headlights

T

thegrape

Member
 Borehamwood
I am trying to work out whether my eye site is going(Im only 31 for gods sake!) or whether the beams on my headlights are just crap.

I have noticed since it has been darker earlier that although I can see the lights are on when I am driving about, especially on roads with no street lamps, they dont seem to make the blindest bit of difference. Full beam is better, but when it is not on full beam it is distance that they project that seems not powerful enough.

It has been pretty frosty here recently which has caused the car to get filthy so I went out and cleaned them last night but it hasn't made any difference. I have chance the height with the control on the dashboard and still no better.

Should I go to the dealer or to the opticians?

On a more positive note although it was about zero degrees today, I took it for a blast with the hood down up the A41, Watford/Berkhampstead way and honestly, nothing beats it, especially with the magic sport button pressed :)
 
Have you got xenon HID's or just normal halogen??

I changed my halogen bulbs to xenon bulbs and it made a big difference, could see the light on the road, I think it's just halogen lights aren't really very good.

If you do upgrade the bulbs, don't be fooled by some on the market, have to be 55Watt to be E typed. Some are at 100Watt and are illegal, nice and bright but could cause a problem if you have a bump and the insurance companies examiner finds them, plus the added chance of prosecution. I only say this as a few people I know bought 100Watt bulbs and didn't realised they were illegal.
 
I got a set of Philips one's off http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk for about £26. They range from between £14 - £30 in total. Loads to choose, from H7 is the fitment size for the dipped beams.

Plus you get a free set of sidelight bulbs too, they are blue in colour but are E marked and give off a white light and are perfectly legal. Just choose the 501 fitments size when prompted.
 
Thanks very much for that - do they really make that much more of a difference to the standard lights?
 
You can't just change from Halogen bulbs to Xenon bulbs, there's far more to the Xenon lights than just the bulbs. I think you must be refering to Halogen bulbs that try to mimick the affects of Xenon? That's not to say they wont improve things.
 
no fit state is correct here about xenon, etc.

Let me add some thoughts to something that has been covered on the board a few times but from different angles.
OEM halogens do seem to be poor because of a combination of height from ground reducing throw and power of bulb/housing structure.

Brighter bulbs that are legal as suggested above do have reports of an improvement. 100w are just illegal and the heat generated could damage the loom and/or lens thought I've never seen/heard it happen.

Switching to so called xenon bulbs are just halogen with xenon gas inside. No benefit unless you are a Corsa driver that wants a blue tint and xenon bragging rights in the pub....lol Actually moving the light to the blue end of the spectrum may look cool but actually reduces usable light.

Agtermarket xenon with a bulb and ballast will make a huge difference but they are illegal in the UK (fact regardless of anything sellers tell you) as they do not have self levelling and the beam is likely to be shone all over dazzling. Minor extras is that xenon should have headlight washers or else risk MOT failure and should not be dash asjustable as halogens are. Of course many fit them and are happy with the results.

Retrofit OEM xenon. The ultimate, but expensive to buy (£2000 all in is about right for unit, ballast, bulb and holder) You then need a new LCM £200, or it can be reprogrammed. You should also retrofit the OEM auto adjust kit to avoid dazzle, few bother.

That's about it - take you pick :thumbsup:
 
Best solution for halogen is to raise the headlights, BMW had set mine to mid limit after I complained, but it was still no better, brighter bulbs, the Philips 80% brighter made no difference, so two complete 360 dgree turns of the headlight adjuster to raise, and I can see perfectly, and have had nobody flash me.

When it comes to MOT I will turn back two turns to be on the safe side.
 
I have done the same as srhutch with the standard bulbs and it works much better :)

I do think decent aftermarket philips bulbs make a difference but not as much as they say. The combination of adjustments and bulbs should solve your problems.
 
So they are xenon bulbs!!! I didn't say they were xenon lights!!!

The bulb has xenon gas in them (making it a xenon bulb) and I personally can see a difference with them, granted it's not as good as an actual xenon light assembly, but it's still better than the OEM halogen bulb.

But everyone has their own opinions.
 
The xenon bit is confusing, as the 'proper' xenons are actually an arc light, vs a filament light.

So you can get xenon filament in H7, or xenon arc lights, which are super duper expensive :)


Would be good to see some good bulbed, and well adjusted filament headlighted Z4's vs some oem xenon ones, to actually get an idea of the benefits/differences.
 
hotdog3147 said:
So they are xenon bulbs!!! I didn't say they were xenon lights!!!

The bulb has xenon gas in them (making it a xenon bulb) and I personally can see a difference with them, granted it's not as good as an actual xenon light assembly, but it's still better than the OEM halogen bulb.

But everyone has their own opinions.
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The halogen lights on my SLK are absolutely woeful, I had xenon lights on my Z4 and miss them so much. I took my 84bhp Micra on a 2.5 hour journey on Tuesday and my SLK on Thursday (same route - A roads) , and I did them both in the same time because although the Micra is slow, I could actually see where I was going at 6 AM.

I have ordered four bulbs from this supplier (my SLK has separate bulbs for dipped and main beam) as I figure that any improvement is better than standard.

