Hey everyone,

Has anyone invested in a conversion kit, changing your existing headlights to the HID technology? I love the blue look, and they would go very well with my blue neons underneath.

Im after some rough prices of what people have paid for these kits. The only places on the net are all overseas. Anyone know of any in Aus?

...Or is there any other way to get the (very) blue effect without spending $500 or so?

Since you have a 3rd gen magna, the only way you are going to get a HID Kit on your car is to use the non-parabolic headlights with a decent bulb/ballast combo (prefereably philips bulbs + ballasts) and some caspers H4 hid adaptors.

I can tell you now that the only way you can fit HIDs onto the parabolic headlights is to retrofit a HID projector off another car, and the only one that fits is an Audi TT or BMW e46.

The H7 kits will not fit in the parabolic headlights, as the return wire fouls on the glare box - beam pattern is AWFUL on parabolic headlights with HID kits - I tried this already.

If you are doing this for looks - don't bother - it isn't cheap, and cost me close to 1500 to do it properly with Audi TT projectors, bulbs and ballasts.

I have written heaps on conversions/retrofits etc. Do a search... If you can try anything with the third gen headlights, you can almost guarantee I have done it :)

Cheers
Heath Young

Since you have a 3rd gen magna, the only way you are going to get a HID Kit on your car is to use the non-parabolic headlights with a decent bulb/ballast combo (prefereably philips bulbs + ballasts) and some caspers H4 hid adaptors.

I can tell you now that the only way you can fit HIDs onto the parabolic headlights is to retrofit a HID projector off another car, and the only one that fits is an Audi TT or BMW e46.

The H7 kits will not fit in the parabolic headlights, as the return wire fouls on the glare box - beam pattern is AWFUL on parabolic headlights with HID kits - I tried this already.

If you are doing this for looks - don't bother - it isn't cheap, and cost me close to 1500 to do it properly with Audi TT projectors, bulbs and ballasts.

I have written heaps on conversions/retrofits etc. Do a search... If you can try anything with the third gen headlights, you can almost guarantee I have done it :)

Cheers
Heath Young

have u got a pic of it?..

wow!

Thanx heathyoung! That solves that then! *crosses that mod off the list*

Is it possible to gain the blue look without goin to HID? Ive tried Xenon globes which claimed to be 'Xenon Blue', but they just look the same.

Masosi, I have used the "Opti-Blue Platinum" 90W/100W H4's for the mains and 100W H1's in the high beams in my TF and I will not drive a car without them, much whiter light and better distance. Handy when the Kangaroos are out and about.

Make sure you get the 90/100W & the 100W globes - they make all the difference.
Line up with a mate with the same headlights (parabolic or standard) with the different globes and see the improvement. A mate who has a TE drove 150km to Autobarn and back (nearest stockist at the time) the very next day.

They are not ADR approved though.... :rant:
You can get them at AutoBarn or Supercheap.
Phillips Blue globes are ADR approved, but they are only 55W....

Since you have a 3rd gen magna, the only way you are going to get a HID Kit on your car is to use the non-parabolic headlights with a decent bulb/ballast combo (prefereably philips bulbs + ballasts) and some caspers H4 hid adaptors.

I can tell you now that the only way you can fit HIDs onto the parabolic headlights is to retrofit a HID projector off another car, and the only one that fits is an Audi TT or BMW e46.

The H7 kits will not fit in the parabolic headlights, as the return wire fouls on the glare box - beam pattern is AWFUL on parabolic headlights with HID kits - I tried this already.

Not trying to call you a liar or anything, I just would have thought the Parabolics would give the best result in a HID conversion.....but hell, I'll stand corrected and confused!

Is it a problem with the position or rotation of the HID bulb? If you could rotate it within the headlamp, it may give a better result (HID filament not in prime focus point of parabola)...

I dunno, your whole statement goes against everything I would have thought.... just very interested now. Glad you got a fix (albeit a very expensive one).

I am more than happy to have this one go private....

Not trying to call you a liar or anything, I just would have thought the Parabolics would give the best result in a HID conversion.....but hell, I'll stand corrected and confused!

Is it a problem with the position or rotation of the HID bulb? If you could rotate it within the headlamp, it may give a better result (HID filament not in prime focus point of parabola)...

I dunno, your whole statement goes against everything I would have thought.... just very interested now. Glad you got a fix (albeit a very expensive one).

