[arnav17]

Hey guys,

Looking for a headlight upgrade for our Ritz. With the Safari around, it hasn't seen much of Highways, but it may have to soon. Hence looking for a Light thats suitable for highways.

Spoke to a person in this field and he said that LED lights would not help on highways, and the stock set up is adequate for the city. Another option is to change the cutout of the main headlamp and putting in stronger halogen bulbs.


I have read in many places that making the foglamp LED could solve the case. Does this hold good?

Please let me know about the best option, Thanks in Advance

[shancz]

If you haven't do check out the Osram NightBreaker Laser.
I haven't tried it but friends and members have given good reviews as simple upgrade.
Anything further would mean a headlight upgrade to LED which should be done after due consultation on the forum with experienced members.
Personally I don't think LED fogs would be be very helpful on the highways and in fog but again no experience on the same.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by arnav17

Hey guys,

Looking for a headlight upgrade for our Ritz. With the Safari around, it hasn't seen much of Highways, but it may have to soon. Hence looking for a Light thats suitable for highways.

Spoke to a person in this field and he said that LED lights would not help on highways, and the stock set up is adequate for the city. Another option is to change the cutout of the main headlamp and putting in stronger halogen bulbs.


I have read in many places that making the foglamp LED could solve the case. Does this hold good?

Please let me know about the best option, Thanks in Advance

If you can spend some money, get a good quality projectors installed in your headlights with HIDs and not LEDs. Check out Morimoto. They were the favourite before these Chinese brands started flooding the market.

[Mortis]

You could also do halogen projector fogs as another option that will get you some longer throw. It's similar to HID projector fogs but you save on the cost of HIDs

[n_aditya]

I have a 2013 Ritz ZDi and have clocked over 92k kms.

The stock headlights are terrible and I changed the bulbs initially to Osram Nightbreaker (same spec as OEM but was advertised and recommended for higher light output and spread). While the light output was much better than the stock bulbs, the life of the bulbs were very poor. I must have changed them at least 2-3 times before switching to Philips Xtreme Vision in the same OEM rating and the Philips ones are way better than Osram in terms of life and light output. I could drive comfortably at night on the highway with these bulbs.

Take a look at these links:

Products: https://www.philips.co.in/c-m-au/car...-bulbs/halogen

Comparo: https://www.philips.co.in/etc/philip...XVGB1,9006XVB1

[audioholic]

Low budget - Get a wiring kit and 100/90W halogens.

High budget: HID/LED projector retrofit

Ultimate combo: Upgrade fog lights to projectors and keep main beam as 100/90 halogens. This has been the best setup I have ever used so far.

I would not waste my money on LED lights in reflectors no matter what they promise since they cause unnecessary wastage of light due to glare and irritation to oncoming users.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by arnav17

Looking for a headlight upgrade for our Ritz. ...

I would go with this approach...

Originally Posted by audioholic

Low budget - Get a wiring kit and 100/90W halogens.

High budget: HID/LED projector retrofit

Ultimate combo: Upgrade fog lights to projectors and keep main beam as 100/90 halogens. This has been the best setup I have ever used so far.

I would not waste my money on LED lights in reflectors no matter what they promise since they cause unnecessary wastage of light due to glare and irritation to oncoming users.

... with one additional point:

The "High budget" option is not worth the risks - the difficulties involved in just getting a reliable ballast and HID combo / LED unit (unless the budget is for the big names such as Osram or Philips), getting the sealing right after opening up the headlights, having the projector aligned, getting the burner socket aligned, followed by the risk of water ingress, and finally not having a spare in hand when the unthinkable happens - they're simply too much for a car used regularly.

Adding a relay and changing the halogen bulbs to 100/90 or even 130/110 - that'll sort out most of the problems. Throw in a pair of projector fogs and/or aux lamps (the sky is the limit for that, so is the budget), and it'll brighten up the prospects.

First and foremost - a clean headlamp lens and windshield helps immensely, it's prudent to keep cleaning them regularly on long drives.

[VKumar]

Originally Posted by arnav17

Hey guys,

Looking for a headlight upgrade for our Ritz. With the Safari around, it hasn't seen much of Highways, but it may have to soon. Hence looking for a Light thats suitable for highways.