Mr Whippy said:
The xenon bit is confusing, as the 'proper' xenons are actually an arc light, vs a filament light.

So you can get xenon filament in H7, or xenon arc lights, which are super duper expensive :)

Would be good to see some good bulbed, and well adjusted filament headlighted Z4's vs some oem xenon ones, to actually get an idea of the benefits/differences.
Click to expand...
I read the Auto Express test on different bulbs and they were much better than standard. At the end of the day for £30 you can't really go wrong, however they perform, it definitely won't be any worse.
 
Wondermike said:
Mr Whippy said:
The xenon bit is confusing, as the 'proper' xenons are actually an arc light, vs a filament light.

So you can get xenon filament in H7, or xenon arc lights, which are super duper expensive :)

Would be good to see some good bulbed, and well adjusted filament headlighted Z4's vs some oem xenon ones, to actually get an idea of the benefits/differences.
Click to expand...
I read the Auto Express test on different bulbs and they were much better than standard. At the end of the day for £30 you can't really go wrong, however they perform, it definitely won't be any worse.
Click to expand...

I've only ever known the xenons so know how good they will be in the UK winters/foggyness/unlit roads etc...

Are the halogens REALLY that bad when bulbed up and pointed up a bit (between MOT's sensibly of course, as I assume the level they set is over-cautious and very low)?

I really don't know if these should be a concern when buying or not. It's easy to get caught up in the idea you need ALL the options, even though for actually driving ANY Z4 will be the same :evil:

Dave
 
Halogens are rubbish, the biggest problem is that the physical height of them is so low, so the slightest mis-alignment will thrown them off. I'll never have halogen lights again, ever, and if I'm buying a used car (which I probably will be) I just won't buy one without xenons, even if it is otherwise perfect.

The xenons on my Z4 were fab.
 
Talking from personal experience xenon lights are just so much better than halogen. I ran my X5 on halogen for several years and then retrofitted OEM xenons. To say the difference was night to day would be no exageration. Way more light output literally flooding the road by comparison and operating in a better spectrum (closer to daylight) but not so high as to give the blue xenon look that actually reduces usable light. On the Zed I find the biggest problem with xenons is that they are so bright and project so far, that street signs reflect so brightly that I end up on dipped to see.

So what do experts/reviews say between xenon bulbs and Xenon lighting (HID) This is just one I pulled at random....

What is the difference between genuine XENON HID lights and Xenon gas-filled bulbs?

High Intensity Discharge (HID) is a type of lighting technology that replaces the filament of the light bulb with Xenon gas. The gas is ignited to produce an arc of light, when high voltage is applied. The amount of light output is three times that of a standard halogen bulb. The lamps also glow at a higher light temperature (closer to natural sunlight) that gives it its distinct color and appearance.

Other companies produce halogen bulbs that are gas-filled. They still have a filament as they are halogen technology, but the gas gives the bulb a bluer color when lit. Xenon-filled halogen bulbs produce little or no more light output then standard halogen bulbs of the same wattage.

DO NOT BE FOOLED BY COMPANIES THAT OFFER HID LOOK BULBS! They are not a true XENON HID light system.


Putting brighter bulbs in and adjusting correctly will of course help and it's cheap and usually legal, but echoing Mike's comment I will never buy a car again without xenon.
 
Wow lots of interesting things to think about here - I am pleased to hear that I am not the only one who is disappointed with the light projected by the standard bulbs/lights. I did actually wonder whether it was to do with the fact that the Zed is so low and the angle of the nose, as my wife's Astra seems to feel safer when driving at night. Having said that, I used to have a Smart Roadster and I dont recall having problems like this, I was too busy dodging HGV's lol!

This way of changing the angle of the beam? - is this something I can do myself - please bear in mind that I am a computer expert and no mechanic... or do I have to take it to the stealer? Does anyone have pictures/video of where/how I do this?

Many thanks guys
 
thegrape - I've just tried this myself and managed to lift the angle (noticeable as the car's lights were shining on a garage door, my engine needed to be on to have the dipped headlights on) you need either an allen key or screwdriver....
Pop the bonnet and look down the front, nothing needs to be taken off or removed, either side of the main panel at the front if you look down the gap you will see a white nut that can be turned with the allen key or cross head screwdriver (i managed with a flat one!) these will raise / lower the beam on turning.
Good luck! :thumbsup:
 
Each headlight unit has 2 of these white adjusters. One does left/right and the other up/down. I suggest you keep a very careful note of which you turned and how far, so if you make a mistake to you can revert to a known position :thumbsup:

Best place to ajust them is a a garage door if you have a flat driveway, else a large multi storey/underground carpark as they have nice walls a square and flat floors to work from.
 
Just to reiterate what others are saying: a combination of raising the height using the white adjusters described above, plus fitting something like Philips Xtreme +80% bulbs improves things no end. Although, I'd say that raising the height of the lights has a bigger effect than new bulbs, but both help.

I've got a personal thing against Xenons/HIDs after having the (standard fit) xenons fail in a previous car at big expense to me as they wouldn't replace them under warranty - so I really don't mind my Z4 not having them.
 
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