I am more than happy to have this one go private....

The 3rd generation parabolic headlights suffer from a chronic design flaw - they have been designed with styling more than function in mind - that is, they are designed upside down.

To explain - the parabolic reflector has (at the top of the reflector) a flat section. Unfortunatly, since this is the part (the top section of the reflector) that collects the light for the low beam, the output of the headlight is compromised by 25-30%.

Not to mention the absense of a left hand flare (meaning that long distance vision is compromised). I go into this in far more detail in previous threads. Beam pattern suffers from hotspots all over the place as well.

The one saving grace (and also curse) of the parabolic headlights is that they use a H7 bulb, which produces more lumens than a H4. Pity that getting a high output / overwatt H7 is very difficult.

In terms of design, the standard hella fluted lens headlights are better - left hand flare, good foreground illumination, good distance illumination.

People often confuse strong forground illumination (close to the front of the car) for good headlights - In reality, strong foreground illumination reduces your long distance vision, whereas a weaker foreground may look dim, but allows you to see far furthur on dark roads.

The conversion was expensive, but had far better results than anything else I tried - including overwatt bulbs, light boosters etc. etc.

BTW - don't get me started on blue bulbs :P

Cheers
Heath Young

Masosi, I have used the "Opti-Blue Platinum" 90W/100W H4's for the mains and 100W H1's in the high beams in my TF and I will not drive a car without them, much whiter light and better distance. Handy when the Kangaroos are out and about.

Make sure you get the 90/100W & the 100W globes - they make all the difference.
Line up with a mate with the same headlights (parabolic or standard) with the different globes and see the improvement. A mate who has a TE drove 150km to Autobarn and back (nearest stockist at the time) the very next day.

They are not ADR approved though.... :rant:
You can get them at AutoBarn or Supercheap.
Phillips Blue globes are ADR approved, but they are only 55W....

MitsiMonsta, doesnt the extra wattage drain the power supply too much... going from 55W to 100W is quite a jump!

And also, do they appear blueish??

MitsiMonsta, doesnt the extra wattage drain the power supply too much... going from 55W to 100W is quite a jump!
It can be a slightly higher drain, I notice it at times (low revs or idling) but since I put a high capacity (13 plate, 520cca Bosch) battery in, it's alot better. The old battery was the original, got 5 years out of it!


And also, do they appear blueish??
They certainly have a very white appearance with a hint of blue when you see them coming toward you in a sea of Yellow Halogen headlights! They aren't as blue looking as HID though.

They certainly have a very white appearance with a hint of blue when you see them coming toward you in a sea of Yellow Halogen headlights! They aren't as blue looking as HID though.

Is this the best blue you have seen, without going to HID's?

To explain - the parabolic reflector has (at the top of the reflector) a flat section. Unfortunatly, since this is the part (the top section of the reflector) that collects the light for the low beam, the output of the headlight is compromised by 25-30%.
I can understand that. I don't hava Parabolics and didn't know that the top part of the relector was compromised.


The one saving grace (and also curse) of the parabolic headlights is that they use a H7 bulb, which produces more lumens than a H4. Pity that getting a high output / overwatt H7 is very difficult.
I also didn't know that the parabolics are H7, I assumed they would be H4 like the 'standard' units. You're right, that's a biatch!


The conversion was expensive, but had far better results than anything else I tried - including overwatt bulbs, light boosters etc. etc.
I'd like to know more..... please point me in the right direction of your posts (PM it)


BTW - don't get me started on blue bulbs :P

Just in a quick couple of words that doesn't go into ranting!

Is this the best blue you have seen, without going to HID's?
No.... but for the $$$ it's pretty good. The H4 bulbs are $20/pair I think...
The H1's for the high-beam spotties are $30/pair last I checked. Or it's the other way around.

Thanx Mitsi and Heath.

Without ranting...

OK - the problem with blue bulbs is that the blue colour comes from one of two things:

1) Blue coloured 'paint' or 'ion coating'
2) Higher bulb filament temparature

Blue paint or coatings don't actually give you any more light, they actually reduce the amount of light by absorbing the non-blue (yellow) spectrum of the bulb and converting it to heat. They actually are not brighter, but if they are quite blue, then they can cause some minor fluroescence of road markings.

