The Xtreme is NOT an HIR. It's just the latest of a series of halogen bulbs which have been tweaked to get a little extra light without exceeding DOT standards enough to cause trouble. Although Phillips does not volunteer the information, it is very likely they trade bulb life for brightness, since this is really the only way to get more light out of a halogen.

Too bad, too. HIRs were really fantastic, being a really new technology (as properly described in the quote) offering near-HID performance without the need for a ballast. However they were only made in two sizes, never really too off, and rumor has it that the only manufacturer of them, Toshiba, has dropped the line.

 

What's a good bright white bulb to replace the driving/fog lights with? What is the driving light bulb size? I would like it to match the look of the HIDs.

 

I have had the phillips recommended on this site now for 2 years.

I got the silverstars for my crx. The light intensity and color seem
about the same. I got them about 3 months ago.

I drive every day in the dark in the am, and half the days in the
dark in the pm.

I am currently waiting to see if the silverstars wear out.

I can say though that if you want to see better add more bulbs,
not make the bulbs you have brighter. (i have run experiments and
some of them have been expensive)

I added hella 500 fogs to the mins. 550s to the crx.
I prefer the fog beam to the driving beam it is helpful and does not
seem to blind people.

For the person that was asking about the factory fogs: www.racinglab.com
I have an H8 I think that is similar in color to the white of the headlights.
Although I think I have the increased bulbage, with the increased wiring harness.

I hope this helps.

 

Based on recommendations I bought the Philips X-treme bulbs, which are advertised to give "80% more light". I did an A-to-B comparison of the stock versus Philips X-treme bulbs. The left side of the image are the stock halogens and the right side is the Philips halogens. I used the same camera shutter speed and aperture for each pair to normalize exposure. I shot in RAW to avoid in-camera post-processing and combined the pictures into a mosaic using Photoshop and outputted a JPG. I did no post processing.

I am somewhat disappointed with the Philips as they appear to be only marginally brighter than the stock bulbs-- certainly nothing approaching "80% brighter". When I first turned them on I could barely notice a difference. I have not driven with them yet, but at this point the X-tremes do not live up to their reputation for me.

- John

 

try turning the height adjusting screws 2 to 3 times clockwise - then find yourself a dark road and do another test with some real distance.

 

Your methodology is flawed. Your JPEG has the brightness of the headlights at or very near 255, 255, 255. You've blown out the highlights. So, this is not an accurate measurement of the brightness.

Drive with them. Or photograph the reflect light off a specific surface with no other light source. Make sure you exposure puts the illuminated area well within the range of the image.

 

fwiw, I found the change from stock to the Phillips to be negligible on low beam and/or close to the vehicle. Only high beam do I find them to provide some advantage in throwing light a little farther and filling in some of the cool spots. Which is helpful on dark, country roads. But no, probably not an 80% improvement.

 

Well I think the methodology was sound, but execution could be better. You're right in that I should have exposed for the illuminated areas to avoid blown highlights. The exposure in the top pics is more similar to what you'd see with your naked eye. In RAW I was able to recover a few stops and still did not much difference.

>Or photograph the reflect light off a specific surface with no other light source...

Good idea. Or perhaps use the camera's light meter to sample the illumination at a few specific spots in the reflected beam.

But first things first. Need to get out a drive with them!

John

 

I am buying an '08 MCS and have heard about the issues involving the halogens. I wanted to replace the bulbs with a set of PIAAs because I have used these on my old car as fogs, and they were awesome. Would I be better off simply buying the driving light kit from PIAA with the extra money I have, or buy the replacement bulbs? Any ideas or opinions would be greatly appreciated!

 

I like my replacement bulbs....running almost 2 years on the first set....

Philips X-treme Power

 

Thanks! I have been looking around forever for a set of bulbs which would serve their purpose but not be too much or too little. I also believe the Philips will save me dome money, as well.

