Omega Owners Forum

Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: Viking jay on 06 February 2014, 14:34:06

Title: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: Viking jay on 06 February 2014, 14:34:06
My headlights are looking dull ( glass) and generally dated,are they all pretty much the same or are there some better quality ones?
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: 05omegav6 on 06 February 2014, 14:52:14
The glass (plastic) can be polished :y takes a bit of elbow grease...

Bulbs can be upgraded, but depends on type fitted :-\ if you have a GLS/CD or Sport then you probably have halogen bulbs fitted. Alot of people have replaced the standard bulbs with Osram Nightbreakers to good effect :y

If fitted with Xenons then not much you can do but clean the lenses. If starting to go pink, then new bulbs might be in order, but they're not cheap :-\
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: Viking jay on 06 February 2014, 18:15:56
Thats great,elbow grease time are they h7 bulbs
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: dazza88 on 06 February 2014, 18:36:43
Thats great,elbow grease time are they h7 bulbs


normal beam should be h1 and main beam h2 belongs you have standard bulbs.  :y
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: dazza88 on 06 February 2014, 18:38:59
The glass (plastic) can be polished :y takes a bit of elbow grease...

Bulbs can be upgraded, but depends on type fitted :-\ if you have a GLS/CD or Sport then you probably have halogen bulbs fitted. Alot of people have replaced the standard bulbs with Osram Nightbreakers to good effect :y

If fitted with Xenons then not much you can do but clean the lenses. If starting to go pink, then new bulbs might be in order, but they're not cheap :-\


Hello, just wondering were can you get those Osram Nightbreakers from plz, do halfords do them do you know.  :y
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: davieboy0312 on 06 February 2014, 18:39:30
not being funny but I have heard and seen the plastic lenses being polished with toothpaste and worked great.
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: RobG on 06 February 2014, 19:02:34
Thats great,elbow grease time are they h7 bulbs


normal beam should be h1 and main beam h2 belongs you have standard bulbs.  :y
Post `98 are H7
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: 05omegav6 on 06 February 2014, 19:03:29
Readily available on Ebay, and from motor factors :y
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: dazza88 on 06 February 2014, 19:08:33
Thats great,elbow grease time are they h7 bulbs


normal beam should be h1 and main beam h2 belongs you have standard bulbs.  :y
Post `98 are H7


Yep sorry I meant h7 poxy phone  :D
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: Viking jay on 06 February 2014, 20:41:33
Cheers everyone...ordered from ebay 8. 99 plus free delivery
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: theonewhosmokes on 13 March 2014, 18:38:14
Hi

Just wondering what's the best way to clean the plastic headlight cases please? Mine have become quite foggy and I'm sure it's affecting my vision at night.

I have got lights that flicker when they come on and go really bright (I'm so not technically minded and don't know the name of these type of lights lol).

Thanks in advance :)
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: Nick W on 13 March 2014, 19:52:25
Hi

Just wondering what's the best way to clean the plastic headlight cases please? Mine have become quite foggy and I'm sure it's affecting my vision at night.

I have got lights that flicker when they come on and go really bright (I'm so not technically minded and don't know the name of these type of lights lol).

Thanks in advance :)

The best way will depend on what you have available to you. If you have an abrasive polish like Brasso, T-cut, paint rubbing compound(G3, G10 etc) or similar  in the house, then use that. It will take a bit of effort, and possibly a couple of goes, but will do the job. Toothpaste is avery fine abrasive paste, so will work but is a lot of effort. Otherwise one of the headlight restoration kits would be the way to go. These are an expensive way to buy a commonly available abrasive in a pretty package. If your lights are really bad, then they(and your arm muscles!)  will benefit from using some fine wet&dry paper first. You'll be looking for a couple of sheets of at least 1000grit used very wet to avoid badly scratching the lens. If you have experience of flatting and polishing paint then using coarser abrasives or powertools is worth considering.

Mine were very rough and opaque; a couple of applications of Farecla G3 rubbing compound(coarse paste used for refreshing tired paint) brought them back to clear in about 10minutes and with minimal effort. I used coarse G3 simply because I had it in stock, I would have bought G10. Using powertools on plastic requires real care to be taken to avoid melting the surface; doing it by hand is much less risky. And at least a headlight isn't a big area.
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: theonewhosmokes on 13 March 2014, 19:58:44
Hi

Just wondering what's the best way to clean the plastic headlight cases please? Mine have become quite foggy and I'm sure it's affecting my vision at night.

