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Good Quality LED/HID Headlight Upgrade?

19K views 274 replies 48 participants last post by  r9mpo  
G
#1 ·
I've owned my ST for just over 2 months now, and the majority of my driving is done in the dark (especially considering it's dark almost all the time at this time of year), and I can't help but notice that the headlights aren't very bright, so much so that I can barely tell that the headlights are even on at times. As well as that, the yellow-ish colour of the halogen lights just makes the car look a bit dated compared to all these fancy new cars with LED headlights. The daytime running LED's look amazing and I really wish the dipped beam looked as good so I want to upgrade them to match.

The only problem is, most of the time when I see people have just stuck brighter bulbs in, they just look like **** because of poor quality bulbs and the fact that the car isn't designed for LED/HID bulbs so they all have misshapen beams that scatter all over the place rather than having a nice, clean cutoff point and they to be not very bright and just dazzle other drivers and look chavvy. So what I'm after is a decent quality upgrade that matches some of the newer cars out there with LED headlights in terms of brightness so I can see where I'm going and makes the car look a bit less dated at the same time, but I haven't had much luck with my Google searches. Does anyone know of either an upgrade kit or good bulbs that can achieve this?
 
#11 ·
@Touching_Cloth That's the sort of reply I was looking for, cheers mate! Is this the one? http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/h7-50w-slim-canbus-hid-xenon-conversion-kits/

Says on page they're for show purposes only so I'm guessing they're not road-legal; have you ever been pulled over for them?
All after market hid kits are illegal as you need self levelling headlamps and washer jets, something you only get if factory fitted. If the after market hid's are fitted to projector headlamps like the st3 has then it's very likely the beam pattern will be fine and you won't have any issues.
From previous cars I've always upgraded to osram nightbreaker bulbs, they were excellent bulbs in my past cars.
Still crap in my opinion on the fiesta. I tried these first before fitting hid's
 
#13 ·
These two taken a few seconds apart whilst traveling, you can just see the Xmas tree in the distance in on and closer in the other.

I have no idea why you would think I am faking them. The beam penetration is the same, a sign in one shot and not in the other. The left side is really well lit, it picks up Road signs further than standard lights as a result.

If I remember correctly they were taken on a slight rise, so the cut off actually is a little shorter as a result than on the flat.

Original poster, yes that's the ones at ÂŁ37. Bargain but illegal as you will be told again and again.
 

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#17 ·
I agree the original lights are crap but am reasonably happy with legal night breakers. So what happens if you have an accident and inspectors check the car and find illegal lights insurance company refuse cover etc is it worth the risk?
yeah i only tried them as everyone at the time was like they are so good and match the drl's blah blah, couldn't really see with them out of town, i did have osram nightbreaker unlimited but now on the philips racing vision which don't really seem any better than the osrams,

my mk7 lights just point too low down compared to the mk6
 
#18 ·
I agree the original lights are crap but am reasonably happy with legal night breakers. So what happens if you have an accident and inspectors check the car and find illegal lights insurance company refuse cover etc is it worth the risk? Be interesting to see if new ST has better lights hopefully yes if Ford have been reading posts on here!
If my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle.
 
#23 · (Edited by Moderator)
The low kelvin HID bulbs actually put out more light so the 47k set would be perfect.
I used a 43k 35w set and thought they were perfect for night time driving.
I now use the Nightbreaker laser bulbs just for ease of fitting and there a great improvement on the stock bulbs.

Dipped Beam



Main / Full beam

 

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