OV9

@Beany Have used Osram uprated bulbs for years (including uprated HID's on the Evora). Rate them highly.

As Halogen is such an outdated tech now however, I'd be strongly tempted by something (reputable) like this for £notmuchmore. I'd be choosing a 5000k colour temperature.

mik wrote: Thu Aug 24, 2023 12:58 pm @Beany Have used Osram uprated bulbs for years (including uprated HID's on the Evora). Rate them highly.

As Halogen is such an outdated tech now however, I'd be strongly tempted by something (reputable) like this for £notmuchmore. I'd be choosing a 5000k colour temperature.

No projector lens = no HIDs.

Beany wrote: Thu Aug 24, 2023 1:24 pm

mik wrote: Thu Aug 24, 2023 12:58 pm @Beany Have used Osram uprated bulbs for years (including uprated HID's on the Evora). Rate them highly.

As Halogen is such an outdated tech now however, I'd be strongly tempted by something (reputable) like this for £notmuchmore. I'd be choosing a 5000k colour temperature.

No projector lens = no HIDs.

Read teh link purleez.

"Do I need Anti-Glare bulbs?
Firstly, this question only applies on your dipped (low) beam. It does not apply to the main (high) beam as you will not have those on when there are oncoming vehicles. However for your dipped beam, you need to identify whether you have projector or reflector headlights. This is easy to do. If you click the "What's this?" link next to the headlight unit type options above, you will get a handy guide to illustrate the difference. However a quick overview is as follows:

Projector - If you look into the front of your headlights and see what looks like a dome lens, and you cannot see the bulb at all, you will have projector headlights. Projector lenses produce a much more focused beam pattern and effectively have built in anti-glare properties. Therefore you can opt for the normal Projector H7 bulbs in the options above.
Reflector - If you look into the front of your headlight and you can see the bulb (it might be behind a small cap for aesthetic purposes), and you can see the reflectors behind it, you will have a reflector headlight. In this case, a standard HID bulb can produce excess glare that can be irritating for oncoming drivers. We have uniquely developed anti-glare bulbs for this very purpose that will maintain maximum light output for you as the driver, without producing glare for oncoming vehicles."

Oh, that. I read that.
Reflectors are fickle enough about overspill with regular high output bulbs, I have serious reservations that they've solved that problem with HIDs.

That, and I have no idea how pedantic my current local MOT place is about HID replacements for halogens, so I'm not gonna risk it. Same with LEDs.

If I could find some cheap projector housings for the E46 I'd consider it, but they're all a bit shit from what I've found.

Proper hid lamp unit retrofit from an e46 which came with them!

Tbh, it depends how much you drive. Night breaker lasers or whatever they’re called at the moment are good, but don’t last very long in my experience.

Otherwise I’d just get some proper branded standard ones

Yeah, I can never find cheap ones of those, either. That said I've not looked for a while....

I've used the Philips Racing Vision and could definitely see an improvement over standard bulbs. Bought mine from ECP.

I got nowhere the last couple of nights trying to look into this as I've been working/socialising etc so I'll probably just end going to fucking Halfords seeing as the nights are drawing in a bit and I'd rather not be a winky wanker if I can help it

Their 200% bulbs are apparently alright so hey ho

The old Civic passed another MOT this morning, 105k miles showing, did 1100 ish miles in the last year (and 300 of those were weekend before last going to PH Anniversary )

Rusty brake lines, rusty springs, and rust taking hold on the sills/susp mount areas.

Still can't decide whether to try and get rid or fix it up.

Beany wrote: Fri Aug 25, 2023 10:01 am I'll probably just end going to fucking Halfords

My last Halfords bulbs were the 90/130w dual filament dip/main beam (H4?) bulbs that I put into my MG Maestro in the 90’s.

They blew regularly, but despite the fact they were marketed with a fairly short lifespan, Halfords were generally good at replacing them for £0.

I was fairly naive about this topic, so didn’t fit a switched relay or anything. Light output was great (for the time) but there was a noticeable “lag” switching from dip to main, and I had to drive 40 miles on A roads one evening coming home with only sidelights or full beams, when my indicator stalk finally melted due to the increased current draw. As you would imagine - this wasn’t very popular with other road users….

Barry wrote: Fri Aug 25, 2023 10:29 am The old Civic passed another MOT this morning, 105k miles showing, did 1100 ish miles in the last year (and 300 of those were weekend before last going to PH Anniversary )

Rusty brake lines, rusty springs, and rust taking hold on the sills/susp mount areas.

