Postby aussie027 » Thu Aug 14, 2014 4:18 am
Well since apparently no one else on our forums uses these globes or saw this post to comment I went out today and bought them. I did quite a bit of research on the net and found virtually everyone was very happy with them.
I replaced low & high beams and the park lights, 2 of which came with each set of globes.
Watch out re prices and shop around, some places are charging $100/pair whilst other stores are $65. Some online stores in mid 50's plus S & H.
The lights are whiter than standard globes, all the Philips catalogues I could find for them said they were 3700K but on the box it says 3350K.
Lows- HB4- 9006XVSM 51W
Highs- HB3- 9005XVSM 60W
I tested the old and new and made some measurements on a dark unlit sports ground access road close to my home.
These globes do what they claim, add approx 35m to their coverage distance over standard globes!! Especially on low beam.
My low beam coverage is better to both the sides and distance with absolute max range out to over 100M.
High beam range is in excess of 250M, probably closer to 300M.
WARNING--
Replacing the existing globes and the park lights was a F!@#$% absolute Ball Buster to put it damn politely!!
Mitsubishi engineers should be taken out and shot for their design efforts and I am not kidding!!
I will be making a complaint to Mitsubishi Australia directly.
Because the chassis framework covers the rear of the headlights It is almost totally impossible to get your man hands in to replace anything without removing numerous nearby items, let alone see what you need to.
The manual instructions are wrong and also incomplete on these points.
On the LHS your head and torso will be under the hood and behind its vertical holding arm and your arms on either side of it. If you knock it out of its hole the hood will be down on your head.
The park bulb replacement requires you to work completely blind and by feel when trying to remove and especially to replace the holder in the mounting hole.
The low beams are difficult to do and again almost impossible to see anything before getting your hands in there then it is all by feel.
The high beams were a nightmare on both sides and required the disconnection of a wiring harness and the removal of its bracket on the LHS and on the RHS the removal of the radiator overflow tank and the washer fluid filler neck.
Even then it is a very difficult fit trying to get a grip on the connector and at same time to LIFT , NOT PUSH the tab as it says in the manual, to pop it off, it was all very painful, my knuckles are red , bruised and sore.
I am pretty dextrous and my hands are not overly big for a large man but I had to get into contortionist positions with arm, hand, fingers and head to try and get this all done.
IF you have very small and strong hands/fingertips you may have an easier time of it, maybe!!
An extremely unpleasant and long experience to do what should have been a very short and simple job. Yeah right!
Unlike in the older RWD cars there is no room what so ever under the hood of most FWD modern cars to do even the simplest of tasks.
OK my rant over, I hope that will help anyone who has to replace a headlight globe. Cheers.
I FIND YOUR LACK OF FAITH DISTURBING......
