N/A Better car lights?

Henning said:
Just be carefull coming at me on a dark road, because I will try to shoot those lights out, if I hit you in the process, sorry, but you were trying to kill me by blinding me on a dark road, so it's self defense.
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Retort removed as the posters comment isn't worth the effort.
 
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I'm not so fond of the "shooting out the headlights" comments. But, I will certainly go along with aiming the lights correctly. As a courier driving a lot of night hours, I can't tell you how many times I was blinded because someone had their low beams headed down the road. The high beams would be aimed for the moon.
 
KennyFlys said:
I'm not so fond of the "shooting out the headlights" comments. But, I will certainly go along with aiming the lights correctly. As a courier driving a lot of night hours, I can't tell you how many times I was blinded because someone had their low beams headed down the road. The high beams would be aimed for the moon.
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...not to mention the incomprehensible proliferation of jackholes who drive around with their extra lights (fog? "driving"? What?) on. Just because they are there, does not mean you need to have them burning all the time! This seems most prevalent among Lexus drivers, especially on the SUVs, but is by
no means limited to them.

Hint: in city, use headlamps, low beam. Check aim on occasion. Don't be a butt.
 
SCCutler said:
...Hint: in city, use headlamps, low beam. Check aim on occasion. Don't be a butt.
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The headlight aim changes with the vehicle angle which can change with load. AFAIK, the load compensating shocks on my minivan still work and your average pick-em-up doesn't have that.
 
mikea said:
The headlight aim changes with the vehicle angle which can change with load. AFAIK, the load compensating shocks on my minivan still work and your average pick-em-up doesn't have that.
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The old Citreon DeLuxe had headlamps that turned with the steering wheel...
 
mikea said:
The headlight aim changes with the vehicle angle which can change with load. AFAIK, the load compensating shocks on my minivan still work and your average pick-em-up doesn't have that.
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The HID headlights on my car automatically adjust for vehicle load. I believe this is a requirement for factory installed HID lights.
 
mikea said:
The headlight aim changes with the vehicle angle which can change with load. AFAIK, the load compensating shocks on my minivan still work and your average pick-em-up doesn't have that.
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Correct. However, most 3/4 and 1-ton trucks come from the factory with the rear of the truck about 2" high so that when you put a trailer or load on, it makes the truck level. My Dodge, for example, had better lighting with a trailer because then the headlights were aimed properly, rather than aimed low (like they were with no trailer).

Unless you have an auto aim compensation, all headlight aiming is going to be a compromise. In my Excursion, I set it up a bit low. As I've said before, I haven't gotten anyone flashing me since I installed them (and when I installed them I spent quite a while making sure they were aimed right), so I have reason to believe they're aimed properly. I get plenty of comments from people who generally dislike HIDs, but I find that those are the folks who don't actually understand them, and only see a few people who aim them improplerly. Also, not a single one of them has driven in front of me.

I might add, I far more often get blinded by people with standard bulbs that are either aimed improperly, or else drive around with their high beams on because they can't see and then blind me. I do not get blinded by actual HID installations. I have been blinded by standard bulbs in Chevy trucks with trailers, where I believe they aim them to have a normal aim when unloaded, and then loading them causes the aim to be closer to a high beam.

I'm still very happy with the install, and would recommend it to others.
 
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I replaced the bulbs. That was easy....

Well.. my brilliant idea of wearing latex gloves? The second you touch the car the gloves get greasy. I changed to another pair when I handled the new bulbs. It's not too hard to avoid touching the bulbs anyway.

I recognized that I should cut off doing any farting around with the bulbs when I opened up the package. I did a little...I had the gloves on. Uh, oh. The gloves are "lightly powdered" OK, so wipe the bulbs off to be sure. How do I know the tissues are not coated?....:mad2:

I've been hating the dark. There's something about it getting really, really, cold, wintry dark at 4:30. It's even snowing today. :raspberry:

Now I want to try the lights so I can't wait for it to get dark. :cornut:
 
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mikea said:
I replaced the bulbs. That was easy....

Well.. my brilliant idea of wearing latex gloves? The second you touch the car the gloves get greasy. I changed to another pair when I handled the new bulbs. It's not too hard to avoid touching the bulbs anyway.

I recognized that I should cut off doing any farting around with the bulbs when I opened up the package. I did a little...I had the gloves on. Uh, oh. The gloves are "lightly powdered" OK, so wipe the bulbs off to be sure. How do I know the tissues are not coated?....:mad2:

I've been hating the dark. There's something about it getting really, really, cold, wintry dark at 4:30. It's even snowing today. :raspberry:

Now I want to try the lights so I can't wait for it to get dark. :cornut:
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Leslie used latex gloves too. I don't think powder should be a problem, though grease would be. She waited to put on the gloves until after she had removed the old bulbs, so the time in the gloves (and hence get them greasy) was minimized.
 
The best thing to do is try to just not touch the bulb itself. It is perfeclty doable to only touch the base, at least on every car I've changed bulbs on. I never wear gloves when handling the bulbs (unless I'm wearing them to handle other parts of the vehicle) and it works just fine. :)
 
gprellwitz said:
Leslie used latex gloves too. I don't think powder should be a problem, though grease would be. She waited to put on the gloves until after she had removed the old bulbs, so the time in the gloves (and hence get them greasy) was minimized.
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You make Leslie do the work on the cars?:fingerwag: Come on Grant, man up. :D:thumbsup:
 
Henning said:
Just be carefull coming at me on a dark road, because I will try to shoot those lights out, if I hit you in the process, sorry, but you were trying to kill me by blinding me on a dark road, so it's self defense.
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Good. I want to ride with you!. I figure those lights are safer for the driver behind them because blinded drivers tend to go off the road AWAY from them. And by the time the accident occurs, they are far enough down the road that they don't care.
 
