I have had my 2013 Kuga 2lt diesel Titanium now for a couple of years and it has proved to be an excellent car. Apart from one thing, the halogen headlights are pathetic! I live in N. Ireland with the border a few miles away and I spend quite a bit of my time in west Donegal complete with it's windy roads, no footpaths and suicidal pedestrians wearing dark clothes. Recently after driving at night I have ended up with a splitting headache due I think to squinting while trying to see as the headlights are in my opinion dangerously dim. Spring is coming but I really can't go through another winter with these lights!

So I bought one of those LED kits off Ebay as an experiment. £20 quid to see if there was any difference. And to be honest there isn't apart from the dipped beam showing up the side of the road far better which was one of the things I was looking for. High beam was useless with the LED's but then again hardly surprising for £20. No flashing from other drivers either which was a pleasant surprise.

I also have a pair of 80 watt halogen bulbs for the dip but am a bit wary of fitting those in case I do start blinding other drivers and/or wiring problems with the extra heat. Most of the driving I do is on dipped beam due to there being a surprising amount of cars coming the other way on these narrow roads so it is the dipped beam I am trying to improve. Although a better high beam would be a bonus.

I stress that I am not trying to look cool as I am 65 years old and my bling days are far behind me! I also of course realise that part of the problem is my night vision deteriorating due to my age, I do wear prescription glasses for driving so my eyesight for daytime driving is excellent but I feel I could do with a little help vis a vis better bulbs or LED's. And yes I know that LEDs aren't road legal but we are talking Donegal here.

So basically I am looking for suggestions, best LEDs that others use, kits preferably or better bulbs bearing in mind that I have tried all the 130% more light expensive bulbs out there. None of them have proved to be any better than the stock halogens that came with the car.

Jerry

Not sure if your major problem is the dip or main beam when using halogen, I assume there seperate bulbs for dip and main beam on a Kuga? Do you have a levelling adjustment in the car to compensate for load ? I liked the lights in my last Capris, with the twin headlights, you could adjust the dip seperately from the main. This facility has gone with modern single units, and in my opinion, some modern cars appear to have dipped beams that run out about two cars lengths in front of them!

I have two cars with just H4s, which I generally find acceptable, and another with HIDs which I find too bright because of road sign reflection, and the reinforcement of the dark in the un-illuminated areas. For the HIDs, I have replaced both headlight units, as the reflectors were blackened by the excess heat over14 years, and the beam was just awful.

I have found that some uprated halogens have a much reduced life, so stick to standard but good quality replacements.

I am a little(!) older, and driving around the Hampshire lanes do not give me a problem, unless I have a modern car with excessively bright LEDs driving towards me, when I cannot see a thing !

Hi Jerry,

The H7 dipped beam bulbs MUST be fan-less (so that they secure in the housing properly) and search for 360 degree light output too so that all of the reflector gets light

Same for the H1 high beam bulbs

And the same for the H8 or H11 Fog lamp bulbs, but these can be fan ones as they rotate and lock into position

Ensure you connect the fog lamp bulbs with the correct polarity

I find turning on the fog lamps on dark country roads helps also

Failing that, if you want to just upgrade the standard candles then fit either Philips Extreme Vision or Osram nightbreaker Lasers

But they're only slightly better

Ensure your manual headlamp levelling dial is set to "0" and have the beam tested to ensure it's in the correct position

16 minutes ago, DaveT70 said:

I find turning on the fog lamps on dark country roads helps also

Definitely agree with that - it also helps with pothole detection !

24 minutes ago, Paulkp said:

Not sure if your major problem is the dip or main beam when using halogen, I assume there seperate bulbs for dip and main beam on a Kuga? Do you have a levelling adjustment in the car to compensate for load ? I liked the lights in my last Capris, with the twin headlights, you could adjust the dip seperately from the main. This facility has gone with modern single units, and in my opinion, some modern cars appear to have dipped beams that run out about two cars lengths in front of them!

I have two cars with just H4s, which I generally find acceptable, and another with HIDs which I find too bright because of road sign reflection, and the reinforcement of the dark in the un-illuminated areas. For the HIDs, I have replaced both headlight units, as the reflectors were blackened by the excess heat over14 years, and the beam was just awful.

I have found that some uprated halogens have a much reduced life, so stick to standard but good quality replacements.

I am a little(!) older, and driving around the Hampshire lanes do not give me a problem, unless I have a modern car with excessively bright LEDs driving towards me, when I cannot see a thing !

Yep, separate bulbs for dip and main. Level is correct and two car lengths is right! I really think that there are no good quality replacements anymore, everything is a race to the bottom. I go to England every year for a couple of months and stay with a friend in Somerset, it is during the summer admittedly but the ambient light is always far more pronounced because of the much higher population density and far more lighting on the main roads which seems to reflect back onto the smaller roads. Donegal is much darker even in the summer. Thanks for your comment though.

