Surely these are not legal.

J

john56

Member
 Middlewich, Cheshire
Not had the Z long and was out at night for the first time on Saturday, unfortunately i was on the M6 about midnight and had the fright of my life, there is no way the standard lights on my car can be legal, how in the name of everything thats holy are you expected to see on an unlit motorway, on dip the lights shone to about 3mtrs in front of the car then complete blackness, for those who dont already know, DO NOT venture on the motorway with standard lights, you may as well drive with a blindfold on, the missis was rigid with fear so we came off at the next exit, it was that bad, i tried to adjust the lights up with the wheel on the dashboard but they were already at the max.
Anyway, i searched the posts and as recommended have adjusted the lights up two full turns, ill wait and see if that improves the situation.
The car was MOT'd when i bought it so what the hell is going wrong? i read that people who have adjusted the lights up talk about putting them back to their original position before an MOT.
Am i over reacting ? was anybody else's car this bad? :x
 
Mine are not bad on unlit motorways - not as good as the ones on my e34, but that may be due to the lower starting height of the Z4's lights which to me seems to shorten the throw a bit.

I might (although haven't for 3 years) give the adjuster a full turn to raise them and see if it makes any/much difference.
 
Never had a problem on the motorway with lights. I prefer a motorway to be dark, a massive waste of electricity when there's only 4 cars on the road.

All you need to see is the lanes. Everyone else should have rear lights that you can see...
 
Ok my or HIDs so perhaps why I'm not suffering as much as you, however I have thought they could do with being a bit higher.

Are they easy to adjust up?
 
Maybe the weight of the tin roof is lowering the headlight beam height :poke:

Meh - my 3 series was the same, halogens were pants. Z4 Xenon were the same until I raised them. One and a half turns (O/S) and one turn (N/S) did the trick for me :thumbsup:
 
Simple job to adjust, white plastic cap screws under the bonnet just behind each headlight, use allen key to adjust 2 full turns, think it was anti-clockwise but easy to check, i used a wall to shine the lights on to make sure they were adjusting up and not down.
 
Have you checked that your lenses haven't 'fogged' with road salt etc and in need of a refurb? My Saab lights were pant, tried different bulbs, pattern heights etc, but after a refurb of the lenses, they are so much better! :thumbsup:
 
Got to say, on my 92 scirocco and 88 E24 I couldnt see anything more than a metre in front! At least you have a little more but as above, clean them out and adjust the height perhaps?
 
Two turns fixed mine, like you at times I couldn't see more than a few feet in front if the car and brighter bulbs didn't help on their own.
 
Is the bulb on the outside supposed to look fogged-up like this?
IMG_0973.jpg
 
It's not fogged up, the lens is ribbed -

there is a thread on here where one forum member bought and fitted clear lens. This helped stop 'glare' and give a much clearer line of light, infact i ended up doing the same


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The thread

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21696&hilit=xenon


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ranski said:
The thread

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21696&hilit=xenon


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Click to expand...
Thats a great link, could be the way to go without major investment , thanks very much :thumbsup:

And thanks everyone for your comments :thumbsup:
 
Lots here have fitted xenons to replace their halogens - one of the best mods I have done (5000k which gives a white light)


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I must admit when I had my 3-litre Roadster I thought the standard (non-Xenon) headlights were appalling for a car capable of 0-60 in less than 6 seconds and 155mph.

The xenons on my current Zed are much, much better - they should be standard on all Zed's.
 
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