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Has anyone done an upgrade to HID on the X308 head lights? I purchased an install kit supposedly for my 1999 XJ8 but come to find out it wouldn't work. Does anyone know of a kit that will work or an adapter to mount the new HID bulb.
A good example of HID on XJ is the next generation which has xenon lights. The important question is - could you install the headlights from X350 on your XJ...
But if you ask me - it doesn't look good at all. The X308 has very good headlights and if you need more light you can just change your bulbs... for example I put Osram Nightbrakers that gives you about 80% more visibility and the road is shiny like it's day.
The problem with putting aftermarket HID is that they release more heat than the normal bulbs and this damages the reflection layer inside the headlights - it starts falling apart. I know this from personal experience on my Saab.
...The problem with putting aftermarket HID is that they release more heat than the normal bulbs and this damages the reflection layer inside the headlights - it starts falling apart. I know this from personal experience on my Saab.
Perhaps there was something wrong with your HIDs??? I've put them in my motorcycle and 2 different cars (not the Jag yet) and have yet to have the problem you are describing. In fact, I found that my aftermarket HIDs burned cooler than halogens. Brighter, but cooler.
...With the aftermarket HID's all that happens is you get a lot of light flying all over the place ......... why do people think this is an "upgrade"?
The aftermarket HID's look ....... aftermarket.
Depends on the specific headlight then, I guess. I do see a lot of people putting the aftermarket HIDs in their cars and it looks terrible. Then again, I see a lot of the 8000K and up kits on the road around here. Blue or purple headlights do look decidedly aftermarket.
I don't know, I've been happy with the way it looks and performs on my previous cars and my current motorcycle. I have been using either 4300K, 5000K, or 6000K bulbs in my cars, so it is at least close to what OEM would look like had it been factory installed. No silly purple lights for me!
I drive with my headlights on .. for safety ..... So my bulbs burn out more often then would be normal. I bought this car new and it came with maintenance -- the the Jag dealer changed the bulbs a few times. I never thought about the headlights or the bulbs. The headlights in the car are quite good ... not to the level of the HID's (lows) in my Porsche at the time ... but good.
When one of the lights went out a couple of years ago -- I forget exactly -- I went to Pep Boys and purchased a set of Osram/Sylvania bulbs. The car was no longer covered. I believe the OE bulbs are Osram (made in Germany). Since I was quite happy with the OE normal bulbs that the dealer installed -- I went with the long life bulbs --- I think they call them Extravision ... they come in a purple package from Osram.
The headlights did not work as well?? Thankfully, I kept the one working OE bulb ....and surprisingly the filament is in a slightly different place. When I went back to Pep Boys I matched up the old bulb and settled on the Silverstar Ultra set .... it matched and they claim all this great stuff about the bulb. Once installed the beam was as original and the Silverstars do throw a whiter light. I did read later that they do not last as long ... And they cost $50.00!
I've been using GE Ultra +90% bulbs on my cars, and bought these for the XJR too couple of months ago. They're a lot whiter shade than most bulbs, and bright too. And in my experience they're long lasting as well. Here in Finland we're required to have the headlights on all the time...
These GE bulbs are the same as the more expensive Bosch Plus 90, only with less colorful packaging. The GE bulbs cost about 10€ a piece.
I went with the long life bulbs --- I think they call them Extravision ... they come in a purple package from Osram.
The headlights did not work as well?? Thankfully, I kept the one working OE bulb ....and surprisingly the filament is in a slightly different place. When I went back to Pep Boys I matched up the old bulb and settled on the Silverstar Ultra set
The manufacturers balance their product offerings by trading off between life and brightness.
So, the Extravision is balanced for long life, and the Ultravision is balanced for brightness. And the rest are in between.
All of them have the same wattage rating.
However, some aftermarket specialty bulbs are designed with even higher wattage ratings exceeding spec.
The problem on a X308 is that these bulbs burn hotter and will peel the silvering away from the reflector housing at the bulb mount hole. The reflector housing is of course the usual cursed plastic.
There are some rumblings that the European market Osram Ultra are slightly better.