 

Update: I meant to update this thread earlier but totally forgot about it. For the record, the Philips X-treme bulbs are indeed subjectively brighter than stock and have been performing well for the last 10 months. Recommended.

 

Has anyone tried the these PIAA Extreme White Plus H13 bulbs, and have there been any issues with melting or anything with the increased output wattage?

http://www.automotivelightingusa.com...h13-bulbs.html

 

Just an fyi, had one of my Philips bulbs go out tonight. Just the low beam. So I got approximately 2 years 4 months and 60k miles of service out of the bulb.

 

I put them in my dodge ram and NOW am looking to put them in my 04 mcs! they are a bit pricey for the pair but in my opinion well worth it.

 

So I am thinking about getting these. Did you ever put them in your car? Did you melt the harness or get an adapter harness, since they are 5 watts more?

 

I put these in Sept. time frame last year. I was in love with them up until last night when I got in my car to leave for home and had a "Light Out" Warning. Took Molly home, did some fiddling, did not fix issue, so I hopped in her and drove up to our local auto parts store for replacement bulbs, $94.95 later), it would have been a-ok had they not sold me a defective or damaged bulb.
I contacted my SA thinking it was the Headlight Housing (BIG $$), let him know I needed to get Molly in right away...no problem...bring her in.
I get there tonight, SA was busy with a customer, no biggie, SM comes over takes keys, gets tagged...sits in Molly...guess what light works then doesn't work, this goes on for a bit.
Tech comes over has SM do a few things, again works then doesn't...decide to swap right to left, sure enough it was only the bulb.
Yeah I'm happy I'm not out bookooo bucks, but not at all happy that I was sold either a defective bulb or a bulb that someone had brought back and was simply put back on the shelf and sold as new.
I will be taking the bulbs back for a replacement, will also try and find out where I bought them in the first place and see what kind of warranty there might be.
I know this doesn't totally answer your question, but if it helps these are the only bulbs I will be putting in my MINI, in fact I replaced the Parking and Fogs at the same time I replaced the Headliights with PIAA and am looking at replacing all of the other exterior bulbs at some point and will only use PIAA.

 

Good try I guess... (I do appreciate your input though) but this does not help me. Stock wattage draw is 60/55w. PIAA Extreme Whites have a wattage draw of 65/55w. They are a +5 watt increase. Need to know if the PIAA will melt the harness or something in the headlight housing. I have PIAA running light bulbs and fog light bulbs both with the required/correct wattage draw. I would like to stick with PIAA and not have to go to Nokya or a different brand for that matter. Makes you feel good when you are running all the same brand regardless of part/product.

 

For those still looking to do a retrofit, I am getting my projectors from a guy who does this for cars, motorcycles and so on. I hate my halogens, worst output ever. I tried almost EVERYTHING.

I will post up pictures of it when I receive them in the near future, and for a good price. All for $650. I remember doing some research and a company was doing them for $1,000. Glad I found someone local!

 

I ran them for about 8 months on my car, no issues with the harness. They both burned out within a week of each other, I put the original ones back in. It seems that I noticed a difference when I spent $$$ on them, but when I put the stock ones back in there seemed to be little difference. I even ran the OEM bulb in the left and the PIAA in the right, and confirmed slightly whiter light with the PIAA, but not a significant increase in coverage or distance projection.

I'm still running my original bulbs.

Mike

 

I agree on the "same brand/same bulb" option, but as I mentioned it was only a burned out bulb, I replaced it and now all is fine. I have PIAA bulbs in my Parking/Fog Lights as well. Eventually I plan to replace all exterior lights with PIAA bulbs.

If I had had any issue with melting either housing/wiring I would have had to replace them a lot sooner than 6mo. ago, which is when I installed them.

PIAA is a local Dealer and has offered me "face to face" help, I just need to find the time to get there as a Lunch Hour would not be enough.

 

The New Mini Owner here,

I'm searching and reading and seeing all I can on up-dating the stock Halogen bulbs in the headlights.

