Ford “Blue Vision” Bulbs
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n
our trip back from Fiesta In The Park, one of
Kermit’s dipped headlight bulbs blew.
Now before this, I had been planning a test of headlights and bulbs, to provide
an authority, but given that I needed new bulbs, and after some investigation,
I decided to try Ford’s “Blue Vision” uprated replacement bulbs.
Now
Halfords stock a range of replacement bulbs, including “All Weather” (reputed
to improve visibility in rain, snow and fog) as well as traditional
high-output units, quoted as providing an additional 30% light. Unfortunately, the price of these was enough
to make my eyes water: £17 per bulb.
Ordinary Halfords bulbs were just £7 each.
So
I rang my local Ford dealership.
Ordinary Ka dipped headlight bulbs were around £8 each, and after being
put on hold for a little bit, the parts chap confirmed Ford’s “Blue Vision”
bulbs were up for sale for a tenner each, although when I rang back, the price
had changed to £19·13 for the kit (encompassing two bulbs and a swear box
for use when fitting).
When
Charlie collected the kit, and I got my hands on them, I noted that they were
Philips VisionPlus bulbs, not even a hint of Ford written on them besides the
Ford parts label.
Fitting
The Ka’s
headlight bulbs are notorious for being difficult to replace, and this is the
reason why there are no pictures of Dervy with his hand stuffed under Kermit’s
bonnet fiddling to get the headlight put together again: the chances are that
the camera would have been thrown!
However,
these pictures should illustrate just how tight it is under there. There’s just about enough room to get a small
hand in there, but guess what size my hands are? And no torch, so there’s no light with which
to be able to tell if you have the bits in the right position.
The
procedure sounds easy enough. The
headlamp is sealed at the back by a tensioned plastic unit, which slots in at
the bottom and is held in place by a metal clip. Unclip the seal, prise it away, then remove the wiring connector
from the bulb. Then, unclip the bulb
from the housing and carefully retrieve it from the lamp. Substitute the new bulb in its place,
reattach the clip (which is fiddly), put the wiring connector back into
place (a little bit easier) and then reattach the seal. Unfortunately, the seal must be positioned
in exactly the right spot, otherwise the metal clip will not work, and you’re
left with a gaping hole (which will let in water and air the far side, and this
is not a good thing).
The
first lamp I did, I removed the rear seal from the light, and had a lot of
bother getting it back in the right spot.
How much bother? Cussing,
swearing, and taking the front wheel off, then being unable to remove the plastic
wheel arch bit, and having to replace the wheel, difficult.
By
the time I came to do the second bulb, I’d learnt my lesson, and I kept the
seal partially attached. Whilst it was
as fiddly as a fiddler playing to an audience of fiddling fiddlers, it proved
to be significantly easier than taking it all apart.
The Results
The
first time I used the new light bulbs in proper darkness was during an epic
overnight trip to Stonehenge, theoretically to
see the sun rise at the Solstice. Well,
to somewhere reasonably close to Stonehenge. J And . . . well they’re definitively brighter
than the standard bulbs, that’s for sure.
The box claims that they release up to 50% more light and project the
beam between ten and twenty metres further than standard bulbs.
I
cannot quantify these claims, except to report that the bulbs do chuck out
significantly more light than standard bulbs, and that my kolleague on the trip
reported that they were bright; very bright.
So,
overall and despite the pain involved in fitting them, they get a hearty thumbs
up from me!