I'm keen to upgrade my stock headlight bulbs to something that gives a brighter and whiter light.

Since there are plenty of replacement bulbs available promising great results I can't see the point of replacing the entire headlight units, but I'm curious as to how effective they are.

Philips X-treme Vision and Osram Night Breaker H1's seem to have good customer reviews, but has anyone here tried them?

Also wondering if xenon direct replacements for H1's (i.e. the xenon filled bulbs, not the full xenon conversions) give any better result?

Providing they are 55w I understand both types are a direct swap for the existing X300 bulbs.

Would appreciate any feedback on these or any other replacement bulbs that are worth considering.

Thanks

 

FWIW

eBay those Xenon (halogen) in a higher wattage. I use them. They throw a white light and work much better when it is really dark.

Around 4/5 dollars a pair posted from China. Often arrived broken so add a note to seller to package better,that have no understanding of Austpost compactor trucks.

Allow a month for delivery sometimes but for the price of a beer.....and they work really well for me. My XJ has 8 chinese globes at the front. No issues.

 

So Neil, are they the 100w you're using? if so did you change any fuses/relays?

 

I've used Sylvania Silverstar Ulta's in my '98 Oldsmobile Regency, my '92 XJ6 and my '96 XJ12. I couldn't be happier with them. They are whiter, brighter, and unlike HID kits, there's no glare. I have yet to have a bad bulb, I had them in my Olds for about a year, as a daily driver, no issue. When I sold the car, I swapped them into my '92 XJ6 and that car still has the same set, about 2.5 years old. When I purchased the XJ12, I put them in right away. I purchased them through Amazon and saved about $15 or 20 over AutoZone/Advance Auto if I remember correctly.

I also put Sylvania LEDriving 194's in the parking lamp which sticks into the headlamp housing. Driving with just the parking lamps on gives a nice white glow in the lamp housings. When locking and unlocking the alarm, they flash very quickly, just like LED's should. I'm thinking about installing them in the fender-mounted turn signal repeaters as they're more of a crisp on/off then the incandescent.

-Nick

 

Just plug and play

H4 Xenon Halogen 6000K CAR Super White Light Bulbs 100W Headlights Headlamp SR | eBay

Just fitted above to a Forester..you get the idea though just look for the size you want. Also used the xenon for the little parkers in the headlights.
No oncoming traffic complaints.

 

Keep in mind that the X300 uses the 9005/9006 bulbs for the headlights, not H4.

I think you can modify the base of the bulb/socket to make an H4 fit if I recall, but my memory may be fuzzy there.

.

 

The osram night breaker unlimited offers a great improvement for very little cost, they also still operate at standard wattage but give a whiter light that seems to stretch a bit further by mixing xenon gas and having a very light blue tint to the glass.

 

Go for HID's! Much better - the attached picture shows the difference between HID bulbs and Nightbreakers, the outer are HID's, the inner nightbreakers - you choose.
(BTW the fogs are LED's)

 

I do have HID's in my XJR, bit more work fitting than bulbs but they are worth it. I have the Nightbreakers in my classic mini though and for the minimal effort they aren't half bad.

 

Thanks for your input guys.

HID's were my favoured option until I found out through a local motoring media quote that "Australian Design Rules require cars equipped with HIDs to also have a self-leveling mechanism and headlight washers. The former ensures that the headlights are always aimed towards the ground. The latter minimises the build up of dirt and grime, both of which can divert more light into the eyes of on-coming drivers".

My car is equipped with neither, so the bureaucrats on home ground would declare me illegal with HID unless driving off-road, oddly enough not something I usually do in the Jag!

Right now, in view of the expense involved for full conversion to LED, I'll probably settle for a simpler upgrade to the halogens if I can get reasonable results from Nightbreakers or similar. Anything has to be vast improvement on what's in there now.

Cheers,

 

Hello! What LEDs did u get for the Fog lights? I like how that looks, Do you have the link to the site? (or provide the bulb info)Thank you!

 

Hi sorry to jump in late as it looks like you received all the info you needed. JUst wanted to add that although I haven't fitted them yet I purchased a completed light upgrade set from ebay a couple of weeks ago. Might be a simple solution for the interm. Jaguar X300 95 ON Upgrade Headlight Bulbs SET H1H1H3501 | eBay

I went the Led route with my BMW K100rs and changed everything except the head light and high beam. Because the LEDs don't use much voltage I had to fit load resistors on every circuit I fitted with an LED. Otherwise the bike would think a globe had blown and set off warning lights.

 

"My car is equipped with neither, so the bureaucrats on home ground would declare me illegal with HID unless driving off-road, oddly enough not something I usually do in the Jag!"

Not to mention the after market use of HIDs in reflector housing not designed for them have on oncoming traffic.

Tiny amount to 'test' the xenon option first,if they don't work for you take from there. Hope you get the result you want.

 

Hi Mike, I saw the ad. on ebay and I like the idea of upgrading all the front lights to match, so this seems like a really good buy. It will be interesting to compare notes!

A full LED conversion is a bit of an overkill for me, but I can understand the value of them making you more visible on your bike!

 

That's exactly what I'm thinking about the xenon's, so I'm going with those. Sounds likely they will deliver the level of upgrade I'm after.

 

I went with LED's that are plug and play 9006 for the headlights. I am very happy with them and plan to upgrade my brights next. They were less than $100.00 from Amazon and they only pull about 5 watts. The light output is a very white light and does not blind oncoming traffic like a HID does. This is my first time running LED's and I do not have any bad things to say about them.

 

These : 2X Car Vehicle 68 LED 3528 SMD H3 White Fog Driving Head Light Lamp Bulb 12V | eBay

You have to remove the heat shield from inside the fog to get them to fit however as they are "slightly" larger!

 

I've Just replaced my Parkers low beam and HIgh Beam with the xenon's I mentioned above. Definitely a white light and cosmetically looks a lot better than the original. I will have to do some driving to make a proper assessment of how much brighter they are though.
I did not change over the fog lamps as some disassembly was required to access them and decided to leave it to another day.

 

Great, I've now ordered mine so this sounds encouraging.

 

Those of you that installed 9005/9006 halogen 100 w bulbs in your X300, what did you do with the fuses? The high beams R & L each have a 10 amp fuse (the bulbs pull 8 amps each), but the low beams share a single 10 amp fuse, which will blow right away.