[bigiainw]

Hi Folks,
Having had a bulb blow and seen the prices of standard halogen bulbs in Halfords, I had a look on line and bought an H7 HID conversion kit for £27.99 plus £3ish postage. I fitted this yesterday and I have to say, apart from the hassle of remobving the headlamps (which you have to do anyway to replace the bulbs, it was an absolute doddle. The only actual modification was cuting a 25mm hole in each lamp back cover to pass the wires to the balasts through. Loads of room behind and around the lamps themselves to mount the balasts an some pre-drilled holes that mean't I didnt even have to drill a hole to mount them.

The lamps are 8000K so slightly blue, and very close to the lamp temp that my old Renault Laguna had, but the quality and intensity of the light is brilliant, and at the money they are truely a bargain. I got them through Amazon marketplace and they're worth a punt IMHO if you fancy HID lamps on your Captiva.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005FDUFDY/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img

 

[bigiainw]

Update-


I've had the dip beams converted for just over a month and love them, but the main beams made no difference, even with replacement 100w bulbs you couldn't tell they were on. So I took the plunge and bought an H1 HID conversion and did the mains too. Slightly trickier than the dips asI had to cut the lamp holders off and attach 2 female spade connectors as the wiring is clamped directly in to the bulb holders and had to file a very small notch opposite the bevel in the aperture where the bulb goes as the HID bulb is thicker than the hallogen it replaces, but other than that, no problems. Plenty of room to mount both ballasts behind the headlamps, so no worries there either.



The result? The last timeI saw main beams like that was on a jumbo jet landing at night. The lights are truely brilliant. They do take a wee second to get to full power, but they are immediately better than the hallogen bulbs and just get better the longer they are on. I'd thoroughly recomend this mod.
Edited by: bigiainw

 

[jegrugby]

Hi Bigiainw,


How do these lamps fare when you want to flash them at someone (politely or otherwise!). Are they ok, or do you refrain from flashing due to possible(?) shortening of lamp life?



Cheers



jegrugby

 

[bigiainw]

I don't refrain from flashing ever (ooer!) They are very cheap to buy these days in any case (they can be had for under £15 a pair) and I'm sure will last at least as long as their halogen counterparts. They are certainly bright enough without warming up for that function (flashing that is) but when they're on for any significant time the difference is startling. They are rally car lamp pod bright!

 

[ditrueman1]

Do you have to do two separate conversions? One for the dipped bulbs any the other for main beam?

Regards danny

 

[bigiainw]

Yes, I did at the time. The law has changed since though and fitting HID kits without self leveling and washers fitted will now be an MOT failure.

 

[ditrueman1]

Ah ok. Is there any other way this can be done?

 

[Chevvychase]

My Epica has some sort of conversion, the main beans look white and normal but the dipped are bluish and high power, the guy who sold the car to me said he had a bulb go and found it wasnt a standard bulb and a pair cost him £20 but i didnt get his spare bulb....

 

[bigiainw]

Ah ok. Is there any other way this can be done?

The only way I'm aware of is to transfer the parts from a donor vehicle that is fitted with these from new. The washers are not an issue, they could be sourced from another captiva which had them fitted, but I'm not aware that any Captiva had HID's from new (the mk 2 may have- I don't know, but the mk1 did not, in the uk at least). The lamps need to self level every time they come on, so it's not enough to use the standard units with the manual adjuster. So as I say, I don't think its feasible now since the change in the MOT law.

Edited by: bigiainw

 

[ditrueman1]

Ok. Thanks for your help

 

[borat2001]

I was thinking of HIDS on my 2012 Captiva but think it will void the warranty and also worried abut failing an MOT when it is over 3 years old. I bought a set of MTEC from HIDS DIRECT

http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/mtec-1...h1-h3-h4-h7-h8-h9-h10-h11-h13-9004-9005-9006/

Got the dual filament del bulbs, H7, H1, and H8 bulbs all for under £50 with delivery. they are much brighter and blue/whiter! Will upload some pics!

 

[Pinkie15]

Find the lights plenty bright enough on my Cappy (series II LTZ, so no HIDs haven't been brought in yet), don't see any reason to do a HID conversion. Occaissionally get flashed by others who seem to think I've got main beam on.


If you want to know about bad night vision you should have "enjoyed" the experience in my old Rover 600. You'd think you hadn't turned the lights on. I'm sure the old candle lights from 100 yrs ago would put out more light than the Rover's.

Hence HID conversions very popular amongst Rover owners. No-one has reported any problems with after market HIDs not getting through MOT. Even with the more stringent requirements they brought in this year (BTW technically speaking any HID conversion has been an MOT failure since conversion kits became available).

 

[Aussie Ed]

Occasionally get flashed by others who seem to think I've got main beam on.

That sort of reaction would imply to me that you possibly have more weight in the back which has altered the vehicle level. Might be courteous to 'tweek' the headlamp adjuster.