The ion coated bulbs (blue/green/red etc coloured bulbs, shiny coating) are awful when placed in complex corner reflector (uses a clear front, like a parabolic) because the coating on the bulb reflects light where it shouldn't be - meaning you get offensive glare(!) Biggest offenders are AU falcons, whose glare is a bit nasty as it is...

The bulbs that use a higher temparature filament (can) give off more light, are bluer than normal, but have much shorter lifetimes as a byproduct - there is always a compromise.

I have read (and tested a few) of these blue bulbs, some were OK (close to stock brightness levels), and some were so badly made that the filament was out of the focal point of the reflector (!).

Best were -

Philips Vision plus (H4 version was 30% better!) - slightly bluer
Philips Crystal Vision (15% brighter in H4) - almost a double-take for a 4300K HID bulb - but expensive!
Sylvania Silverstars (IIRC) - Quite white, not as much as crystal vision. Short lifetime.
Narva Arctic Blue H4 - cheap, lightly coated, but nice light, not offensive. Standard light output.

Worst were...

Shiny Ion coated bulbs - several of these tested at between 10 and 35% less light than a standard (Philips or Osram 60/55) H4, with one sample lasting a mere 30 minutes before turning opaque grey inside from air contamination that killed the bulb. Colours ranged from bright blue to green to red (!!) from one bulb.

Blue painted bulbs - Not as bad as their Ion coated bretheren above, most of these rated at 5%-15% below standard, except one particular bulb whose coating burnt off, and coated the test reflector with vapour, reducing output by 8% - this was measured against the reference bulb, and required the reflector to be replaced.

All of these tests were done with a light meter, in the same part of the beam, with a regulated 13.8V power supply.

Short answer - HID bulbs are not blue. They are white, with a temperature close to sunlight at midday on summer with a clear sky. The reflection of sunlight in these conditions from a piece of chrome or mirror approximates that of a colour shifted HID bulb (HID's start off somewhat yellow, and then shift to their normal icy white colour after about 150-200 hours - they then get bluer and dimmer as they age. Normally at 4300K, Philips sells a 5000K bulb that means that you can replace one bulb at a time (if you replace HID's not as a pair, you end up with a white one and a yellow one that never match))

The deep blue colour you see from HID is actually something called achromatic abberation - it comes from a prismatic effect caused by the internal shield of the projector and a lens - a halogen projector can have exactly the same effect as well.

Cheers
Heath Young

I always want to be able to see where I am going, so this is of interest to me. The Kangaroos can get rather thick around here.

You've turned me off going for the Parabolics as well. Send me some pics direct to mail.mguardian@ruralpress.com whenever you can, I really would like to see this.

You've turned me off going for the Parabolics as well.
If you are looking for better light distribution then the standard executive magna's housing are better.

Another thing, putting higher wattage globes in will increase the rate at which the aluminised housing will deteriorate and go brittle as there is more heat inside the housing.. What this means is the bright chrome will turn yellow and become brittle and crumble thus reducing the effectiveness of lighting up the road.

If you are looking for better light distribution then the standard executive magna's housing are better.

Another thing, putting higher wattage globes in will increase the rate at which the aluminised housing will deteriorate and go brittle as there is more heat inside the housing.. What this means is the bright chrome will turn yellow and become brittle and crumble thus reducing the effectiveness of lighting up the road.

By how much does it reduce the lifespan?

If you are looking for better light distribution then the standard executive magna's housing are better.

Another thing, putting higher wattage globes in will increase the rate at which the aluminised housing will deteriorate and go brittle as there is more heat inside the housing.. What this means is the bright chrome will turn yellow and become brittle and crumble thus reducing the effectiveness of lighting up the road.

Exactly - the executive's light distribution is far better than the parabolics, and also has the all important ECE left-hand flare that gives you...

Light on the left hand side of the road, so you can see pedestrians, drunks, kangaroos, dogs etc. before they step onto the road and increases your long distance vision in the left hand lane.

High wattage bulbs do tend to wreck the aluminium reflector, even standard wattage bulbs cause some minor 'fogging' of the reflector - this is made worse with coated bulbs, or not so clean bulbs. The chrome goes matt finish - yuk.

If you want more light on the road, stay away from no-name coated bulbs, fit a relay and heavy duty wiring harness to your headlights, and fit Philips Vision Plus bulbs. Keep your headlights clean - wash off those dead bugs and road dirt and make sure that they are aimed correctly. Do NOT fit headlight protectors, as they reduce your output by up to 15%. The 'light skins' that are optically interfaced to the lens are not *as* bad, only losing 5% or so.

