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PremiumYes Difficulty Mod ID1259 Creditevilution Cost££150 For Linkhttps://dev.evilution.co.uk/mod/improved-roadster-headlights.htm Copy to Clipboard

The Roadster Headlights Are Shit

I hear that a lot online (maybe not exactly in those words).

The rest of the online post will then start recommending better bulbs, then some bell-end will recommend 100 watt bulbs and will get shot down by anyone with a clue. Ultimately the post will then get onto HID (xenon) headlights and then the whole post tails off into uneducated guesses about legality.

You cannot legally put HID bulbs into headlights designed for halogen headlights. This is the law for most 1st world countries.

So, Why Are They Shit?

The problem is not the bulbs. You can put a set of £50 PIAA bulbs in and they still won’t be great. The problem is the headlight unit itself. Let’s have a quick look. See if you can see the issue.

Look at the stupid size of the lens. The reflector behind it isn’t great either. The lens is 47mm across. So much of the produced light is wasted.

The potential poor quality of construction doesn’t help either. Efras O took this photo of the inside of his standard Roadster headlight. This is not just heat damage. It is delamination of the chrome layer.

This happens because the base layer wasn’t well finished or was contaminated.

Sam R had much worse damage on his Roadster headlights.

So, What’s The Fix?

This type of 90mm Hella headlight have been used for many years in different cars. Even Hella knew that they were crap because in around 2012, they redesigned it.

Compare this lens to the old type. This new lens is 70mm across. It’s 2.3 times the area compared to the old type so far less light is wasted. These units still use the H7 bulbs but the body of the light is a bit longer.

There are 2 options. Fixed low beam unit and a bi-halogen unit (high and low beams in 1 unit).

This is done with an internal shroud that creates the correct cut off line for the low beam. However, this shroud can be pulled out of the way with a solenoid, removing the cut off line and creating a full beam pattern. Both the bi-halogen and fixed dipped beam units are the same size with the same larger lens.

How Much Better Are They?

OK, first let’s look at the accuracy of the cut off line. Not great with a skid mark between light and dark.

The upgraded headlights created a much better cut off line.

Ignore the colour difference between the 2 photos. The actual colour was very similar between the two but the brighter light made the contrast of the second photo different.