The Irish Mitsubishi FTO Owners Club

Website · by **Muad_dib77** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 5:02 pm

Hiya,

My baby has blown a bulb - and I need replacements.
I'm thinking I'm gonna go all the way and get some blue tints for high&low beam (not forgetting the fogs).
However Upon removing the offending bulb I noticed they differed from those I'm used to. I figured I'd have a looksie at the forum - and I did find a couple of threads on the subject.
The Bulb I removed is a "HB4 99" bulb, 51watts as far as I recall (could be 55watt).
Now I've found a pile of HB4 bulbs available to me - but most have different "sur-names" - meaning they're not HB4 99 but HB4 ******.
Will any HB4 fit?

Also it seems popular to stick HB4s in both high and lowbeam sockets, or did I get that wrong?

Which wattage should I go for? Pretty fed up not being able to see the road.

Any brands to avoid?

Any hints? Done anything cool with your lights?

by **Danny Kierans** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 8:29 pm

Any hb4 bulb will fit..U should stayaround 55w when the headlight's are plastic 80w would be max..100w will burn them..TRY stay to the good make's philips,bosch that kind of thing.

Website · by **Muad_dib77** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 8:33 pm

DANNY KIERANS wrote:Any hb4 bulb will fit..U should stayaround 55w when the headlight's are plastic 80w would be max..100w will burn them..TRY stay to the good make's philips,bosch that kind of thing.

Deadly, thanks Danny :-)

I wont be driving "blind" for much longer.

Anythoughts on Sticking the same bulb type in for low and high-beam? Is there a point, or is it madness?

by **Danny Kierans** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 8:38 pm

I have not had to change any of my bulb's yet in the headlight's i think they are both hb4 in dip+high..If your going to but in 80w in dip you might as well do high beam to..
I found putting good higher bulbs in the fog's helped alot for driven around.

Website · by **Muad_dib77** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 8:42 pm

Excellente - Will do that as well...

Like some one famous once said..
- Let there be light!!

by **kevinod** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 8:58 pm

The std FTO bulbs are actually H3 9005 (heads) and H4 9006 (main beam). The ones you want have a 90 degree bend between the connector and the bulb itself, H3/H4 don't have that but H3 9005 and H4 9006 do.

http://www.powerbulbs.co.uk do them, thats where I got mine anyway, they were much better than the ones that were in it when I got it originally. Powerbulbs give you a free set of sidelight bulbs, which are good so you don't have nice crisp 'blue' main beams and yellow sidelights just below that.

Ones I got were the Philips Bluevision.

There was one other thing to help with your light, there's a slight mod where you can put the H3 9005 bulbs in the main/dipped beam, supposed to give much better light. I haven't done it myself, I think you just need to file down the plastic on the bulb connector.

Do a search and you should find more info on it. It would have been around Aug/Sept last year.

Website · by **Muad_dib77** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:14 pm

Is it H3 or HB3?

The one I'm sitting with here is a HB4, rather than H4..

(B for Bent?)

by **kevinod** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:48 pm

Oop, you're right, its HB3, does have the B!

by CJ » Mon Oct 03, 2005 8:33 am

Muad_dib77 wrote:Anythoughts on Sticking the same bulb type in for low and high-beam? Is there a point, or is it madness?

Yes theres a point, you get about 20% more light from the dipped beams when you use the modified 60W bulb, check out this thread if you havn't already seen it:

http://www.fto-ireland.com/forum/phpBB2 ... php?t=1409

CJ

Website · by **Muad_dib77** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 10:25 am

Excellent., thanks guys.

So to do a quick recap.

Max Wattage: 80watts

Any HB3(Full beam) & HB4(Dipped beam) will fit.

It is possible to modify the HB3 bulbs quite easily to get more "blitz for your buck" by installing these is dipped beams as well as full beams.

by **Myfeckin FTO** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 11:07 am

Muad_dib77 wrote: Any HB3(Full beam) & HB4(Dipped beam) will fit.

It is possible to modify the HB3 bulbs quite easily to get more "blitz for your buck" by installing these is dipped beams as well as full beams.

You'll need to just snip off a couple of plastic guide tags on the HB3's to fit the dims. 2 min job max.

BTW - One of my HB3's blue vision bulbs (bought last year) blew over the weekend and it was one of the ones I had put in the dims so I don't know what the story is with regard to lifespan!

Website · by **Muad_dib77** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 1:03 pm

I ordered a set of HB4s and a set og HB3s.. I found a German Retailer who had the Blue Xenon 80watt lights.
He has Phillips and all sorts.

Have a looksie.. [ http://www.autolamp.de ]

Website · by **Muad_dib77** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 10:40 am

Oh Glee, Joy & Happiness...

I have recieved my bulbs... & a free air freshnes which smells a bit like...dead animal lying in the sun..

For some reason yer man has sent me a set of 80watt and a set of 100watt..I specificly asked for 2 sets of 80watts.

Does anybody have experiences with fitting 100watt XENON bulbs? Will I melt my housing and/or wires?

I also noticed that I was charged 2 euro something for shipping - but he's paid 8 euro... :shock:

by CJ » Mon Oct 10, 2005 10:57 am

Muad_dib77 wrote:Does anybody have experiences with fitting 100watt XENON bulbs? Will I melt my housing and/or wires?

Quite possibly, yes. I used 80W bulbs before, the connectors on the bulb connectors melted causing the lights to drop off intermittantly. The plastic covering on the wires supplying the connectors also melted slightly. After discovering this and patching up the damage, I promptly got rid of the 80 watts. Bearing all of this mind, you're taking a chance using 80W bulbs, let alone 100W. Others may have had different experisnces with high wattage bulbs however.

CJ

by **Myfeckin FTO** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 11:00 am

CJ wrote:
Muad_dib77 wrote:Does anybody have experiences with fitting 100watt XENON bulbs? Will I melt my housing and/or wires?

Quite possibly, yes. I used 80W bulbs before, the connectors on the bulb connectors melted causing the lights to drop off intermittantly. The plastic covering on the wires supplying the connectors also melted slightly. After discovering this and patching up the damage, I promptly got rid of the 80 watts. Bearing all of this mind, you're taking a chance using 80W bulbs, let alone 100W. Others may have had different experisnces with high wattage bulbs however.

CJ

Would have to agree here - I wouldn't go over 65W on the standard FTO set-up.

Website · by **Muad_dib77** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 11:28 am

Ah Danglers!

I'll send back the 100w bulbs - and get them replaced with something more sensible.

ok, SO rather than recommended max wattage being 80watt (as per. previous post)..it's actually more like 65watt?

by CJ » Mon Oct 10, 2005 11:33 am

Go with the modified HB3s for the dipped beam, you're staying within a safe threshold and at the same time increasing the light output by 20%, the stock wires and connectors are not designed to take the load requirement of high wattage bulbs.

CJ

Website · by **Muad_dib77** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 11:38 am

I'll see if this guy will let me return both sets of bulbs.

Website · by **Muad_dib77** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:40 pm

He's taking both sets of bulbs back. And I'm getting 2 sets of Philips blue vision 55w bulbs instead.

The Irish Mitsubishi FTO Owners Club

Bulbs (Again). Please could we summarize?

Bulbs (Again). Please could we summarize?

Just in case anybody else is trying get sorted out.

Re: Just in case anybody else is trying get sorted out.

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