If I read this right it seems some of you are running the
(Philips X-TREME POWER 9008/H13 Halogen Low and High Beam Headlight With Up To 80% More Light.)

Some as in I think a few of you have ran the (PIAA Xtreme White Plus H13 Bulbs)

Since I am the new boy on here it would really be nice if the ones of you that are running either of these would further comment.
Like ......
Can either of these after market bulbs be ran with no damage to the factory wiring harness?
Any comments from you on which one of those bulbs actually provide the better lighting?
I was by the Mini Dealer and discussing the bulb changes with the Service Consultant.
He commented that he did not know if changing the bulbs to aftermarket would turn on some (Warning-Light).
I take it he was referring to something the Mini has that checks (Resistance) to the lighting circuit.
Maybe there is a (Warning-Light/Indicator) that comes on to "Alert" the driver there is an issue with the lights?
Those of you that have years of experience perhaps you would comment on this.
Be of great help to me before I change out the Head-Light Halogen bulbs to aftermarket.
Then here comes some (Warning-Light/Indicator) on in the dash.

I know one thing I sure would like to have more light output than the stock bulbs provide.

I am one of the older guys on here so when one gets older our (Night-Vision) does suffer.

We need as good lights as possible.

So I am asking for any and all comments from all of you that are running aftermarket bulbs in your Halogen Headlights.

My MCS is a 2011 model I just got it this afternoon.

I want to replace the bulbs ASAP if they do-not create some on going nightmare with warning-lights/indicators coming on.

Thanks for the additional info. as it is truly appreciated by me.

Terry aka "tigerhonaker "

 

Love my (Philips X-TREME POWER 9008/H13 Halogen Low and High Beam Headlight With Up To 80% More Light.)

definitely saved me from hitting a deer on 2 occasions.

no problem with harness - no bulb out warnings -

100% the way to go.

 

After spending the last few days & nights researching Halogen Headlight (Replacement) bulbs.
This is what I have decided on.
Some of you that have {Not} replaced your Headlight bulbs on your R56 with the H13/SAE #9008 bulbs.
might find this of interest I did.

For one thing there is just not a lot of choices that actually (Work) to improve to any Real-World-Degree.

With that being said and me personally talking on the phone to a Company that sells multiple bulbs this is what I have decided.

I'm going to try the Philips H13 9008 X-treme Power Headlight Bulb, Pack of 2.

I based this decision on the multiple discussions I had with the company that sells multiple bulbs.
And from reading about the options for the past two days and nights.

I have ordered many times from Amazon so going to get these from them.
Below is Reviews on these bulbs.
As you will see the Reviews look pretty good with a 3.9 out of 5 stars.
Based on 525 Customers Reviews.
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (525 customer reviews)

And out of the 525 customer reviews:
5-star: (249)
4-star: (113)
3-star: (75)
2-star: (40)
1-star: (48)

So not to bad a rating really if look at the numbers for 3-star and above.

From rolling through the reviews which happen to be like 53-pages long.
The main (Negative) comments are simply that what is expected and what actually one sees
does not match-up.
The 80% more light output just bums people out as they are thinking there is going to just be like
this (Tremendous) all of a sudden "Light Output".
Of course that is not going to be the case at all from simply changing light bulbs from a
Stock H13, 60/55 watts to the Philips X-treme H13, 65/55 bulbs.

The positive side of the reviews plus my conversation over the phone was this.

The Philips X-treme H13 does let the driver see better from the sides as well as in front.
But this was not noticed unless you were where there was not a lot of other lighting like in the City.
You had to be out in the Country or driving where it was actually (Dark) with no lighting from other sources.

I placed the order now and will give these a try for myself and I will make sure I am driving where it is (Dark).
So I can see if in fact they do provide some benefit.
I'm not looking for a miracle just anything better from the Stock Halogen Bulbs will be A-OK with me.


Terry

 

Been using Philips crystal vision for six months and I love the difference from stock bulbs. Much more white and brighter then stock and my mini accepted them with open arms, no problems