HIDs; 55W or 35W kit? Passat B6

olewy

I've read/seen that the 55W HID kits are 'brighter' than the 35W kits but would they be too bright (for oncoming traffic, gardai attention etc)? Headlamp (low beam, not high/full beam).
H7 4300k is all I'm interested in.
Let me know your thoughts, thanks.

YbFocus

All i can add is that get H7r bulbs, they have a blank to stop the glare.
Without them it doesn't matter a Damn what watt you get, They'll be blinding.

olewy

YbFocus wrote: »

All i can add is that get H7r bulbs, they have a blank to stop the glare.
Without them it doesn't matter a Damn what watt you get, They'll be blinding.

Thanks, I doubt that they're all blinding, particularly 4300k. There is a difference in brightness between the 35W and 55W it seems, I just need to know if people think the 55W are too bright & would the 35W be best in the Passat B6. I've read the H7r versions remove a lot of the useful light as compared to the non-'r' versions. Unsure.

YbFocus

olewy wrote: »

Thanks, I doubt that they're all blinding, particularly 4300k. There is a difference in brightness between the 35W and 55W it seems, I just need to know if people think the 55W are too bright & would the 35W be best in the Passat B6. I've read the H7r versions remove a lot of the useful light as compared to the non-'r' versions. Unsure.

Have a set myself, they are fantastic and deliver the light to exactly the spot where the originals do.
All hid's are blinding unless they are in a factory hid headlight or your running the r version.

They stick farther into the light and it messes with the focus, it beams everywhere.
You meet them on the road everyday sure!
Its not about the colour, that makes no difference to the glare, just means the glare will be a more factory color.

olewy

YbFocus wrote: »

Have a set myself, they are fantastic and deliver the light to exactly the spot where the originals do.
All hid's are blinding unless they are in a factory hid headlight or your running the r version.

They stick farther into the light and it messes with the focus, it beams everywhere.
You meet them on the road everyday sure!
Its not about the colour, that makes no difference to the glare, just means the glare will be a more factory color.

Aftermarket fit so this is good to know, thanks. Will keep this in mind. I assumed as the Passat has projectors that non-'r' version bulbs would be fine.

YbFocus

olewy wrote: »

Aftermarket fit so this is good to know, thanks. Will keep this in mind. I assumed as the Passat has projectors that non-'r' version bulbs would be fine.

No as far as i know once your cars come with halogens you have a different type of unit that will cause the glare.

olewy

YbFocus wrote: »

No as far as i know once your cars come with halogens you have a different type of unit that will cause the glare.

Ok, are your aftermarket H7R's fitted in a Passat B6? If so did you go for 35W or 55W ballasts & would you recommend any kit in particular.

Chimaera

If you do this bear in mind that the NCT rules on HID headlamps have tightened up substantially this year. In order to pass you must have headlamp washers fitted and a functioning levelling system (the jury's out on whether this should be auto-levelling or not). You may still fail if HID bulbs are fitted in a housing that is designed for halogen bulbs.

olewy

Chimaera wrote: »

If you do this bear in mind that the NCT rules on HID headlamps have tightened up substantially this year. In order to pass you must have headlamp washers fitted and a functioning levelling system (the jury's out on whether this should be auto-levelling or not). You may still fail if HID bulbs are fitted in a housing that is designed for halogen bulbs.

Thanks, I heard that alright, I intend changing them over with the standard halogens before the next NCT.

Truckermal

I would be more inclined to get a good set of bulbs as I tried 2 different kits and they were a disaster making the car's electronics go mad.

olewy

Truckermal wrote: »

I would be more inclined to get a good set of bulbs as I tried 2 different kits and they were a disaster making the car's electronics go mad.

From what I've heard/read some tweaking in VCDS is required to avoid this, hopefully that will suffice.

Truckermal

olewy wrote: »

From what I've heard/read some tweaking in VCDS is required to avoid this, hopefully that will suffice.

I done that but it's the canbus that's the problem. They are a pure hoor to install too if the lamps are Valeo.