Jerry

19 minutes ago, DaveT70 said:

Hi Jerry,

The H7 dipped beam bulbs MUST be fan-less (so that they secure in the housing properly) and search for 360 degree light output too so that all of the reflector gets light

Same for the H1 high beam bulbs

And the same for the H8 or H11 Fog lamp bulbs, but these can be fan ones as they rotate and lock into position

Ensure you connect the fog lamp bulbs with the correct polarity

I find turning on the fog lamps on dark country roads helps also

Failing that, if you want to just upgrade the standard candles then fit either Philips Extreme Vision or Osram nightbreaker Lasers

But they're only slightly better

Ensure your manual headlamp levelling dial is set to "0" and have the beam tested to ensure it's in the correct position

Car just went through MOT two days ago, with the standard bulbs of course, so level was checked then, level is at 0 so the setup is correct. Good tip about the fog lights! Hadn't thought about that. I have tried both the Phillips and Osram bulbs and I found that there was no appreciable difference in light output from either. Certainly not the 130% better claim that these companies print on the packaging. The only difference I found was in the price vs basic Ring halogen, a lot more expensive for no result.

I shall keep in mind your advice about the dipped beam bulbs while I keep searching, thank you.

Jerry

12 minutes ago, Paulkp said:

Definitely agree with that - it also helps with pothole detection !

An excellent tip, something that had never occurred to me before, I wonder can I get upgraded fog light bulbs!

Just so you're all aware, it is illegal to use fog lights when it's not foggy in the UK.

An awkward copper could pull you for it.

15 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Just so you're all aware, it is illegal to use fog lights when it's not foggy in the UK.

An awkward copper could pull you for it.

Yeah, I am aware of that but believe me you have a better chance of winning the UK lottery or even the Irish lottery than being pulled over by a Guard in Donegal! So if it improves lighting performance especially on the sides of the road I will turn them on. I would rather be pulled over for improper fog light use than run down some inebriated idiot staggering home from the pub on an unlighted road with no pavement.

30 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Just so you're all aware, it is illegal to use fog lights when it's not foggy in the UK.

An awkward copper could pull you for it.

It looks like it's illegal to say your don't like kier starmer at the moment either

But, just to clarify, I don't

1 hour ago, xox101 said:

I wonder can I get upgraded fog light bulbs!

LED fog lamp bulbs work really well.

As advised in my post, just make sure they have 360 degree light output and connect with correct polarity or they'll either not work or flicker

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

it is illegal to use fog lights when it's not foggy in the UK.

.........so why on newish vehicles do they illuminate with the merest hint of steering lock.......????

And have you seen the latest idiocy from VAG ? They project snowflakes and exclamation marks from their latest LED headlights on to the road surface - but perhaps they think it is April 1st.....

23 minutes ago, Paulkp said:

.........so why on newish vehicles do they illuminate with the merest hint of steering lock.......????

And have you seen the latest idiocy from VAG ? They project snowflakes and exclamation marks from their latest LED headlights on to the road surface - but perhaps they think it is April 1st.....

Cornering lights only come on at low speed. And only on the side you're steering into.

Link to the VAG snowflake projectors? I haven't heard of that before.

26 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Link to the VAG snowflake projectors?

It was in a newspaper........

so no link!

Yes, as regular posters will know, I am a confirmed Luddite and buy a newspaper every day to prove it !

I have found this:

Audi MediaCenter

“Digital lighting provides added safety”

Michael Kruppa, Head of Front Lighting Development, has been responsible for various areas of development at Audi for more than ten years. Together with his development team, he plays a key role in en

Audi MediaCenter

Lighting technology

Audi is a pioneer in automotive lighting technology. The digitalization of light enables neu lighting solutions, improves safety, and continues to drive progress. In addition to its function, the ligh

Edited March 4Mar 4 by Paulkp

Interesting. I assume it would only flash that up once? It would be annoying permanently in view!

(Also don't see what this has to do with fog lights. Other drivers can't be dazzled by a projection on the road surface, unlike a conventional bulb).

Tom, agreed, nothing to do with foglights, but a comment on the relentless march of unnecessary tech in cars. Foglights illuminating with minimal steering lock is totally unnecessary, and when you have a junction on a bend, will it give misleading information to an oncoming driver ?

56 minutes ago, Paulkp said:

Tom, agreed, nothing to do with foglights, but a comment on the relentless march of unnecessary tech in cars. Foglights illuminating with minimal steering lock is totally unnecessary, and when you have a junction on a bend, will it give misleading information to an oncoming driver ?

There's a conflict of interest here unfortunately.

Earlier in this thread there were complaints about the roadside not being illuminated. That's exactly what cornering lights were designed to do, without dazzling oncoming traffic by having both sides illuminated together.

However, in the real world they just aren't effective because they're still a single fixed light source.

The sad reality is that we do have the technology to massively improve car lighting using dynamic LED matrix boards and forward facing cameras etc to pick out the dark areas while also preventing dazzling other drivers. But the cost is prohibitive for normal cars so we're usually stuck with old tech or half a job, which ends up being expensive while also not being effective. Just like most things manufactured today.