just bought 2 nightbreaker headlight bulbs,hopefully to get some light on the road.On looking at the front end of the X there does not seem a lot of room to work.Is it possible to change the bulbs,or do I ring paul daniels.Some input would be a very big help...PLEASE

 

Hey there dumblecollie, re the lights.
Many people have tried using different bulbs of the same wattage with very little difference I believe.
I fitted 80w/100w Sportzblue by Ring into mine and they worked amazingly well.....super bright white light with a slight bluish tinge. Had em in for over a year before I sold the car with no problems at all.
There's a lot of guys who have upgraded to the HID system by adding a ballast kit, which probably makes more sense but is more expensive too.
As for the room to work....You either need as you say a magician or the hands of a 12 year old......a realllll beattch to work on.
Check out the type quick FAQ links for poretty much everything ever posted here about bulbs / fitting / HID's etc etc

Good luck

 

so the sportzblue by ring work well, im tinking of it as a solution to a hid kit currently just till winters over, are the 80w for the main beam abd where cani get some

 

Yes, it's possible to change the bulbs; I'm pretty sure the procedure has been described before. The first time will take a long time, but once you figure out where your hands need to go it's a very quick and easy job. It does help if you have fairly skinny hands, though.

 

dumblecollie, one note that no one has mentioned before, if you have the auto leveling lights, you will need to be careful with the headlight assemblies. They are not build the stoutest and if you push/pull on them too much, they break. This will result in your headlight floating around inside the housing and normally pointing down about 5 feet infront of the car.

As for the passenger side, this one can be done without removing anything. Remove the back cover, get your hands in the outer assembly, remove the spring clip and pull out the bulb. Install is the reverse. As for the driver's side, you will need to remove the battery and plastic box. Once you do that, same as the passenger side. One caution though, before you disconnect the battery, make sure you have the radio code handy. You will need this to activate the radio again and you will also need to reprogram the windows (all 4, each window you will need to press and hold down the down button to force the window down and then continue to hold it in the down position for 10 seconds after the window is all the way down, lift the button up, raise the window to the fully closed position and hold in the up position for an additional 10 seconds, that window is now programmed, repeat for the other 3 windows).

Take it easy, be smart about what you are doing and all will be good. Probably a good time to be looking at the headlight bulb plugs too. Sometimes they will get warm and start to melt and will lead to issues. Since you will have them in your hands, it will be a good time to inspect them.

 

This is a common misconception, but it is not true. You do not need to remove the battery or battery casing to replace the driver's side headlight. You just have to figure out how to get your hand in there, and it then becomes very easy. In fact, the driver's side light is much easier to get at than the passenger's side light, once you figure out how to get your hand in there. With the passenger's side light, there's an object (I forget what at the moment) very close to the back of the headlight casing that makes it very difficult to get at the outer clip for the headlight casing—it's possible, just a tight squeeze, and unless you have very thin hands, you'll probably scrape the back of your hand up a bit. The driver's side clip is very easy to get at, you just have to experiment with how you put your arm in there; I'm not sure how to describe it, other than that the easiest way to get at it is with your elbow completely bent, not straight. Play around with it and you can figure it out.

I'd do it for you if I could. A few months ago when my wiring harness melted, it took me about three tries before I got the solution correct—by the last time, I could get both headlights taken apart and put back together in about five minutes. I would suggest the you replace the wiring harness (if it hasn't already been replaced) while you have this taken apart, regardless of whether there are any problems with it—history on these cars would suggest that there's not so much a question of if the harness will melt as when. Good luck.

 

Agreed, I actually have an easier time doing the drivers side than the passenger side. No problems at all, you just have to be patient. What I usually do to remove that far clip on the passenger side is to face my palm outwards (back of my hand rests against the cover) and push the clip with the tip of my fingers. Then to clip it back together I do the exact same thing but this time I get the clip about a quarter of an inch pass my finger and pull my finger towards my palm. Also I've never had to remove the battery on the drivers side.... I use OSRAM Night Breakers, great bulb for the price.

 

Alright, as what do u guys recomnded for bulbs

 

Disco, I say 6000K HIDs. If you are going for more light, can't beat it. A little bit more work, but in the end, can't be topped. But, I am kinda biased in this as I am running HIDs in both my headlights and foglights.

 

I had to replace the factory ballast on the X so I took the bumper cover off,
The most time consuming part is the skidplate, other than that it is easy and then no issues with needing a second joint in your arm to get the bulbs out.
If I were you I would take this oppurtunity to do a hid conversion.
I think I have one that will fit your car. Email mike_c@live.ca and ill get you the info. The hid's make a big difference, I'm also putting them in the X types fogs.

 

I just "upgraded" my H1 bulbs and agree, there is no need to remove the battery unless you have baseball glove sized mitts. If that's the case, I'm sure your wife is so happy for her fortune that she'd be glad to change the lights on the X-type for you. Otherwise, listen up... the drivers side DOES seem easier to do.

I started with the passenger side figuring it would go quicker and I'd get a feel for it. First you need something to pop/pry the outside spring lock, like a long screwdriver. Then pop the inner lock and work the black cover out of the way. Then it's just working your fingers inside the housings to unhook the spring locks on each H1 bulb. Remember not to touch the new bulbs or otherwise contaminate them with anything. That side probably took me a good 10 minutes. Allow yourself another 5 minutes just for looking at it while scratching your head mumbling to yourself.

OK, I go over to the driver side looking for a way to slide the battery back etc and decide to pop the light covers off etc. Next thing I know, my hand's in there removing the old H1's. No fuss, no muss! I had the driver side done in 5 minutes.

It actually took me longer to look in the book to see how the W5W parking lights came out of the housings than anything else. The W5W are just pressed in and I was afraid of breaking them, so I took more time. I replaced them with 8000K tinted bulbs and I have to say, it looks REAL nice with the 5000K H1's. The 8000K bulbs are not as bright but I think the tint is perfect for my quartz X.

Lastly, I swapped out the fog lights for a set of 5000K H11's. Again, the color is soooooo much better looking than stock. Only problem is, I have to drive with my fingers crossed because I bought them all on eBay for something like $10 plus shipping!

Funny story to wrap it up... My wife walks out and asks "Whatcha doin?" So I tell her, "I upgraded the bulbs, doesn't it look nice?" She floors me by asking, "But aren't fog lights supposed to be yellow?" My jaw dropped because this is the same woman who walked in and asked, "Hey, what's that little light on my dashboard with a picture of the GRAVEY BOAT?"

 

ROFL, gravy boat! I can only guess she was referring to the oil temperature light?

Any pictures of the X with the new lights? I'm particularly interested in seeing how the parking lights look.

 

That's a classic moment in our house. I hope to get some pics soon. It's raining now but that might actually look good. Just have to think of a nice background.