OUR GARAGE - LET THERE BE LIGHT

Because I haven’t had any press cars at my disposal recently, I’ve spent the last three weeks of December driving Deux Smurf, and I was rudely reminded of how dim her headlights are. In fact, at one point I pulled over to check whether they were actually working.

If you remember, a few months ago in our new product section we featured the Night Breaker 200 bulbs from OSRAM. They sounded ideal, so after chatting to OSRAM they kindly supplied me with a pair to evaluate. Like any older car, fitting the Night Breakers wasn’t a problem, simply open the bonnet, undo the odd clip and swap the bulbs over - a 2 minute job if that.

Compare that to something I read on Twitter the other week when someone’s daughter took their small EV Volkswagen to the 'stealership' and got stung for £300+VAT to change one singular bulb.

Progress? ....I don’t think so.

I don’t want to teach Grandma to suck eggs or anything, but if you’re changing bulbs, don’t forget to use nitrile gloves to minimise skin contact with the main glass.

Why, you ask?

I was always told that the reason why some bulbs fail prematurely is that grease transfers from your skin and creates a hot spot on the bulb when in operation, and the bulbs heat up causing them to die.

Unfortunately I didn’t take a before photo, but just imagine what a pair of candles would look like compared to the image below, to say that they’ve improved visibility is an understatement.

Being halogen, the light isn't as pure white as a pair of LEDs, but they’ve made one heck of a difference, not only are they brighter, but they also produce a more even spread of light.

With up to 200% more brightness and up to 20% whiter light, OSRAM claim that their Night Breaker 200 bulbs are their brightest halogen automotive light yet, and so far can’t disagree.

They’ve made such a huge difference, that I’m just sat here wondering why I didn’t change her bulbs sooner? Next time I won't procrastinate so much!