Popoutman

From what I read when I was last playing about with HIDs in the projector housings in my A4 estate, there was little to no difference in actual light output between the 35w and the 55w labelled systems. There was an increase in power drawn by the ballasts but this was not reflected (pun intended) in the output from the bulb. One comparison showed that the same bulb assemblies were used, which rendered the overall exercise with different wattage ballasts a bit moot. The characteristics of discharge bulbs is that you do not get the expected change in output light for input current, as a lot of the extra just gets dissipated as heat.

If you want bright - get 4300k HIDs as the output most closely matches the sensitivities of your eyes. 6000k is a little dimmer in output but the color is whiter. 8000k and higher - just do not bother, they are actually dimmer to your eyes than the halogen filaments that you took out, and have crap colour response to boot, making things the light shines on even dimmer.

I had a good set of 6000k HIDs in the dips and fogs of the A4, and the light pattern was properly adjusted to not shine in oncoming drivers eyes. It was only if the road was wet that the reflection was bright. As it was the bulbs and ballasts failed over time, and I replaced with halogen bulbs again, and they've had a lower failure rate

Supergurrier

Just buy a pair of Osram Nightbreakers if it's pure white light you want

Special Circumstances

HID fogs front and rear are high on Christmas list. Supplemented with lasers.

Tropheus

After market HID kits in Halogen light units are an NCT fail now so becoming far more hassle than it's worth. They work pretty well in projector units once adjusted properly, but a hazard to other drivers in reflector units.

renofan

I have a '00 A4 with the projector unit installed for the dims. No matter what H7 bulb I put in the light was crap. The first night I drove the car after getting it I actually stopped the car to see if the bulbs were blown the light is that poor!

I got this kit in 4300k http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/h7-new-canbus-terminator-hid-kit-slim-35w-dipped-beam-1/ and tried it one evening to see if there was a difference and I can see way better with the hids in. I still have to install them correctly, I just haven't had the time since I got them last month.

I got the 35w as I was told the 55w give more or less the same light but burn the bulb out a lot sooner.

vectra

olewy wrote: »

I've read/seen that the 55W HID kits are 'brighter' than the 35W kits but would they be too bright (for oncoming traffic, gardai attention etc)? Headlamp (low beam, not high/full beam).
H7 4300k is all I'm interested in.
Let me know your thoughts, thanks.

Get the 35w version
Several users used the 55w version over in Briskoda and found that they were much brighter but to the amount of basically making the heads useless.

Not sure if your car is canbus or not as I am not familiar with Passats butGet the non canbus and code to suit.
If it has projector lamps get the H7
if it has Halogen lamps get the H7r.

Just stick the halogen bulbs back in for the nct's

YbFocus wrote: »

Have a set myself, they are fantastic and deliver the light to exactly the spot where the originals do.
All hid's are blinding unless they are in a factory hid headlight or your running the r version.

They stick farther into the light and it messes with the focus, it beams everywhere.
You meet them on the road everyday sure!
Its not about the colour, that makes no difference to the glare, just means the glare will be a more factory color.

Totally incorrect.

If you have projector lamps you will not spill light everywhere.
This only happens on Halogen lamps.

I have H7 in this car and my previous 2 cars, They have a vary accurate and distinct cutoff line.

Special Circumstances

Vectra, sorry to be pedantic but - halogen is not a type of headlamp arrangement. I think you mean projector v traditional reflector.

vectra

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Vectra, sorry to be pedantic but - halogen is not a type of headlamp arrangement. I think you mean projector v traditional reflector.

Yup.
Thats the one.

YbFocus

vectra wrote: »

Totally incorrect.

If you have projector lamps you will not spill light everywhere.
This only happens on Halogen lamps.

I have H7 in this car and my previous 2 cars, They have a vary accurate and distinct cutoff line.

Totally agree with you vectra, I assumed that his car wouldn't have projectors.

In reflector headlights it happens, as in my astra, so I'd recommend to only use the R version.
But correctly as you said in Projector's they are fine, sorry it seems I didn't completely explain myself.