PIAA Extreme White vs Standard Bulbs (pics)

Post by **Welly** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 8:57 pm

Well I gained a pair of H7 PIAA 'extreme white' bulbs from my collegue who had upgraded to HID's I have been VERY impressed with them and have shown pics here to compare them with standard Halogen Bulbs.

The pics maybe don't do them enough justice but I can't be arsed to do a David Bailey with my camera:

Next up some shots of the main H7's the left hand side are the PIAA's

Lastly, how they look from inside, the one on the right is the PIAA for those not paying attention

as I said it is hard to tell that much from my amateurish photo skills but believe me when I say these bulbs are absolutely amazing, I have truely been taken aback by these, they are expensive but I can tell why, if you can imagine two working together from my pics it's a lot better

MaDc0w · Post by **MaDc0w** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 8:34 am

I've been using them for years now. Some people will flash you at night thinking your highbeems are on.

They make a worlds difference though. Someone told me they weren't allowed on the D8 because the D8 lamps bend the light differently!? (never bothered me)

I have Phillips bulbs in mine and will never go back to "normal bulbs"

mjb · Post by **mjb** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 12:29 pm

I love super-bright headlamps... especially when they're on a car coming towards me on an unlit country lane at night and I have to stamp on my bloody brakes and stop because I can't see sh*t

Nothing better for blinding the poor sods who happen to be on the same road as you eh?

Post by **Welly** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 2:34 pm

These bulbs won't 'dazzle' anyone, if they were poorly aligned they could dazzle you but they just emit a whiter light no different to new cars with HID's from the factory - you don't have to slam on your brakes everytime a new Mercedes come towards you ?

I don't like people who drive with their front fogs on, that is dangerous for others but a good quality road legal bulb which emits a better quality of light I can't see a problem myself.

Halfords I think do a blue looking Halogen lamp and they do look crap, and are quite distracting, but a decent white light properly aligned if fine IMO.

mjb · Post by **mjb** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:00 pm

Sorry, you caught me on my #1 peeve, while hung over

Unless it's actually foggy, foglamps are a brilliant indicator of which cars are being driven by muppets. Not so nice when the road's not flat though and you get your retinas burnt out by a pair

The absolute worst thing of course, is the bloody BMW X5 I *ALWAYS* seem to have behind me whenever I'm in a traffic jam at night. Headlamps, main beams and foglamps all helpfully illuminating the inside of my car (having an estate sucks at times). Damn things are big enough too, to totally blind you through both wing mirrors simultaneously

I'll stop whinging now

Blue406 · Post by **Blue406** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:55 pm

I'm currently using Super Brilliance H7s from Halfrauds. Only because there was a 2 for one offer. but I must say, they are worth the cash. Its a whiter light that lights my road a little further than ordinary H7s without dazzling anyone else.

I might give these PIAAs a try, if I find them legal for the D8.

dervpower · Post by **dervpower** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:38 pm

are these piaa bulbs xenon then? what sort of cost and do you relace both dip and main? and what are hids? likewise i cant stand d***heads who drive with foglights on all the time i have the same for them as i do with people who drive 3foot off you bumper thinking it will make you pull in quicker it doesnt work!!!!!!!!

maglite · Post by **maglite** » Thu May 17, 2007 12:49 am

dervpower wrote:are these piaa bulbs xenon then? what sort of cost and do you relace both dip and main? and what are hids? likewise i cant stand d***heads who drive with foglights on all the time i have the same for them as i do with people who drive 3foot off you bumper thinking it will make you pull in quicker it doesnt work!!!!!!!!

HIDs are what I have installed in both my 6's. Pics and info can be found in this thread. Since installation back in 1998, I haven't had any problems from PC plod, or anyone flashing me. Once properly installed, you will never go back to normal halogen lighting. HIDs have now recently become very affordable (£65). They are fairly easy to fit into the 6.

Post by **Welly** » Thu May 17, 2007 7:17 am

You won't believe this - one of my PIAA's has blown this week and I have had to put one of my old H7's back in and it looks really weird now

Problem is you can't buy just one and they cost at least £42.00 a pair.

I have been very pleased with them though and they give an excellent light.

I could stretch to HID's but the jury is still out on the level of glare produced and beam pattern accuracy. Voltron on here posted an interesting upgrade to projector lenses and got a really nice beam cut off pattern.

Dervy - if you don't already know, a HID system is where a high voltage electric arc creates a powerfull light source within a sealed capsule of xenon gas. It requires a ballast unit to produce the high voltage arc (around 30,000 volts) but overall they only consume around 35 watts each at 12volts. Don't ask me why it doesn't burn all the gas away because is doesn't do that for some reason

These bulbs do not have a conventional 'filament' where the electric current makes it glow white hot and produce a light source.

The PIAA bulbs I have are simply a high quality filament (a bit shorter in length), the capsule is filled with a xenon gas mix to give a whiter tinge to the process and the bulb capsule is coated with a light blue coating to convert the colour spectrum into a whiter blueish colour.

Some of the halfords type blue coated ones are really bad and produce less light but I think it is fair to say that PIAA ones are probably the best of this type of bulb.

(you did ask)

dervpower · Post by **dervpower** » Thu May 17, 2007 5:27 pm

so the piaa are effectively what you get on newer cars that boast xenon then such as the laguna i had till a nob in a max powered punto wrote it off and the hids are completey different? can you just put them into normal headlights sorry to sound so thick!!!!

TooT · Post by **TooT** » Thu May 17, 2007 6:19 pm

I have PIAA in my pug and they are the mutts

Its one of the first things i do when i buy a new car is bin the standard bulbs

Post by **Welly** » Thu May 17, 2007 7:24 pm

dervpower wrote:so the piaa are effectively what you get on newer cars that boast xenon then such as the laguna i had till a nob in a max powered punto wrote it off and the hids are completey different? can you just put them into normal headlights sorry to sound so thick!!!!

You can't compare proper HID's to these normal bulbs.

You can have problems when you put aftermarket HID's into a standard reflector becuase of glare and a dodgy beam pattern on the road.

If you see factory fitted HID's they always have a 'projector' lens like a small glass globe which give accurate beam pattern using the ultra bright light source. The projector restricts the amount of light that other road users see within the reflector (which isn't a problem with halogen bulbs).

have a look at these examples click on HID and 'retrofit'.

dervpower · Post by **dervpower** » Thu May 17, 2007 7:48 pm

but i presume you can put the piaa s into normal headlights and they will give you the xenon effect? do you need both dip and main bulbs?

Post by **Welly** » Fri May 18, 2007 7:15 am

dervpower wrote:but i presume you can put the piaa s into normal headlights and they will give you the xenon effect? do you need both dip and main bulbs?

Yes the pics above show my PIAA 'H7' bulbs in the standard headlight enclosure.

The high beam is separate from the dipped beam on the 406 so just leave the high beam as it is to save on cost, unless your minted of course! to be honest the 406 headlights are so good that when you put the PIAA's in you sometimes don't need the high beam anymore on certain roads.