Henning said:
Just be carefull coming at me on a dark road, because I will try to shoot those lights out, if I hit you in the process, sorry, but you were trying to kill me by blinding me on a dark road, so it's self defense.
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As a professionally trained shooter I'd welcome the opportunity to draw out on you. You wouldn't even have the chance to clear leather.
 
kevin47881 said:
As a professionally trained shooter I'd welcome the opportunity to draw out on you. You wouldn't even have the chance to clear leather.
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You're welcome to try... Don't be surprised if you're talking to St Peter before you realize I'm in the same state though. I don't play old west rules.
 
OK, I went for a night drive.

Those bulbs are definitely whiter and brighter!

Didn't entirely fix my problem, though.

I decided I need to adjust the headlight alignment to raise both maybe 5 degrees and turn the left lens out further left. I'm going to take a stab at adjusting them myself, bit by bit over time.

I looked at how far the lights on other cars went and mine seem to hit the road maybe 100 feet earlier.

On the way back on a circular ramp, my lights lit up a sad sight only when I was within maybe 50 feet of it. A opossum which had been hit was writhing right in the middle of the lane.:(
 
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mikea said:
OK, I went for a night dirve.

Those bulbs are definitely whiter and brighter!

Didn't entirely fix my problem, though.

I decided I need to adjust the headlight alignment to raise both maybe 5 degrees and turn the left lens out further left. I'm going to take a stab at adjusting them myself, bit by bit over time.

I looked at how far the lights on other cars went and mine seem to hit the road maybe 100 feet earlier.

On the way back on a circular ramp, my lights lit up a sad sight only when I was within maybe 50 feet of it. A opossum which had been hit was writhing right in the middle of the lane.:(
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Do the world a favor, take the dang vehicle to a shop that has a target wall and let them adjust the lights, it'll take 10 minutes tops, and the charge is typically minimal. I used to charge $5.
 
A quick way to get the alignment close is to point the headlamps at a wall or garage door at night. Providing the vehicle attitude is neutral, very minor tweaks are all that should be necessary.

It's not unlike bore sighting a firearm. The round will hit paper but you might still need to tweak here or there.
 
kevin47881 said:
A quick way to get the alignment close is to point the headlamps at a wall or garage door at night. Providing the vehicle attitude is neutral, very minor tweaks are all that should be necessary.

It's not unlike bore sighting a firearm. The round will hit paper but you might still need to tweak here or there.
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But where on the wall or door are you aiming? Most front end alignment and collission repair shops have calibrated target walls to get the aim correct.
 
What was the rule, it should be about 1' down for every 10' back from the wall? That sounds right, I'm sure that Google has the answer.

I've not seen any of the "calibrated target walls" you speak of, Henning, including at any inspection stations I've visited in either New York or Pennsylvania. They just use the rule of thumb. As such, I would question whether or not Mike would get anything other than a rule of thumb treatment, which he should be able to do himself.

Mike, I doubt you need to move your left lens any further left. Remember that your headlights actually are supposed to aim a hair right to prevent blinding oncoming drivers. It's the opposite in England, South Africa, Australia, Japan, etc. In the Jaguar world, when we buy Euro headlights we have to make adjustments accordingly.

Do a Google for the rule of thumb, or head to a shop where they know it off the top of their heads. Having not seen your lenses, I have a suspicion that they also need some cleaning of some sort, as at that age they are almost certainly fogged up due to debris on the plastic. The cleaning will make a huge difference both in appearance and in light output.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
What was the rule, it should be about 1' down for every 10' back from the wall? That sounds right, I'm sure that Google has the answer.

I've not seen any of the "calibrated target walls" you speak of, Henning, including at any inspection stations I've visited in either New York or Pennsylvania. They just use the rule of thumb. As such, I would question whether or not Mike would get anything other than a rule of thumb treatment, which he should be able to do himself.

Mike, I doubt you need to move your left lens any further left. Remember that your headlights actually are supposed to aim a hair right to prevent blinding oncoming drivers. It's the opposite in England, South Africa, Australia, Japan, etc. In the Jaguar world, when we buy Euro headlights we have to make adjustments accordingly.

Do a Google for the rule of thumb, or head to a shop where they know it off the top of their heads. Having not seen your lenses, I have a suspicion that they also need some cleaning of some sort, as at that age they are almost certainly fogged up due to debris on the plastic. The cleaning will make a huge difference both in appearance and in light output.
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Correct on the left light also aims right a bit so that both beams intersect on the white line out in front of the car where the intensity starts to diminish.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Do a Google for the rule of thumb, or head to a shop where they know it off the top of their heads.
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Or check the owner's manual...

Having not seen your lenses, I have a suspicion that they also need some cleaning of some sort, as at that age they are almost certainly fogged up due to debris on the plastic. The cleaning will make a huge difference both in appearance and in light output.
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I used something (Novus?) on my old Ford pickup's plastic lenses and the difference really was dramatic. It only took about 30 minutes/lens - had different several grades of abrasive in the package.


Trapper John
 
Henning said:
But where on the wall or door are you aiming? Most front end alignment and collission repair shops have calibrated target walls to get the aim correct.
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I don't disagree. One thing to consider is that most vehicles the last 10 years or so have built in bubble levels. As such, finding a shop with a calibrated target wall is exceptionally difficult (at least in states which have conducted business; KY, AL, MS, TN, AR, GA).

As to where: if the car is stopped about 20 feet from the wall, you can get VERY close to where you want the beams to project.
 
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