R2 vs regular h4 bulbs

Hi fellows, from a previous posts, i have learnt that my Hellas were made originally to fit R2 bulbs. Will the regular h4 bulbs fit? I noticed that they do not click into place like when using regular h4 headlights, but they do seem to fit ok if not snugly. Reading another post, it seems also that using the wrong bulb will affect beam pattern. Is this an issue in my case?

lwil1962 said:

Hi fellows, from a previous posts, i have learnt that my Hellas were made originally to fit R2 bulbs. Will the regular h4 bulbs fit?

Click to expand...

No. There is no way to make a regular H4 bulb (with its P43t base) fit or work correctly in a lamp designed to take R2 bulbs (P45t base). There are "adaptors" around -- they don't work.

There are bulbs that have an H4 burner on a P45t base. They can be bought in the R2 wattage (12v 45/40w or 24v 55/50w) or in the H4 wattage (12v 60/55w or 24v 75/70w) and the filament geometry is fully compatible. Unfortunately, though, these bulbs are not available in the higher performing variants (Philips Xtreme Vision, etc.). And while they do brighten up an R2 headlamp, they do not bring it up to the performance level of a headlamp designed for an H4 bulb.

Ok thanks Scheiwerfermann. i had suspected that all along, but wasnt sure as i had never seen that type of headlight before.

Just an update. I finally got some bulbs with the p45t base. The fit in the bulb holder better than the p43t, however the clip (a round clip on) wont clip into place. The p43 bulbs where able to click in place on the clip itself rather than in the bulb holder. What could be wrong here? On another matter, I had a set of relays installed sometime ago, and a couple weeks ago, my hand touched on one if the relay wires. The headlights seemed to be dimmer ever since. What could be the problem here?

It sounds as if you might not be installing the P45t-base bulbs correctly, if you can't get the bulb retainers installed. It is not correct to clip the bulb to the bulb retainer as you describe having done with the P43t-base bulbs. Also sounds like you have some wires that are loose and/or have broken strands.

Scheinwerfermann said:

It sounds as if you might not be installing the P45t-base bulbs correctly, if you can't get the bulb retainers installed. It is not correct to clip the bulb to the bulb retainer as you describe having done with the P43t-base bulbs. Also sounds like you have some wires that are loose and/or have broken strands.

Click to expand...

Thanks Scheinwerfermann, i am going to ask my electrician to look at it as i may be doing something wrong there.