headlight options

[capnamerica]

hey, ive got sealed beams now and i know my options are basicall to convert to ellipsoids, euro ellipsoids, hella h4's or cibies. what i wanna know is which would you choose if you could have any? and what are cibies and where do u get them, ive never actually seen them

[F|2eeSTy|e]

I like my euro ellipsoids a lot... having the older sealed beams before, I would not want to go back.

[capnamerica]

ive ridden in cars with euro ellipsoids before, and they are awesome, but i just wanna see all my options first

[franz]

I really like the Cibie CSR, and the regular ones were good too. Check my website for links to Cibie info.

[Inspar8r]

I would sgguest ellips. They control the light the best, they look updated, US and Euros are the same except for the city light and smiley, along with the different cutoff pattern.

Just looks for a cheap set of decent used or new ellips.

[franz]

I would sgguest ellips. They control the light the best, they look updated, US and Euros are the same except for the city light and smiley, along with the different cutoff pattern.

Just looks for a cheap set of decent used or new ellips.

I would suggest ellips too but just offering options he was looking for. Everyone seems to prefer the inferior light of the ellipsoids because they look better when not on.

[Digitalwave]

Euro ellipsoids are the best looking... only lights I've actually had experiance with are sealed beams and Hella H4's though.

[M-technik-3]

I actually like the early factory euro stock lamps. They come with hella's and cibie's not much differance in performance. But They are cheap. Other than that I do love the looks of my smoked Hella's in my Lachsilber M-tech car. They offer great contrast.

I won't be doing smoked on my US black car it will be just to much black.

[Digitalwave]

I actually like the early factory euro stock lamps. They come with hella's and cibie's not much differance in performance. But They are cheap. Other than that I do love the looks of my smoked Hella's in my Lachsilber M-tech car. They offer great contrast.

I won't be doing smoked on my US black car it will be just to much black.

Got a pic of them? Are they sealed beam?

[Brian 89 325i]

Whats with the Cibies? Ive heard of them once or twice but whats actually special about them?

Brian

[franz]

Whats with the Cibies? Ive heard of them once or twice but whats actually special about them?

Brian

The high beam CSR goes 2 miles!
The low beam is perfect form, even and sharp. They have good optics. Hella Ellipsoids are good, they just don't let as much light through as Cibie CSR.
Basic Cibie aren't as good as ellipsoids, but they are better than H4/H1 Hella.

Check out the link on my website for Cibie, read up. It's very educational whether you are looking or not.

[Brian 89 325i]

That was a cool site, ill have to read the rest a little later.
Do you think it would be a good idea to get a set of Euro ellips. and use the Cibie highs? Or what, i like the look of the euro lows and they put out pretty good light but i really enjoy a freakishly bright set of highs for those late night adventures. Thanks

Brian

[franz]

That was a cool site, ill have to read the rest a little later.
Do you think it would be a good idea to get a set of Euro ellips. and use the Cibie highs? Or what, i like the look of the euro lows and they put out pretty good light but i really enjoy a freakishly bright set of highs for those late night adventures. Thanks

Brian

One of the Roundel editors adapted Cibie's highs ellipsoid buckets but it's not straightforward. I would stick to one or the other. A great option for high beams is Hella Micro DE Xenon driving lights.

By the way I just noticed this is in appearance and cosmetic, I personally don't think lights fall into that category. Want to look cool, just get a set of ellipsoids.

[Inspar8r]

Franz, ellipsoids are far from inferior.

If you look at light efficiency, the ellips will blow away the CSRs. Thereason being is that they control and project the light better than the CSRs. The light is even, and controlled by the internal parts OF THE ASSEMBLY.

Now the CSRs have more light OUTPUT, since the light is not blocked by a shield. But they are not very efficient in providing even lighting, more of a pencil beam than a flood light. The throw of the lights are unreal, but the spread is just average. The light is controlled by the internal parts of the BULB, so and inferior bulb will detract from the appearance of CSRs.

If you see the assemblies that BMW uses with their XENON lights, there is not one BMW with xenons that do not have ellipsoids. The basic design has yet to change from the design on the e30 ellipsoids, with the exception from the shield design, autolevelers and bixenons.

[franz]

Franz, ellipsoids are far from inferior.

If you look at light efficiency, the ellips will blow away the CSRs. Thereason being is that they control and project the light better than the CSRs. The light is even, and controlled by the internal parts OF THE ASSEMBLY.

Now the CSRs have more light OUTPUT, since the light is not blocked by a shield. But they are not very efficient in providing even lighting, more of a pencil beam than a flood light. The throw of the lights are unreal, but the spread is just average. The light is controlled by the internal parts of the BULB, so and inferior bulb will detract from the appearance of CSRs.

If you see the assemblies that BMW uses with their XENON lights, there is not one BMW with xenons that do not have ellipsoids. The basic design has yet to change from the design on the e30 ellipsoids, with the exception from the shield design, autolevelers and bixenons.

Well put, Nick, but I will attest to the CSR low beam light being very well distributed. I agree that for Xenon, ellipsoid design is superior, as there is ample light that losing a little bit is inconsequential, and it needs focusing more than halogen.

I really like factory Xenon, I had it for over 2 years in a 1998 540. But I also like how the Cibie lights up road signs on the right, and the CSR high beam is superior to anything I have ever used, except dedicated driving lights. With lights like with most things there is usually a tradeoff somewhere.