Best headlight bulbs?

[Ian Comerford]

A long time ago (12 yrs or so) I fitted a headlamp relay kit and better bulbs to my car and noticed a real improvement.  Technology has probably moved on a bit now so I wondered what bulbs people had on their cars now?  These seem to promise quite a hike in strength https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/philips-12v-h4-racing-vision-150-150-brighter-upgrade-twin-pack-48177019R?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz_mq9suL9QIVQuJ3Ch3vRA7ZEAQYAyABEgJX3vD_BwE

Recommendations for better bulbs appreciated.  Thank you

[Phil]

I have the Osram Night Breakers 150% plus in mine with a relay kit fitted. Look like a very similar spec to the Philips ones. I ran the std H4s with the relay kit for sometime before I freed the Osrams, they were a significant improvement over the standard H4s. 
 

p

[Ian Comerford]

Thanks Phil, guess it’s worth me checking the spec of the improved ones I fitted all that time ago in case there aren’t any more improvements.  

[Ian Comerford]

Hhmmm can’t find the invoice.  Phil, what is the colour of yours like, very white or not too white?

[Phil]

Not too white Ian, they don’t look out of place in my SC. I was worried that they might be blueish as they have a blue band around the bulb, but you don’t see this when they are installed/switched on.

p

[Ian Comerford]

Great, thanks Phil, I will give them a try

 

[Northy]

I’ve got those Osram bulbs in mine. They are a decent upgrade. 

[MikeS911]

Hi Guys. Have you found the life time of these to be much reduced over the standard H4 bulbs?

[Ian Comerford]

Bringing this up to date a little…. I saw a post on Pelican about Porsche offering H4 LEDs as part of their Classic line of parts.  It also reckoned that a Philips version looked very similar (….identical).  I was in OPC Nottingham today and asked about them.  It seems they are not available in UK as they “don’t meet UK requirements”.

I think it’s these, which you can buy elsewhere and are 300% more effective than originals.  

https://www.ledperf.co.uk/philips-ultinon-pro6000-boost-approved-h4-led-bulbs-kit-11342u60bx2-p-125393.html?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADtkvO7hpfYNg4w31M36ME-c_v1dC&gclid=CjwKCAiAm-67BhBlEiwAEVftNhk1G65HwxQkbaf5BjZia6QGrZEAHo_e5HJNc5lIJEJcPE2rXkvPIxoCy0kQAvD_BwE

[Ian Comerford]

Interesting, D911 seems to be selling the Porsche ones but no mention that I can see of not being legal for UK.  The Porsche price was £155 + VAT, so these are a little more pricey

https://www.design911.co.uk/porsche/911-1965-1989/lumetechnik-led-headlights/

[Chris_911]

I have a set of Philips Ultinon in my van.

Just need to remove them

3 hours ago, Ian Comerford said:

Bringing this up to date a little…. I saw a post on Pelican about Porsche offering H4 LEDs as part of their Classic line of parts.  It also reckoned that a Philips version looked very similar (….identical).  I was in OPC Nottingham today and asked about them.  It seems they are not available in UK as they “don’t meet UK requirements”.

I think it’s these, which you can buy elsewhere and are 300% more effective than originals.  

https://www.ledperf.co.uk/philips-ultinon-pro6000-boost-approved-h4-led-bulbs-kit-11342u60bx2-p-125393.html?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADtkvO7hpfYNg4w31M36ME-c_v1dC&gclid=CjwKCAiAm-67BhBlEiwAEVftNhk1G65HwxQkbaf5BjZia6QGrZEAHo_e5HJNc5lIJEJcPE2rXkvPIxoCy0kQAvD_BwE

before the MoT though....

[TargaWayne]

6 hours ago, Ian Comerford said:

Interesting, D911 seems to be selling the Porsche ones but no mention that I can see of not being legal for UK.  The Porsche price was £155 + VAT, so these are a little more pricey

https://www.design911.co.uk/porsche/911-1965-1989/lumetechnik-led-headlights/

Looking at the Porsche website. It looks like they are permitted in some countries, but no mention of UK.

https://www.porsche.com/international/accessoriesandservice/classic/producthighlights/led-approval-documents/

[Ian Comerford]

The dealer said that they couldn’t get them because they aren’t legal here.

