Change your headlights
Let there be light
IF you’ve found your headlights wanting during the winter when they seemed fine previously, try changing them before booking in with the optician.
While LED and HID headlamps are common on new cars, older vehicles are likely to have a pair of halogen bulbs whose origins can be traced back to the sixties. And because the light source is a filament that burns and deteriorates over time, it is entirely feasible that your lights have dimmed since last winter.
The bulbs’ alignment can affect their performance, but it is easy to spot if the light is focused a few feet in front of the car or illuminating tree tops. If they’re pointing the right way, halogen bulbs can be swapped for under £40.
What to swap them for is a little more complex and an internet search will soon find LED ‘upgrades’. These are designed to replace the halogen originals and aim to give more light and a longer lifetime. Their quality varies wildly, but buy a premium brand from the likes of OE suppliers Philips and Osram and you will see a jump in performance, but with a beam that meets halogen lamp requirements.
And legality is the issue here, because technology is way ahead of legislation: LED halogen replacements are currently illegal in the UK. In some European countries listings for their use on specific cars are growing but there’s no progress towards adoption in the UK. Fit them or the previous HID gas discharge ‘upgrade’ and most cars on the road are likely to fail the MoT test.
Halogen tech has come a long way since the sixties, when standards were set. As a result, lamps can now claim a 200-per cent increase in performance. They are not twice as bright – that too would be illegal – but one of the parameters in the beam is twice that required by legislation.
The ability to produce bulbs capable of this performance is limited to a few companies and in the UK, that means Philips and Osram. The latter also produces bulbs for Ring and Halfords. Any of the above will deliver a major upgrade on an ageing lamp, but it’s a good idea to get the alignment checked with the new bulbs fitted.