Hi All,
It has been almost 3 years since I raised this topic originally. I decided then not to do an HID upgrade as at the time, the car was still under warranty. Also, I was not convinced I wouldn't have focussing problems. Well now a headlight bulb has failed (no warning from the computer) and I have decided to look into this once again.
The car is still just under warranty so I have gone ahead and ordered Osram night berakers for the spotlights and PHILIPS BULBS - PHILIPS X-TREME (EXTREME) POWER for the mains from http://www.powerbulbs.com. The prices are very good with the exchange rate at the moment. I will report back on the results as I have a couple of night runs to do down the South coast soon.
Has anyone done an HID upgrade recently? Some of the kits are now very cheap. My concern with the spotlights is the positioning of the filament in relation to beam focus. Focussing can be extremely important. I remember a long time ago having some Bosch 100w spotlights on my old alfa which broke and I replaced them with some cheap Narva 130w units. The Narva weren't a patch on the Bosch's which had much superior focus and illumination despite having less power.
With the main headlights, being projector types, maybe the position of the filament isn't that critical? I would be happy to fit these as long as I didn't dazzle oncoming drivers (assuming I had set the alignment correctly).
cheers,
Anthony TDV6, MYO7 Java with Ivory leather, 19 inch wheels

Last edited by redrover on Sat Oct 10 2009 2:13pm. Edited 1 time in total

Well the bulbs haven't have arrived yet so I swapped the dead one on the right with the high beam to keep the main beams going.
Had my first run down the South coast tonight and found the left main globe had blown! This left me with one low beam on the right and one high beam on the left. I was having trouble seeing with traffic approaching so turned the fogs on (as much as I hate other people doing this) just to help.
Anyway I was rounding a blind left hander at just over 100kmh to be confronted by a very large Kangaroo standing sideways dead in the middle of the lane!! By the time I saw it I already had started to swerve, which is not normally recommended as it can result in a live Kangaroo and a very nasty accident, however there was no time to brake or sound the horn and I was instinctively reacting to an obstacle in my lane. As I started to turn back in I remember thinking that the car had gotten a lot more out of shape than I liked, given that the run off is basically gum trees and nearly certain death. As I corrected, the Stability control kicked in and also corrected the skid to the right followed by the skid to the left and the RRS was rapidly in control again! I would like to think I wouldn't have made a mess of it myself but the ASC made it a hell of a lot easier.
My family all sighed relief and I was very grateful that 1. it wasn't wet (most of the drive was) and 2. Someone wasn't coming the other way. Hitting this large roo would have caused severe damage to us both and sometime they have a habit of coming through the windscreen as well. It is the first time I have come across one parked in the middle of the road like this.
Anyway, back on topic I am looking forward to getting the globes next week for my next night run down. I would love to get a set of original Xenons though as these things can save your life down here!
cheers,
Anthony TDV6, MYO7 Java with Ivory leather, 19 inch wheels