For the more adventurous, you can dissasemble the headlamp assembly, and clean the rear of the glass (if it is yellowed/dirty) or, if you have an innumerable number (:P) of stonechips in the glass, ozeparts have the new front glass you could attach - cleaning the reflector can help if it isn't too bad, but you need to have a clue how to deal with delicate optics - the breathe, fog, drop and drag with optics tissue works, but if the reflectors are too far gone, forget it.

There are overwatt bulbs and there are overwatt bulbs too - Philips overwatt bulbs (80/100) give a lumen advantage over their standard bulbs (60/55) whereas some others just draw more current (and make more heat without much more light!).

100/120 are just plain gawdamn stupid!

Also, running overwatt bulbs at a lower voltage (due to insufficient wiring) will mean that they run yellower and last for far less time (as the halogen cycle is broken).

Cheers
Heath Young

Damn Heath!
Anything you dont know about these lights!!!! Im impressed!

Thanx heaps for the excessive information!

It started out with a little question... :)

Actually you would be rather impressed with the Hella Xenon Systems that are in the market. I had recently converted all 4 stock head lights of my Magna Xi to the Hella system for around 700 $ and man they were really good. The " white " light effect with the blue tint is very much visible and when all the high beam is in use you totally blind the opposition in the front. You can see the picture which I had taken with only the normal headlights switched on @ http://members.cardomain.com/fatboyzlim.

Tell me what you think about it.

Quite impressive! Thats exactly what I am after. (i was hoping without the price)

Where did you get that system from?

i can't remember exactly what ones i got, one pair were phillips (about $60) and the others were something else that i can't remember.... i think one was ultra white, the others opti blue.... i reckon it gave a good compromise on the blue look and good white vision.


whoah this is a very old pic! no bodykit, centre-caps i still got my mud guards!
http://home.iprimus.com.au/dchamberlain/magna front.jpg

Masosi -


You wouldnt know the shops here coz i live in the Middle East , in a small place called the United Arab Emirates. Usually such kinda lights are available through out the place. At the end of the day all those expensive white/blue bulbs will never produce the xenon effect. Ofcourse the price is high but believe me it will make you smile dude. by the way your tires and rims look kinda cool .. what kind are they? My next upgrade would be to throw the stock tires/rims and fit thicker and bigger tires/rims.

Actually you would be rather impressed with the Hella Xenon Systems that are in the market. I had recently converted all 4 stock head lights of my Magna Xi to the Hella system for around 700 $ and man they were really good. The " white " light effect with the blue tint is very much visible and when all the high beam is in use you totally blind the opposition in the front. You can see the picture which I had taken with only the normal headlights switched on @ http://members.cardomain.com/fatboyzlim.

Tell me what you think about it.

Just a quick look at these tells me that they are rebased bulbs into the standard parabolics - too much forground light, and very poor distance lighting. All that happens is you take the poor beam pattern/distribution of the parabolics and make it 2 times brighter :P

I had this sort of setup for about 2 weeks, then got the $hits and ripped it off, since it made highway driving quite dangerous (too much forground light blinds you to what is up ahead)

(Sorry, but I tell it like it is - no offense)

The very reason I ditched the parabolics in the first place... And spent the extra expense fitting Audi TT projectors in place of the low-beam parabolic reflectors.

Also - if these are H7 lowbeams, how did you get around the problem with the HID capsule return wire hitting the glare box - you would either have to cut into the glare box, (Bad) move the bulb back out of the focal point of the reflector (very bad) or these are NOT Philips bulbs but cheap korean ones - if they are blue tinted HID bulbs (ie have blue paint on them) then they are the korean bulbs that have an optimistic lifetime of 500 hours.

Just curious, as I looked about 30 different vendors for HIDS and none of them had the sort of quality I had in mind...

Cheers
Heath Young

Just a quick look at these tells me that they are rebased bulbs into the standard parabolics - too much forground light, and very poor distance lighting. All that happens is you take the poor beam pattern/distribution of the parabolics and make it 2 times brighter :P

I had this sort of setup for about 2 weeks, then got the $hits and ripped it off, since it made highway driving quite dangerous (too much forground light blinds you to what is up ahead)

(Sorry, but I tell it like it is - no offense)

The very reason I ditched the parabolics in the first place... And spent the extra expense fitting Audi TT projectors in place of the low-beam parabolic reflectors.

