I bought those cheap headlights on ebay. Comparison pics posted
#1
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The cheap ebay headlight is on the left, old stock headlight on the right.
Surprisingly they look pretty good. Cant got wrong for $10
Surprisingly they look pretty good. Cant got wrong for $10
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#5
Burning Brakes
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If these are the diamond patter lights then yeah totally worth the $40 I paid and since you paid $10 even better. I bought mine 4 years ago though. They are really bright and look really nice.
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S2 nut, can we get the sellers ID?
I had the same question re: right and left when I bought a piece of the side skirts that the PO thrashed. I looked up the part number on the PET and it had 2 numbers, with the last one being different.
I wanted to make sure I had the driver's side vs. the passengers side and when I ordered from Sunset Imports and I asked what perspective do they use for L vs. R. The answer was that when ordering L vs. R, it is from the perspective of being behind the wheel. I suppose it must be different in Great Britain and Austrailia.
I still use passenger and driver, just to be clear.
I had the same question re: right and left when I bought a piece of the side skirts that the PO thrashed. I looked up the part number on the PET and it had 2 numbers, with the last one being different.
I wanted to make sure I had the driver's side vs. the passengers side and when I ordered from Sunset Imports and I asked what perspective do they use for L vs. R. The answer was that when ordering L vs. R, it is from the perspective of being behind the wheel. I suppose it must be different in Great Britain and Austrailia.
I still use passenger and driver, just to be clear.
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i got the diamond pattern lights, but for me they are actually worse than stock, i've been waiting to buy the rennbay headlight wiring kit for them to finally get some real power. (this on my 924S)
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I have used cheap headlights from eBay and I didn't have a very good experience with them. Maybe I didn't get the right ones, but the ones I got were practically useless at night. It looked cool with a bluish tint -- but it didn't cast enough light. Enough for city driving, but I actually found country-side driving at night to be scary... YMMV
#10
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My headlights were as bad as Joe says. Maybe worse. Driving at night - the headlights were useless and I relied on street lights. On the freeway I relied on other cars. In the country I relied on my creator.
When new OEM bulbs are like $40 at Kragen, you can't go wrong with cheapos for $10 from ebay.
Shine on, you crazy diamond.
When new OEM bulbs are like $40 at Kragen, you can't go wrong with cheapos for $10 from ebay.
Shine on, you crazy diamond.
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I am going to put the hella e codes on sale again this week on Rennbay. Probably tonight. $32 a piece for housings. I just got my new shipment in and I want to clear some of these out.
#12
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Here's what makes a light good or bad.
Beam Pattern: This is important. The better the beam pattern the higher wattage light you can use without blinding other drivers. Any e-code headlight will have a good pattern with a nice sharp cutoff on the left side of the beam, rising towards the right (for left hand drive cars). There should be a nice even light spread with no hot or dim spots.
Light Temperature: This is where most people get screwed up. Your typical bulb is low on the kelvin scale and is what makes it a bit yellow. As you go up, it shifts toward blue. Now this is the part where people screw up. High kelvin does not mean better light. Blue light is the worst light for night driving. Contrast and color reproduction go out the window. Light output also decreases. Factory HID's are usually 4300 kelvin.
Light output: This is measured in lumens. Unless you're talking about HID's, wattage is usually a good representation of light output. But again, a 100 watt standard bulb is going to put out more than a 100 watt "ice blue" bulb.
So if the ebay lights have a good beam pattern and reflector, there's no reason they can't be a good light. Just put a good bulb in them. Bad pattern and reflector and they won't get any better with a good bulb. Good bulb is something from osram or narva. Remember, lumens, not kelvins.
Beam Pattern: This is important. The better the beam pattern the higher wattage light you can use without blinding other drivers. Any e-code headlight will have a good pattern with a nice sharp cutoff on the left side of the beam, rising towards the right (for left hand drive cars). There should be a nice even light spread with no hot or dim spots.
Light Temperature: This is where most people get screwed up. Your typical bulb is low on the kelvin scale and is what makes it a bit yellow. As you go up, it shifts toward blue. Now this is the part where people screw up. High kelvin does not mean better light. Blue light is the worst light for night driving. Contrast and color reproduction go out the window. Light output also decreases. Factory HID's are usually 4300 kelvin.
Light output: This is measured in lumens. Unless you're talking about HID's, wattage is usually a good representation of light output. But again, a 100 watt standard bulb is going to put out more than a 100 watt "ice blue" bulb.
So if the ebay lights have a good beam pattern and reflector, there's no reason they can't be a good light. Just put a good bulb in them. Bad pattern and reflector and they won't get any better with a good bulb. Good bulb is something from osram or narva. Remember, lumens, not kelvins.
#13
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I had the el-cheapo lights from ebay before. The beam pattern was pretty good and they were nice and bright, but the reflector was just a silvered plastic. After a while the silver paint on it started to bubble and come off. If you're running high watt bulbs and/or updated the wiring be careful with those things.
#14
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I am using E-code H4 'Off Road' headlights from JC Whitney. I have had two sets, had 'em on my old 89 S2 also. They are very good with decent bulbs. Tons better than the stock DOT units, even with stock wiring and stock wattage bulbs. I get plenty of light, no need to rewire and use overwattage bulbs.
-Joel.
-Joel.