[markcanderson]

H1 Retro fit Xenon HID Kit

Complete H1 retro fit HID xenon kit. Kit includes 6,500K xenon bulbs, starter ballasts, ballast brackets, leads and fittings.

Will replace the H1 lamps in the RS2 with Xenon HID kit. Since standard lighting is rather inept. (This kit is highly recommended by other Audi owners.)

It's interesting that the company does kits for the H4 and H7 variants too.. so this can be easliy fitted to 9-3s and 9-5s etc... good value and very easy to install.

I will guinea pig them on the RS2.. and give you feed back if it does the job... then perhaps the Elk boys may also start sourcing them...

HID Kits at VAG PARTS LTD

 

[wrighar]

Hmmmm. Interesting!

I'll be listening out for your report.

Andrew

 

[markcanderson]

Example of how easy fitting is :
http://www.vagparts.com/pages/H1_install.htm

 

[wrighar]

Heck of a web link (don't look at the length of addy...) but here is a direct link

Not a bad oprice really. Very interesting, the H4 ones too!

Andrew

 

[mark e]

Interesting. Demon Tweeks advertise similar kits, but point out that the bulbs are not E marked and thus not road legal in the UK. There's no mention anywhere on this site about E marking...

 

[Eric van Spelde]

HID conversion kits are illegal everywhere in Europe when there's no proprietary lens design and/or no automatic headlight levelling function incorporated.

 

[adrian]

Oh great - the OEM HID lights with so called auto-leveling are bad enough - most look like blue flashing lights behind as the auto leveling never reacts quick enough to the road. Now we are going to get prats in Novas with these kits - arrgh.

Time to wear sunglasses at night

 

[Mark in Ireland]

I agree with Adrian, its bad enough dealing with badly adjusted ordinary lights at night without all these multicoloured brighter stuff also. The number of times I see cars braking in front of me because some ejit is coming the otherway with bright headlights and stupid running lights on blinding everyone is getting more and more common.
If I didn't know the roads where I live I'd have been in the ditches numerous times coming round corners with some oncoming car cremating all roadside bunnies in his path with his 50% brighter go faster bulbs fitted

 

[markcanderson]

On the S2/RS2 lights the kit replaces the halogen powered lamps that sit behind the clear lense ellipsoid projectors with gas discharge xenon powered lamps.

There is absolutely no difference from the Xenon OEM fittings on the newer Audis, which are also clear lense ellipsoid projectors.

The lighting power of the standard halogens in the projector lamp is just terrible.. this will be a good upgrade in aid of visibility.

P.S. as for multicoloured - the light xenons give off isn't blue.. it's closer to natural white, but because Halogen's natural burn colour is yellow (and you think it's white... then you get confused... [but then again there are many people on here that are confused])

As to the flashing blue bit ... anyone with cars that have standard ellipsoid projector lenses(regardless of if they are halogen or xenon powered, boy racers (oh how quaint and self righteous) or otherwise) will from certain angles exhibit other colours due to light refraction through the lense. i.e. at certain angles you get the rainbow effect as whitelight is broken up in it's component parts by the prismatic effect of the lense. Unavoidable physics.

Oh.. and I love this whole line of reasoning from the kind of people that remove their catalytic converters.. or who run on shagged out back street el-cheapo remold tyres. I have to share a planet and a road with the likes of you.

 

[California Saab Tuner]

Now now Mark. They don't agree with your position. No need for striking back. Personally I'm an advocate of non-HID lights just because the brights (at least on my car) are bright enough now, the low beams don't need to be very bright, and while it's not safe to drive without proper illumination, it's even less safe to drive with the driver in the opposite direction (when there is one) blinded. If they can't see where they're going it doesn't matter if you can or not. Hopefully yours will be designed well enough that this is not a problem. A lot of aftermarket versions are not (indeed a lot of factory versions are not), hence the disdain from the other drivers who's lives are in your hands.

I'm all for HID brights, when there aren't any other cars around (if used responsibly which many may not be) why not have the brightest light possible? If there's no one to blind, the more light the better IMHO. But on the low beams, HIDs seem like over-kill unless VERY directional.