Get this done on the car, it is quite common here in NCR these days and these projector foglights are menacingly strong in throw and coverage both. Seen them on many Swifts and multiple Ertiga cabs which go to hills, since main hedlamps are the same halogens - just turn off the fogs and cops won't even know what you are carrying, turn them ON on the highways and they can force the Baleno, Creta and even Fortuner drivers to dip their LEDs with just one flash. I think these sellers only happily ship pan India too, so get the item and get it installed in fog lamp housings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhB-r018rjw

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by arnav17

Hey guys,
Looking for a headlight upgrade for our Ritz. With the Safari around, it hasn't seen much of Highways, but it may have to soon. Hence looking for a Light thats suitable for highways.

If you want real usable light in all weather conditions - make use of the good round fog-lamp housing that your car has.

Replace the existing units with 3" BiXenon projectors with 55W HID bulbs of 4300K temperature. Nothing beats the illumination performance as well as the VFM quotient of this. Installing LEDs in the existing headlamp - is a gamble since the LEDs will scatter light if they don't match the focus point of the reflector. Also - white LEDs definitely underperform in rainy conditions.
(You'll find multiple threads in the DIY section about installing these yourself as well. Some from me as well in fact.)

[vivekgk]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

If you want real usable light in all weather conditions - make use of the good round fog-lamp housing that your car has.

Replace the existing units with 3" BiXenon projectors with 55W HID bulbs of 4300K temperature. Nothing beats the illumination performance as well as the VFM quotient of this. Installing LEDs in the existing headlamp - is a gamble since the LEDs will scatter light if they don't match the focus point of the reflector. Also - white LEDs definitely underperform in rainy conditions.
(You'll find multiple threads in the DIY section about installing these yourself as well. Some from me as well in fact.)

H4 setups should be banned for new cars, IMO. It was a cost cutting measure to begin with, and it irks me to seem them still being used, even in some high end models, like the Kia Karens.

I agree that the best option for the Ritz would be to upgrade the fog lamps. If you have the budget, look for LED projectors with integrated heat sinks and high/low option. Else, an HID setup would be great.

100/90 upgrade for the headlamp would end up burning up your reflectors if you have more night time usage. Better bulbs at same 60/55 are an option, but may require frequent replacement.

While most may say that LEDs are bad in a reflector setup, I would say it depends on the kind of LEDs. Unfortunately, the Indo-China situation means that you can't order the good stuff from AliXpress directly nowadays. So you're pretty much limited to what is on offer at accessory shops and online resellers. The general rule is that since you are replacing a filament bulb, ideally the smaller the LED chips, the better it would mimic a filament, and the better the beam pattern would be.

I have a set of CNSunnylights 4300K LED bulbs (H4) that I used to have in my Ecosport. They had yellowish light, and the CSP LED chips were small enough that they worked very well in the reflector setup, and had very little beam pattern issues. In any case, the increased brightness made up for the slight issues in spread. One good thing was that the yellow light made you less of a target for MVDs looking to fill their monthly quota. Another great thing about LEDs is that they draw less power (less than half the wattage), and have instant startup time, which is great for quick flashes)

[Bismaya]

Of lately, I have been considering a good headlight upgrade for my Maruti 800 as well. As the car does not get factory fit foglamps, I do not want to make it look any uglier on the front by adding any.

I was suggested to get Osram Silver 100/90W and fit that with a Wiring Kit. It's the less expensive version compared to buying a Phillips XtremeVision 65W which costs way more when bought offline.

I have been told that the former option is a good invesment and the person who suggesed it is a fellow BHPian who does a lot of night drives on his Alto K10.

[SlowRider]

Bumping up an old thread - I'm wondering which way OP went with the upgrade. I drive Ritz VDI myself, and I use 90/100W Phillips Rallye H4 bulbs with a Vaishu relay. I tried Phillips Xtreme vision 60W as well previously, but didn't see the improvement I was hoping for. It's important to note that my headlights were partially yellowed from age at that time. On top of that, my windscreen is not in the best shape thanks to hard water deposits left by 10 years' of washing and not wiping the car dry. I do a lot of night driving and with the 90/100W setup, the low beam is much more usable than it used to be and I can live with it. Light output doesn't bother me any more unless I'm driving over potholed stretches. I also got my headlights restored by a detailer, so that helps too. High beam is sublime, but I mostly drive on undivided highways, so I seldom get to use it.