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Best headlight upgrade options for 2015 i30 Active?

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Offline Johnmiceter

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Hi, my Mum has a i30 2015 Active and she does a lot of travelling and at night. She always tells me her lights are not bright enough even though I went to Autobarn and bought some brighter bulbs, but they are just the same Halogen yellow bulbs but 130% brighter.

So what options do I have for this car that's easy to do but gives the best results? Link to certain bulbs or products to use would be great, thanks.
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Offline CraigB

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130% should be plenty bright enough, is there hazing on the headlight covers :undecided: are the beams aligned correctly :undecided: 

From what's been mentioned by others on the forum and my own experiences I've found the levels are set quite low in the i30's, a slight adjustment up with some NARVA Sapphire bulbs were the better halogen bulbs I tried, only 50% brighter than standard but a lot whiter 5000k light is produced.

https://www.repco.com.au/en/globes-batteries-electrical/globes-lighting/globes-bulbs/narva-h7-12v-55w-sapphire-plus-50-globe-2-pce-48525bl2/p/A5431854?kwSearch=narva%20sapphire

I'm currently running JW Speaker LED bulbs which are great but I don't think your mum would want to risk running illegal bulbs :whistler: :)


Offline StokeyBry

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What was the make of the bulbs you installed?
The Bosch gigalights, Osram night breaker or Philips Racing vision are all recommended for halogen type bulb. The phillips are rated as the best, but one thing to keep in mind is with halogen lights you will not get super bright light. The bulbs mentioned all claim more brightness which is true but only by roughly 30%, the throw of the light is key which all these bulbs exceed at by throwing the light further.

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Offline Johnmiceter

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Im not to sure the brand that was installed, I bought them about 1 year ago and just recently talked to my Mum again and she told me they dont seem much brighter to her. But she is 70 now and im wondering if whiter lights would be better ?

So what would you recommend then? I think they were Phillips bulbs, but just the yellow, I just want the brightest lights possible for her that won't make  motorists beep at her but she can see really well what's in front of her.
 I was wondering if anyone on here has done a upgrade on the same car and can show me a comparison?
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Offline StokeyBry

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    • gb United Kingdom
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The Bosch Gigalights worked well for me, I have no comparison to show  but they were noticeably brighter and had a longer throw. Not sure they are sold in Australia though.

To stick with Halogens try here Powerbulbs.com AU

The top 3 on the link are the best options that I can see
« Last Edit: July 29, 2021, 18:13:40 by StokeyBry »
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Offline CraigB

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Check the Philips main automotive bulb website :link: Halogen Headlights | Philips the racing bulbs only have a 200hr life span which is terrible, even the extreme vision are only 450hr life as generally the hotter the bulb the shorter it will last.

The difference with the Narva Sapphire bulbs is they use a new proprietary filament design which allows a whiter and brighter light without shortening the life of the bulb, averaging 1900hr's which is longer than standard bulbs rated between 1200 to 1700hr's lifetime.


Offline Johnmiceter

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Check the Philips main automotive bulb website :link: Halogen Headlights | Philips the racing bulbs only have a 200hr life span which is terrible, even the extreme vision are only 450hr life as generally the hotter the bulb the shorter it will last.

The difference with the Narva Sapphire bulbs is they use a new proprietary filament design which allows a whiter and brighter light without shortening the life of the bulb, averaging 1900hr's which is longer than standard bulbs rated between 1200 to 1700hr's lifetime.

I thought I found some nice bulbs but read about how bad their life span is which is terrible. I wasnt aware that brighter bulbs (specially halogen ones) had such a short life span.

So you either take super bright bulbs with a short life or not so bright that last longer? The one you mentioned sounds good, but hopefully its really bright still?

Here were the ones I was looking at until I saw their lifespan also  :spitty:

https://www.osram.com/am/campaigns/nightbreaker.jsp
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Offline CraigB

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The Sapphires are quite bright at 50% more with a longer beam, personally I couldn't fault them and with the factory set low levels adjusted slightly up they were even better :)

I'm likely going to switch back to the Sapphires as their brightness I think equals my current LED bulbs, plus they have a bit of an advantage over the LEDs in that they don't give back as much glare/reflection from road signs and water on the road at night which happens with whiter 6000k and above lighting.


Offline Johnmiceter

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The Sapphires are quite bright at 50% more with a longer beam, personally I couldn't fault them and with the factory set low levels adjusted slightly up they were even better :)

I'm likely going to switch back to the Sapphires as their brightness I think equals my current LED bulbs, plus they have a bit of an advantage over the LEDs in that they don't give back as much glare/reflection from road signs and water on the road at night which happens with whiter 6000k and above lighting.
do you mean you adjust the light beam up a bit? If so how do you do that on a i30 2015 active? So my Mums are currently a yellow light, I was thinking to go a white light, but your saying they arent as good ?
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Offline Johnmiceter

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The Bosch Gigalights worked well for me, I have no comparison to show  but they were noticeably brighter and had a longer throw. Not sure they are sold in Australia though.

To stick with Halogens try here Powerbulbs.com AU

The top 3 on the link are the best options that I can see

I found this site in google also, before asking on here and they seem really cheap, but when I type in on the left: Australia-Hyundai-i30, it only comes up with a 2007-2010 hyundai and my Mums car is a 2015. I tried messaging them but they haven't replied back yet.
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Offline CraigB

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The Sapphires are quite bright at 50% more with a longer beam, personally I couldn't fault them and with the factory set low levels adjusted slightly up they were even better :)

I'm likely going to switch back to the Sapphires as their brightness I think equals my current LED bulbs, plus they have a bit of an advantage over the LEDs in that they don't give back as much glare/reflection from road signs and water on the road at night which happens with whiter 6000k and above lighting.
do you mean you adjust the light beam up a bit? If so how do you do that on a i30 2015 active? So my Mums are currently a yellow light, I was thinking to go a white light, but your saying they arent as good ?
The high and low beam level adjustment screws are all pictured in the owners manual, you still have to keep the beams at a legal level so not to blind oncoming traffic though there is generally room for a small adjustment due to factories setting them low or...failed to set at all :whistler: :)

With regard to whiter light, the Narva Sapphires are supposed to be 5000k and that's as white as you'll get in a halogen bulb and they're fine with night time reflections, only the LED's will go above that kelvin range.


Offline Johnmiceter

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    • au Australia
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The Sapphires are quite bright at 50% more with a longer beam, personally I couldn't fault them and with the factory set low levels adjusted slightly up they were even better :)

I'm likely going to switch back to the Sapphires as their brightness I think equals my current LED bulbs, plus they have a bit of an advantage over the LEDs in that they don't give back as much glare/reflection from road signs and water on the road at night which happens with whiter 6000k and above lighting.
do you mean you adjust the light beam up a bit? If so how do you do that on a i30 2015 active? So my Mums are currently a yellow light, I was thinking to go a white light, but your saying they arent as good ?
The high and low beam level adjustment screws are all pictured in the owners manual, you still have to keep the beams at a legal level so not to blind oncoming traffic though there is generally room for a small adjustment due to factories setting them low or...failed to set at all :whistler: :)

With regard to whiter light, the Narva Sapphires are supposed to be 5000k and that's as white as you'll get in a halogen bulb and they're fine with night time reflections, only the LED's will go above that kelvin range.

Ok thanks, on that site you listed they dont have the Narva brand one you were talking about, but their other brands seem a lot cheaper then in stores like Autobarn and Supercheap here in Australia.
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