[Closed] cheap headlight bulbs

Halfords were doing buy one get one free and guaranteeing them for 12 ? Months (or was it 24?)

£30 got me a pair of the brightest ones they did.

Buy cheap, buy twice IME.

my headlight bulbs don't blow every two seconds, why do hers? Even on different cars

Sp I couldn't comment 😳

72000 miles in my current car and I've replaced 1 bulb in that time - I do have my lights on a lot too.
Maybe both cars had dodgy electrics?

You can check you know,

If she floats, she's made of wood and therefore a witch.

RB I had the same model car (focus) & it was fine..

Halfords do a heavy duty range of bulbs that are supposed to be more durable than the standard ones.

I used to get bulbs from morrisons petrol station as they were cheap but went through them like no tomorrow.

Get them from Halfords now and they last a lot longer, but I have a discount card. Scary the mark up on bulbs 😯

get a pair of philips ones off ebay - don't spend £30 a pair for something you can have for just over £10

Damn it, lidl are doing them again cheap on 16th (£5 for a pair!), I'll get one from halfords & restock later in the week

lidl ones prob not that good - you can get a PAIR of philips +30% for £9 delivered! hardly worth leaving the house at that price!

Local motor factors £4/5 each

Lidl ones lasted as long as the halfords 'basic' for half the price or there abouts, I'm not gunna complain @ that - been waiting for the offer to come round again.[s] Got a link for the Philips though? (Off to ebay we go)[/s] actually found a pair for £8, gotta be worth a try

I got some Ring Xenon max for a tenner from eBay

Osram nightbreaker for c£11 from ebay or amazon.
Use them in both my cars. Brilliantly bright and at a fiver a bulb they are cheap enough not to stress your relationship.

What else floats?

what else floats?"

Small rocks?

Gravy?

A duck!

(Ring bulbs from Wilko- v.cheap)

just bought 2 from halfords £17 for standard bulbs or £20 for 'long life' superbrights then spent over 1 hour fitting the bas....s into mk 3 clio who the hell designed that system? I am sure they are designed to be fitted into a minute gap, which is very clever an all, but give the user a chance to fit a new bulb . What other servicing design shockers do you have?

Tell her to drive slower over speed humps and rumble strips kill filaments too!
I have seen some Pound Shops selling h7 bulbs!

Used to get bulbs from Halfords and get them to fit them for £5 then wait for the fun. 😈

What make of car sir?
ME: Its a Renault
What model?
ME: Megane
What year?
A 2005
Ohh jesus noooooooo 👿

Connect her up to a voltmeter, she might be producing more than 12 volts.

Oh and lifespan of osram nightbreakers has been longer than the vehicles I've put them in.

Nightbreakers give fantastic illumination, but do have a shorter life - it even explains that on the packaging.

I drive mainly unlit rural roads for 1 hour - 1 hour 20 minutes a day and I I tend to get 9-12 months from a bulb. eBay is the place to get them at £10-£12 a pair. I always have one set in reserve.

I drove a hire car (Nissan Micra) the other day and was shocked the the perfromance of the high beam.

I've also got a focus. I've been using the Halfords +100% bulbs and they tend to go every few months. I've just put in some Phillips ones (£20/pair from eBay) so I'll have to see how they do.

No speed bumps and one short rumble strip on my commute BTW...

TroutWrestler - Member

Nightbreakers give fantastic illumination, but do have a shorter life - it even explains that on the packaging.

Well. Yes and no, there's the theoretical life limit which is generally shorter for higher powered bulbs, but when you're talking about premature failure that doesn't necessarily come into it, what you're looking at there is resistance to vibration, cold cycling, possibly out of range voltages and the like.

My motorbike is basically a nightmare of rattles and vibrations, dodgy electrics and diy rewires and that tested bulbs pretty hard, I never had another brand last out a winter, whereas the only time i lost a nightbreaker, I also left half the headlight lying in the road 😳

Local poundshop does them for 99p

Local poundshop does them for 99p

Strange price, for a pound shop 😉

I go to the local car shop. Little shop absolutely jam packed with boxes and things. I weave my way along a slowly eroding aisle of car parts until I reach the counter. There's this wizened old bloke sat amongst the parts, I hold up the faulty bulb and with a quick glance he instantly identifies it, produces an identical bulb from his pocket or something and charges me £1.50.

