halfords and got then to fit it for £9 ? Looks a lot of time and effort to get to the bulb and not sure how well they would get the job done doing it in a busy car park but looks the cheapest option if they can do it right they have both the osrams in stock at around £50 and £83 singles for both models mentioned above

None of them get cheap LED SMD don't spend silly money on expensive bulbs

 

[Audicfc]

Seen these phillips white vision gen 2 on sale seem like a good price compared to the phillips xtreme gen 2 version at £71.50 on the same website, would there be much difference between these 2 to justify the extra price ?

 

[Audicfc]

Just drove home there and drivers side headlight is back on again after been off earlier tonight with warning on the dashboard, it flashed on and off a few times on the way home but no warning light appeared on the dashboard, pulled over to double check and see it flash on and off when i was stopped, the circle glass that is infront on the main beam headlight bulb within the headlight cluster looked rather cloudy compared to the otherside , does anyone have any idea what could be causing the light to do this ?

 

[Audicfc]

.

 

[ChatYTB]

I was using D3S LEDs best rather than xenon
But that was like in 2019 2020..

 

[FPSUsername]

I recently replaced mine with the Nightbreaker Next Gen (+220%). I don't see much difference with the original Philips Xenstart bulbs. According to some tests, philips bulbs lose intensity after an hour, whereas the osram nightbreakers stay at peak brightness.

 

[Audicfc]

I recently replaced mine with the Nightbreaker Next Gen (+220%). I don't see much difference with the original Philips Xenstart bulbs. According to some tests, philips bulbs lose intensity after an hour, whereas the osram nightbreakers stay at peak brightness.

i was considering the osram nightbreakers but supposedly in reviews i’ve seen the phillips extreme vision gen2 is meant to be a little bit whiter looking light than the osrams so going to go with the phillips i think but i’m just hoping it’s not the ballast that is causing my headight problem instead of the bulb

this is a video of my headlight when i start the engine and put lights on

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[FPSUsername]

The nightbreakers are around the 4300K mark, very comparable to OEM. For me it's white enough. 5000K type of bulbs are too "blueish" for night time for me.

 

[Audicfc]

The nightbreakers are around the 4300K mark, very comparable to OEM. For me it's white enough. 5000K type of bulbs are too "blueish" for night time for me.

The original bulbs i have in the now are terrible it night can hardly see a thing although they are 9 year old to be fair i think the oe phillips xenon is 4100 and the phillips xtreme is 4800, probs not really much difference in them, does your osrams look ok with the led drl beside it ?

 

[JohnM100]

People obsess with colour temp including to the point of replacing front fog lights with ones with higher temp to make them less yellow when that’s the whole point of their function.

Took me ages to get used to the bluer while of LEDs and they are harder on the eyes.

For Xenons, I have changed them after ~5 years as they do dull.

Sustained brightness - that’s a separate story….

 

[FPSUsername]

To me they look fine

 

[Audicfc]

People obsess with colour temp including to the point of replacing front fog lights with ones with higher temp to make them less yellow when that’s the whole point of their function.

Took me ages to get used to the bluer while of LEDs and they are harder on the eyes.

For Xenons, I have changed them after ~5 years as they do dull.

Sustained brightness - that’s a separate story….

I won’t be changing the fog lights.. i use them on unlit empty roads because my headlights are that bad i can hardly see much distance infront that’s why i thought i’d try get ‘supposedly’ better lights than the originals

 

[FPSUsername]

No offense, but if the original xenons from the 8V (even the 8P) aren't bright enough for you to see, then you should really get your eyes checked. It's bright enough to see far enough. Halogens from the past were a lot weaker!

 

[JohnM100]

8V Xenons were great assuming height adjusted properly, bulbs not tired and the inside of your windscreen is clean & not covered in misty grime.

 

[Audicfc]

No offense, but if the original xenons from the 8V (even the 8P) aren't bright enough for you to see, then you should really get your eyes checked. It's bright enough to see far enough. Halogens from the past were a lot weaker!

haha obvcourse i can see the road i’m just meaning the light output is poor for headlights the don’t show the light as far up the road as i would like

 

[Audicfc]

This is mines i took the other day when the lights came back on after been off for a day

 

[ChatYTB]

People obsess with colour temp including to the point of replacing front fog lights with ones with higher temp to make them less yellow when that’s the whole point of their function.

Took me ages to get used to the bluer while of LEDs and they are harder on the eyes.

For Xenons, I have changed them after ~5 years as they do dull.

Sustained brightness - that’s a separate story….

"yellow" color never been point of the fogs.. Simply in those times there were no leds like you see today and bulb lumen was max 4k of the DRLs are 5k and today's leds are mostly 6k so when ppl install them you see the difference ..
The fogs are only designed to shine lights to your sides left and right not to the front like headlights .. When is mist and fog in early mornings so you turn them on that you can see better the car on your right and on your left ...

 

[ChatYTB]

haha obvcourse i can see the road i’m just meaning the light output is poor for headlights the don’t show the light as far up the road as i would like

So simply adjust slightly the height of the headlights . Headlight has two adjusting gears where you adjust height and other is to adjust from the inward to the outward shining

 

[Audicfc]

Went with the phillips xtreme vision gen 2 and they are much better than the old phillips ones they replaced, you can easily see the difference compared to my last photo i uploaded it doesn’t even look like the lights where even putting much light on the road compared to the new bulbs

 

[rhubarb4]

Steer clear of Halfords imho, they have some good tools but fitting things is a big no no.

Also consider led bulbs to replace the xenon's, my D3S bulbs are now led & no errors at all.

Hi mate what D3S led bulbs did you use and where did you get them please, im assuming I have D3S it’s a S3 8V pfl cheers.