Still can't decide whether to try and get rid or fix it up.

Yours will be a low mileage, long-term mature owner CTR now. I bet the values are going up a bit (though I haven't checked). Probably worth sorting out, though if it passes an MOT as it is perhaps now might be the optimum moment to sell before spending any money on it. And then you'd have to find something to replace it...

If it were 18 months ago I’d say change the springs for some yellow Bilsteins, Dinitrol the crap out of the underside so it looks brand new and flog it on CollectingCrud

That's the dilemma really, spend on some upgrades and sorting the car out, then try and use it more, or just cut my losses. Not long since put a full set of PS5s on it too.

I've got a potential buyer, a mate was asking after it recently, but I'm still pondering whether to renew the EV lease or just wait it out, which means I'd need to fall back on a bought 2nd hand car..

Beany wrote: Fri Aug 25, 2023 10:01 am I got nowhere the last couple of nights trying to look into this as I've been working/socialising etc so I'll probably just end going to fucking Halfords seeing as the nights are drawing in a bit and I'd rather not be a winky wanker if I can help it

Their 200% bulbs are apparently alright so hey ho

I really couldn't be arsed driving into town to get bulbs from Halfords, so I got Nightbreaker 200s from ECP and picked 'em up locally.

Also, bizzarely, it seems the last two sets of Halfords bulbs I've bought cheap didn't fit properly; the nightbreakers actually fitted in the headlight properly and are now, oh my, actually properly aligned....I think there's a lesson there, given that the ECP Nightbreakers cost less than the Halfords bulbs....

Slightly oddly I think my favourite view of the GTS may be in the dark when I can't see most of it...

Fitted my tow bar, a bit of working out what going where, a bit of tidying it up and painting bits before fitting, and a few ‘while you’re there’ jobs.

Taking the bumper off was east enough, 6 nuts inside the boot and two screws in the arch liner each side and it pulls off.



Being an oe bar it completely replaces that black piece, a lot of other ones don’t have a tow eye attachment so you have to chop sections out of the carrier to be able to fit the brackets.

Test fit to make sure it all lines up and I understand the order of assembly



Realised I’d have to drop the exhaust to be able to bolt the reinforcement brackets which fit inside the rear legs. Lots of people selling secondhand bars don’t include them, you have to be careful, have seen photos of cars where the rear end has started cracking and pulling off because the extra brackets weren’t installed!

Cleaned everything up while I was there



Found some rust on the bottom of the corner pockets, have seen some bad ones where they rot from the inside out, but mine are dry and spotless inside. Wire wheeled, neutralised, zinc primed and under sealed for now, would like to go back later and do it properly including replacing the heat shield support studs.

Towing module is the white box near the centre of the photo. Plugging that in makes the connector just below and left of it live. Plug the harness for the towbar electrics into that. No cutting or splicing or extra relays. Disables the reversing sensors, alters the abs and stability settings.


All back together and ready to go,


I may also have been a bit sad and cleaned up the big stainless rear silencers while I had decent access with the neck removed and the plastic cover clipped back in there are no signs at all that a bar is fitted



Need to borrow the neighbours little trailer, just to plug it in and check the lights etc work, don’t see why not, all the electrical connectors seemed nice and clean!

Is that plastic cover in the rear bumper present on every X5, Harry? Looks a very tidy installation.

John wrote: Mon Aug 07, 2023 10:03 pm

tim wrote: Mon Aug 07, 2023 5:35 pm

Sundayjumper wrote: Mon Aug 07, 2023 4:04 pm If you can bring the assembly indoors and dry it out thoroughly, some superglue will probably sort it without needing to split it.

Dribble the glue along the seams where it might be leaking. Capillary action will draw it in (you can buy super glue in different viscosities for exactly this) and because it cures by reaction with moisture*, it'll cure in exactly the right places. I did this on the Cayenne headlights and it worked perfectly.

Good tip, thanks!

This stuff is good too

I bought some of this, and yes it is good! The drive to my folks in high 30s temp removed all the condensation and small pool of water in the headlamp, so Dad and I removed it, cleaned it up and worked this stuff into the seal, then where there was a gap too big for this to fill, applied some silicone sealant over it. We drove through some pretty hairy rain coming back and no sign of any condensation, so that appears to have done the trick.