2007 xc70 Headlight and foglight bulb questions

dallasrules · Post by **dallasrules** » 28 Jan 2015, 09:22

I know this may seem stupid, but the more I try to find out, the more I get confused. So I figured I would ask here.

I need a fog light replacement bulb. I know it takes an H8 bulb, but after that, I am lost. Advance can order them, but want some ridicules price with shipping, so I went to look on ebay.

I see H8 bulbs for headlights and fog lights. Are they the same. Will the fog light take a 55w bulb, or does it need to be something less? Also, do the fog lights need to be in a color range? I have not pulled the old bulb yet. I work from daybreak to after dark and it is freezing here right now.

Also, for the headlights. My lights are yellowish color and not very bright. I want to get new bulbs. I know I need an H11 bulb for that. I also know I like a white color range 4K - 5K. But I am getting confused on wattage. I see that 55W is pretty standard, but I have seen 65W, 70W, 90W and 100W bulbs. Are these legal and do they gain you anything in brightness. Also, are they safe for the car? I drive a lot of dark winding country roads, so bright is a good thing, but I don't want to go overboard.

Any help or advise is appreciated.

Post by **vtl** » 28 Jan 2015, 10:25

These Watts are probably fake ones, meaning how much light they give on top of what "standard" yellowish 55W bulb emits. Get brighter bulbs from OSRAM or Sylvania, but not the brightest ones, since their have much shorter life.

dallasrules · Post by **dallasrules** » 28 Jan 2015, 12:52

What constitutes brighter? Watts, color K, or something else?

Post by **vtl** » 28 Jan 2015, 12:56

dallasrules wrote:What constitutes brighter? Watts, color K, or something else?

Lumens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumen_%28unit%29

flukey · Post by **flukey** » 28 Jan 2015, 15:56

I have a similar situation as yours. I have a 07 S60 and did the upgrade to using H9 bulbs for the low beam headlamp bulbs as opposed to using the stock H11 bulb. There is a bit of modifying the h9 bulb to fit the housing which can be found on Youtube. The process is easy and only takes less time and effort as actually accessing the bulbs. It improved my low beam brightness not dramitacally but surely better than standard. The Bulbs you need can be bought cheap at WM or any another discount joint to check out the difference. I am happy with the results for the headlamps. As for your fogs? I think they are just a useless
addition to the crap that really matters.

Post by **JRL** » 28 Jan 2015, 20:54

You go more than 10w over the factory bulbs and you have a good chance of frying the headlight harnesses ($$$)