The cutoff on our headlights sucks.

[Jnitrofish]

Yes, this is a rant.

I have realized that after several years of getting high beam flashes from oncoming cars, and adjusting my headlights using the methods described on this forum (and the Daniel Stern guide), that no matter what I do, folks hate my headlights.

There is no happy medium; I am either blinding them moderately so I can see the road ahead of me, or I am blinding them slightly less than moderately and I can't see anything but the cat which is in the process of eating my Votex kit.

I actually as of last night have my low beams aimed lower than what the Daniel Stern guide says to have them, when I went on a test drive I got a high beam flash from a cop.

I don't even use those damn silverstar ultras anymore, just OEM Osrams! I use my high beams just to let others know I am shutting off something and not being an a-hole!

Am I wrong? Are people just hyper sensitive to a light that is brighter than their own? I got one person the other day that was oncoming approaching I-10, he flashed his high beams twice; I turn on I-10 and he turns on behind me and continued flashing his highbeams in my rearview mirror. Apparently he thinks he is the headlight police, or suffers from tourette syndrome and was in fact having a fit.

Feel free to voice your opinion below. I will go out and realign (raise) my headlights to the Daniel Stern specs this evening.

 

[Seatman]

I wonder if one of the bulbs isn't quite seated properly, doubtful but a possibility unless you have the wrong lenses and they're pointing the wrong way on dip.

 

[Jnitrofish]

Here are some pics if anyone is wondering what my lights look like.

Yes the horizontal adjustment on my passenger lamp is broken but as you can see I have it to where the part that kicks up is on the axis line where it meets the appropriate vertical line for the distance my car is from the wall.

The following pictures are taken with as little exposure and ISO setting as I can have on my camera (80 ISO and 1/1200 second) to keep the lights from washing out the picture. I am holding the camera quite a bit above the cut off against the garage door in these pictures.

 

[bhutchins]

I changed mine to Dynabeams (that turn around corners) from Boraparts.com. I have nearlly new originals sitting in the garage. PM if interested

 

[AD5GB]

The Sylvania Xtra-Visions I got at AutoZone are the same as our OEM Osrams I believe. I put in a set of Hella E-code projector lenses and noticed a much more precise pattern without shadows or hot spots. I upgraded to the 65W Osrams and aimed using the same procedure as you. Never get flashed and can see just fine. That said I never got flashed with the OEM lenses either. I'll never buy a bulb with even a hint of blue tint on the glass. They appear brighter to some people, but they're really not. Are you running your OEM reflectors?

 

[ZiggyTheHamster]

I never get flashed. And I see great.

Bone stock. Never pointed.

 

[40X40]

It may be time to observe your car at night from another car. There is obviously something going on and it may help to see it from the other drivers perspective.

Make sure your car is moving at a normal speed as there may be a vibration factor at work.
Looking forward to reading the outcome.

Bill

 

[DPM]

^^ yup. your broken horizontal adjuster may be letting the reflector jiggle around...

 

[Jnitrofish]

It may be time to observe your car at night from another car. There is obviously something going on and it may help to see it from the other drivers perspective.

Make sure your car is moving at a normal speed as there may be a vibration factor at work.
Looking forward to reading the outcome.

Bill

You may be right, I have been thinking about what I can do to hold it in place, something that wont catch fire.

A while back, I actually had driven infront of my car at night when my brothers F-150 was misfiring badly while my mother was borrowing it; I met up and swapped with her to drive (limp) my bro's truck back and, and all I can say is (this was when I had silverstar ultras, and could actually see where I was driving) is that my lights -- both the drivers and broken passengers -- are absolutely ducking blinding (at least that's how auto-correct on my phone would put it).

Also, the road in my neighborhood tees into another road, and at the end there is a house with windows across the front; those windows reflect my lights back in my face, and it serves is a reminder of what other drivers have to go through before I ever encounter an Escalde with HIDs or jacked up 4x4 fords with blue tinted halogens (both common in this area) on my night drive.

I should point out that I typically have a 2 hour drive (at least) at night between the hours of 10pm and 5am, so I am on the roads with very little traffic, which perhaps makes people more iritible when they have had dark rural (or city) roads and then I come along.

I'll never buy a bulb with even a hint of blue tint on the glass. They appear brighter to some people, but they're really not. Are you running your OEM reflectors?

I am pretty sure these are the factory reflectors, nothing seems odd about them and I got flashed in my last MkV as well, so its not specific to this car.

It's funny about your comment on blue lights, I was just explaining that to one of my passengers the other night; we got stuck as a rail crossing behind an F150 with deep blue tinted bulbs and my passenger made a comment on how annoying those were. I pointed out that with his lights hitting the red and white reflective tape on the crossing gate that all you could see was the white reflecting in blue, and the red was black. Once my lights (which have no color filtering tint) hit the reflectors on the crossing gates you could see the red and the white clearly. I commonly use the physics of why the sky is blue and sunsets are red to then further blow minds in that discussion. When I have kids and they ask why the sky is blue they are going to get a LOT more than they were bargaining for.

 

[ZiggyTheHamster]

It's funny about your comment on blue lights

But blue lights are totally cool, yo!

 

[AD5GB]

Some like 'em, some don't. They produce less actual light than is apparent though watt for watt but much more glare and 'backdazzle'. I had a set years ago, until I drove at night in heavy rain. Bad juju! But then opinions vary and everyone's entitled to one.

 

[TwoTone]

Some like 'em, some don't. They produce less actual light than is apparent though watt for watt but much more glare and 'backdazzle'. I had a set years ago, until I drove at night in heavy rain. Bad juju! But then opinions vary and everyone's entitled to be wrong.

Fixed it for you, come on you know that's what you wanted to say

 

[AD5GB]

Fixed it for you, come on you know that's what you wanted to say

LOL! Too funny...

 

[curovo]

Has the car been lowered?

 

[Mike in Anchorage]

How much stuff do you have in your trunk? Patterns look fine.

 

[Jnitrofish]

No the car hasn't been lowered.

Nothing in the trunk as I typically don't have anything in the trunk. The pattern is great, and when my lights are adjusted properly I can see excellently, until people start flashing me or not turning off their high beams because they think I'm blinding them intentionally. I love the headlights, but they still throw a crap-ton of glare and they're only rival is the Escalade HIDs or the latest Ford pickups.

Our Mitsubishi Outlander has the same style dual halogen pod headlamps on it with the European beam, but the cutoff point actually works on its lights, so you don't get anymore glare from those lights than you get from the average car, and you can see the road just as well.

I continue to be impressed with you all saying that you don't get flashed, after all, we all have the same headlights.