Headlight bulbs for 2013 Cali SE

[davesnell]

Hi folks. I drove our Cali last night down some country lanes and was a bit scared how bad the headlights are! We’ve only had our Cali for a month and haven’t driven much at night. I understand this is a common complaint and see there have been some previous discussion on replacing the bulbs with much brighter ones. The threads i saw are a few years old and so i wondered what the options are now and if anyone can give me any recommendations. Our head light unit already has good DRL’s so its just the headlight, side light and poss indicators that I’d like to change. Here is a pic of what we have. Any help would be great. Thanks in advance. Dave

 

[WelshGas]

Hi folks. I drove our Cali last night down some country lanes and was a bit scared how bad the headlights are! We’ve only had our Cali for a month and haven’t driven much at night. I understand this is a common complaint and see there have been some previous discussion on replacing the bulbs with much brighter ones. The threads i saw are a few years old and so i wondered what the options are now and if anyone can give me any recommendations. Our head light unit already has good DRL’s so its just the headlight, side light and poss indicators that I’d like to change. Here is a pic of what we have. Any help would be great. Thanks in advance. Dave
View attachment 81354

Those don’t appear to be original headlights, but aftermarket units as the only headlights for a 2013 California with DRLs similar to yours had Zenon headlights the forerunner of the LED headlights.
You could try uprated bulbs or changing the whole headlight to a H7 system that has separate bulbs for dipped and main beam and which were coded to have both headlight bulbs on for Main Beam.
Alternatively you could fit LED bulbs but most of them do not carry the necessary regulatory markings and are illegal for use on the public highway.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

To change the whole unit to H7 is around £500 inc fitting per pair.

 

[B J G]

first identify what bulb fitting/type are fitted in your conversions.
Osram do a full range of +150% halogen bulbs which are as good as you'll get in halogen. NOTE +150% not the lower % ones.

From past reading reports the earlier LED DRL conversion headlight units provided updated DRL's but actually produced poorer dip/mainbeam performance.

 

[Perfectos]

There is a pair of T5 halogen headlights on a well known auction site £120 delivered - auction still running with two bids

. 7E2941 016 G

 

[Ozzy Pete]

first identify what bulb fitting/type are fitted in your conversions.
Osram do a full range of +150% halogen bulbs which are as good as you'll get in halogen. NOTE +150% not the lower % ones.

From past reading reports the earlier LED DRL conversion headlight units provided updated DRL's but actually produced poorer dip/mainbeam performance.

Just need to be careful that they are within the MOT standard. Years ago before LED lights I fitted HID lights to my Bike. The difference was absolutely incredible, but only on Dipped beam as the reaction time for main beam is not fast enough. It still passed the MOT this year so all still good...

 

[davesnell]

Thanks for your replies. Didn’t realise these were not the original headlights! So I’ve just had a look at the side light and main beam bulbs. Here’s a couple of photos. Any ideas what options these would offer me? Again I really just want some light so not looking for an expensive conversion.

 

[Perfectos]

Use the detail on the existing bulb.

Google
”H7 bulb upgrade”
“W5w bulb upgrade”

some reading regarding LED bulbs

Aftermarket LED Bulbs: MOT Rules And Legalities

Can upgrade LED bulbs pass an MOT? We go through exactly what MOT testing stations look for and whether your aftermarket bulbs will pass an MOT.

www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk

Osram night breaker Halogen bulbs claim to be 200% brighter,
having fitted some older Osram nightbreaker bulbs to my previous T5.1, i can confirm they improved visibility by quite some margin For a modest cost.


here’s a vid comparing Phillips / Osram upgraded H7

I hope that helps with your research

 

[davesnell]

Use the detail on the existing bulb.

Google
”H7 bulb upgrade”
“W5w bulb upgrade”

some reading regarding LED bulbs

Aftermarket LED Bulbs: MOT Rules And Legalities

Can upgrade LED bulbs pass an MOT? We go through exactly what MOT testing stations look for and whether your aftermarket bulbs will pass an MOT.

www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk

Osram night breaker Halogen bulbs claim to be 200% brighter,
having fitted some older Osram nightbreaker bulbs to my previous T5.1, i can confirm they improved visibility by quite some margin For a modest cost.


here’s a vid comparing Phillips / Osram upgraded H7

I hope that helps with your research

Thanks for your help. All interesting reading/viewing and I’ll take some advise before i purchase