I'm on my third X308 because I think that generation is the high point of classic Jaguar sedan design. (I love the new ones too but they're not "me".) My current 2001 XJR is coming up on 155k miles and thanks to preventive maintenance (much learned from this board), it's been super reliable and affordable for a non-wealthy guy to maintain. I'm lucky to live in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's the Jaguar capital of America and has several excellent non-dealer service shops. Mine in Oakland has taken superb care of my cars.
I'm replying to this thread because HID lights are the kind of accessory owners of older-generation cars reflexively think are a great idea. It ain't necessarily so. First off, the OEM bulbs are adequate for 70 mph cruising on secondary roads -- the only place you can use your high beams these days. I'm old enough to remember when sealed beam headlights were the norm and halogen lights were a revelation. Nowadays there's no doubt new-generation lighting systems like LEDs and Audi's incredible laser lights illuminate more of the road than halogens. But if the halogens are adequate, why switch them?
Over my many thousands of miles of driving, in succession, a 1998 XJ, a 2001 VDP Supercharged, and now a 2001 XJR, not a one of my OEM headlight bulbs has failed! Meanwhile, the life expectancy of aftermarket HIDs or halogen replacements like Osram Nightbrakers seems to be around a year. (Check the reviews on Amazon.) So there's that.
And then, is your motivation for purchasing aftermarket bulbs to have your car perceived as a current-generation model, with white lights or even bluish ones? That's not a valid reason to swap out your bulbs. What charms me about the X308's headlights is that they're so retro. I was in England as a student in 1971 and I remember the night-time traffic in London. Cars were on 6-volt electrics back then, running generators rather than alternators, and headlights at walking speed would drain the battery. So people used their parking lights for city driving. The X308's lights are a throwback to that era. You'll notice that in the low beam nacelle, there's a little running light fitted. At night with your parkiing lights on, this running light makes the car visible in city night-time traffic. (Though of course I wouldn't recommend it these days.) I love traditional British cars like Humber and Rover and those running lights are to me a link to the great tradition of these cars. To me it's a blast that Jaguar continued to provide them in modern-era cars.
And then there's the color temperature. No question, Jaguar headlights have a yellowish tinge compared with today's cars. But once again, their coverage is sufficient for normal night-time driving. And to me that yellowish tinge is also nostalgic. It's like all headlights were years ago. Today's HIDs with their cold blue cast do not appeal to me. And when I'm driving at night, because the X308 sits so low, a lot of cars' low-beam HID lights will dazzle me. Not impressive.
So for what it's worth, I'm sticking with the original halogen OEM light bulbs. They last just about forever, they cast adequate light, and their retro yellowish tint is consistent with the car, which to me has all the elements of the best of British cars.
I'm on my third X308 because I think that generation is the high point of classic Jaguar sedan design. (I love the new ones too but they're not "me".) My current 2001 XJR is coming up on 155k miles and thanks to preventive maintenance (much learned from this board), it's been super reliable and affordable for a non-wealthy guy to maintain. I'm lucky to live in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's the Jaguar capital of America and has several excellent non-dealer service shops. Mine in Oakland has taken superb care of my cars.
I'm replying to this thread because HID lights are the kind of accessory owners of older-generation cars reflexively think are a great idea. It ain't necessarily so. First off, the OEM bulbs are adequate for 70 mph cruising on secondary roads -- the only place you can use your high beams these days. I'm old enough to remember when sealed beam headlights were the norm and halogen lights were a revelation. Nowadays there's no doubt new-generation lighting systems like LEDs and Audi's incredible laser lights illuminate more of the road than halogens. But if the halogens are adequate, why switch them?
Over my many thousands of miles of driving, in succession, a 1998 XJ, a 2001 VDP Supercharged, and now a 2001 XJR, not a one of my OEM headlight bulbs has failed! Meanwhile, the life expectancy of aftermarket HIDs or halogen replacements like Osram Nightbrakers seems to be around a year. (Check the reviews on Amazon.) So there's that.
