There are plenty of things we can attend to on our cars that can save us a few pounds at the garage, and replacing headlight bulbs can be one of them. Here, we canter through the types of car headlights and bulbs you find on vehicles today and which ones you can replace yourself.
You need to check which bulbs your car already has fitted. Ordinarily, this will be in your car’s user manual. If the manual doesn’t have that information, you can either check the bulb in your car’s headlight or go online to several car parts websites or Amazon Garage, where you can plug in your car registration or details, and the correct options will be presented to you. Make sure the bulb you get is for a headlight, and shop for reputable brands, including Osram and Phillips. It’s also worth considering getting an emergency bulb kit so that you’re not caught out.
The most common type of bulb on the road today is the halogen/filament bulb, which has proven to be reliable and cost-effective for the past few decades. They use filaments of glowing halogen gas to create their light; modern halogen bulbs are much brighter and longer lasting than they used to be. They use a number of H fittings (for example, H4 bulbs), so make sure you know which one you need. We’ll look at Xenon bulbs shortly, but first, the best halogen bulbs are listed below.
The best headlight bulbs for cars at a glance:
Editor’s choice: Osram Night Breaker Laser – Buy now from Amazon UK
Best halogen with xenon look: Osram Cool blue intense – Buy now from Amazon UK
Best Xenon Bulb for performance: Bosch D2S Xenon White – Buy now from Amazon UK
Pros
- Order spares from the comfort of home
- Enter your registration to get the correct items
Cons
- You'll need Amazon Prime for free delivery
The best headlight bulbs for cars:
Best halogen headlight bulbs
Pros
- Whiter light
- Longer beam
Cons
- Lifespan could be a bit shorter than standard bulbs
Best halogen with xenon look
Pros
- Xenon look
- Inexpensive upgrade
Cons
- Shorter lifespan
Best for long beam
Pros
- Safe and stylish white light
- Good for upgrading original halogen bulbs
Cons
- Not as white as some reviewers expect
Best for brightness
The specific colour temperature of Philips RacingVision bulbs allows your eyes to focus better and perceive contrasts in the distance, helping you drive more safely.
Pros
- Great brightness
- Top-quality
Cons
- Mediocre lifetime
Best for lifespan
Pros
- Long lifespan
- Good value
Cons
- No real increase in brightness
If you would like to know about Xenon headlight bulbs, please scroll down for our pick below.
How to replace halogen bulbs
If you go to Amazon Garage and input your vehicle registration details, you’ll be advised of the correct treplacement parts to order for your car.
Halogen bulbs are easy to replace, but on occasion, they can be fiddly:
1. Access to headlights is from behind, inside the engine bay, you don’t have to remove the headlight.
2. Designs vary, but generally, there will be a plastic cover that you remove to access the bulbs inside the light.
3. Carefully unclip or pull out the bulb from the mounting. And look at the position the bulb was clipped in so you know how to fit the new one.
Tip: It doesn’t matter with the old bulb but do not touch the glass on the new bulb because your oil on your skin will blow the bulb immediately.
4. Remove the old bulb from the connector.
5. In order to fit the new one, do the exact reverse of steps 1 to 4.
6. Once you’ve fitted the new bulb, give them a test.
Best xenon headlight bulbs
Xenon/High-Intensity Discharge (HID) bulbs use an arc that uses xenon gas and metal salts to generate their light. They burn colder, and so have a bluer light than halogens. They tend to be brighter and last longer too, but they are more expensive to buy. Xenon bulbs can only be fitted to cars that came with xenon/HID bulbs from the factory; it’s illegal to install them. They use a range of D fittings.
Best Xenon bulb for value
Osram has introduced a product authentication system called the Osram Trust Programme, which allows you to verify the authenticity of the bulbs you purchase, ensuring you get a top-quality product along with a four-year guarantee.
Pros
- Good value
- OEM standard
Cons
- Output is not quite as white as hoped
Best Xenon bulb for durability
Pros
- Crisp white look
- Quartz glass for improved reliability
Cons
- No blue tint
Best Xenon bulb for performance
Pros
- Well known brand
- Long lifespan
Cons
- More yellow than blue
Replacing xenon bulbs
Replacing xenon bulbs can involve removing the entire headlamp, and some you can do like a halogen – it depends on the car model. In either case, xenon headlamps require extremely high voltage to ignite the gas, so extreme care is needed if replacing yourself. In cars that need to remove the whole headlamp, you can buy the bulbs and save yourself some pounds if you wish, but we suggest getting a professional to fit them.
LED bulbs, like HID, are not allowed to be retrofitted on car headlights – but you can fit them in interior lights, for example. You may find LED lights with H7 bulb fittings for example, but they are not ECE compliant. LEDs are more energy efficient and long-lasting – up to 10 or so years. These days, LED lights are generally replacing xenons in new cars; for example, current higher-end Mercedes-Benz A-Class models feature LED headlights. They’re practical and allow car makers to create cool headlight shapes. LEDs can be fitted with sensors and, therefore, become adaptive. The downside is they can be incredibly expensive to replace and only done by professionals.
Future of headlights
Laser lights are coming into the battle. These cutting-edge headlights fire a laser at phosphorus, emitting light which is filtered through a lens and then hits a reflector. The advantage is that these use hundreds of mirrors that can be individually adjusted by the car’s electronic brain to tune where and how the road ahead is illuminated. In other words, fully adaptive headlights.
How we choose
All of these headlight bulbs have been hand-selected by our team of experts, who have spent hours investigating and researching headlight bulbs to make it easier for you to find the very best, and we’d never recommend a product we don’t believe in.
Where possible, we also test and share the latest and best products you should know about.
Chris Williams is an Automotive Content Writer for Parkers and CAR Magazine, but he also contributes to Live For The Outdoors and What’s The Best. He trained as an automotive journalist in New Zealand, prior to which he studied International Relations and History.
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