11-26-2006, 08:11 PM
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But Mad North-Northwest
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
Posts: 2,068
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Found a source for Euro headlamps
That's the good news. The bad news is that with the dollar in the toilet right now they end up costing about $600 (two headlights+two sidemarkers+shipping). Hey, it's either this or booze and loose women.
http://www.alfa-service.eu/startneu/?lan=2
The seller is Alfa Service, based in Germany. Quality and light pattern seem okay so far as I can tell. They have a nice metal reflector instead of the metallized plastic crap on the US lights.
I need to take them out on a dark road to see how much of an improvement they are, but considering how bad my original headlights were I'll be happy with whatever I can get.
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Tom
1991 Spider
1987 Milano Gold
Last edited by Gubi; 12-20-2006 at 10:17 AM.
Reason: Had the wrong brand listed.
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11-26-2006, 08:15 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: New York, New York
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Or you can get a set of Carellos (with sidemarkers and what not) for less than a 200 euros shipped with your eyes closed off ebay.de or ebay.it.
Keep your eyes open and you can get them for pennies.
Cool site though, you can order the euro bumpers! Thanks for the link.
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11-26-2006, 08:53 PM
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But Mad North-Northwest
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
Posts: 2,068
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Well, you're luckier than me. I tried that route and could never find anyone willing to ship out of the EU. Probably Bush's fault. I finally got fed up and ordered the new ones.
This is going to turn into a thread about how I coud've gotten new ones cheaper elsewhere, isn't it? 
__________________
Tom
1991 Spider
1987 Milano Gold
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11-26-2006, 09:17 PM
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: San Jose, California
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Good find sir. I tried to get some off of ebay.uk but alsmot got negative feedback b/c seller wasn't willing to ship to US.
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1987 Milano Platinum - check for many new items. [B][COLOR="Red"][URL="http://alfabb.com/bb/forums/showthread.php?t=42980"]PARTING OUT[/URL][/COLOR][/B]
1989 Verde - Harsh shocks and SS rears, 27mm torsion bars, stainless lines, pads, 16X7.5 rims, 4.10 rebuilt platinum tranny, poly bushes, and RSR 28mm front and 25.4mm adjustable sways!
1984 GTV-6 - 80K miles
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11-26-2006, 09:20 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Colorado
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 Quote:
Originally Posted by Gubi
This is going to turn into a thread about how I coud've gotten new ones cheaper elsewhere, isn't it? |
No, it isn't. You did good. I believe they are going away, that's part of the reason they are expensive now. The Carellos are already NLA new.
You did good.
Joe
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11-27-2006, 02:19 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Somewhere in Canada
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gubi
Hey, it's either this or booze and loose women.
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'88 Alfa Romeo Milano Verde - 24V, '87 Platinum 3.0 (for sale), 94 LS parting out
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12-06-2006, 12:49 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gubi
I tried that route and could never find anyone willing to ship out of the EU. Probably Bush's fault.
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Heck, people from the UK are making weekend xmas shopping flights to the US because the pound is beating us 2:1.
I've done plenty of international shipping and on ebay transactions too as a buyer and seller and it is a little more of a pain. I can see why people would be reluctant to deal with the extra paperwork and fees.
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12-20-2006, 12:17 AM
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But Mad North-Northwest
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
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So after a couple of weeks of using them, I have to say they work quite well. Which is a good thing, because I'd feel pretty silly having spent all that money if they'd sucked. In fact, I might be lying right now just so I don't look like a doofus. And then you too will buy a set, realize they suck, and not post a complaint because you do not want to look like a doofus either. Mua-ha-ha.
Nah, they are pretty good.
The stock low beams used to give me two yellow blobs on the road with a dark area in the middle. I got some Narva RangePower +50 H4 bulbs for the new housings (these are the high efficiency bulbs, so they're standard wattage but put out a bit more light). The light is brighter and, more importantly, much more uniform across the visual field due to the better lens and reflector.
I did find them a lot harder to aim than my Spider lights. The aiming mechanism seems solid, but requires a lot of turns to effect any change on the aiming position. I found myself cranking away on the adjuster, trying to figure out which way the light was moving on the wall. Got it eventually, though.
Forgot to mention that the other change I made recently was to put a relay on the high beams. I have an early Milano, so it had the recall relay for the low beams but no relay on the highs. The end result of this was that turning on the high beams made little difference in light output. Adding a relay got me about 0.8V more at the high beams. This by itself made a big difference, even with the stock housings.
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Tom
1991 Spider
1987 Milano Gold
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12-20-2006, 06:56 AM
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Member
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Utrecht - Netherlands
Posts: 83
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fraz
People in EU receiving money from the US are getting an extra $.30 for every dollar so they are making a bigger profit off of us. Many mail order businesses in the US are doing huge volume from EU right now because of the value of the dollar so they are thanking Bush if anything |
Quote:
Originally Posted by fraz
People in EU receiving money from the US are getting an extra $.30 for every dollar so they are making a bigger profit off of us. Many mail order businesses in the US are doing huge volume from EU right now because of the value of the dollar so they are thanking Bush if anything |
???? Dollar is worth less than the Euro at the moment. So receiving same amount in dollars in not interesting - in fact I would loose 30% compared to same amount in EUR. Where do you see bigger profits?
For me shopping in the US is not interesting. Because Bush's Steal War policy (30% on all imported steel) the EU applies a penalty on all goods shipped from the US - at least thats how it was last year.
Then there is the shipping, import duties, vat etc. in total there's like 80% tax added I would guess.
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12-20-2006, 06:59 AM
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Member
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Utrecht - Netherlands
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Btw. I can source used but good OEM EU headlamps and ship them to the US for around 230 USD.
/hans
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12-20-2006, 07:05 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Colorado
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gubi
So after a couple of weeks of using them, I have to say they work quite well. Which is a good thing, because I'd feel pretty silly having spent all that money if they'd sucked. In fact, I might be lying right now just so I don't look like a doofus. And then you too will buy a set, realize they suck, and not post a complaint because you do not want to look like a doofus either. Mua-ha-ha.
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Joe
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12-20-2006, 07:26 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: New York, New York
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I recently finished my Euro headlight installation too.
- These headlights are awesome! Tons better than the ELMAs, way better than the stock ones I have in my Cobalt.
- I'm running 50/55 watt bulbs for now. I am going to upgrade the harness and throw 100/130 watt bulbs in there in a few weeks (~ $80).
- Parking lights are way cool!
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12-20-2006, 10:22 AM
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But Mad North-Northwest
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
Posts: 2,068
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hit an Apex
I'm running 50/55 watt bulbs for now. I am going to upgrade the harness and throw 100/130 watt bulbs in there in a few weeks (~ $80)
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Even with the relay retrofit that Alfa did, all the current for both lamps goes through one 1.5mm wire at one point. This is adequate at stock wattage but would not be good at 2.3x the wattage.
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Tom
1991 Spider
1987 Milano Gold
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12-20-2006, 03:10 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 172
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Are left and right hand drive headlights on 75's different lenses
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