private penguin

private penguin

Well-Known Member
I drove my D2 (pre-facelift) in proper darkness (ie not in the city with streetlights) for the first time last night and was really disappointed by the headlights. The main beams were fine but the standard dipped beam headlights were pathetic.

Before anyone suggests it I'm not interested in doing the expensive and fiddly upgrade to the facelift headlights - as much as I think they look better I have other things i'd rather spend the cash on, and other things to spend my time doing.

Can anyone recommend a cheaper more simple solution (ie a different type of bulb that I could use?) to get the headlights a bit brighter? I've just upgraded all the internal lighting to LED panels rather than the dim bulbs and i think the interior lights are now brighter than the exterior!!

Ideas welcomed!
 
LR headlights are often appalling. Try quality bulbs such as Osram Nightbreakers or Philips X-treme Vision.

Do not try the HID conversion kits. They are not legal on anything that did not have them as OE installs, they have a mandatory requirement for washers and self-levelling mechanisms.
 
Thanks guys. Will give the Nighbreakers a go - thats the sort of solution i was after rather than anything costly or time consuming.
 
Excellent... right - just need to order them. Annoyingly i've got another week away coming up so wont have time to play with the Disco again until mid august but ordering all the bits in ready for a day of sorting stuff out.
 
When I changed mine over to Nightbreakers, I bought two complete sets, H7s, not the H4s which you'll need.
That way, if one fails, the other one won't be far behind it and by having a spare set, I don't have to worry about delivery times.
 
I went for the Phillips, had trouble with the others, in that they blew after about a month, I think the Phillips specified long life, bought them from Europarts, they were doing two for the price of one and as I have the face lift, i had to buy 4, the others I got from Halfords, tried to complain ( it was a long shot) all they could say was "pot holes" it was an expensive hobby changing over to them though
 
Seffy said:
LR headlights are often appalling. Try quality bulbs such as Osram Nightbreakers or Philips X-treme Vision.

Do not try the HID conversion kits. They are not legal on anything that did not have them as OE installs, they have a mandatory requirement for washers and self-levelling mechanisms.
Click to expand...


Discovery 2 do have self levelling, that does class as it

Sonme have washers. if they work
 
MJI said:
Discovery 2 do have self levelling, that does class as it

Sonme have washers. if they work
Click to expand...
Some D2 as we all know have SLS at the rear, I had that on my old RR many years ago, but modern cars which have HID or LED like my new Jag's head lights readjust as soon as t he lighting is switched on, which IS THE REQUIRMENT, anyway D2s don't have the headlamps that comply with the regulations.

It's not SLS but SLHD :)
 
discool said:
Some D2 as we all know have SLS at the rear, I had that on my old RR many years ago, but modern cars which have HID or LED like my new Jag's head lights readjust as soon as t he lighring is switched on, which IS THE. REQUIRMENT, anyway D2s don't have the headlamps that comply with the regulations.
Click to expand...


I had been informed that good enough for MOT
 
What can I say about what u have been told,? my previous car had HID and readjusted on switching on. Spooky
 
Yes, I've done it. The main problems I could see or came across were the colours first off, make the replacement bulbs the same colour as the lenses, the white LEDs have a sort of blue-white tinge and can sometimes change the colour of the output from the light cluster.
The brake lights will need some "current steering" diodes (1N5408) inline to prevent the current sort of feeding back and lighting the high level brake light, 4 are required 1 each in the brake light and tail light lines. It's all to do with using twin filament bulb holders. Be prepared for the change in light output when the brakes are applied with the tail lights on to not be as much as you might expect.
The indicators will need either a proper LED flasher unit or some resistors across each LED so that the current drawn is the same as the old bulbs and will operate the flasher at the correct rate. The little repeater lights on the front wings can be changed with no trouble. Sets of resistors for this purpose can be obtained on the well known auction site.
The front side lights can be changed too with no trouble other than polarity, the T10 capless wedge bulbs can be inserted either way.
I found that ordinary LEDs were unsuitable for use in the reversing lights so I used Cree LEDs and now I light up the whole street when I go into reverse. The only downside with them is radio interference while they're on, but they're only on when I'm going backwards.
Internal lights and the glovebox lights can also be changed for 38mm LED festoons.
 
Hadnt thought about doing glovebox lights but the internal lights have been replaced with these

https://geek.wish.com/search/led festoon#cid=532408403f669e33e0640029

The inside of the car now lights up brightly when the doors are opened... although they're a bit too bright for a passenger to just check a map when out on the road!! The solution i suspect will be to build in a flexible mapreading light on the passenger side (The car will be used a lot for supervising night hikes etc so the ability for the front seat passenger to read maps, route cards, etc whilst mobile is important for me)

Thanks for the tips on lights... what was wrong with ordinary LEDs for the reverse lights? I've deliberately put the switch for the rear worklights in the cab rather than the boot so that I can have some extra light when reversing onto the drive (normally a slightly tricky manoeuvre to get between the wife's car, the dustbins and the trailer!)
 
private penguin said:
what was wrong with ordinary LEDs for the reverse lights? I've deliberately put the switch for the rear worklights in the cab rather than the boot so that I can have some extra light when reversing onto the drive (normally a slightly tricky manoeuvre to get between the wife's car, the dustbins and the trailer!)
Click to expand...
I just didn't think that they were bright enough, that's all.
Have you thought about movin' the bins? Or is bin work other than on bin collection day outside your remit? :D
 
brian47 said:
I just didn't think that they were bright enough, that's all.
Have you thought about movin' the bins? Or is bin work other than on bin collection day outside your remit? :D
Click to expand...

In fairness the bins act as a nice buffer in front of a brick wall! What I need to do is encourage my wife to reverse further back onto the drive.

(access to our drive involves reversing off the road, onto a shared drive between us and the neighbour and then 90 degrees into our own drive so the cars end up parked across the front of the house. If my wife gets home first (she normally does) and parks in the space closer to the road I have to reverse around the front of her car to get onto the drive. Not a problem if she reverses all the way back but a pain if she decides she can't remember how long her car is and leaves a huge gap behind her!)
 
I don't have an issue with the standard lights and bulbs on my 01. Problem now is how bright every other persons lights are blinding oncoming drivers. :mad:
 
meego said:
I don't have an issue with the standard lights and bulbs on my 01. Problem now is how bright every other persons lights are blinding oncoming drivers. :mad:
Click to expand...
I don't advocate changing the standard fitted headlights for any other types such as HID, high intensity LEDs, etc. there's more to such changes than just changing bulbs! But I do advise trying to get the best performance that I can out of the properly aligned standard fit, while staying within the law.
 
brian47 said:
I don't advocate changing the standard fitted headlights for any other types such as HID, high intensity LEDs, etc. there's more to such changes than just changing bulbs! But I do advise trying to get the best performance that I can out of the properly aligned standard fit, while staying within the law.
Click to expand...
I have no probs with that. I just think my lights are adequate. The issue I have is brand new cars are coming with lights that are like laser beams. Its dangerous and that's that. Don't know how they are getting away with it.
 
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