If You Want Brighter Headlights - Corolland: the Toyota Corolla Forums

ever_green

i didnt use to know much about headlights and ended up buying a pair of generic blue painted bulbs from a bunch of scammers which melted my wiring harness since it was 50 watts overpowered. They claimed that its a xenon HID and its 3x brighter. I later found out that it was a simple overpowered halgoen bulb. it cost me about 200$ to replace harnesses, bulbs and the headlight itself which was damaged. so i decided to share this info to save people some trouble.

First of all any light bulb you but for your corolla should be clear, not colored. so all those blue painted or yellow painted bulbs are a scam. They don't give you brighter light or improved visibility. Most of all they are not xenon, for a xenon headlight you need a relay system and all xenon bulbs are clear.

Now if you want real xenon you must know that they are illegal, at least for the 2001 or older corollas. This is because they use reflectors and not projectors which cause glare. so i didnt want to waste money on projectors and decided to put on hallogens but the brightest possible for 55/60w.

so after some research i found the "Philips x-treme power" and "Osram Nightbreakers". decided to go for the philips, they are both supposed to be bright but i just heard of the philips first so i ordered them. They are pretty bright, about 2x as bright as oem and bout 30-50% brighter than the generic 100w i had. but i noticed a bit more glare since they are more bright.

here is a pic:

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/2391/image1wt.png

Ever Green,

Thanks for sharing this information. You have definitely saved some of the viewers some trouble and expense with this posting.

Do you find oncoming drivers flashing their high beams at you to indicate your lights are too bright, when you are using the Philips x-treme power light bulbs?

Thanks again

Wow, 100w, that's a lot of juice. Most people don't realize that when you increase wattage, you also increase amperage flowing though the device, which is why when you get replacement lights they should be around the same wattage as OEM. That's why you had melting.

9012 HIR.

ever_green

Ever Green,

Thanks for sharing this information. You have definitely saved some of the viewers some trouble and expense with this posting.
Do you find oncoming drivers flashing their high beams at you to indicate your lights are too bright, when you are using the Philips x-treme power light bulbs?

Thanks again

well actually the first night I was drivng in pitch dark in a country road and I spotted 4 deers crossing the road thanks to the headlights default_smile it was pure luck that I changed my lights that night and the lights reflected off their eyes and I slowed down. After that I drove on highbeams in the hilly country road cruising at about 50 and while climbing a hill a hummer pops out coming down while my high beams were on and he then blinded me by turning on all his foglights and highbeams sets he had. I don't drive on highbeams anymore lol.

Ever Green,
Thanks for sharing this information. You have definitely saved some of the viewers some trouble and expense with this posting.
Do you find oncoming drivers flashing their high beams at you to indicate your lights are too bright, when you are using the Philips x-treme power light bulbs?

Thanks again

well actually the first night I was drivng in pitch dark in a country road and I spotted 4 deers crossing the road thanks to the headlights it was pure luck that I changed my lights that night and the lights reflected off their eyes and I slowed down. After that I drove on highbeams in the hilly country road cruising at about 50 and while climbing a hill a hummer pops out coming down while my high beams were on and he then blinded me by turning on all his foglights and highbeams sets he had. I don't drive on highbeams anymore lol.

Just wondering how much did you pay for them and where did you get them? Thanks.

Ever Green,
Thanks for sharing this information. You have definitely saved some of the viewers some trouble and expense with this posting.
Do you find oncoming drivers flashing their high beams at you to indicate your lights are too bright, when you are using the Philips x-treme power light bulbs?

Thanks again

get brighter high beams default_tongue

i just put some HIR 9011's in my celica and the phrase 'mind-numblingly bright' comes to mind.

http://hirheadlights.com/

ever_green

Well I'm new to HIRs but I did consider installing hids like ones on my cobalt and TL but as I mentioned That causes too much glare and it's also illegal. Plus hid bright bulbs with a reflector (instead of projector) look nasty and don't have that crystal clear look. Also I'm not sure how expensive HIRs are and how long they last. I just bought the philips halogens from eBay for 27$ and they are bright enough for me.

HIR has the filament correctly positioned to work in the reflector housing and produce very little glare, just about 90% more light without pulling any more wattage. trust me, you'll like them.

Ever Green,
Thanks for sharing this information. You have definitely saved some of the viewers some trouble and expense with this posting.
Do you find oncoming drivers flashing their high beams at you to indicate your lights are too bright, when you are using the Philips x-treme power light bulbs?

Thanks again

I'm curious, but when the Hummer crested the hill and you saw them, why didn't you turn your highbeams off? That's not just common courtesy, it's safe driving, since you don't want to blind each other. That's why he flashed you back. All you had to do was turn them off, wait 'til they passed, then flick them on again.

So I finally got to drive with the HIR 9011 high beams...when I turn my high beams on its like turning the night off. I have the road lit for 1/10th mile infront of me, well lit. reflective signs upto and farther than 1/4 mile away are visible to me easily. I saw deer on the side of the road from farther away than before. its just stunning how much light is thrown out the front of the car now, my passenger who is normally very quiet wouldn't stop saying 'wow'.

So I finally got to drive with the HIR 9011 high beams...when I turn my high beams on its like turning the night off. I have the road lit for 1/10th mile infront of me, well lit. reflective signs upto and farther than 1/4 mile away are visible to me easily. I saw deer on the side of the road from farther away than before. its just stunning how much light is thrown out the front of the car now, my passenger who is normally very quiet wouldn't stop saying 'wow'.

Is it a white light? Where'd you get them? How much?

http://www.finemotoring.com/

its a little 'whiter' than a regular halogen bulb but not HID color if that's what you're asking.

HIR on high beam is the best "mod" I did to my corolla, it is a great safety upgrade, although a bit pricey. I have HIR in the low beam too, not a dramatic improvement over stock like the high beams, not worth the money in my opinion. I highly recommend the HIR highbeam. You can get them from ebay and pay way too much for shipping, but the seller paints the area of the tab that has to be trimmed with white out, so it is easy to trim with a dremel and a file. http://store.candlepower.com/ has them for cheaper, but you are on your own for trimming, although there are guides on the net that show you how to do it.