Re: xenon's vs projector

[ti@amb.org (Ti Kan)]

merlin writes:
> > Huh?  What do you mean by "get"?  Are you talking about options on an
> > Audi you're thinking of getting, like an A6 or A8 with the
> > "electronics" package?
> No, aftermarket for my 1996 A4q
> Kevin

Don't be fooled by misleading marketing.  The Xenon (HID) lights that
come on high-end cars like the A8/A6 have to be designed-in to the
whole lamp unit.  If you're only buying replacement bulbs for your
stock lights, then whatever the claim is, they are *not* true Xenon
(merely regular halogen bulbs with Xenon gas charge, which may or may
not offer higher light performance than stock).  There are also some
conversions being offered to put an Xenon/HID unit into the stock light
housing (with the stock lens and reflector), but this will probably not
work optimally because the lens and reflector are not designed for
this type of bulb.

I suppose you can get the true Xenon lamp (entire housing + HID bulb
from the 2000 S4 or A4 so equipped) and retrofit into your car, but
that would be a very expensive proposition.  The lighting is better,
but I am not sure it's a couple thousand dollars better.

The stock A4 H7 lights are actually reasonably good.  They put out
more light than H4 bulbs of similar wattage.  The US versions of these
lights have the sharp cutoff pattern just like the Euros, but regretably
The little tilt-up in the beam pattern to the passenger side (to light up
road signs, etc.) is not there.  Changing to the Euro lamp housing and
its lens/reflector design may fix this.

-Ti
96 A4 2.8 quattro
84 5000S 2.1 turbo
80 4000 2.0
-- 
    ///  Ti Kan                Vorsprung durch Technik
   ///   AMB Research Laboratories, Sunnyvale, CA. USA
  ///    ti@amb.org
 //////  http://metalab.unc.edu/tkan/
///