Discovery 1 best brightest headlight Setup?

[benedmonson]

I have a 98 D1 and am tired of the very dim headlights. What is the best bang for the buck headlight setup? I see so many options for better headlights and have no idea what is the best. Would love to buy something that is totally plug and play. Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[Scott Brady]

I am aware of some folks upgrading to Disco II lights. I find my DI lights to be excellent. Maybe a bulb and wiring upgrade will yield the best (and most stock) results.

The Sylvania Silverstar bulbs get good reviews.

 

[benedmonson]

I am aware of some folks upgrading to Disco II lights. I find my DI lights to be excellent. Maybe a bulb and wiring upgrade will yield the best (and most stock) results.

The Sylvania Silverstar bulbs get good reviews.

Scott are the Sylvania Silverstar's the one's I saw at Wal-mart? if so they are cheap and very doable..... Just thought that there must be some magical solution that I was missing.

 

[Green96D1]

Scott are the Sylvania Silverstar's the one's I saw at Wal-mart? if so they are cheap and very doable..... Just thought that there must be some magical solution that I was missing.

I have the silverstars. they are bright.

a good HID look for like a fraction of the price.

 

[UnfrozenCaveman]

'94 D1 - no wiring mods at all here ...

My o.e. bulbs must have been ten years old when my little brother gave me some fancypants iPF bulbs with glo-in-the-dark-rings.

The bulbs were indeed an improvement, but they only lived a few months.

Replaced with ordinary Sylvania silverstars, and all is well. when I really need to see where the heck I'm headed, the Hella 4000's do the trick.

KAA

 

[01001010]

I found myself needing brighter headlights as well after moving to GA. I absolutely recommend the IPF HD Wiring Harness and Hella H4 bulbs - available through Expedition Exchange! My low beam is a few yards longer now and my high beams are comparable to FF1000 light output (at a wide angle).

 

[MuddyMudskipper]

I had the Silverstars in my Disco before converting over to H.I.D.s and they were much better than the regular bulbs that were in the truck before. For the price the Silverstars couldn't be beat.
You can upgrade to the 99-02 DII headlights but they are only cosmetically different as they use the same bulb and city light set-up.

 

[Crookthumb]

I had the Sylvania Silverstars for almost 3 years. One burnt out so I replaced them with the IPF X51 Super Low Beams.

I noticed with the Silverstars that traffic coming from behind would cast a slight shadow of my Discovery in my beam pattern. I don't notice that as much now with the X51s. I don't now if the tint on the bulb is filtering out some of the light, but driving in the rain at night with the Silverstars would not light up the road, compared to other bulbs. This I believe is a common problem.

I need to upgrade my wiring harness for the X51s to get the full potential of the bulb. Haven't had the X51s for that long so I will have to see how long they last. Usually higher wattage means shorter lifespan.

 

[LRNAD90]

I have a 98 D1 and am tired of the very dim headlights. What is the best bang for the buck headlight setup? I see so many options for better headlights and have no idea what is the best. Would love to buy something that is totally plug and play. Any suggestions appreciated.

Hey Ben,

Your best bet for much improved headlamp performance is to source a pair of e-code factory headlamps from a left hand drive market. There was a stateside vendor that was importing and selling these, but I can't remember who it was at the moment (been a few years since I had my Disco I). Maybe try searching or asking around on some of the more specific Land Rover/Discovery forums like discoweb.org.

Beyond that, you will see much improved performance by upgrading the wiring, by either crafting a harness yourself, or purchasing a ready made harness like the ARB/IPF harness Expedition Exchange sells. Getting full voltage to the bulb makes all the difference in the world.

As far as bulbs go, my advice would be to stay away from any bulb with a tinted globe. That includes the Sylvania Silver Star bulbs ( I know a lot of people swear by them, but..). Any bulb that has a blue tinting to achieve a more 'HID' like look will reduce light output, and make vision very difficult in rain and snow. Sylvania also makes a bulb called 'extra vision' that is a bit brighter and whiter than standard halogen, without the globe tinting. This might be a better choice if you are looking for a bulb available in a local auto parts store. I’ve run them in my Miata with good results. Get quality bulbs, don't fall for gimmicks.

But if you haven't read Daniel Stern's Lighting page, do yourself a favor and do so. Drop him an e-mail as well, he is very helpful, and has allot of good insight on lighting, from a number of years experience in the business...

Hope this is of some help to you...

 

[UofRichmondRover]

Silver stars are a great upgrade...but make sure you know what you are buying. You want the euro Osram Silver Stars that are made in Germany, not the Sylvania Silver Stars.

They are more durable and provide a better quality light. Just fyi, Osram is Sylvania's parent company but the silver star's they sell in europe are much better quality. I got mine on ebay with no problems.


Package comparison, Osram German made versus NA Sylvania silverstars.

 

[madizell]

Silver stars are a great upgrade...but make sure you know what you are buying. You want the euro Osram Silver Stars that are made in Germany, not the Sylvania Silver Stars.

They are more durable and provide a better quality light. Just fyi, Osram is Sylvania's parent company but the silver star's they sell in europe are much better quality. I got mine on ebay with no problems.


Package comparison, Osram German made versus NA Sylvania silverstars.

I have the Silverstar's shown above as the "US" version, but they are made in Germany by Osram and imported to the US by Osram Sylvania. The difference in packaging is just that, different packaging. Not an uncommon practice for imported items. Why would Osram make two different levels of quality in the same facility? Tooling costs alone would outweigh any benefit from marketing a lower cost/quality item.

 

[sven]

The euro versions arent blue-colored like the US version. Plus they are slightly cheaper on ebay. But on the car, they perform the same for me. I just had the pass side euro osram die on my D1 the other day. Its been installed less than 6 months.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

The Hella Xenon +50 probably won't deliver 50% more light. More like 15%, according to RallyLights.com which is a very reputable vendor.

http://www.rallylights.com/hella/H4.asp

I've heard good things about the Hella "Hyper" bulbs, and they do show more light output than the +50's. I would recommend trying either of these bulbs, along with a high performance harness. That's the best you'll realistically get out of the stock lamps. Nice new E-code housings would probably help too.

Other than that, you're going to need aux lighting.

I won't put anything with a blue coating on any of my cars, and that includes Silver Stars.

 

[UofRichmondRover]

I have the Silverstar's shown above as the "US" version, but they are made in Germany by Osram and imported to the US by Osram Sylvania. The difference in packaging is just that, different packaging. Not an uncommon practice for imported items. Why would Osram make two different levels of quality in the same facility? Tooling costs alone would outweigh any benefit from marketing a lower cost/quality item.

Did not realize they were both made in Germany, however they are listed with different lumen outputs on the sylvania.com(US) and osram.com(non-US) websites. I'm guessing the difference is the blue tinting on some bulbs which give an HID look.

The number ranges overlap a bit, 55/60w for low/high beam:

US website part #H4ST: 910 +/- 10%; 1500 +/- 10% lumen
Non-US: Part #64193SVS: 1000 ± 15% / 1650 ± 15% lumen