[createrkid]

Hey I'm new to the car scene as I recently turned 18. I'll be beginning to drive my car which is a Getz Gls 1.3. Now what I wanted to change initially were the lights. The stock headlamps are very dull and I am vigorously keen on replacing them with white bulbs. I have no idea how to proceed. I don't even know for sure, what projectors actually are. Just a newbie here, will someone please be kind enough to help me out with the procedure? Tell me what exactly to do. Are white lights legal? I also wish to change my fog lamps with white bulbs. An insight would really be appreciated :-)


EDIT: I just spoke to a car accessory shop, I was told that my car comes with a 60/55 set up and he was recommending installing a 100/90 Hella set of bulbs. He also mentioned that white bulbs are illegal and can only be installed through projectors. So, correct me if am wrong, but the only perpetual difference would be performance and visibility right? I mean, a 100/90 set up would be visibly brighter than my stock set up. And the guy was alsl talking about some relay instalation, as I understand it, a relay regulates the power to the bulb so as to not harm the battery? Please correct me if am wrong. The price he mentioned for a pair of Hella 100/90 bulbs for both headlamps is 1450/-. Is this the usual price? Help will be gladly appreciated.

[Vik0728]

Originally Posted by createrkid

An insight would really be appreciated :-)

Hey createrkid welcome to TBHP, The place to be for a Petrol head !!

I am not an expert but I can share my 2 cents since I own a Getz 1.3 myself:

1. I have a 90/100 Philips Extreme vision bulbs installed in my Getzy and the throw is White & Bright. Obviously this is no HID but I do have a relay and what the car accessory guy told you is correct.

2. You can retain the OEM configuration on your car and just swap the headlight bulbs to 55/60 Osram Night Breakers, which are awesome and have an evident Silver-ish throw. This does not need a relay and works much better than your current setup.

3. If I remember right, the bulbs of Getz Fog lamps are H4 or H11. I have tried installing white bulbs in my car but for some strange reason the end result does not appear quite as White.
Not sure if the Fog lamp glass itself has some kind of a tint to it but even with a white light emitting bulb, the throw of the light is yellowish compared to the headlights of my car.

Hope this helps.

[createrkid]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Hey createrkid welcome to TBHP, The place to be for a Petrol head !!

I am not an expert but I can share my 2 cents since I own a Getz 1.3 myself:

1. I have a 90/100 Philips Extreme vision bulbs installed in my Getzy and the throw is White & Bright. Obviously this is no HID but I do have a relay and what the car accessory guy told you is correct.

Hope this helps.

You have white bulbs installed! I spoke to accessory guy, he told me anything white expect projectors are illegal. Are yours legal? How much did you get them done for?

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by createrkid

You have white bulbs installed! I spoke to accessory guy, he told me anything white expect projectors are illegal. Are yours legal? How much did you get them done for?

As per the CMVR, any bulb with a wattage of above 60w is illegal in a reflector setup and hence upgrading to higher wattage bulbs is illegal.

As for HID, yes its advised to install HIDs inside projector since the projectors focus the beam of the HID better compared to reflectors.

If you install high wattage bulb, especially Philips Essential vision, they give you a colour close to white but not the HID kind of white that you can imagine. Also, visualy, its impossible to detect a higher wattage bulb except if the bulb specs is read, or two identical cars with different wattage lights are parjed side by side. I am using Essential Vision(aka Rally) from a long time along with relay and complete setup.

HIDs give out a higher colour temperature and hence they can be noticed easily.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by createrkid

EDIT: I just spoke to a car accessory shop, I was told that my car comes with a 60/55 set up and he was recommending installing a 100/90 Hella set of bulbs.

Either use 100/90 setup like what the accessory guy recommends or use Philips Xtreme Vision at stock rating i.e 60/55W H4 P43t. The Philips is much better than stock. It all depends what you want and where all are you going to be driving more? If it is city driving then the Xtreme vision is sufficient, if highway driving is more then use the Hella 100/90 setup. Stop at 100/90, don't go to 130/100 setup as the reflectors + housing of the headlamps will get damaged.