Eurocarparts / GSF etc etc. £1.20 for Lucas H1/H4 bulbs which appear identical to the £10 offerings @ Halfords etc.

EDIT: Not that cheap online for some reason, but in the store they have a 'bulb stand' where they are dirt cheap.

So if the OP's girlfriend is lighter than a duck shes a witch?

Then what?

I got the 'extra durable' or whatever they are called H7 bulbs from Halfords as my Ibiza seems to chew through headlights at a stupid rate.
I normally have to replace them around October time and then they'll probably go again around Feb/Mar, but (touch wood) these heavy duty ones seem to be lasting a lot better.

They are in a green backed packet, as opposed to the Yellow pack that the standard Halfords ones come in.

I spent an hour replacing the LHS headlight bulb on my 2010 Astra. It was a nightmare!

Used to get bulbs from Halfords and get them to fit them for £5 then wait for the fun.
What make of car sir?
ME: Its a Renault
What model?
ME: Megane
What year?
A 2005
Ohh jesus noooooooo

My driving instructor, who was quite a handy bloke with his car, used to take his to a Renault dealer, so I feel their pain? Why exactly is it so difficult?

Why exactly is it so difficult?

Because you pretty much have to remove the front end of the car to access the bulbs 😯

If they are blowing that frequently are you sure you're not touching the glass when you fit them? Not sure exactly why but the grease from your fingers will cause the bulbs to blow quite quickly.
Also cheap bulbs often don't perform as well as the better brands as modern headlights are designed to have the bulb filament in a very precise location to give the best beam pattern, cheap bulbs often don't have the filament in the right place.
When I ran a motor factors I saw an osram rep do a demo with a rig made of a headlight and one of the units mot stations use to check beam pattern, even with the bulbs off our shelves there was a surprisingly large difference in beam patterns between the Bosch/osram bulbs and the white box cheap ones.

Connect her up to a voltmeter, she might be producing more than 12 volts.

Good point, does she wear a lot of man-made fabrics?

That special little tingle you get when you kiss her may not actually be love.

If it's a focus, have you tried the parts counter at your local ford dealership?

I get all my bits from there as:

a) the halfords guides aren't imfalible (I've a stack of new filters that don't fit where they should).
b) They're cheep, most suprising was £1.50 a spark plug designed to do 30,000miles!
c) If the 'original' ford bulbs blow too often then you must have a problem somewhere else (electrics or your GF).

If they are blowing that frequently are you sure you're not touching the glass when you fit them?

I am aware of this and never touch anything but the metal.
She(/we) have no issue with the output from the std or cheap bulbs, more than enough coverage/output for the low beam. Anyway I've order some Philips off amazon & will be checking out europarts, so that she's legal in the meantime. If Europarts don't turn out to be any cheaper I re-stocking with the Lidl cheap & cheerfuls on the 16th (just in case).
Cheers all, though I'm not sure she'd appreciate be called a witch or connected up to a voltmeter, and IMO cannot drive any slower than she already does...

ps: "[i]have you tried the parts counter at your local ford dealership?[/i]"
Are you having a laugh? It's bad enough having to buy genuine parts when I have to, suggesting their bulbs will be something special... there ford ffs...

I'm chuckling in agreement at changing 2005 Megane bulbs. The passenger side is ok, not easy but doable. The drivers side is an absolute ball ache and the £6 Halfords charge for fitting is a bargain.

so what are moderately-expensively bright bulbs that are worth a look?

Well Eurocarspare price was £4.20 for there basic on the counter bulb, look visually no different from the lidl one it replaces. Halford wanted a £10 for there's, though there heavy duty ones where £20 for a twin pack. So even though I have the a pair of philip's winging there way to me, I'll be back to lidl for there £5 twin packs, for backup..

I've got to fit a new bulb to a 2001 Megane 1, this thread is not filling me with any joy as I've never done it before.
Are they any easier than an '05 Megane?