Replacing the bulbs in low beam

[heverlasvegas]

I bought the cooler colour (whiter) Osram Nightbreaker plus bulbs.

These can be put in but it is a very difficult space to get the old bulbs out and put the new ones in.

Any pointers? Apart from getting a 4 year old to do it!

 

[DeJay58]

I had absolute no problems replacing it. It was a 5min job.

 

[alohart]

When you say "low beam", do you mean the lights that project their beams low for short-distance lighting or the lower lights on the front of the car which are the high beams? The short-distance headlights are LED's in all U.S. i3's, so I would not want to replace these bulbs with halogen bulbs. I understand that LED low beams are optional in non-U.S. models, so maybe you're replacing the standard non-LED low beams. Several i3 owners have replaced the high beams that are halogen bulbs in all i3's with whiter LED's.

 

[tiburonh]

When you say "low beam", do you mean the lights that project their beams low for short-distance lighting or the lower lights on the front of the car which are the high beams? The short-distance headlights are LED's in all U.S. i3's, so I would not want to replace these bulbs with halogen bulbs. I understand that LED low beams are optional in non-U.S. models, so maybe you're replacing the standard non-LED low beams. Several i3 owners have replaced the high beams that are halogen bulbs in all i3's with whiter LED's.

I'm with Art on this. There is no reason to replace the low beam bulbs, which are already LED's. If you are talking about replacing the high beam bulbs, I did what you are wanting to do (replace the stock halogens with a cooler color halogen), and it was very simple to do, but in retrospect it didn't solve my problem which was wanting to have the color of the high beam lights match the color of the low beam lights. The only way to really do that is to switch out the halogens for LED's. Which can be done, but is a little less easy because there isn't a whole lot of spare room for fitting the extra gear that comes with the LED bulbs.

 

[jadnashuanh]

LED low beams are standard in the USA, but not everywhere.

The issue with LED bulbs is that while they may not be using as much energy, they do generate some significant point heat loads, and if that isn't managed well, will overheat and burn out prematurely. SOme high power LED bulbs come with cooling fans, some with significant heat sinks, and there just may not be room behind the protective cover to fit well, so you need to select carefully. Also, at least in the USA, any bulb used for exterior use is supposed to be DOT approved. The fact that it fits is by no means an indication that it actually passed. Now, will someone stop you and give you a ticket because of it? Probably not, but the way our legal system is, it is one more avenue for liability should you get into an accident, and people are looking at any reason to sue you. (Like, his lights were too bright, or I couldn't see him at this angle because the beam pattern wasn't right, etc.).