And then, is your motivation for purchasing aftermarket bulbs to have your car perceived as a current-generation model, with white lights or even bluish ones? That's not a valid reason to swap out your bulbs. What charms me about the X308's headlights is that they're so retro. I was in England as a student in 1971 and I remember the night-time traffic in London. Cars were on 6-volt electrics back then, running generators rather than alternators, and headlights at walking speed would drain the battery. So people used their parking lights for city driving. The X308's lights are a throwback to that era. You'll notice that in the low beam nacelle, there's a little running light fitted. At night with your parkiing lights on, this running light makes the car visible in city night-time traffic. (Though of course I wouldn't recommend it these days.) I love traditional British cars like Humber and Rover and those running lights are to me a link to the great tradition of these cars. To me it's a blast that Jaguar continued to provide them in modern-era cars.
And then there's the color temperature. No question, Jaguar headlights have a yellowish tinge compared with today's cars. But once again, their coverage is sufficient for normal night-time driving. And to me that yellowish tinge is also nostalgic. It's like all headlights were years ago. Today's HIDs with their cold blue cast do not appeal to me. And when I'm driving at night, because the X308 sits so low, a lot of cars' low-beam HID lights will dazzle me. Not impressive.
So for what it's worth, I'm sticking with the original halogen OEM light bulbs. They last just about forever, they cast adequate light, and their retro yellowish tint is consistent with the car, which to me has all the elements of the best of British cars.
I'm from England originally and grew up in London. I also used to work for Jaguar Cars in Coventry. I never saw the headlights/side lights as a throw back. Interesting perspective. Moving over here, I DO see it as a European thing- My M635CSi has that also.
I DO see the tripod arrangement within the headlight a retro thing harking back to the old Jaguar mk7s etc. I'm sure the X308 headlights are adequate in San Francisco as I would have thought they were adequate in London, but now out here in the Midwest- driving rurally, my Jag headlights are quite dim compared to my Aston Martin HIDs. I'm fearful of hitting a dear. I don't have an HID solution but I'm using Sylvania 100 W bulbs that give more of a white light.
I've been running the dipped headlights on HID for 7 years without issue. It's a major upgrade. I left the full beams as I need the fast flash, and HID have a firing/warmup time.
This is the correct answer to wanting for HID's on your x308.
I went from fantastic custom retrofit projector HID's on my old car to the stock headlights on the XJR - I put some of the nicer bulbs into the low beams (I think it was the Osram Nightbreakers? Whichever one of the "more expensive" incandescents had the least blue coating) and have never been wanting for more light. The x308 low beam optics are some of the best I've ever seen from a reflector setup. Plus, the natural/warm white in the reflector housings looks so damn good. Get the nice incandescent bulbs, keep your headlight interior clean (very important), and I can't imagine needing anything more than that.
I'm from England originally and grew up in London. I also used to work for Jaguar Cars in Coventry. I never saw the headlights/side lights as a throw back. Interesting perspective. Moving over here, I DO see it as a European thing- My M635CSi has that also.
I DO see the tripod arrangement within the headlight a retro thing harking back to the old Jaguar mk7s etc. I'm sure the X308 headlights are adequate in San Francisco as I would have thought they were adequate in London, but now out here in the Midwest- driving rurally, my Jag headlights are quite dim compared to my Aston Martin HIDs. I'm fearful of hitting a dear. I don't have an HID solution but I'm using Sylvania 100 W bulbs that give more of a white light.
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Thanks for replying and of course I defer to your vast experience. And I'm sure you appreciate my love of British cars. It started when I was 10 years old, growing up in rural Ontario, Canada. My dad was a country doctor, and the only bona fide car nut in the region. He'd go through one or two Euro cars each year, and the locals had never seen anything like any of them. He caused an accident once, driving his Citroen DS 21 down our small town's main street. A guy coming the other way totally freaked out when he saw the Citroen, craned his neck looking out his side window as it passed by, and drove into a parked car. No injuries.
Of course I inherited the car nut gene. And maybe it was because I was at an impressionable age, I don't know, but though I remember each and every one of my dad's cars from around age five -- Alfas, Porsches, a very early BMW 2002-type model, a supercharged Chrysler 300, a 1963 Oldsmobile Starfire convertible, an American Motors Rambler drop-top with straight six and manual transmission . . . and more . . . the one that stuck in my mind was his 3.4 Mark 2. (It might have been a Mark 1, but I know for sure it was a 3.4.) He never drove fast with kids in the car, but one day he and I were driving on a twisty back road to our summer cottage and this ******* in a huge Mercury planted himself on the Jag's rear bumper. We were cruising along at about 50, not slowing traffic by any means. The Mercury driver wanted to put the "furrin" car owner in his place. At the end of his patience, my dad muttered something under his breath, downshifted, and dropped that Mercury like a bad habit. I could see it fishtailing all over the road as it disappeared behind us.
