Has anyone here fitted new head light bulbs that are meant to be brighter than the standard ones?

Halfords currently advertise their Super Brilliant headlight bulbs that are meant to be 50% brighter, and Extreme Brilliance headlight bulbs that are meant to be 90% brighter. And they are doing a BOGOF (buy one get one free) deal at the moment to replace both your bulbs for £18-23.

However I did a quick google search and many people on forums are saying they are not worth it, giving no improvement, and not lasting long, sometimes blowing after just 3 months.

In my old car I fitted illegal 130W headlight bulbs (standard bulbs are 55W). This was an obvious huge improvement. However there is a danger to burning out the wiring in the car so I am not inclined to fit them to my current car.

However many of the forums were recommending Philips X-treme bulbs, and when I looked they are meant to give up to 80% better brightness and a pack of two bulbs is about £23 including postage.

But are they worth it over the standard £6 55W philips bulbs? Has anyone fitted these to their car?

Obviously the biggest upgrade to give improved lighting is a full Xenon headlight upgrade kit, but those are expensive and fiddly to fit, needing the wiring altered, so I'm not even considering those.

I also discovered that you can get similar brighter bulbs for front fog lights too. And they do them in blue light versions too, although I probably wouldn't bother with those.
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I fitted 2 to my mothers car the other day. TBH I haven't got a clue if they're brighter or not just that the Fiat Seicento is awful to fit new bulbs to especially on the passenger side.
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Were they Halfords, or another make?

The right-hand head light on my 406 is a nightmare to fit/change too. The battery housing is just behind the plastic cap/seal that you have to remove to get to the bulb and a hose is running between the two. You can only just get your hand down to the location too.

Why do they make car parts so hard to access?
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Yes they were the Halfords ones.

So we waste money on mechanics to do the most simple thing and keep the world economy afloat. Everyone is fixing heir own car and that's why the global economy os in freefall.
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You know half the reason the better bulbs fail is cause the people fitting them are not aware that if they dont wear gloves or they touch the glass part of the bulb with bare skin they that will cause the bulb to have a short life and blowout.
I was told its the oils from your body and the great heat that causes this.(I maybe wrong but thats what I think)
loopy.
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That's right. At least this is true for the halogen lamps we use at work. I've sometimes mentioned this to rookies and apprentices I see change the bulbs holding them by the glass, and just get a sour "see? works fine!"-look when they turn the lamp on afterwards. But sure enough, the bulb blows. Sometimes within a few hours. And they blame it on everything else, faulty lamp, too strong current, you name it. Because surely, such a silly little thing like touching the bulb can't be it.
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Is touching the metal parts of the bulb OK? I've always made sure never to touch the glass, but do hold them by the metal instead of finding gloves.
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