Projectors or Reflectors?

[Leon MK4]

Morning all,

I've posted in the past about how poor the headlights are on my Leon (Non Xenon) What I need to know is, are the standard units projectors? When on the road and looking at the light omitted form other cars, am I correct in thinking that those with a much wider smoother beam are probobly projector lights?

I've seen online some aftermarket projector units for the MK2 Leon with built in DRL's - the DRL's asside, would I see an improvement in the headlights if i were to upgrade to these units? Are projectors generally a better headlight set up?

Thanks

 

[gregdaisley]

Non Xenon headlights are reflector type, Xenon/HID headlights are projector type. Hope this clears up your confusion.

Xenon projector type headlights emit greater amounts of light as they burn the gas at a very high temperature and are much brighter than normal reflector headlights.

If you are planning on fitting projector style Xenon/HID lights there is new rules for MOT'ing so you may want to consider this...

- Vehicle must be fitted with automatic headlight washers

- Vehicle must be fitted with auto-levelling headlight sensors/motors


Greg.

 

[Mr Cellotape]

Save yourself the money, get some Osram nightbreakers and adjust the level of you lights so its a bit higher under the bonnet. Then use the level switch within the car to bring them down to a legal level.

 

[Paulki]

Personally I think the standard Leon headlights are as good as any other reflector headlights out there; I have Bosch Pure Light bulbs fitted which out-performed all the other popular bulb upgrades on the market in a Which test last year.

With correct adjustment I noticed that on dipped beam when driving along side a car with HID's there wasn't a huge difference in illumination: HID's output about 164lux on dipped, Bosch Pure Light 141lux, Philips Xtreme 102lux and Osram Nightbreaker 97lux.

 

[Leon MK4]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I am aware of the legalities around retro fitting xenons and I do not intend to do this. I was considering getting some projector units but continue to run the standard halogen bulbs (if this is possible?)

Has anybody else done this and have they seen any improvement?

 

[coggie]

I've seen loads of people with similar set ups, they blind me and everyone else on the road.

Buy some better bulbs - unless you fancy yourself as a rally driver or live somewhere so remote that you spend loads of time on unlit roads?

 

[Leon MK4]

I've seen loads of people with similar set ups, they blind me and everyone else on the road.

Buy some better bulbs - unless you fancy yourself as a rally driver or live somewhere so remote that you spend loads of time on unlit roads?

Are ytou saying you have seen people with DIY Xenon set ups or Halogen Projectors? Surely a decent set of projector units, good bulbs and correctly set up would not dazzle or blind on coming drivers but would give much better visibility.. Agreed there are a lot of numpties out there running diy xenon kits without the correct projectors, levellers, washers etc and these do blind you head on..

 

[Mr Cellotape]

I struggled with the standard Leon set up as I travel a fair amount of back roads and they just didn't cut the mustard. Hence why I changed the lamps and re-adjusted the levels so that I could adjust them from the drivers seat. Made life so much easier and if they were ever to high I could drop them down immediately.

Ps the Mercs got xenons and the difference between them andthe standard Leon set up is night and day.

 

[Leon MK4]

I struggled with the standard Leon set up as I travel a fair amount of back roads and they just didn't cut the mustard. Hence why I changed the lamps and re-adjusted the levels so that I could adjust them from the drivers seat. Made life so much easier and if they were ever to high I could drop them down immediately.

Ps the Mercs got xenons and the difference between them andthe standard Leon set up is night and day.

So what lighting set up are you runnign in the Leon now then mate - Be good to know as Im seriously needing to improve them somehow.. without going down the DIY Xenon route...

 

[ahmedelbaghdady]

get yourself osram nightbreakers 55w H7 bulbs

 

[ahmedelbaghdady]

they are the best

 

[TarekElsakka]

Hey there

You might want to read through these:

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=361740&page=6

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=364428

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=363146

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=359126

They will really help you in making your decision.

I took the easy way out and purchased head light units from Dectane that come with DRL LEDs and projector lenses. They're so much better than standard reflectors and they do not bother people at all, even if they are coming from the opposite direction, and the cutoff is pretty great, too.

I struggled with the original reflector head lights by installing HIDs, trying several bulbs like Philips Xtreme and Osram Nightbreaker Plus but at the end of the day I should have just invested in the head lights as well as a good set of CAN-BUS HID ballasts rather than waste my money on halogen which do not give me the same output. Oh and this might be opinionated, but the head lights with LEDs and projector lenses REALLY change the front of the car and make it look so much better, I've actually had a couple of people with Leons ask me where I got the head lights from while driving on the road, lol.

So in my opinion, if you're willing to spend the money then get head light units from Dectane or wherever that have projector lenses and DRL LEDs and use halogen bulbs like the ones mentioned above (Bosch Pure Light) or Philips Xtreme and see how you like it. If you don't, then upgrade to HID and then just switch the bulbs before your MOT test to halogen ones and you'll be fine, no need for head light washers or anything.

And by the way, Dectane sells like two versions of the same head light units, one with added options like electric highness control and DRL LEDs while the other doesn't have those, but they can be bought as an accessory later on if you want.

I hope this helps you.

 

[bigbadjay]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I am aware of the legalities around retro fitting xenons and I do not intend to do this. I was considering getting some projector units but continue to run the standard halogen bulbs (if this is possible?)

Has anybody else done this and have they seen any improvement?

Yes. some cars have this standard even mercs, i think i remember them having NO washer jets. you still get a sharp beam cut off. But for what its worth if you were going to go projectors, id put xenons in.

 

[ahmedelbaghdady]

Did anyone try the 75w hid kit