So the Lyons era cars, Coventry line, steel body sedans are imprinted on my subconscious. And with them is that analog yellowish glow of the lights -- poor by today/s standards but light years ahead of what American cars were using. A Cadillac from the early 60s with sealed beams was not capable of stopping within its high beams' illuminated distance. (Probably the brakes played a part in this dismal statistic, too.)
I've done at least a hundred thousand miles of road trips in my four Jaguars. Mostly secondary roads. (I'm from the Jack Kerouac generation: we revere "the road.") And on motorcycles, at least twice that. In the early '90s I had my BMW GS1100's crash bars fitted with the biggest rally-car pencil beams available -- the Beemer's electrical system was boosted way up to support its anti-lock brakes and could handle the load of those huge lights, the equivalent of "Super Oscars" from the golden age of rallying.
I could cruise at 70 or even 80 at night with the road brilliantly illuminated further ahead than any other vehicle I'd ever piloted. But I knew . . . as every veteran motorcyclist who really rides t knows . . . that what's not there in the approaching distance is what you are inevitably going to hit if you ride long enough. Deer, nocturnal creatures that they are, have two relationships with the road. Either they stand stupidly in the middle of it for no apparent reason -- in which case they're easy to spot and avoid -- or more frequently, to them the road is the source of a sound they do not understand and in panic they run from the night-obscured bush on one side to what they perceive as safety on the other. That's when you hit a deer.
There's no way you can avoid a deer running across your path. It approaches from an invisible origin and is so fleet, you have no time to react before you crush it with your front bumper. I've seen a deer run out and strike the back end of the motorcycle ahead of me. His rear tire slide sideways, he was totally unaware of what was going on, but his big Beemer recovered itself and the deer ran off unharmed.
And so a long time ago I made a decision not to ride at night. In a car a deer strike is survivable but everything is far more dangerous on a motorcycle.
By the same token, I eventually curtailed rural night driving in my cars. Not because the headlights didn't illuminate the on coming road adequately. That's beside the point, because what you're going to hit at night you're not going to see. It's coming from the side.
Here in the Bay Area the most dangerous place to be on a Saturday night is any freeway. One the few occasions I've been forced to travel at such hours, I marvelled at the audacity of the drunks, veering from lane to lane, racing each other, swerving onto an exit at the last possible moment. Here in California the cost of your first drunk driving arrest works out, after all costs are considered, to around $10,000. Plus at least a night in jail. And yet here are these idiots, hundreds of them, speeding along\ with apparent impunity. You'd think they'd at least pretend they were sober. But they are SO drunk they don't give a damn. And, the ultimate irony, never have I seen a cop pulling somebody over on a Saturday night. All the CHP have to do was show up and take their pick of lethal drivers, but for some reason they don't do it. Which makes urban night driving dangerous, and your headlights have nothing to do with that.
So the upshot of my long-winded monologue is, if you can avoid it, don't drive at night. The statistics bear out my argument -- night-time driving fatalities are way higher per vehicle-mile than in daytime.
City or country, danger lurks in the darkness. I don't care if you're running Concorde landing lights, you won't be truly safe after the sun goes down. And so I'm not going to swap out my OEM halogen lamps for whiter-than-thou aftermarket bulbs, because if the worst happens, it won't make a damn bit of difference.
My 2001 XJR in special-order Emerald mica, at the summit of Mount Diablo in the Bay Area
Of course I inherited the car nut gene. And maybe it was because I was at an impressionable age, I don't know, but though I remember each and every one of my dad's cars from around age five -- Alfas, Porsches, a very early BMW 2002-type model, a supercharged Chrysler 300, a 1963 Oldsmobile Starfire convertible, an American Motors Rambler drop-top with straight six and manual transmission . . .
