Clues

I am the original owner of a 2007 Q7 3.6 Premium with 130k miles. I've been noticing for a while that the headlights were not throwing as much light on the road and actually reached the point where they were ineffective and somewhat dangerous. At first I thought it might be my aging eyes - but my other cars' (BMW and Volvo) headlights were not a problem. I then read a bunch of articles that said the output of xenon bulbs begin to diminish after several years due to deterioration of the xenon gas in the bulb.

After a lot of online research, I decided to go with Osram Xenarc Cool Blue Intense replacement bulbs. Various reviews indicated that these bulbs are the gold standard for D1S (Q7 fitment) bulbs and put out whiter light (5000k versus 4000k stock) without any reduction of llumens. This is the 'holy grail' of lighting... whiter light without reduced llumens. The bulbs sell for between $150 to $275 for the pair - model 66144.

My next challenge was sourcing these bulbs as none of the automotive parts box/chain stores carry them. On some of the lighting forums, members warned about inferior fakes from China being sold on Ebay -so that option was out. I was about to order them from Amazon but the price jumped from $178 to $220 a few weeks ago right before I was going to order them (grrr). I ended up ordering from a site called the Retrofit Source for $200, plus USPS shipping of about $6. The bulbs arrived within a few days, well packed and ready to install.

The last challenge was the install. I consider myself very mechanically inclined for a DIY'er but far from considering myself a mechanic. There are a couple of videos online that show you how to remove the headlight assembly from the Q7 and how to swap out the bulbs. Yes - it was very intimidating to pop the entire headlight assembly from each corner of the Q7 BUT it was much easier than I anticipated. Search google and watch the videos, especially the one detailing how to disconnect the headlight harness connector (unless you know exactly how to engage the release on the harness, it is a PITA to unplug!)

Here are some pointers:
-Did I mention to watch the videos? If a picture speaks a 1000 words, these videos speak volumes! It probably cut the job by 1/5 of the time and reduced my stress levels significantly

-As mentioned, disconnecting the wiring harness can be tricky. 1) Insert a small flathead screwdriver into the small tab opening of the harness, 2) twist the screwdriver slightly to flex the tab, 3) while flexed, push the harness in towards the headlight, 4) push the screwdriver down on the tab and then pull the warness away from the headlight. There is a video I found using google showing a closeup of the process.

-the headlight assembly slides away from the car pretty easily but you may have to jiggle it to get the right angle to slide out.

-the bulb replacement process is easy - wear a set of disposable latex/rubber gloves to prevent oil from your hands getting on the bulb.

-Do not force the bulb connector, it will slide off/on easily with very little pressure.

-When reinstalling the headlight assembly back onto your car, make sure the inner rail of the assembly is aligned with the rail on the inside of the engine bay. It's hard to explain but when you are sliding the heaslight assembly back in to the car, you'll see the rail by looking straight down into the engine bay. If you don't align the rails, you will not be able to reinstall the assembly properly.

Sorry I didn't take any pictures... I was on a mission and didn't think to document my process.

The results? Awesome! I immediately noticed a big improvement in both light color (white!) and output. Apparently the bulbs' performance will increase over the next several hours of use as they 'burn in' so I am optimistic that things will only get better. With that said, the Q7 does have a shorter/sharper cutoff than my other cars. But there is now a big improvement in the amount of light on the road before the cutoff. I also notice the adaptive function of the highlights much more now (I hardly noticed the adaptive movement the past couple of years probably due to the poor light output of the old bulbs.)

I hope this helps anyone with an older Q7 with dying xenon bulbs.

iconoclast

This is the data I found when searching for bulbs:
Osram Cool Blue: 5000k w/ 2800 Lumens. OEM Osram/Philips: 4300k w/ 3200 Lumens.

Where did you find the lumen ratings matching or being close? I would like to change my bulbs and switch to something that matches the LED DRL but I could not find anything that does not drop in Lumens.

I understand you went from old bulbs to new so the increase is dramatic no matter which bulb but have you noticed any noticeable difference in the decrease in lumens?

For anyone else interested here are some driving videos of the same bulbs:

OSRAM Cool Blue Intense (CBI) HID 5000K bulbs - YouTube


DSC00100.jpg?t=1323391259

DSC00383.jpg?t=1323476736



Osram CB 5000k v. Stock 4300k (On same car, same time):

Clues

The Osram website product page says 4800K w/3200 +/-213 llumens

http://www.osram.com/_apps/products/...099&coid=60001

The place I bought from website (the retrofitsource.com) says 5000K w/3500 (estimated) llumens

D1S: Osram Xenarc 66144 CBI - HID Bulbs - Components

gdjohny

I need to do the same to my 2008 model. I bough it few weeks ago and notticed straight away that light output is terrible
Thanks for posting this

iconoclast

is that a lot? i really have no idea how llumens translate to actual light.

markray

Thanks for this post, got a feeling this is next for me

Clues

It's all relative. 3200 llumens is comparable to the oem bulbs. But these offered two improvements for me: 1) my old bulbs were getting very dim so these were a big improvement over what was in my car and 2) these bulbs emit a whiter light than the oem bulbs. On the 2nd point, many bulbs sacrifice some llumens for whiter light - not the case for these bulbs.

With that said, if one were to upgrade to these bulbs from normally operating oem bulbs, I don't think difference would be extremely noticeable. If your Q7 has over 100k miles and you do a fair amount of driving at night, then chances are your oem bulbs' performance are on the decline and you'd benefit from these bulbs.

iconoclast

gotcha... i think i may give them a try despite the fact that my bulbs are still new. i just want a crisper hue and attempt to delete some of the yellow haze around the beam pattern that the oem bulbs create.

i loved the set of philips 3000k bulbs i had installed on a vehicle about a decade ago but it drew too much attention. i pulled them out. (huge light improvement and beautiful color.)