is it me or is it nearly impossible to change headlight bulbs.....

[ukreddevil]

Evening all,

One of my headlight bulbs went on the beeza the other evening, i have finally bought some new ones (I have had to drive my dads mondeo at night!!!!) but on first inspection i am either going to have to take out the battery or the headlight itself? And to boot the sodding side light went on the same side this evening, hopefully i have bought some half decent replacements from halfords to last a few weeks as i might get hids if i can see a good deal, now i dont have small hands so anyone got a good guide of what to do.... Thankies

 

[RaggedLob]

Battery is the best choice, an easy job of no more than 5 mins, just unscrew terminals and bolt, chuck battery out, unclip the back cover, and there should be enough room to change them round..

i'm guessing because yours is a Diesel there's less room? You could have a small party under my 1.2's bonnet

Oh, and the sidelights are a pain in the arse, use a pair of pliers and be brave

Or, Halfords will fit both for you for under £10 (not that i'm biased )

 

[BKR]

iv become an expert at getting the front bumper off so i do it that way

 

[Dan_T]

long reach pliers and a few f words for the sidelights

 

[Cal91]

I have a 1.4 petrol so theres plenty of room, no need to remove the battery.
But the sidelights (which I changed to LED's today) were fine, I just tugged on the wire a little (only lightly) and they both popped out. But on my last Ibiza, I had to use some long nose pliers on both sides! A right pain, but once they are out, they are loose enough to just come out with a tug on the wires.

 

[Art0ir]

I know in my Leon TDi it was quite tight on passenger side fitting my HIDs, would imagine Beezer is worse?

As for sidelights, trick seems to be to get a screwdriver and push the little tabs in and try and wiggle the damn things out. I cut my fingers to bits doing them!

 

[jaz205gti]

my main beam went on my tdi, god its impossible had to take it to my mechanic, he did it in 30sec flat. although side light is out to but he said battery out for that one so i left it!

First car iv owed where I couldn’t even change a light bulb!

 

[.Phase]

took me about 2 hours but I changed dipped bulbs, main beam and sidelights without taking anything out

drivers side sidelight is the hardest!

 

[Aimez]

Drive it to me Dave I will do it with lots of swearing! It is a pain but can be done I wouldn't like the idea of removing the battery! IF you get HID (unless you get the slim ballast like me and a few others) you have to try and fir them down in the wing that is even worse but worth it as the amount of light it puts on the road is amazing!

 

[darkhorse]

Never had much of a problem changing the bulbs. It's tight but if you think about it and twist your hand a bit before trying it's pretty easy. Took me 2 mins to change main headlight bulbs and 5 mins max for sidelights. Not tried the indicators but I suspect they would be the hardest

 

[FR3000]

Headlight bulbs are ok to do there just a knack to it, the hard part is getting the cover on and off - if you approach from inside the wing next to the battery you can slide your hand along to the clips.

If you really fancy a right mare of a job try an indicator or side light bulb

 

[Jimski]

Well seeing as we have a nice little bulb thread going, what kind of bulbs are people using? I dont want HIDS and used to use a company called Aceparts for all my bulbs.

Had just normal Xenon styley bulbs in the leon, im sure they were advertise as rally bulbs but yet passed MOT, would like something similar in the Ibiza.

Can anyone vouch for any websites/companies doing good priced bulbs?


Jimski

 

[FR3000]

Could try http://www.1stautobulbs.com/

I got a set of Bosch +50% bulbs from there. They didn't make a massive difference but gave a whiter light and noticed better white line, cat eye and road sign reflection with them.

Also Phillips extreme bulbs are supposed to be alright, not used them myself but they were given a good rating by auto express. Place fo them is http://www.powerbulbs.com/

I tried Osram Silver Star bulbs but didn't really see the point as they were pretty much the same as standard bulbs.

 

[Cal91]

I don't see the point in Halogen bulbs now :\. I got HID's and I have never looked back since! They are brill!

Need something doing to my main beams now though

 

[Aimez]

I tried all them extreme halogens they really don't make much difference HID are one of THE best things I ever did to my car can see so much more.

 

[Dan_T]

try mtec cosmos jimski nice white light with a little blue. cheap of ebay aswell

 

[Jimski]

Cheers Dan will have a look at them. Am i right in thinking i will want a set of H7, and two sets of H3 for main and fogs?

Do MTEC Cosmos cover all those? Im not being thick, just havent pick the car up yet so just buying stuff before i get it!!


Jimski

 

[nam]

i have changed a few headlight bulbs and many sidelight one on my FR TDI and never once took the bumper or bat out, ok the side lights are a pain in the arse but headlight bulbs are easy, fitted HID's last weekend as well without taking anything off. there's no need imo

 

[Dan_T]

mines pre facelift so mine are h4 but i think it is h7 for the twin reflector headlights

 

[Aimez]

mines pre facelift so mine are h4 but i think it is h7 for the twin reflector headlights

Yep H7 for twins