Hi Folks,

I have an opportunity to get a quantity of these (see link below) Bosch H4 headlamps at a very cheap price but I have to buy a fairly significant quantity of them. Apparently Bosch is not making them anymore.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/VW-PORSC ... mainQ5f100

The ones being offered to me are the same model/part number as the ones in the above eBay auction but the outfit selling them says they were made in Sweden, not Germany (don't know if that makes any difference at all). I was thinking I could offer them at a sweet price to people in the group and sell the rest through eBay and my website business, www.volvosolutions.com.

First of all, are these headlamps any good ?

Would anyone likely be interested in a pair if I could offer them to the group at say $40 or $50 a pair w/ the weather seals but w/o bulbs ? I checked all over and nobody has them anymore. Closest I found were Hellas at Automarine Specialties. They want $104/pair for them w/ sucky 55/60W H4 bulbs included.

Do you think there would be much of a market for them (i.e. do you think they're good enough that vintage auto enthusiasts would want them if I could offer them at pretty nice price) ?

Thanks for your input and insights !

Here's an interesting article I found comparing the model of Bosch headlamps that I can get vs E-codes.

http://www.ratwell.com/technical/BoschH4.html

According to their findings they're about the same on low beam and a bit better on high beam.

I bet they'd be pretty good with some off-road H4s in them

Interesting...

I'd be all over a pair or two for $40 a pair. HIDs work pretty nice in those too...

I've run the Bosch, Hella, Cibie and various knockoffs. The Bosch are as good as any of them. $40 a pair is a killer price. I<d even be tempted to get a couple of extra sets to put on a shelf for spares.

yeah, id like a set at $40 for my 242

Ok, but are those lights any good ? How do they stack up against what else is out there on the market ?

Good compared to what? Good compared to any other $50/pair of headlights? Yes. Good compared to any other pair of $125/pair of headlights? Probably equivalent to the higher end. Cibie are the easiest to buy and are probably the lower quality of the three you're likely to find (Cibie, Hella, and Bosch), but not by much. Hella and Bosch are probably tied at the top end.

As the article you yourself linked to pointed out, the low beam is pretty darn close to the non-motorcycle version of the H4, and the high beam is probably as good or even a bit better. I've only used the non-motorcycle version of these (or the Hella, or Cibie) and any of them are better than DOT. Between them I have no preference.

If you can keep them below $50 CAD/pair, I'll take at least 1 pair, probably 2.

Edit - the only "new" technology involved in 7" round low-beams was a Free-Form 7" round that had no high beam - ALL the bulb was concentrated by the reflector to a pattern on the ground. It was a no-compromise low beam that required separate high beams. I haven't been able to find them in the last 5 minutes of searching, but they may still be available.

Cibie and bosch are good.

Hella H4 7" rounds suck IMO. The lowbeam isn't very wide and the highbeam is way up in the sky with the lowbeam aimed right. Bosch have a very good highbeam and cibie have a little better lowbeam than the bosch IMO.

The free form 7"s are very good, or the 8" bosch H4s sold by volvo for early 240s and all 164s are almost as good as those even for a high/low with an h4 bulb.

Sorry, I didn't get back to this thread to fix my post before James piped up. Hellas are the ones I haven't liked as much as the Bosch. I'm not sure I've owned the Cibies, now that I think about it. Oh wait, yes I have. They're pretty good.

I have yet to see these 8" lights people talk about. I know none of the 240s I've owned or seen have had 8" lights, but they're all US/Canadian spec so would have been equipped with DOT lights anyway.

I would be in for a pair at $40-50. Daniel Stern used to have a good breakdown on the quality of the various brands of E-code lamps but I can't find it right now. FWIW he only sells Cibie and Bosch on his site, no Hella.

I would be interested in a pair but are these for RIGHT hand drive or LEFT hand drive???
For that price that may be the reason for the seller to move the product.

I've got Hella E-codes in the 122 and the 242 - I don't have any complaints about either the quality of the light pattern or the quality of the lights.

I've had Bosch lights before and they are great. I'm not sure the restoration people would be interested in running with a light that says motorcycle stamped on it (I wouldn't care). For the price, you will sell some for sure.

Did I miss the part that said they had "motorcycle" stamped on them?

It's in the auction and the comparison link.

From the auction:

Ya, the real resto boys and girls are not likely to want these lights.

They are for left hand drive cars so not to worry about that.

The price I've been offered is very attractive, however, the minimum quantity that must be purchased (1 case/pallet = 240 lamps) is a bit daunting. I am currently checking into the costs of delivery, etc, so I can ascertain what my landed cost/pair would be.

The other thing to consider is what it will cost to ship a pair of them as that has a direct affect on what the overall landed price of the product to the customers is and that, of course, affects how much I can charge for them and therefore, profit potential.

The cost of packaging also has to be factored into the shipping cost. Probably the biggest thing that makes me hesitate to go for this deal is the difficulty/expense/labour involved in packaging these things so they can be safely shipped out via the mail or UPS/Fedex to customers. The lamps aren't packaged in well packed individual boxes so I would be looking at purchasing a significant quantity of shipping boxes w/ dividers (to keep the lamps separated), labels and packing materials (i.e. popcorn), etc. I can hopefully pass on all or most of the cost of the packaging in the shipping cost but because the total cost to the customer has to stay below a certain level in order for me to remain competitive, higher shipping and packaging costs just eat into the profit potential, possibly to the point where it's just not worth the effort and risk to get into this venture.