Easy way to tell if lights bi-zenon?
 

Hi,

Informative thread, thanks to previous posters. +++

Like the original questioner, I need to find out if the lights on mine are bi-zenon and I don't have access to the VAG.

I do have the "spec" sticker for the car; what would I look for. :Confused:

Robert

They look precisely like the picture in the first post of this thread - if you don't have the round flash and side light holes in that position, and the silver trim strip running across under the bulb then it's single xenon.

Bi-xenon are pretty distinctive to look at - if in doubt go from normal beam to high beam with lights pointing at a wall and you should see the flap move in the reflection. If you just get more light and the xenon beam doesn't change, then again it's most likely single xenon

I recently changed my bulbs to the very latest Philips X-tremeVision 'gen2' Xenons:
http://www.philips.co.uk/c-p/85126XV...headlight-bulb

Not cheap, but nice improvement over the old bulbs.

Bloody hell Mark £94..that's more than I paid for my first car:eek:

Retrofit Bi-Xenons
 

Thanks Adrian, you're a star, I don't have them: can they be realistically retrofitted? Any idea of cost?

The lights are poor at the moment. I could also do the clean routine but I notice that the lights on my S Reg Fiesta are better right now! :o :-(

Robert

About the same as I paid for my first car too come to think of it :ROFL:

They were actually a bit cheaper than that; I paid about £70 each for them .... Which is still a tad expensive but I figure they (should) last several years. The last bulbs (also Philips) were on the car when I bought it over 6 years ago and were still working well when I replaced them. Besides, genuine generation 1 X-treme Vision bulbs are nearly as expensive.

Gotta be careful where you buy Philips bulbs though; there's a lot of fake ones out there. The gen2 bulbs had only just been released when I bought them a month or two ago and so (it seemed) only genuine bulbs were available. It's only a matter of time before the fakes start appearing though.

They used to be arse-buckling expensive, even used, but might be worth a call to the sponsors. I'm sure people have retrofitted them in the past without issue - nothing overly special about them in terms of design.

Bulbs are the deciding factor with any headlight, and condition. If yours are milky or reflector is worn then new bulbs won't help as much.

For non-xenon bulbs I've always sworn by Philips Xtreme Vision Plus as they're about £20 a pair from major ebay sellers - I used them in the main beam support/flash in my bi-xenons and for front fogs. They burn brighter so the downside is a shorter lifespan if used as your main bulb - in our A6 you'd get a failure after 2 years.

I think that legally speaking you'll need self levelling and headlight washers to have xenon lights, although it seems no-one will be checking! :cool:

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...-hid-headlamps

I assumed the car does at least have single xenons for dipped beam, so equipped with headlight wash and auto levelling. Without those I suspect it'll throw headlight warnings in the cluster as it won't perform the self test at key on, I wouldn't have thought?