Cheers,
Dubbya

 

[john]

I'm not going to prejudge or adopt a pro nor anti point of view. I think that it is useful and worthwhile that people experiment like this as ultimately it broadens our collective knowledge.

I know for a fact that having upgraded my Saab's performance in stages I have a better idea of the effects of each upgrade and requirements on upgrading other parts of the vehicle (suspension, brakes for example).

Sharing the knowledge gets you so far (once you have cut out the pros and antis) but there is nothing like doing it yourself.

I'm interested in what MarkA is doing here, I wish him well, and look forward to him reporting back his findings. Then I will make up my mind

 

[TheFox]

Having driven two German cars recently (535 v8 and Audi A6) I can testify that both of those cars had terrible dipped beam lights at night. The BMW owner permanently uses his foglights to supplement his vision.

Don't German car owners drive quickly at night ?
Great headlights has always been a plus point on Saabs for me.
Also interested in MarkA's experiment. After all, Vision=Speed as my driving instructor told me.

 

[Stunut1]

Originally posted by TheFox:
[qb]After all, Vision=Speed as my driving instructor told me. [/qb][/b]

Stop blinding us though!!

 

[Mark B]

Originally posted by TheFox:
[qb]Great headlights has always been a plus point on Saabs for me.
[/qb][/b]

I take it you've not driven a 9000 CS then!

Mark A,

I presume that when you install the HID units, your bulb failure detection system will get upset due to the reduced power usage.

 

[markcanderson]

I presume that when you install the HID units, your bulb failure detection system will get upset due to the reduced power usage.[/b]

Actually no, this isn't a problem on the RS2 with this system, since the ballast/ignitor connects directly to the H1 terminal feed.. so no problem there.

The lamps on an s2/rs2 (same headlamps) are in three parts, one lamp for the sidelight, a separate lamp for the normal beam (the ellipsoid projector unit) and a separate lamp for high beam (almost an integrated spot lamp within the lamp cluster).. each has it's own control feed... so just changing the ellipsoid normal beam lamp with the kit is very straight forward from a bulb check point of view... i.e is there continuity or not.. (which the ballast will provide)

Also other s2/rs2 owners have this particular kit fitted and note no bulb check errors.

 

[TheFox]

Originally posted by Mark B:
[qb] QUOTE

Originally posted by TheFox:
[qb]
Great headlights has always been a plus point on Saabs for me.
[/qb][/b]

I take it you've not driven a 9000 CS then!
[/qb][/b][/quote]Yes I have had three of them. All had excellent lighting although current 9-5 lights are even better.

 

[Mark B]

I'll book an optician's appointment then!

 

[Mark in Ireland]

If your car lights don't dazzle oncoming traffic no problems ...if they do then keep off the road at night, you are a liability to other road users, whether they are self righteous, confused, quaint or a bit of a boy racer.

 

[TheFox]

Originally posted by Mark B:
[qb]I'll book an optician's appointment then! [/qb][/b]

LOL and i thought my eyesight was getting bad!

 

[Stunut1]

Originally posted by TheFox:
[qb] QUOTE

Originally posted by Mark B:
[qb] I'll book an optician's appointment then! [/qb][/b]

LOL and i thought my eyesight was getting bad! [/qb][/b][/quote]Well, if you're short-sighted like myself and many other motorists, these new fangled headlights on cars coming in the opposite direction can be a right dazzling problem..

Maybe you should get your eyes tested (this from the RAC:

Specsavers Opticians, one of the biggest optical retailers in the UK, conducted 3,000 eye tests at the International Motor Show at the NEC in Birmingham in 2002. A staggering 700 of the drivers failed a basic vision test which was offered free of charge as part of the opticians campaign to educate motorists regarding the dangers of driving with poor eyesight. Previous research on motorists' eyesight has suggested that only 19 per cent of drivers

were below the legal eyesight standard. The research, conducted by Aston University, also showed that a higher number failed the test when were over the age of 65.