Originally Posted by createrkid

He also mentioned that white bulbs are illegal and can only be installed through projectors.

He is correct and white bulbs are useless in rain. White light IMO if not installed correctly is more a show than utility.

Originally Posted by createrkid

So, correct me if am wrong, but the only perpetual difference would be performance and visibility right?

Projector will spread the light better than scattering it around rendering it useless.

Originally Posted by createrkid

I mean, a 100/90 set up would be visibly brighter than my stock set up.

Yes, the 100/90 setup is brighter than the stock 60/55W.

Originally Posted by createrkid

And the guy was also talking about some relay installation, as I understand it, a relay regulates the power to the bulb so as to not harm the battery?

The relay will protect the lighting circuit + the bulbs from any current surge and provide the required current to the bulbs.

Originally Posted by createrkid

The price he mentioned for a pair of Hella 100/90 bulbs for both headlamps is 1450/-. Is this the usual price? Help will be gladly appreciated.

Price seems to be fair enough.

Anurag.

[Vik0728]

Originally Posted by createrkid

You have white bulbs installed! I spoke to accessory guy, he told me anything white expect projectors are illegal. Are yours legal?

First off, I am neither supporting the fact that using 90/100 bulbs is the best thing nor arguing that using bright lights are good.

Getz, like many other cars, has a control to adjust the headlight reach length. In my car, it is always set to the lowest level, thereby ensuring the light does not blind any oncoming drivers.

Also, during my installation, I ensured that the headlight beam only troubles an oncoming person's eye on high beam, which I almost never use.

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

First off, I am neither supporting the fact that using 90/100 bulbs is the best thing nor arguing that using bright lights are good.

Getz, like many other cars, has a control to adjust the headlight reach length. In my car, it is always set to the lowest level, thereby ensuring the light does not blind any oncoming drivers.

Also, during my installation, I ensured that the headlight beam only troubles an oncoming person's eye on high beam, which I almost never use.

While I drive with low beam on highways most of the times.. We all know a majority of drivers on highways prefer driving with lights stuck to high beam (irrespective of - if the light is focused on the back of the car ahead 100 feet away or is blinding oncoming traffic). While this is not much of an issue on highways with medians and plants on the dividers. On two laned roads this is a huge discomfort and a hazard.
What I have noticed is, Dim&Dip a couple of times with higher wattage bulbs cause a reaction(to go on low beam) in the oncoming boors, whereas on stock bulbs they generally go without reaction.

So, my experience has been that it is safer to upgrade to 100/90s... but as mentioned by Vik0728 the same should not be abused. Ensure the focusing is done properly.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by whitewing

What I have noticed is, Dim&Dip a couple of times with higher wattage bulbs cause a reaction(to go on low beam) in the oncoming boors, whereas on stock bulbs they generally go without reaction.

.

Exactly one of the reasons I would prefer them. Be it LCVs or Volvo buses they dip their beam if you switch to high beam. Once we get to low beam they dont complain or switch back to high heam until we pass. The habit of driving with high beams continuously is prevalent in rural areas with a lot of people who are unaware of even simple things like flashing and the choice of beams. Hence people who travel a lot in rural areas and undivided roads would have experienced this. Cant help but go off legal route in such places.

The road that connects Devanhalli to Kolar is narrow, two laned and in most of the places lined with stone blocks in both the edges of the road. Every month, there is at least one new car, that veers off the road and crashes since the buses and commercial vehicles use horribly installed and focussed lights. When a KSRTC bus approaches us on this road, there is place for another bus to go in the other way. But a little off this course, one would be crashing against a block of stone or a milestone. I have driven many cars in these roads, with different kind of lighting setups. Apart from HIDs, only upgraded bulbs can keep us safe. High beam in HID is a lot more blinding even with projectors and so is high beam with 100/90 or 130/100 halogens. Hence one flash will set things right with those morons.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Exactly one of the reasons I would prefer them. ... The habit of driving with high beams continuously is prevalent in rural areas with a lot of people who are unaware of even simple things like flashing and the choice of beams. Hence people who travel a lot in rural areas and undivided roads would have experienced this. Cant help but go off legal route in such places.

