Competition Limited (Headlight Upgrades)

[I CORNER]

Gents/Ladies,

 

I had previously recommended an outfit called Competition Limited. They sold high quality harnesses, high-wattage bulbs and rally type gear.

 

I had used them for years for High wattage bulbs for many cars/trucks in H4 and 9004 configurations. I had used their 145W/100W H4 bulbs on a Toyota truck (5"x7" standard quartz Hella headlamps) and my 1996 Impala SS (T84 German Export Quartz Glass light enclosures) and they lasted for years. They offered good quality bulbs that were well made with thick Dow Corning Glass and were very bright.

 

However, my recent experience with them for 9005/9006 100W/80W bulbs on my SSS was a nightmare! It turns out that they sold the company recently and have MAJOR quality control issues. Within 4 operating hours, 2 of the bulbs EXPLODED damaging both of my headlamp enclosures. This tarnished the reflector of each headlamp enclosure slightly and embedded glass pieces in the black plastic of the passenger side enclosure. These bulbs were obviously getting too hot. Either the filaments had too low a resistance value or the connections near the filaments were too small to conduct the required current. At any rate this would not be caused from my peak charging system voltage of 14.2Volts at startup.

 

They attempted to blame it on my grounding scheme (grounded to chassis with their high-power harness at each bulb and also 8ga wire directly to engine block) and even went as far as the claim that the aluminum on the engine was a poor conductor!? However, as an electrical engineer who works on power systems in a nuclear power plant, they could not fly that BS past me. At any rate poor grounding would have resulted in dim bulbs, not exploding bulbs. Similarly, poor grounding usually occurs at the bulb connector and melts the connector assembly. My connectors were and still are fine.

 

They continued to give me alot of grief and proved to me that their engineers were idiots. After threatening to dispute the charges with my credit card company, they at least credited me for the defective bulbs, but did not reimburse me for the degraded head lamp enclosures.

 

So, if you stumble across this company in the midwest or someone recommends them, stay away from them at all costs.

 

Rick R