Also - if these are H7 lowbeams, how did you get around the problem with the HID capsule return wire hitting the glare box - you would either have to cut into the glare box, (Bad) move the bulb back out of the focal point of the reflector (very bad) or these are NOT Philips bulbs but cheap korean ones - if they are blue tinted HID bulbs (ie have blue paint on them) then they are the korean bulbs that have an optimistic lifetime of 500 hours.

Just curious, as I looked about 30 different vendors for HIDS and none of them had the sort of quality I had in mind...

Cheers
Heath Young







Before I had ventured into the search for the perfect lighting system for my car I was advised by many that there would be problems faced when fitting xenon systems onto the stock brackets because of the difference in size. After having spent almost a month searching for the perfect lighting system ( around 10 trials done with different well known brands ) i was lost for words with Hella. I will post some more better pictures later someday which will advocate my reasoning and will answer a few of your queries. I would like to say that there was difficulty in fitting the H7 pairs as it was quite longer than the stock bulbs. Each xenon bulb comes with its own Blaster unit ( almost the size of Big matchstick boxes ) and fitting that in was a bit of difficulty due to lack of space. But in the end with around 3 days of intensive work we managed to fit it in. COmes with 1 year warranty and the dealer is a close friend of mine. Finally ... i might have done something no one else has. :cool:


btw ... my next ambitious project is to fit parking sensors at tha back and change my tires/rims to something bigger.

by the way your tires and rims look kinda cool .. what kind are they? My next upgrade would be to throw the stock tires/rims and fit thicker and bigger tires/rims.

They are 18" AMG rims with 235/40/R18 Falken tyres.

They are 18" AMG rims with 235/40/R18 Falken tyres.




Since my magna is a Ei edition wont i face problems if i fit bigger rims/tires. The handbook recommends 215/60 as max and 205/60 as regulars. I have been watching a lot of comments going around in the AMC forums regarding this and get varied opinions. I would like to fit bigger tires/rims without screwing up anything else...

Just found this might be useful.

http://stores.ebay.com.au/HID-Trading

They even have the led tail/brake lights.

Tom

Heath,

I'm looking at trying to improve the lighting of my KJ Verada and would appreciate your input. In the short term, I'm going to replace all four existing bulbs. For the low beams, I'm tossing between the Philips Vision Plus and the Crystal Vision. In your opinion, which is better - more lumens at 3400degK or same lumens at 4300degK with repsect to the standard bulbs. For high beams I'm tending towards the Vision Plus for a better throw distance. Your comments please.

I agree that the parabolics are not "cutting edge" designs so, in the long term, replacements as you have suggested with other reflectors is the plot. Can you post some detailed information on what you have done? I think their maybe considerable interest in it.

I'm after good lighting, not good looks.

Roble

Heath,
I'm looking at trying to improve the lighting of my KJ Verada and would appreciate your input. In the short term, I'm going to replace all four existing bulbs. For the low beams, I'm tossing between the Philips Vision Plus and the Crystal Vision. In your opinion, which is better - more lumens at 3400degK or same lumens at 4300degK with repsect to the standard bulbs. For high beams I'm tending towards the Vision Plus for a better throw distance. Your comments please.


For lighting performance, particularly distance lighting, the Vision Plus bulbs would be a better bet, they are not as blue as the Crystal Vision, but the extra lumens are more use than blue light - the Crystal vision are rather (!) expensive, but look very nice :)

For the high beams I ended up replacing the wimpy 55W H1's with 100W H1's - Great output, but you need to think about fitting relays for these. If you want to push the envelope as far as you can (with respect to low beams), there are Philips Ralleye (sp?) 100W H7's - these have short lives unfortunatly, as they are designed for rally cars (*cough* offroad use only *cough*) but have outputs far in excess of normal (cheap) overwatt bulbs.



I agree that the parabolics are not "cutting edge" designs so, in the long term, replacements as you have suggested with other reflectors is the plot. Can you post some detailed information on what you have done? I think their maybe considerable interest in it.

I'm after good lighting, not good looks.
Roble

Detailed information... Hrmm... I fitted BMW e46/Audi TT xenon projector units - not a task for the faint of heart (or wallet) but here goes...

