I recently upgraded my stock headlights to the Cibie E-codes with Osram Night Breaker H4 bulbs. The difference is pretty staggering. I drive home from work at night and through several rural areas with deer. After too many close calls and not being able to see deer until it was almost too late I decided to upgrade. Total cost was about $120 and all parts were ordered from Amazon. It was a plug and play operation and took about 12 minutes per side.


These pics were taken on the same road at the same spot at the same time of night.
Before...


and After...



I really recommend these for anyone that intends to do any night driving on a regular basis.

The new shiny glass draws attention to the faded and cracked headlight doors so I'll be replacing those soon.

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1985 300D (California)

Looks good!

I have Hella E-codes in my Mr2. Like night and day, WELL worth the cost.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

Thanks man. As far as upgrades go I considered this one a necessity and not costly at all considering my peace of mind and safety. I've gone from other drivers being able to know I'm there because my lights are on to actually being able to see the road.

The cibie housings produce light in a wider pattern so I can see both shoulders. My only concern is when I turn the brights on its a straight beam down the road and I lose a little side visibility. They're insanely bright in bright mode. I'm glad I stuck with factory wattage, 55/60. Any brighter and I'd get flashed at by oncoming traffic.

Well done. I've used Hella and Bosch H4's before, I've yet to try Cibie's but they are expensive, and we not in my budget back then. Now I have the Bosch Euro lamps. Very happy, with the same Osram Nightbreakers Unlimited.

Make sure you also aim your Cibie's properly. Here's a tip: with US lamps, the right side headlamp can be aimed a little offset to the shoulder for increased visibility.

When you turn on the high beams, the idea is you are looking further ahead, and not on the side. If you want side visibility with high beams, look into rewiring the fogs so they turn on independently of the low/high beams. Instead of obtaining power from the low beams, basically you rewire it so they obtain power from the park lights. When you switch on the high beams, the low beams turn off. Therefore you lose the fogs too.

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http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7...144c3fc1dc.jpg

I agree, these are a necessity for any sealed beam equipped vehicle. I've read that the Cibie's are superior to Hella's, the next light I buy will definitely be Cibie.

I haven't aimed them properly yet. I have noticed the driver side is oriented a little to far left and the passenger seems to be aimed to the right. Probably an attempt by the PO to actually see the sides of the road with the OE lamps. Couldn't see much in front so why not see to the side.

For others interested, rallylights.com and of course danielsternlighting.com are also good sources for solid lighting options.

I prefer to work with Daniel Stern despite his higher pricing. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of all things automotive-lighting and has yet to screw up an order. While Rallylights eventually gets it right, they have yet to get an order correct for me on the first time.

Pretty sure PP doesn't sell these same products, if there's a conflict then I'll happily edit my post.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

Looks great but I would say to anyone who is looking for more light output: Start with the grounds!

Really, the ground design on these old cars is not very good, compounded by the age of these vehicles (corrosion). Most modern cars have the ground wire going from the battery to the body and to the engine. These old cars only have a ground to the body. Often, these ground wires are original and highly corroded. What's worse is some cars, like the 116, have a ground wire that goes to a bracket that is held in place by 4 spot welds. Age and battery acid will make the resistance much higher than it should be, especially if those welds break.

We recently upgraded the grounds on my brother's W116 300SD when we installed a new 150 AMP alternator to run an electric cooling fan and eventual radio upgrade. We ran two 4 gauge grounds and I believe two 4 or 6 gauge charge wires. It's still running the same old sealed beams that were on his parts car (no clue on how old the bulbs are) but the light output is much, much better. If he went to Cibie E-codes, I'm sure it will be even better. He originally had euros in the car but needs to replate the reflectors and hasn't gotten around to it (he has a pretty good replating kit).

Ground wires are not too expensive at auto parts stores but we grabbed them out of some Saabs in our local parts yard. Braided ground straps are a good idea in order to reduce radio static.

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Current: 1975 450SEL, 83 300D, 88 Yugo GVX, 90 300D OM603 swap, 91 F150 4.6 4v swap, 93 190E Sportline LE 3.0L M104 swap, 93 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt, 03 Sprinter, 06 E500 4Matic wagon.