UKC

OK - a bit of a bizarre question, but humour me as someone recently returned to the UK after many years abroad! A brake light bulb went on my car so I popped into Halfords to buy a new one. I was going to get some other spare bulbs to keep in the car but they all seemed so expensive! I've checked now, an H7 12v in the place I used to buy them in Finland are more than half the price that Halfords charges them. I was always of the mind that EVERYTHING cost more in Finland, so this seems odd! Anyway, is Halfords particularly expensive? Anyone got better suggestions for where to buy them at a lower price?

We are discover the same about coffee machine filter papers too, but I'll leave that rant for another thread!

In reply to TobyA:

Google for auto factors, there must be dozens in sheffield. Euro parts are good but it's more like a trade counter, don't know if there's one in sheff.

Check how to fit them as well, some cars are getting seriously stupid for replacement now though, you need a few tools in the boot just to fit a bulb.

In reply to TobyA:

£2.52 at euro parts.

In reply to TobyA:

Ebay? (I found a 12v 55W H7 bulb from London for £1.45 incl postage - can't post an ebay link though)

In reply to TobyA:

You can order car bulbs from Amazon, they are so cheap I buy packs of 10 at a time for considerably less than the price of 1 in Halfords. They may not last as long (though I've not found that to necessarily be the case) but even so, at 10 or 20 times cheaper I'm willing to replace them a bit more often.

In reply to winhill:


I've done it now for the brake light, it's ok but more hassle on our new car (C-Max) than our old one (Focus). It even says in the log book "undo the plastic wing nut taking care not to drop it down the inaccessible hole." No sh*t! Why put a fiddly nut that you can only just get your fingers on above a whole that will let fall down into the innards of the body work!?!?

Anyway - thanks all for the tips; I think I'll order a bunch off Amazon!

In reply to TobyA:

It's actually easier in a c-max to take most of the light units out to replace the bulbs (recently imported a French version); at least that way you can undo them on the kitchen table.

Martin

In reply to pec:

>but even so, at 10 or 20 times cheaper I'm willing to replace them a bit more often.

And that is the bigger issue for me , replacing cheaper bulbs more often is fine, iIF you can do it cheaply yourself, but there was just no way I could physically get my hand ( granted they are on the large side) into the space available to replace the near side bulb in my car, so I had to pay someone else to do it( but not after much effort, and bleeding knuckles)

Up until now, I have always been able to replace bulbs in my cars, ( and those of my 3 daughter's) but it seems to me, that things are getting more difficult to replace headlight bulbs at least, rear lights are usually ok.

In reply to TobyA:

You can buy 400 coffee filters on ebay for a little over a tenner.

In reply to estivoautumnal:

But that's still loads. Look https://ruoka.citymarket.fi/pk-seutu/tuotteet/225475/euro-shopper-valkaisem... that's 200 for a Euro and 18 cents! Gonna have to get my Finnish mates to buy me some and post them over.

In reply to TobyA: Halfords is a bit of a rip off - I had to replace a brake light bulb the other day - £4.75 in Halfords, £1 (including fitting) in the local shop (Autospares in Tewkesbury, for anyone living around there ).

In reply to TobyA:


As I recall it was the headlight bulbs that were the real pain on the Focus, especially on the battery side. I used to need a dental mirror and a specific screwdriver of exactly the right length. It's something that really pisses me off - bulbs are obviously consumable items on a car, so designing the housings to you have to dismantle the car to replace them is unbelievably frustrating.

And yes, Halfords is a rip-off. Brake light bulbs are a quid each at our local motor factors.

In reply to TobyA:

Last lot of headlightg bulbs I bought were from eBay.

In reply to estivoautumnal:



Little over £10?! You are getting ripped off mate. 400 for £4


102s:
http://www.clasohlson.com/uk/102-Coffee-Filters/Pr344296000

1x4s:
http://www.clasohlson.com/uk/1x4-Coffee-Filters/34-4295

In reply to Jim C:


Had a right fiddle to replace a headlight bulb in MiL's Polo last week - they barely give you enough space to get the rubber cover off. Took me 5 minutes to work out I was trying to put the bulb holder back in upside down (counter intuitively), but even then it was a case of contorting my fingers to twist it back in to lock.

In reply to Dave Garnett:


Unfortunately, things are now this way due to having to pass strict crash criteria - accessibility of some bits is the casualty.

In reply to JoshOvki:

Oh yeah! Clas Olson is in the uk now - that will make feeding some of my Nordic habits easy!

In reply to JoshOvki:


Never bought any, just did a quick google search.

In reply to TobyA:

After years of cheap bulbs I've realised that it's really worth splashing out on quality branded bulbs, especially for headlights. Not only do they last longer, meaning fewer struggles to change them, but the light output is far better.

In reply to Hooo:

And brake lights really do last longer if you replace them in pairs.

In reply to Dave Garnett:


Really? Why would that be? Is it not just that if you only replace one at a time you do the job twice as often?

In reply to Dave Garnett:


Have you any evidence for that? They are just ordinary filament bulbs like the ones we (used to?) use in our homes. When one of them blew we didn't replace them all.

In reply to pec:

I know it sounds like a cunning plan to sell more light bulbs but when I replaced a blown bulb in my daughter's Ka I had to repeat the operation three times in a couple of months. After consulting the interweb (and reading the owner's manual) I replaced both bulbs and two years on they are both still fine.

Clearly the bulbs are in parallel but even so they seem to work best when they are balanced. I'm sure somebody will be along shortly who knows what they are talking about but presumably the resistance of the filament must change as it ages (obviously it does as it blows) and they cope best with the constant heating and cooling if the current is the same on both sides. Or something.

In reply to TobyA:

Amazon are 'evil'. If a book publisher doesn't sell all of it's books in print via Amazon, Amazon will say they ones which are for sale through them are out of print.

A relative keeps getting inquiries into how to find their scientific book which is out of print, when it isn't.

Don't buy through Amazon, but note the name of the website you find and go straight to them, that way Amazon don't get their percentage. ()