RE: You're-a-peein' lights?

[Aleksander Mierzwa <alex@matrix.com.pl>]

Arryn, if the euro lights are gonna cost you $500 (and it sure is a lot
of money), maybe there is another solution? Lot of cars are brought from
USA here nowadays and the law requires that the headlamps be converted
to E-spec ones. I see that often the plastic lens of original headlamps
are grinded and polished to create flat, transparent windows and then a
small rectangular (or larger round, in case of cars with large headlamps
like Aerostar) Hella lamps are placed inside the original ones. My
mother's Renault still has DOT headlamps which I'll have to convert
before the next inspection (it's gonna be April 1998) and I'm
considering using this method, as no lights from any European car (even
Renault) seem to fit without the need to manufacture custom brackets
etc. Even better possibility: get some good fog and driving lamps. I've
bought a projector beam fog lights and they are _excellent_ addition to
low beams (even though I have euro headlamps) and no one has flashed his
highs on me yet, except for one person, but he/she had one of the
headlamps out and another one seemed to be 30W or so - driving in total
darkness you are gonna be blinded by battery torch :-) I also haven't
been pulled over yet - although running fog lamps in good weather is
illegal ;-) The best $50 I've ever spent. 

Aleksander Mierzwa
Warsaw, Poland
mailto:alex@matrix.com.pl
87 Audi 5000CS turbo (mine)
88 Renault Medallion wagon (mom's)
91 mountain bike (just in case both cars broke at the same time :-)

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	enzeder@ix.netcom.com [SMTP:enzeder@ix.netcom.com]
> Sent:	Tuesday, October 21, 1997 9:22 PM
> To:	alex@matrix.com.pl; quattro@coimbra.ans.net
> Subject:	RE: You're-a-peein'  lights?
> 
> OK folks,
> 
> please remember that you're preaching to the choir here and I'm
> playing devil's advocate.  I've told my Dad that I didn't want to just
> put overwattage 
> bulbs in my car (although I know bulb efficiency does matter-which is
> why we use halogens) and that it was the design of the reflector and
> lens that made 
> the difference, I was after hard data.  Let's assume that the "bulbs"
> we refer to are of equal wattage and equal efficiency.  Another quote
> from Dad: 
> "well if YOU spent over $500 on lights you would WANT to say they were
> much better too".  Dad even concedes that the E-spec lights might be
> better, just 
> not that much.  
> [...]
> Please try to enlighten me so that I may enlighten my father, and the
> drive home.
> 
> A copy of the specs would be interesting, but I doubt that'll happen
> (who has copies of those lying around?).
> 
> Arryn.
>