So the Lyons era cars, Coventry line, steel body sedans are imprinted on my subconscious. And with them is that analog yellowish glow of the lights -- poor by today/s standards but light years ahead of what American cars were using. A Cadillac from the early 60s with sealed beams was not capable of stopping within its high beams' illuminated distance. (Probably the brakes played a part in this dismal statistic, too.)
I've done at least a hundred thousand miles of road trips in my four Jaguars. Mostly secondary roads. (I'm from the Jack Kerouac generation: we revere "the road.") And on motorcycles, at least twice that. In the early '90s I had my BMW GS1100's crash bars fitted with the biggest rally-car pencil beams available -- the Beemer's electrical system was boosted way up to support its anti-lock brakes and could handle the load of those huge lights, the equivalent of "Super Oscars" from the golden age of rallying.
I could cruise at 70 or even 80 at night with the road brilliantly illuminated further ahead than any other vehicle I'd ever piloted. But I knew . . . as every veteran motorcyclist who really rides t knows . . . that what's not there in the approaching distance is what you are inevitably going to hit if you ride long enough. Deer, nocturnal creatures that they are, have two relationships with the road. Either they stand stupidly in the middle of it for no apparent reason -- in which case they're easy to spot and avoid -- or more frequently, to them the road is the source of a sound they do not understand and in panic they run from the night-obscured bush on one side to what they perceive as safety on the other. That's when you hit a deer.
There's no way you can avoid a deer running across your path. It approaches from an invisible origin and is so fleet, you have no time to react before you crush it with your front bumper. I've seen a deer run out and strike the back end of the motorcycle ahead of me. His rear tire slide sideways, he was totally unaware of what was going on, but his big Beemer recovered itself and the deer ran off unharmed.
And so a long time ago I made a decision not to ride at night. In a car a deer strike is survivable but everything is far more dangerous on a motorcycle.
By the same token, I eventually curtailed rural night driving in my cars. Not because the headlights didn't illuminate the on coming road adequately. That's beside the point, because what you're going to hit at night you're not going to see. It's coming from the side.
City or country, danger lurks in the darkness. I don't care if you're running Concorde landing lights, you won't be truly safe after the sun goes down. And so I'm not going to swap out my OEM halogen lamps for whiter-than-thou aftermarket bulbs, because if the worst happens, it won't make a damn bit of difference.
My 2001 XJR in special-order Emerald mica, at the summit of Mount Diablo in the Bay Area
Thanks for your account. You make your youth sound 'rosie' and quite compelling.
I got seduced by Jack Keurac and 'The Beat generation' and have been to San Francisco many times. I was disappointed that a girl at work here, from San Fran, didn't know what I was talking about when I talked about going to North Beech and Jack Keurac.
When I worked for Jaguar I didn't really think much of it. It was during the X308, X200 development, X400 and the ill fated X600 F type. A lot of the legacy of the Lyons era stuff and the visionary Geoff Lawson (RIP). Now I look back I realise it was a special time indeed. Especially with how the current range have 'moved on'.
I would never have considered getting a Jaguar back then, I was clearly a BMW/Porsche kind of guy. Now I've emigrated to the USA, I find myself becoming more of a Jaguar/Aston kind of guy. Originally I wanted an X350 but my friend pointed out the roof line and how low the X308 was and after that I can see nothing else!
I also stumbled across a piece you wrote comparing the X308 to the X350 ( I think it was on roadfly) but like 10 or more so years ago and it further cemented my view. Now I've ironed out some of the engineering aspects of the X308, some of the things it should have come with- eg an LSD diff, the 15 HU 8.5 inch rear end, a prettier more ornate inside dash clock etc. Its like a homage to my professional youth. I also intend to incorporate all of the innovations and improvements I made on the Aston Martin V8 onto the jaguar V8. So its a fun journey.
One of the reasons I moved here was due to my draw to the American road. I do confess, I drive quite a bit at night. The Jag (which I used to always think a tad soft for my tastes) seems to be the perfect car for these
weather torn truck ravaged roads here.
Anyway, I almost accepted a job in the bay area but its way too expensive for me and it would be like living in the UK again with the lack of space. Gorgeous area that it is.
02-17-2012, 07:29 AM
