JPTL

I'm waiting for China to start mass producing universal HID units for headlamps & road lamps. Driving with Real HID's make a huge difference, IMO (not a $1,500 difference, though). In the mean time, I've upped the wattage of my high beam & road lamps to 100w halogens.
Has anybody used 100w bulbs in high beams &/or fog lights for an extended period of time in their '87+?
I have them currently installed, and as far as I can see, the wiring & relays are okay.
My concern is long term wiring overload and/or too much heat for the reflectors (chrome-plated plastic, right?). I'm assuming that the 100w bulbs operate 40% hotter than the 60w.
I know that the general rule is '...don't use anything the car wasn't engineered to use - especially when it comes to electronics' But I'm thinking that there may be a DOT limitation in the US that keeps the wattage or lumens to a certain level, and maybe the wiring/lighting units can handle a 100w application????
They make a big difference over the oem 60w, and I'd like to continue using them.....but certainly not at the expense of fried wiring and/or reflectors. I would think that might be a really expensive fix.

shaaark89

jp,
i've had them in my 89 for 3 years or so. no wiring or relay issues, but i did have a foglight which had stoneguard on it crack (similar thing happened in my '91 too.) thinking maybe too much heat if the stoneguard is on there.

Jfrahm

When I bought my car it had overwattage headlamp bulbs, one of which had burned wiring at the connector. 100w bulbs were also installed in the driving lamps and some damage to a lens seems to have ocurred as a result too.

It would be easy enough to put in relays and heavy duty wiring for the headlamps, but I would not try it with the stock wiring and I would not put high wattage bulbs in the fog/driving lights.

-Joel.

Doug Hillary

Hi,
some 928 owners here have had problems with system overlaod when using 100w bulbs

I use 55w Xenon bulbs (on all my cars) from Phillips, Trifa or Osram and they have been in place now without replacement for well over three years. These are great in "Ice Blue" and slightly yellow for the fogs. Their "lightprint" is much better than many poor 100w Halogen bulbs too
My fogs are used as daytime "running lights" so they are on all the time the car is being used.

I do a lot of night driving and good lights are critical here due to the suicide wishes of our Kangaroos!

Regards

Ron_H

I have used 100W bulbs in my H4 headlights for 2 1/2 years in my '86.5 and before that in my 914/6 with no known problems or compromises. You may "see" it differently, but I "see" quite well.

Bill Ball

100/85 H4s in my 89's headlights for over 2 years. Zero problems with wiring, connectors, etc. HOWEVER, this does not mean that you can run hi watt H5 bulbs with stock connectors and housings. Also, watch out for the fogs. I think you may have problems with heat affecting the housing and/or cracking the glass due to the small volume, as Joel mentioned.

jayc67

I use Sylvania Silver Stars in both my headlights and driving lights.

I ran 100w in both for about a year, then after reading all the warnings of overheating a very expensive lens, I put 50w in the driving lights.
During the year I ran the 100s, I didn't see any problems, and the wiring looked
good when I had it apart again, but I didn't want to take any risks.

They didn't seem any brighter to me anyway, so it's no loss.

Chazz

Increasing the wattage by 40 from 60 is a 67% increase in power. The relays probably have at least 100% overload capacity, which is why they seem to hold up OK.

wino5150

You'd be better off getting a PIAA or similar company's "HID similar" lightbulb. I just got the ones needed from a website called www.eaautoworks.com. They had the 65/55 which put out the light energy of 130/110. Similar for the fogs/driving lights, which I think are 55's and put out 85. The advantage is you are still only drawing the wattage as before, but because of the type of compressed gas (I believe Xenon), the bulb is able to put out more light energy without frying your wiring and putting a load on your voltage regulator. Not necessarily better, but definitely safer, and they look much better than stock on my '91 GT.

Best wishes...no fires please

wino5150

Sorry guys, that was www.eautoworks.com. Just put in your car's make and model and they have anything you can ever need at a very good price. JC Whitney also had some great deals on replacement high output bulbs for my X5, and I imagine they would have some for the 928's as well.

Sorry for the wrong website,

Normy

1. Check the Corrado Club of America's website: www.corrado-club.com for details about CRACKING of low-mounted driving lights. The VW Corrado was built with driving lights of the wrong temper, and they crack with heat. If you put hotter bulbs in your 928, you might end up in the same boat as these people....

2. Bigger wattage means more amps for the same voltage. That means your wires get hotter...and your switch might burn if you don't run the headlights off of a relay.

Best of luck- my 928S2 has its factory H4 headlights. I wish the 747 that I fly for a living had landing lights like these.....

N!

JPTL

Thanks for the posts. I had decided that unless there was a majority saying 'no problem', I'd keep them in. I kinda had a feeling that the cons would edge out the pros on this topic, so I'm going to pull them out to be on the safe side.
Wino5150 - thanks for the recommendation. I'll look into it. I agree that PIAAs do put out brighter light for the wattage, but I've had bad luck with them. They kept burning out prematurely in my headlight app. in a Honda. After the 3rd set, I gave up (they did give me a refund, since I was going thru them so quickly) Maybe I'll have better luck w/the driving bulbs.

UKKid35

100/80W H4 for three years, no problems. Used 100W H1 in a previous car (not a 928) with much smaller headlights for ten years, no problems.

Tony

Anyone running the higher wattage bulbs in the replacement lenses sold by Rog.

ive been running 100w driving lights for better part of 10+yrs but i have just replaced both of the glass lenses due to both age and pitting/chips. No issues otherwise

worried about the heat issues etc.


no biggy going back to the stock 55s, but i loved the extra light.

dr bob

Tony --

Now might be a good time to look at using some good H3 LED bulbs in the bumper fixtures. I've sorta-looked for 100W equivalents but not seriously. I know Alan has made the switch to LEDs so might be a resource. Fore sure the LED's would be safe. 100W incandescent H3's in mine have a habit of cracking the glass lenses while the 3M stoneguard plastics are in place. The stoneguards are holding the glass lens together on the one cracked side. I have whole new lens assembiles as spares, but would rather keep those and just put LED's in the existing, given the option. I'd have to go find new adhesive to reuse the stoneguard on new lenses plastic or glass. Might be as easy as carpet tape, might not.

Share back if you find a good ultrabright LED H3 option please.