Osram is the leading manufacturer of automotive lighting products, and their products are used as standard equipment by many of the major leading car manufacturers. However alongside their standard range of 12 volt headlight bulbs, Osram has also produced an upgrade range of headlight bulbs for drivers looking for improved lighting and styling performance from their headlight bulbs.

There are three improved styles for the headlight bulbs. These are Osram Silver Star, Osram Cool Blue, and Osram Night Breaker. Each of these bulbs has been determined as legal for the road and has the European testing standards E1 branding. These lights are designed to replace the standard equipment, thus they fit directly into the connectors and holders without need for a tool or modification.

Before using any of the three: Silver Star, Cool Blue, or Night Breaker, you will need to find out which bulbs you have in your vehicle. This information can be found in the owner’s manual of your vehicle. You may also use Google to search for information by using “Car Bulbs Finders” in the search box. Many of the retailers of headlight bulbs list information online in an interactive site to help guide you.

The Osram Cool Blue light is for drivers who want to make an impression. The lights give a night time appearance. Cool Blue has filtered glass that provides a blue tint to the light. It is a lot like the xenon bulbs including the intensity of those bulbs.

With the Osram Cool Blue you will need to understand the ECE rules. There are limits to the amount of blue tint you can have on a headlight bulb. Osram ensures that their Cool Blue is within that limit. In fact it is the darkest street legal light you can have for your car.

The Osram Silverstar bulbs are tailored to improve a drivers night time visibility, and is a considerable improvement over the standard halogen headlight bulbs. Crucially the Osram Silverstar is designed to produced 50% more light onto the road, especially in the 50 to 75 meter range therefore enabling a driver to react earlier to hazards, road signs and potential obstacles.

The flagship of the Osram upgrade headlight bulbs range is the Osram Night Breaker series, which uses pressurised xenon gas, instead of halogen, and a re-engineered filament. The results is an award winning headlight bulb that produces 90% more light, projects 35 meters further into the darkness and is 10% whiter.

The keen driver who wants the best visibility and product will want the Osram Night Breaker bulbs.

By choosing the upgraded lights like Osram Cool Blue, Silver Star, or Night Breaker you will have better night driving safety and lights that fit your needs.

Fitting new aftermarket Car Bulbs can be a quick and easy way to really modernise the look of your car lights and it won’t cost you too much either. Because there is now a wide range of bulbs to choose from in various fittings, including H7 Xenon, there will always be one to suit your vehicle and your budget.

If you have HID xenon headlights fitted to your vehicle or even if you have upgraded your standard halogen headlight bulbs to the latest xenon bulbs, you will have seen how crisp and white the light produced by xenon lights is.

Unfortunately you have probably also noticed that the light from your sidelight bulbs appear a dull yellow colour in comparison and do not compliment your xenon bulbs. Fortunately there is wide range of upgrade sidelight bulbs that are brighter and whiter than standard bulbs and if you are feeling adventurous they can come in a range of colours

Ordinary Sidelights versus Updated Sidelights: How Do they Compare?

Standard sidelight bulbs are very cheap massed produced items, utilising very rudimentary filaments with the glass bulb section normally filled with a basic, inert gas. By comparison upgrade sidelight bulbs use the very latest in car bulbs technology, and so are constructed from superior materials and have high quality filaments.

A great factor is the sidelights either have xenon or halogen gas. This means you get a radiant white light which compares perfectly to the HID xenon bulbs you have in your headlights.

What About Blue Xenon Sidelight Bulbs?

Alongside clear glass upgrade sidelight bulbs it is also possible to buy bulbs with a blue xenon tint, and these are becoming increasingly popular with drivers. Although bulbs with blue tinted glass are often marketed as being able to emit a blue light from your sidelights, it is often the case the blue tint actually removes the yellow light tinge, so that the bulb produces a much whiter and crisper light.

There is a degree of legality when it comes to the blue emission your sidelights can make. There are two factors involved. The first is the ECE rules that state there is a specific amount of heat that can be generated by the bulb. Blue tint is a filter, which allows less light to be provided from the bulb. The ECE rules state there is a maximum level that this light reduction can be in order to remain legal for road use.

Secondly because the blue tinted glass traps some of the light from escaping from the bulb it runs hotter than a clear glass sidelight bulb, and if the tint is too dark the bulb will operate at too high a temperature and will burn out quickly

LED Sidelight Bulbs Are They Suitable For My Car?

Xenon are certainly powerful light bulbs, but for sidelight bulbs they are not the only option. LED technology is becoming more common place especially in vehicles like the Porsche 997 or Audi R8. LED means light emitting diode. There are several reasons you might want LED over regular glass bulbs for your car.

LED bulbs are sturdy and heavy duty. They typically last for more than 50,000 hours, use less power, and have a more brilliant light than standard bulbs. They are also available in more colours.

It is quite simple to change to LED bulbs for your sidelights. These LED bulbs are made to work in the standard holder and connector, so there is no modification needed.

Renovating your original bulbs for xenon or LED bulbs can really improve the look of your vehicle at night. The light produced will be more brilliant and cleaner than the standard option, complementing your upgraded xenon headlight bulbs. If you install LED lights you will also have a longer lasting bulb. In fact you will probably upgrade your vehicle long before the LED lights need to change.

Fitting new Sidelight Bulbs is a great way to upgrade your car lights and give your vehicle a unique appearance to stand out from the crowd. The latest 501 LED bulbs produce a brighter light than standard 501 bulbs, come in a range of colours and should last the lifetime of the car.

BMW, in the 1970′s wanted to create a super car that would be on a parallel with Ferrari and Porsche. To do this they needed to design and construct a vehicle which would fit in the Group 5 race series.

There were rules for this racing series which BMW needed to fulfil in order to produce the vehicles. The rules also stated that 400 cars had to be created for road drivability, thus the BMW M1. Unfortunately, the BMW M1 super car experienced some hassles in the development. The tale from this escapade is about what one should not do to make a supercar.

Initially the BMW motorsport department turned to Lamborghini to use their experience to help design and build their new racer. The result was a sleek, low slung, mid engine supercar with body work designed by Ital Design and a 3.5 litre engine that could be turbocharged to produce 850 bhp in Group 5 racing spec.

Lamborghini was experiencing some financial setbacks during this time. They proved detrimental to the project since there were several delays and then the project was moved to Baur Germany. Still BMW motorsport department plodded on releasing the M1 in 1978, two years later than the project was supposed to be. This provided another problem because the Group 5 racing rules were modified and the M1 didn’t fit in with the new standards.

All of the work that was required for the M1 was not wasted because BMW decided to form a race series in which the M1 super car could race. They called it the Procar BMW M1 Championship. It was a great idea since it was a support race for the Formula 1 Championships of the World race. The F1 stars like Ayrton Senna, Nikki Lauda, and Nelson Piquet were pitted against each other in the same vehicle.

Whilst the race series was a success the road car BMW M1 never really took off, even though in standard trim it produced 277 bhp, could reach sixty in 5.6 seconds and top out at 162 mph. Eventually just 456 models were built making it one of BMW’s rarest models and one that is highly sought after by enthusiastic collectors.

The BMW series was great for road travel with high performance, quality construction, and low running costs. It was better than other supercars of its time. The exterior of the vehicle had two kidney shaped front grilles with pop up headlamps, and black slats on the rear windshield.

Whilst commercially the BMW M1 was never really a success its engine was subsequently used in the first BMW M5, and its design inspired BMW’s recent M1 Homage concept car.