My observation is on the contrary - I've found the so-called educated junta the most inconsiderate and bull-headed when it comes to using high-beams judiciously. Had a small tiff with a supposedly educated crackpot at a toll booth last month - the moron had the high beams on while waiting in queue to pay the toll (I got down and requested the driver to switch to low as the headlights were causing a lot of strain for me through the 3 RVMs, but his haughty retort resulted in me walking back after a nice one-liner that deflated his ego flat, and him getting transformed into a mad gorilla charging behind my car as I paid the toll and got moving).The rural populace, in many cases, at least switch to low beams when you flash continuously.

I got HIDs on the fogs (no projectors) hoping that the optics might be able to give a good long-range illumination, but I was proved seriously wrong - they offer great foreground illumination, which is a blessing in disguise. I don't drive around with them ON, and I don't use them unless I am troubled by oncoming high-beams, or by some high beam moron behind

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by silversteed

My observation is on the contrary - I've found the so-called educated junta the most inconsiderate and bull-headed when it comes to using high-beams judiciously. Had a small tiff with a supposedly educated crackpot at a toll booth last month - the moron had the high beams on while waiting in queue to pay the toll (

Agree that there are educated people who don't follow rules and these are the worst possible people out there. At least people who are unaware of the use of lights may be an exception with the system being responsible for their lack of awareness. But in the rural areas or the highways, the only disciplined drivers I have seen are long distance truckers only. They are the only ones put there who dip their beams without us asking them to do so. They have proper light setups which may be powerful but never a hindrance to other drivers.

[sabsubs]

Originally Posted by silversteed

My observation is on the contrary - I've found the so-called educated junta the most inconsiderate and bull-headed when it comes to using high-beams judiciously. Had a small tiff with a supposedly educated crackpot at a toll booth last month - the moron had the high beams on while waiting in queue to pay the toll (I got down and requested the driver to switch to low as the headlights were causing a lot of strain for me through the 3 RVMs, but his haughty retort resulted in me walking back after a nice one-liner that deflated his ego flat, and him getting transformed into a mad gorilla charging behind my car as I paid the toll and got moving).The rural populace, in many cases, at least switch to low beams when you flash continuously.

Very true. I have faced so many situations where in the so called educated junta using the high beam of their car. I have seen taxi drivers changing to low beam immediately if you flash couple of times but the educated lot very rarely do it.

[bread]

I agree,a friend of mine who has swift vdi n a petrol Verna drives with his high beams constantly on.I learnt about this habit when we did a road trip to Goa couple of years back.explained it to him Why he needs to cut Off on this practice and he understood. What surprised me is that everyone in his household had the same habit. Luckily they agreed with me when I explained that Why it is a bad idea to blind the On coming traffic.

[sgiitk]

One thing which can be added to this discussion. With the oldef kind of lights in low beam there was enough 'leakage' to illuminate the off-beam areas. Now with well directed, asymmetrical halogens this is very poor. People riding on cycles with no lights, and wandering all over does not help. I know many people picked up the habit of driving with high beams due to this, not that I approve of it or even condone it.

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Had a small tiff with a supposedly educated crackpot at a toll booth last month

causing a lot of strain for me through the 3 RVMs.

Witnessed this many times in toll booths, especially when HCV is behind us.

Volvo buses don't annoy as much as the Leyland Intercity buses; the latter's beams are directly at the ORVM level, hence for a moment, it is all white everywhere and i struggle to see things like how Maximus in the climax scene of Gladiator

[KevinP]

I got these LED's on the assumption that they would change the look for the licence plate. Been going through the thread and from there deduced the size for licence plate bulb for POLO was W5.

I got the following from EBAY but it doesn't fit into the lens housing. The LED plates obstruct the bulb entering.

http://www.ebay.in/itm/151299902598?...84.m1497.l2649

Did i get the size wrong or is the bulb defective (it works though)