OK - The headlamp was opened by removing the metal clips around the glass/plastic interface, and placing in an oven, preheated to about 175 degrees celcius (and then turned OFF) and left for 10 minutes, then the two halves (lens/body) were separated with the use of metal paint scrapers/spatulas slowly and carefully - the glue (butyl mastic) is like mozzarella cheeze, and needs to be cut with a razor blade as you separate or you end up with bits on your reflectors - can be cleaned off with mineral turps but yuk :P

OK - The escutchen (plastic trim bit with circles in front of reflectors) is unscrewed (one screw) and then carefully prise the tabs out of the metal clips.

Now you can see the two separate reflectors - the low beam reflector is then removed by unscrewing the adjustment screws (carefully, these have nylon gears that break easily). The low beam reflector is removed by undoing the screws at the rear and the two gold metal pieces (that have the black nylon adjustment pegs) are kept for later.

A piece of 3mm aluminium plate is cut to accomodate the projector (I will have to find the plans for you to get the dimensions if you ever want to do this) and is drilled/tapped to fit the adjustment pieces in place. (This is oversimplified - need plans to understand properly)

A 75mm rolled chrome exhaust tip is cut down to 2" long (ish) and is then sprayed (inside only, mask off properly) with heatproof paint (to stop corrosion of the mild steel) and a piece of self adhesive rubber foam, 5mm thick is placed around the inside peripheracy as an interference fit for the lens end of the projector (this is the trim ring seen from the outside).
The trim ring needs to be held in place permanently with black silastic carefully applied to the inside lip (without getting it on the lens - very important)

A piece of mirrored acrylic plastic is then cut to accomodate the trim piece of the projector, and covers the 'open' section of the escutchen (need dimensions for this) - this is held in place with black silastic (again).

Fit the projector assembly back in place in the headlight casing, clean off all of the fingerprints with metho on a lint free cloth (it will drive you insane otherwise) and reassemble.

You need to cut the waterproof rubber boot where the bulb would poke out so that it fits around the projector bulb holder / ballast plug. To completely waterproof, tie a cable tie around the boot end where it covers the ballast plug.

A very summarised version of how to fit xenon projetors into a magna parabolic headlight - your projectors need to be the correct version as well (left-hand flare or flat (compromises long distance vision)). You also need the ballasts and bulbs, a relay setup and an idea of where to put the ballasts (I put mine under the water container for the windscreen washer on the left hand side, and the other under the fusebox on the right hand side - the engine bay is tight(!)).

There are other projectors around as well, depending on how clever you are, there are also self contained units such as the Hella DE H7 Low Beam Headlamp Assembly, 12V (P/N 1029-12V), or Hella DE H1 Low Beam Headlamp Assembly (probably recommended as you can get 100W H1's).

These are designed for creating new headlamps, so you could 'roll your own' (to a similar design to the EL/EF XR6/8's) so to speak, making your own brackets and fibreglass moulds - believe me, I almost went this way - especially since the 100mm versions can be fitted (with some minor work) with D2S xenons.

Some EXCELLENT reference sites are -
http://faqlight.carpassion.info - headlamp mods and xenon conversions
http://www.hidplanet.com

Cheers
Heath Young

Heath,

Many thanks for the previous post, it has given me much food for thought. One more question though, I thought high wattage globes, ie 100 watt, was a no-no for "plastic" headlights, reflectors, etc, because of the heat generated. Have you had any problems with your high beams in this regard?

Roble

I currrently have these in my low beam H7's.

I have also tried the Hella Cool Blues and while the current ones aren't as bright as the Cool Blues they give off a more whiter light with an almost blue tinge. (More wank factor)

The Cool blues have a very slight blue tint on the outer glass of the globe while the G4's have a deep blue tint.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~thw01f/vrx/globe-front.jpg

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~thw01f/vrx/globe-side.jpg

I have the glass (Verada) headlights, rather than the later model plastic lensed ones - looking for plastic lensed ones because the glass messes up the beam pattern a little, it has a lens effect that causes the cutoff to be not as sharp as it could be.

The problem with high wattage bulbs is also the UV output affecting the lexan in plastic headlights too...

Cheers
Heath Young

What would be the best for the new (TL) headlights?

The TL's use a H4 as low beam, and H1(?) as a high beam - I would go with the Vision plus for the H4 - the H1 high beam only uses a small amount of reflector, so the biggest gains would be with the H4 bulb.

Cheers
Heath Young