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MG MGF Technical - MGF bulbs?

I have an early MGF (96/P 1.8) and it's suffering a bit from the faded headlight mirror syndrome, but a quick check shows that it only has 4x55w H1s fitted. So I think simply upgrading to Xenons, say Halfords Supers (50% brighter) would do.

BUT... a quick look at the manual reveals a riddle: early cars are said to either have 2xH1 mains and 2xH7 dips fitted, or 4xH7! So my all-H1 configuration doesn't exist?

Can anyone tell me what I should fit? What is the difference between H1s and H7s anyway? Thanks!

Barry
BC Croft

Almost guaranteed to be all round H1s. The root cause of the problem is the silvering on the dip beam bowl getting dull. Your temporary easy solution is to fit brighter style bulbs as you suggest. Halfords own, Osram 'Nightbreakers' and a Phillips version all get a good press, but the only real solution is either new headlights or resilver the bowls (which I have done).
I went down the HID route on my daily driver 5 years ago and have never regretted it; but there is talk of it becoming even more 'illegal' soon.
Whatever you do DON'T fit 100W bulbs as they will degrade the remaining silvering in record time!
Charless

Thanks for this. Yes I'm sure now it is H1 all round - the H7 has the wrong fitting anyway.

I'm not sure the value of the car justifies rechroming, but I would like to at least clean the back of the glass in the dip units, because both sides are VERY cloudy. But I believe this requires headlight removal? Or is there any way of cleaning these in-situ?
BC Croft

This may help for the disassembly:-
http://mgf.ultimatemg.com/group2/DIY/headlamp_replacement/instructions.htm
And these chaps are very experienced with F headlamps:- http://www.dual-metallising.co.uk/
They have done it successfully for plenty of Fs - and you want a good job not a cheap one.
Charless

This thread was discussed between 26/12/2011 and 27/12/2011

MG MGF Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGF Technical BBS is active now.