D3 Xenon headlight performance

[snapdragon]

Hello, I took my headlights out and found the reflector bowls are no longer reflective. They are a dull matt beige. Our bi-xenons are Hella Gen4 and are renowned for this problem. Utter cheap and nasty garbage unfortunately.

Mine looked exactly like the ones here... at ~3:57
https://youtu.be/4ImcKD5SByw?t=238

Not sure what it would take to get our German crap out and replace with decent chinese parttern parts
There is enough room for it to withdraw from behind but not sure if all the screws are at the front and hidden. I hadn't seen this video until I had put my own lights back.

[steamship]

Originally Posted by Architex_mA8tey

I'm wondering if your projectors in your headlights are fubarred - I know that Trups at EM Tuning offers a morimoto conversion to update existing headlight units for D3's and would love to do that with mine one day, not sure of the cost per pair of headlights or how long he needs them for though

Well, just ventured outside to check my lights. The dipped beam (outer bulb) is bright white in colour, and the high beam (inner bulb) is a yellow colour, almost the colour that snapdragon said about his reflectors. Maybe the reason for thinking my high beam was fine is because it's four lights and not two. Shows how much I know about my own lights.

Might invest in a set of the one's linked to on xenonbulbs anyway. Would it be okay to just change one bulb so I can see the difference between old and new (won't be driving on the road, just a driveway check, covering each bulb in turn)?

[MikkiJayne]

Most Audi bi-xenons of the generations I see have a separate halogen bulb for main beam as well as the xenon bulb with the hood over it. That's why you have nice white dipped beam and yellow main beam as it turns the halogen on as well.

[Architex_mA8tey]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

Most Audi bi-xenons of the generations I see have a separate halogen bulb for main beam as well as the xenon bulb with the hood over it. That's why you have nice white dipped beam and yellow main beam as it turns the halogen on as well.

My D2 A8 has Xenons rather than Xenon pluses and I would say that white dipped beam and a more yellowy main beam (which on mine is just halogen) describes what mine are like. . . I prefer the halogen main beam and the light it puts out to the full bi-xenons on the D3's as it feels like the main beam is better on the single xenons. . . perhaps the D3 headlights just get worse more quickly!

[paulrstaylor]

Originally Posted by Architex_mA8tey

My D2 A8 has Xenons rather than Xenon pluses and I would say that white dipped beam and a more yellowy main beam (which on mine is just halogen) describes what mine are like. . . I prefer the halogen main beam and the light it puts out to the full bi-xenons on the D3's as it feels like the main beam is better on the single xenons. . . perhaps the D3 headlights just get worse more quickly!

Not just the D3, many Audi's of that era! My old S4 the lights were so dim I wondered if there were actually on, turned out the reflective dishes were not very reflective any more! I had replacement bi-xenon projectors fitted (from Lexus I believe) and it was like daylight after that!

[MikkiJayne]

Originally Posted by Architex_mA8tey

My D2 A8 has Xenons rather than Xenon pluses and I would say that white dipped beam and a more yellowy main beam (which on mine is just halogen) describes what mine are like. . . I prefer the halogen main beam and the light it puts out to the full bi-xenons on the D3's as it feels like the main beam is better on the single xenons. . . perhaps the D3 headlights just get worse more quickly!

Yeah those are single xenon, not 'bi-xenon' and so don't have the hood to switch between dip and main. You have a xenon in a projector housing for dip and a halogen in a flood housing for main.

Ironically my A6 bi-xenons are better than any D2 headlight

[snapdragon]

Another example of the issue.