I feel I should apologise as I feel certain this must have been asked, but I can't find a definitive answer.....

Having fitted HID's which are a massive improvement on the dipped beam, the main beam lights seem useless - they barely improve on the dipped!

I know some people find that the HID's work for them on the full beam, but given that I generally only ever get to use the full beam for shortish periods I can't help feeling that the warm-up period is just going to be too big a chunk of that.

I've tried things like the "Extreme Brilliance" bulbs before, but found the results a bit underwhelming.

Has anyone come up with an alternative that doesn't have these drawbacks?

I have HID's on both main and dipped beams, the main beams do take a few seconds to warm up but i don't really find it's a problem. Also once they have warmed up, if you have to switch them off and back on again for oncoming traffic they do not need to warm up again (unless they have been off for a fair while). The difference they make is incredible, it's like having stadium flood lights in front of you.

The main beam and dip use the same type of bulbs IIRC, H1s?

Just bought my first Coupe, and drove it home in the dark. It was like having candles fixed to the front!

An upgrade is a must, and may as well do both sets.

I just bought a " 55w HID speedstarter kit" from humanhabit. It's perfect for the main beam because it starts up much faster. These ballasts are unique so you can't buy them anywhere else as I know..

The site is swedish so you need the google translate bar.

http://www.humanhabit.se/se/xenon/xenonkit-50-watt/55w-12v-speedstarter-xenonkit-1.html

I've used 100w std lamps for full beam for many years now, works very well and is a simple and cheap solution. The plastic covers seem to cope well too.