Best UK road legal bulbs 2010 Mazda 2

[thebigted]

From stock lighting would it be worth upgrading my lights to:

Dipped beam - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00NMEEOV2/
Philips 12342XV+S2 H4 X-Treme Vision +130%, Headlight Car Bulbs (Twin-Pack)

I am not interested in HID conversion and I want bulbs that are road legal and these seem to fit the bill. Would you recommend these bulbs? If not please provide me an alternative.
What bulbs would you suggest for the fog lights? I am wanting UK road legal bulbs.

Is it worth upgrading at all or just staying as I am?

Cheers guys

 

[DrWebster]

I used a similar set of bulbs, Philips BlueVision, and they worked well; I'd imagine the XtremeVision are similar. That sentence is in the past tense because, as with many/most specialty bulbs, they had a pretty short lifespan (just over a year).

 

[skullsroad]

Eh, that's all marketing. They don't output a brighter light, just whiter. If you want to increase the brightness go with the Osram Rallye 70/65W or the Hella +50% 1895 lumen Xenon.

As for the fog lights the only real upgrade is to modify an H9 to fit the H11 socket. It's an upgrade because the H9 is 65w compared to the H11 55w.

 

[thebigted]

If you was to do a H11 to H9 conversion is there not the chance of the lights burning out due to the extra wattage being sent to the bulb? Is there a guide of how to safely do this modification or a simple adapter?

 

[skullsroad]

I've been running the Osram Rallye headlight bulbs and H9 fog lights since I bought the car back in 2011. No issues with a 10w bump.

This was the first video that popped up on the youtube search:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mrbdQmck7E
However I have to add that I don't recommend using a Dremel type tool to grind off the metal tab like he does in the video. One of the biggest killers of bulbs is vibration. I used tin snips for mine. He also doesn't recommend this mod on reflector housings and suggests that it only be performed on projectors. As I've said, I have been running this setup for years with no issues but do so at your own risk I guess.

Basically you cut or grind the largest metal tab on the H9 so that it fits in the H11 socket then cut or grind the smaller tab in the bulb's socket to fit the plug. That second part is the harder of the two modifications. I used a dremel to carve a small groove into the factory plug so I don't have to modify the socket every time. You should probably try modding to bulb first to make sure you like it before modifying the OEM harness.

Also, I just realized you're in the UK and you guys have a pretty thorough MOT program. I'm not sure if the fog light mod is entirely legal. As for the headlights, I'd go with the Hella +50 Xenon since it runs on the stock wattage but has more lumens than a standard halogen.