[hagarep]

My Classic Car LED Warm White H4's with standard headlamps are far superior to halogen bulbs

I had them checked at my local MOT station, who said they had a perfect beam pattern and he would pass them without comment

 I believe they were £59 each, although even brighter warm white bulbs are now available.

Jason.

[PeterK]

I’m using the Classic Car LED H4s, and passing MOTs

 

From their website

The MOT rules have been clarified from 06.02.23 to allow the use of LED conversions that pass the beam pattern tests for headlights for Class 3, 4, 5 and 7 vehicles (car, private bus and light commercial vehicle) first used before 1 April 1986 and all class 1 and 2 motorcycles of any age.

[anglophone1]

10 hours ago, PeterK said:

I’m using the Classic Car LED H4s, and passing MOTs

 

From their website

The MOT rules have been clarified from 06.02.23 to allow the use of LED conversions that pass the beam pattern tests for headlights for Class 3, 4, 5 and 7 vehicles (car, private bus and light commercial vehicle) first used before 1 April 1986 and all class 1 and 2 motorcycles of any age.

I have these in Jaffa 911 - good kit!

c

 

 

 

[Ian Comerford]

Some interesting comments here from a Pelican thread on the subject;

I have a lot of concerns about many of the offerings on the market, even more so when it comes to conversions. You talk to enough lighting engineers on the subject of headlights and you start to notice flaws in just about everything.

In an ideal world, there would be a plug and play solution for the factory H4 lenses. But none of those housings are designed for LEDs; they are designed to focus an incandescent bulb, and can’t properly focus an LED. That is, unless the design of the LED replacement disperses the light similarly to an incandescent (which that rather interesting one on page 1 seems to do, though it’s unclear). On top of that, the fluted lenses are designed to disperse incandescent light, and they don’t do it well with LED swaps, despite what people claim.

So many kits and replacements look really bright in front of the car, which fools people into thinking they’re great. But they don’t throw light very far, most not as far as the factory incandescents. It ultimately screws up your vision at long range.

Replacement housings can be properly engineered for more modern lighting, but they often have issues as well. Quality control is suspect, with sub-par/cheap LEDs, and some have bad throw patterns. They’ll have clean cut-offs, but won’t project light down near vehicle corners, so you can’t see curbs if you’re trying to turn (for instance).

Honestly, what we need is an independent company that’s an expert in lighting to test all the offerings for different cars and tell you what’s good and what’s not. A lot of “solutions” are fools gold.
 

 https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1169084-led-s-h4-housing.html

[Ian Comerford]

And just posted on that link above suggestions that standard lights with simple relays and all in good condition is as good as you can get.  Interesting!  It would be good to see a comparison test

[Chris_911]

Thought I'd give these a try (and a great price at Amazon)..

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DJRLVBXP?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

They were £20 cheaper when I placed my order this morning.

[Ian Comerford]

Let us know what you think Chris, a comparison would be good, one fitted against the old still in place

[SurlySurdi]

I just bought 2 new headlights from our resident supplier (thanks Matt) at Type911, lovely kit (now I need to sell the old ones).

They don't come with bulbs so I'm swapping the existing ones over, I bought osram nightbreakers a while ago and while they were good in my old headlamps I'm looking forward to seeing how they perform in my new ones.

If anyone wants me to test theirs nows the time 🤑

SS

Edited August 16, 2025 by SurlySurdi

[Ian Comerford]

On 07/08/2025 at 13:47, Chris_911 said:

Thought I'd give these a try (and a great price at Amazon)..

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DJRLVBXP?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

They were £20 cheaper when I placed my order this morning.

How did you get on with these Chris, are they noticeably better?

[Chris_911]

10 minutes ago, Ian Comerford said:

How did you get on with these Chris, are they noticeably better?

They are very good. You certainly won't fit them and think 'I wish I had more light'.

The only downside will be the need to remove them each year before the MoT.

But those with old jalopies may avoid this.

[Ian Comerford]

Old jalopy, what's that....?

[World Citizen]

Interesting 🤔 

I need more light, so will give them a try 👍