After driving home in the dark and seeing the miserable candle-glow on the road in front of me and the bright icy white area in front of most other cars, I've decided to have a complete headlight overhaul.

I'm replacing the full and dipped bulbs with high-performance equivalents, but was also going to change the sidelights for bluish ones to match.

The manual states (on p261) that there are "2 per light", but the fitting instructions on p267 don't mention anything about this. Looking into the lights from the outside, all I can see is the top of one bulb inside each light.

Is the "2 per light" thing a mistake, or are there two tucked away somehow?

One more question - does the Croma sense the current draw on these bulbs, so you'd get nagged if LED bulbs were used in their place? I know I may need resistors if I got these if that's the case. I'm not too sure about LEDs anyway - I got some in the past once and they were far too blue to be comfortable with.

only one per side and yes it will sense led as a blown light bulb

Thanks. That stupid manual has cost me much head-scratching!

No prob. I got aftermarket xenons and little no error fluo sidelights about 2 months ago. What a world of difference! I would recommend this upgrade to everyone. The fluo sidelights are much better and don't burn out like the led ones do, told me the guy who did the upgrade for me. Even though they are whiter and stronger from behavior of other drivers around it's clear that I'm not blinding anyone either. I really can see better even in heavy fog I ran into in Slovenia and Italy.

Aftermarket xenon sounds like it would cost more than the car is worth. I've ordered Osram Nightbreaker Plus H1 and H7 bulbs for the dipped and main lights. I'll have look at the sidelights next, now I know how many I need.

The total for four bulbs was £28.85 including delivery from upgradebulbs on ebay. I think I paid more per bulb for the one crappy one that I had to buy at a service station when one went while travelling. At least now I'll have a full set of spares in the car if one goes in future.

These are allegedly 90% brighter than standard (with no more power), and get some really good reviews. The "plus" part of the name means they last longer, as short lifetime was the issue with these previously.

I've replaced bulbs on other cars in the past and there's been a huge difference. If I can, I'll replace all of the bulbs on one side then get a photo that shows new vs old.

Paramount nightbteakers are a definite improvent. Can't speak for Croma but my last car, a passat, was much improved

Righty - I've ordered the new sidelight bulbs. The main and dipped bulbs are supposed to be "whiter" than standard ones, so I didn't want yellowish side lights to ruin the effect.

The LED bulbs all look a bit chinesey to me - I haven't seen any approval info on any of them. I know they can also be very directional - they can dazzle if you catch the right angle from them. I don't want an MOT failure because of them.

So blue-tinted standard bulbs it is then. They're not blue light - the blue just cancels out the yellow to make a nice bright white.

The Osram ones are blue-painted clear glass (which will burn and fall off). Philips make BlueVision sidelight bulbs that are blue-coloured glass instead. Ordered some - £4.45 including delivery from ebay.

So a full new set of six bulbs for the front has cost £33.30. I'm happy with that. That also means I'll have a complete set of old ones as spares tucked away somewhere for emergencies.

NB's are bright but the old nightbreakers really lasted only 2 months on average, Phillips plus vision lasted me a year, I hope the plus part on the NB is not just a marketing term. My xenon total package plus sidelight installed cost me 100 eur. Yes it's chinese, but good chinese with full 12 month warranty and the bulbs will last at least 2 years before needing replacement due gradual weakening. Good price is courtesy of the local Fiat forum and the guy that advertises on there.