Miata Mailing List: October 1994, Message #9
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   From: dbk@mozart.esl.com (David Kay)
Subject: Re: Driving Lights Info
   Date: Sat, 1 Oct 1994 21:45:34 -0400

> Hi!  I'm planning on purchasing and installing a pair of driving
> lights in  my baby.  I'm seriously looking at the one's Brain-storm
> sells.  I would  like to have some functional lights but don't want
> to ruin the appearance  of my car.  Any info on these or other
> lights would be greatly appreciated.  I'd also like to hear comments
> on whether to buy the regular or high- intensity lights and any tips
> on installation. 


I bought (and returned) the high-intensity lights sold by
BrainStorm.  (They were very nice about it).  Here's the deal. 


The low-intensity lights are useless.  Don't do anything.  If you
want the same effect, go ahead and shine a flashlight out the
window.  Ask the fellow at BrainStorm; I think he'll say the same thing.

The high-intensity lights are PIAAs, which are first-rate. 

BrainStorm also includes the stock Miata switch for your dashboard,
a relay, and a harness.

Why do you want the lights?

The PIAAs he sells are in a fog pattern.  They throw a very nice,
wide pattern, but don't help much with distance.

One also can buy PIAAs (although not, I think, from BrainStorm) in
the same format that are "driving lights," they have more of
down-the-road pattern but have less side throw.

An alternative to consider is to get the Hella H-4 conversion kit
for your normal headlights.  These have a very sharp cutoff for
lowbeams, and a wonderful throw for highbeams.  (Since one is
already being slightly illegal by buying H-4s, one might also up the
wattage in the bulb.  I run 80/95 bulbs from Osram.)

Make sure your lights are aimed properly once you do this!

Anyhow, the Hella conversion is something like $25 a light, and
fancy bulbs are another $20 if you want to go that way.  That's a
STEEP discount from the PIAAs ($250-ish?), and they give me almost
all the light I need for the all night rallyes that I run.  (one can
never be too rich, too thin, or too well-supplied with photons on a
rallye.) 


Cheers, dbk

ps - I forgot to mention...even a mechanical idiot like me can
install the Hellas in a few minutes in a parking lot somewhere.  The
BrainStorm package looked nice, but involved routing wires and
what-not.

pps -  Someone will probably write to say that you should run higher
wattage bulbs through another relay.  They're probably right, but I
haven't had any problems in the 50K or so miles I've run these
lights, so I've just stayed lazy.