Headlight Questions - Which Bulbs? PIAA, Osram, Philips

[rick3000]

Hi Everyone,

My low beams have been dim to the point of uselessness for a while. I decided to sort them out today. Opened up my year old new-to-me clears and no rust or connection issues.

I then discovered all four H7 55W bulbs are PIAA H7 XTreme Plus bulbs (about $35 each). I swapped the high beam and low beam H7 bulbs. Problem solved for the lows, but something about becoming high beams caused both of the previously dim H7's to fail instantly. (I was hoping that would happen to confirm they where on they way out.)

I have now swapped the highs out with Philips H7's from my old set of amber headlights.

Two questions:
Does anyone have experience with full strength PIAA H7's? I am concerned about causing ellowing/burning/bubbling?? They are H7 55W.

I also have a set of Osram H7's from my old amber set. Should I use those instead of the Philips or PIAA? Again, my primary concern is to avoid yellowing/burning/bubbling?

Thanks,
-Rick

[particlewave]

PIAA =

[rick3000]

Not arguing, but those bulbs have a different color scheme. Silver tip, blue body versus the blue tip, clear body. Could that be a factor? I may swap the PIAA's out.

Thanks particlewave!

[particlewave]

Yeah, I don't have a pic of bubbled PIAA, but same problem. I've even seen burning with standard Philips. Osram seems to have a better track record, but I'm not 100% sure that there is any solid correlation.

Best advice I can give is to avoid any of those blue "HID white light" or just "white light" bulbs.

I don't think blame can be placed solely on the bulb. Bosch dropped the ball a bit with the material of the inner lens.

[rick3000]

Oh great particlewave/headlight know-it-all, thanks for the advice!

I swapped in the Osram's I had for the low beams. I'm not willing to risk it, despite the very nice white light the PIAA's generate. I have the Philips in the high beams, but I maybe use my high beams for about an hour a year.

The PIAA's have been shelved. Maybe if the 986 becomes a weekend warrior in the very distant future, and I won't ever use the headlights more than 20-30 minutes at a time, I will swap them in.

[Fintro11]

Originally Posted by particlewave

PIAA =

How hard would it be to replace those lenses? Can you get them in glass? Mine are just slightly burnt, you can barely notice it.

Any recommendations for bulbs?

[Nine8Six]

Exterminatethehallogen.com.cn

[Nine8Six]

Thankeyou - my crisis is over, carry on

[TMStewart]

[rick3000]

Those have been on my wishlist for this year for a while.

[Fintro11]

Originally Posted by Nine8Six

Exterminatethehallogen.com.cn

I need to find a extra set of headlights first just incase i screw up installing

[Nine8Six]

Originally Posted by Fintro11

I need to find a extra set of headlights first just incase i screw up installing

You buy a headlight if you screw up, not before Spares are often for sale everywhere on ebay, in Europe, even on the Chinese ecoms for <$200 each in most case

There are 3 things that can go wrong when doing one of those retrofit:

1. You remove the headlight from your car and drop/slam it on the asphalt for some weird reason (e.g. 2drunk/2stone, filthy hands, etc)
2. While pre-heating the headlight (to soften the silicon), you get distracted by your favourite TV show and forget it in the oven for two hours.
3. You bore the H7 socket size from its original 21mm size up to let's say "78mm", instead of the required 23mm to fit the projector

- I'm sure most of us are careful when handling Porsche headlights so rule out #1
- Although #2 happened to a 911 owner (true story), I'm sure you can set yourself a timer for 15min to avoid that embarrassment
- I'd be surprised to hear if anyone ever bored the socket hole bigger than it needs to be (e.g. ambitious installer lol)

....and if somehow you can manage to break that porsche polycarbonate lens, or whatever secret material it is made of, I seriously need to see a picture of your muscles mate. Try LOL

[Nine8Six]

Rick

Give the HELLA H7 a go.... if you are not sure about the other brands. Make sure the glass is surgically clean (use alcohol or acetone) and that will be just fine.

Leave a tad of finger grease or any residue on them and they'll generate almost twice more heat. Possibly burning the outer lens... if yours are still intact!

[b55er]

I have this same question too.

I believe I have the original OEM bulbs in my '98 base 986. My headlight assemblies are "like new" with no yellowing, scratches, etc. I keep them polished and protected.

I find my headlamps lacking and not as good as other cars.

Is it more of thermals or UV that causes the breakdown on these lenses?

Spending sleepless nights on the internets revealed that we should be using H7u bulbs which have a UV rating designed for polycarbonate headlight assemblies.

So, I would like to upgrade my bulbs from 1998 stock. I do not want to brown my lenses. I want to stay with the stock headlamps with minimal cost, so it will be a H7. My question is.. which one?

I discovered that the "night breaker" OSRAM. Various websites including Amazon state they are "UV safe" for plastic lenses.

NIGHT BREAKER UNLIMITED | Halogen headlight lamps... | OSRAM

[Nine8Six]

Originally Posted by b55er

Spending sleepless nights on the internets revealed that we should be using H7u bulbs which have a UV rating designed for polycarbonate headlight assemblies.

I don't think the outter reflector/lens have been manufactured in PC. Looks made out of PET or worst, no idea. Maybe something went completely wrong in the design/simulation/r&d process.... nobody knows for sure. The yellowing (burning in some case) issue is pretty weird that is for sure

Not a light wavelength or spectrum vs material expert at all here, but find it interesting to hear that you found a manufacturer adapting their bulbs (coatings?) for max performance. Never read that before, finally lol

[Nine8Six]

Thanks for making it easy for us to find btw UV filter technology | Professional knowledge | OSRAM

Nice find, thx for that

[gomarlins3]

Did we determine if these were a good alternative to increase out light output? I am not happy with how far up the road my lights shine at night.

Originally Posted by b55er

I have this same question too.

I believe I have the original OEM bulbs in my '98 base 986. My headlight assemblies are "like new" with no yellowing, scratches, etc. I keep them polished and protected.

I find my headlamps lacking and not as good as other cars.

Is it more of thermals or UV that causes the breakdown on these lenses?

Spending sleepless nights on the internets revealed that we should be using H7u bulbs which have a UV rating designed for polycarbonate headlight assemblies.

So, I would like to upgrade my bulbs from 1998 stock. I do not want to brown my lenses. I want to stay with the stock headlamps with minimal cost, so it will be a H7. My question is.. which one?

I discovered that the "night breaker" OSRAM. Various websites including Amazon state they are "UV safe" for plastic lenses.

NIGHT BREAKER UNLIMITED | Halogen headlight lamps... | OSRAM

[zehutiman]

I'm resurrecting this thread with a simple question: Did the yellowing occur with the original headlamps, or was it always the result of folks retrofitting their headlamps with different bulbs? I ask because I'm looking at replacing my yellowed headlamps with stock ones, but certainly don't want any risk of repeating the yellowing.