I'd been looking at some new headlight bulbs for a little while, then oddly enough the warning light came on for a blown bulb.

Turned out it was the sidelight bulbs, nevertheless still a good opportunity to replace the stock bulbs.

I had toyed with the idea of fitting HID's, but was put off by the illegality and uncertainty surrounding them. I also didn't want to give plod any excuses to pull me over and fill his ticket quota so I decided E marked bulbs were the way forward.



I looked at a range of bulbs but finally decided on these Ice White Xenon 55W E marked bulbs from aceparts.com.

Xenon left - Standard right



I also decided to get some 'matching' sidelight bulbs, also from aceparts.com. They turned out to be absolutely no different to my standard sidelight bulbs, which was somewhat of a let down.

Xenon top - Standard bottom



Anyway, the headlight bulbs I am very pleased to say are excellent. The light they produce I would say is very white, with the slightest tinge of blue. When driving at night they produce a light that I prefer to the usual yellow. I find night time driving quite strenuous on the eyes, but with this colour it eases that quite a lot, so I am very happy with them. I would say they aren't that much brighter or fuller than standard, but still noticeable.


Onto the comparison pics then, old on the left, new on the right.


In these photos the drivers side is fitted with standard bulbs, and the passenger side with the new Xenons. (Right hand drive car).


In the next photos you can see the light patterns on the road, please compare the drivers side bulb only (in the picture the right hand light pattern) as the passenger side was fitted with a Xenon at all times.