I have got lights that flicker when they come on and go really bright (I'm so not technically minded and don't know the name of these type of lights lol).

Thanks in advance :)

The best way will depend on what you have available to you. If you have an abrasive polish like Brasso, T-cut, paint rubbing compound(G3, G10 etc) or similar  in the house, then use that. It will take a bit of effort, and possibly a couple of goes, but will do the job. Toothpaste is avery fine abrasive paste, so will work but is a lot of effort. Otherwise one of the headlight restoration kits would be the way to go. These are an expensive way to buy a commonly available abrasive in a pretty package. If your lights are really bad, then they(and your arm muscles!)  will benefit from using some fine wet&dry paper first. You'll be looking for a couple of sheets of at least 1000grit used very wet to avoid badly scratching the lens. If you have experience of flatting and polishing paint then using coarser abrasives or powertools is worth considering.

Mine were very rough and opaque; a couple of applications of Farecla G3 rubbing compound(coarse paste used for refreshing tired paint) brought them back to clear in about 10minutes and with minimal effort. I used coarse G3 simply because I had it in stock, I would have bought G10. Using powertools on plastic requires real care to be taken to avoid melting the surface; doing it by hand is much less risky. And at least a headlight isn't a big area.

Thank you very much. I do have some T Cut which I recently used to cover up some scratches I came across. I shall give it a go tomorrow.

Thanks, Paul :)
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: Keith ABS on 14 March 2014, 07:47:01
You may find that t cut is not abrasive enough. I used 1200 grit then superfine, which is 2000 grit, and polished with g3 compond. About ten minutes work all told and both were like new again
Keith b
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: theonewhosmokes on 15 March 2014, 11:56:54
You may find that t cut is not abrasive enough. I used 1200 grit then superfine, which is 2000 grit, and polished with g3 compond. About ten minutes work all told and both were like new again
Keith b

I tried it with T Cut and it's seemed to work :) I still need to clean them up a bit more as there is a red tinge from the T Cut lol!

(http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag423/paul_griffiths2/1920259_10153881601565123_699730025_n_zps36dc7817.jpg)
(http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag423/paul_griffiths2/1458484_10153881601215123_1870302330_n_zps57f009cf.jpg)
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: Mr.OmegaMan on 15 March 2014, 17:58:35
3M headlight restoration kit would bring that up a treat  :y
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: cd 2.2 on 15 March 2014, 20:29:14
As far as bulb upgrades go (if your on halogens) I am currently using 100w H1 And 100w H7's .. It was the only way I could get enough light down for safe night driving and have not yet had any ill effect on the wiring or plastics
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: dbug on 16 March 2014, 00:20:21
As far as bulb upgrades go (if your on halogens) I am currently using 100w H1 And 100w H7's .. It was the only way I could get enough light down for safe night driving and have not yet had any ill effect on the wiring or plastics

Its illegal and you will have ;)
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: cd 2.2 on 16 March 2014, 03:28:07
Well I care not about the legality of the bulbs  :-X ... All I know is "I can see at night now" and that's the main importance for me to be honest! Theory being that the illegal bulbs are better than not being able to see at night when there is any form of oncoming traffic (I travel on unlit roads allot at night)! If there is any issues with the wiring, I will just rip out what's problematic and upgrade it! The only probable thing to happen is that the connectors to the bulbs fail (very minimal risk of this happening) and the standard fuses for the lights are enough to cope with the load created by the 100w bulbs ... I seriously doubt this would ever happen to be fair. The light units get no hotter than they did before (I checked thoroughly before using them full time)

Each to their own I guess but we will see in time
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: TheBoy on 16 March 2014, 09:34:49
If the bigger bulbs cause issues for other drivers, then I have a big problem with it. Round these parts, every selfish retard adjust at least one of their lights way too high, and they may argue that its safer because they can see, without realising nobody else can  >:(

If it doesn't, then as a minimum, do the job properly, with relays and better wiring, before it melts switchgear and wiring, which could be problematic if it happens at 100mph down the motorway.
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: TheBoy on 16 March 2014, 09:37:12
The other problem round here is everyone drives with their bloody idiot lights on all the time. These should never, ever be used, as we rarely get that level of fog in the UK (last week, maybe).

They are uncontrolled lights, and cause dazzle. Typical of the opps you jack, I'm alright mentality sweeping the country  >:(
Title: Re: Headlight upgrade ?
Post by: TheBoy on 16 March 2014, 09:37:47
bloody word filter. idiot=t w a t=front fog lights