hi there,
blown a globe on the bug and was just wondering if its best to stick with the stock or if there is a better bulb to upgrade to?
thanks

Hi
headlamp bulbs..



the base of the bulb is the EURO-German one
not the easy to find - every car uses them, BULBS....

P45t from an old memory..??
they are 45mm OD and have a large round fitting NOT'
like the common P43t which is 43mm OD and has 3 prongs at the sides...


these bulbs are now hard to find...
but You could try the VW parts shops...
especially for the normal bulbs [not halogen]??
ask if they have the halogen ones...

I just found on the Net... at volvo solutions
P45t to P43t adaptors for sale... $34.95 a pair ..

so You could fit the later xenon bulbs....

NARVA or HELLA H4 Xenon 12v 60/55 watts
but very bright.....

much brighter than halogen...


cheers

LEE

WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED????

PM SENT.....

quartz halogen bulbs

XENON are the NEW bright bright white Bulbs

but I still have Halogen in My beetle... [in new headlamps]

and have great bright WHITE lights...

xenon used to be called- H4 PLUS 50
[50% brighter than halogen]

LEE

yes, but xenon is illegal without proper projector optics.

Lee, P45t VW bulbs are easy to get, I was in Autobahn today and they had Narva ones in 60/55w and 100/90w for about $17 each on the racks

Other Euro cars like audi and early BMW use them too

You will probably find your bug already has halogen globes in it instead of the old original round ones which have been hard to get for ages now

What Vlad is saying is correct.

The so called "xenon charged" halogen style bulbs are a marketing wank, tinting the glass blue and selling them as Xenons has been a nice little money spinner for someone as so many stupid people buy them.

HID Xenon lights work at very high voltage through an arc, not a filament at 12volts like oridinary bulbs which is why they need ballast resistors to run.

They also produce totally different light to filament style globes which is why you need special lenses to run them.
Look at any car with OEM HIDs and you will notice they all have projectors.
Just cos chinese companys make drop in H4 HID kits doesnt mean theyre safe or legal.

Derp I should have remembered that, although even JD have switched to P43t.
We had a couple of mid 90s JDs that had the P45t vw bulbs but the new one we got in 2005 had the new p43t.

I was quite shocked when I saw the P45t in autobahn, I remembered paying top dollar from vw parts shops back when I still had vw headlights cos they just weren't availble anywhere else.

The range is just so much better once you get away from them and run p43t bulbs like the Philips Extreme and Narva Platniums

thanks for the help guys !
hmm yes i thought about going better but i eneded up just sticking with the p45t h4 halogens
joel how come you changed from the projectors back to the lucas lights?

I would recommend converting to HID Xenon lights. I bought a kit from Ebay (for $45 inc postage) and fitted them to my buggy. They only take 35W but the light they put out is insane. Here is another kit I found on Ebay just then...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/H4-6000K-Slim-Bi-Xenon-HID-Conversion-Beam-Bul...

THANKS FOR THAT INFO....

i NEVER EVER LOOKED AT HID BULBS KITS ETC

I DIDN'T KNOW YOU COULD FIT THEM TO ORDINARY HEADLAMPS...

ALWAYS THOUGHT YOU NEEDED THE MAGNIFYING BIT AS ON NEW CARS...??

EXCELLENT INFO

CHEERS

LEE

Lee, they do need projectors,
Like Barls said its illegal to put HIDs in anything that didnt come from the factory with them.

People don't seem to get that though, just cos theres a huge range of crappy kits from china infiltrating EBay australia people think it must be legit......