LED hightlights
- Thread starter sootytorques
- Start date
Okay I'll simplify my post.
The definitive guide for LEDs...
No.1 left/right
No.2 up/down
Sent from my piece of shite iPhone - according to Muz.
Period
.
It's not the exact height that is important here. When you place your car 10 cm form the wall, mark the height at the __/ __/ mark if you know what I mean. When you reverse your car 10 meters away, the vertical(up/down) difference between the __/ __/ marks should be 10 cm. That's the official percentage. I tend to make it 5 cm. So 10 m away from the wall the beam is 5 cm lower than it was facing the wall from the shortest distance possible.
Does this make sense or did a over complicate it?
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It's not the exact height that is important here. When you place your car 10 cm form the wall, mark the height at the __/ __/ mark if you know what I mean. When you reverse your car 10 meters away, the vertical(up/down) difference between the __/ __/ marks should be 10 cm. That's the official percentage. I tend to make it 5 cm. So 10 m away from the wall the beam is 5 cm lower than it was facing the wall from the shortest distance possible.
Does this make sense or did a over complicate it?
So you have set yours higher than the recommendations?
Really need a mate who works in a MOT garage, as if it's not set up as that, it's going to be illegal and a failure anyway.
No, that's why you park it as close as possible. Because of the short distance the wrong settings will not affect the markings. The further you move from the wall, the bigger the offset will be from the correct adjustment, the closer you are to the wall, the smaller the offset. So if you're a couple of cm from the wall, the difference will not be noticeable.
For example. If you put you car direct in front of the wall and change the settings, you will not or barely notice any difference of the pattern on the wall. As you gradually move away from the wall, the bigger the effect will be seen in the pattern as you are changing it.
Does it look like a failure to you?
It's not blingding anybody, the beams are pointed torwards the ground and I can see a lot better, so it's better for me and the same for others. Low beam from 45 meters away:
I would say that seems quite high... as every bump you hit will cause your lights to be blinding people. I don't see a line on the road in front of me, so would assume the lights being set any higher wouldn't have any real world benefit.
I've never heard of people raising their headlights as it should be set from the manufacture, I see a few MOT failures in about 2 years time. The internet is great for advice but sometimes the wrong people give the wrong advice, not saying this is happening here but it sure feels like it, there are somethings which you shouldn't be messing with - it's in warranty so ask your dealer to check.
I've never heard of people raising their headlights as it should be set from the manufacture, I see a few MOT failures in about 2 years time. The internet is great for advice but sometimes the wrong people give the wrong advice, not saying this is happening here but it sure feels like it, there are somethings which you shouldn't be messing with - it's in warranty so ask your dealer to check.
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Mine had been preset from factory so low that they didn't even show on an MOT light beam thingy. Unfortunately I have little faith in any of my local dealers (from experience) and find it a lot easier to deal with things like this myself.
Sent from my piece of shite iPhone - according to Muz.
Sent from my piece of shite iPhone - according to Muz.
Does it look like a failure to you?
Low beam from 45 meters away:
All I am saying is that if you don't have proper chart on the wall at the correct height, dist etc, how do you know that you have the left hand bias right to keep it in your lane. It wouldn't be a MOT failure item, if we could all set it to what we think is correct.
The right side of the beam, which seems high, lits the area next to the road(we drive on the right side - the "right" side too BTW
), it doesn't lit the vehicles driving in front of me. Also the left side of the beam is low enough that a bump would blind the opposing vehicle. Like I described many pages back...I go 45 meters in front of the car and literally put my head near the ground and check if they blind me - they do not. Plus the LEDs cut the beam so aggressivelly that there is no shining like from the Xenons and I had all my Xenons set like this. No problem with the law, never been flashed at night.Like StevenM wrote, the dealer can't be trusted and this method is simple and reversible. It's not like you get a micro meter accuracy from the factory or even from the dealer....you should but you don't and that's the case almost every time.
Every driver should take care of that if he notices that he's being flashed all the time or if he can't see jack at night. Like you have to take care for the tyre pressure if it seems low every couple of months you should take care of this if something doesn't seem right. Or you go to an expert that does this for you.
And of course I'm not convincing anybody to do what I did(sounds like I did a crime, Jesus
), to each his own. And if someone doesn't like the way his headlights lit the road, he can give it a try, otherwise he can overlook this whole thing.
Because everything doesn't need to be 10000000% accurate to work in real life. It can be 95% and it can still be better than most of the vehicles that lit the road everywhere but the road in their old crappy candel lights, pimped super Xenons, etc. Not everything has to be so complicated, spot on, 100% accurate and with some tools and a little common sense everybody can adjust it as long as the settings don't mess with safety on the road.
And while we're at it
. I think that it's better to worry about this beam adjustment and at least set it about accurate then to do nothing at all and have a XYZ setting and live in a hope that it must be that way. How many of you are 100% sure that your adjustment is 100% right? Did you check it? How do you know that it's 100% optimal and it's not a threat to anybody?What I'm trying to say that I KNOW what my settings are, I know at least about accurate, how do they lit right/left, up/down because I have measured it, adjusted it, measured it again, tested and so on and so on. I think I'm on the safer side and somebody who blindly thinks that the factory or the dealer made sure it's 100% optimal, is not.
Ok, enough written, my fingers are starting to hurt
.
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Does it look like a failure to you?
Low beam from 45 meters away:
very nice, much better than the lights just lighting up a couple meters front of the hood.
Because everything doesn't need to be 10000000% accurate to work in real life. It can be 95% and it can still be better than most of the vehicles that lit the road everywhere but the road in their old crappy candel lights, pimped super Xenons, etc. Not everything has to be so complicated, spot on, 100% accurate and with some tools and a little common sense everybody can adjust it as long as the settings don't mess with safety on the road.
And while we're at it
What I'm trying to say that I KNOW what my settings are, I know at least about accurate, how do they lit right/left, up/down because I have measured it, adjusted it, measured it again, tested and so on and so on. I think I'm on the safer side and somebody who blindly thinks that the factory or the dealer made sure it's 100% optimal, is not.
Ok, enough written, my fingers are starting to hurt
Sounds like your an expert, and they should just abandon all the laws as everyone can do what they think is right, I would like to here that argument you just gave standing up in court, I never ever said do nothing and blind folk, I said take it to a garage/MOT centre and get it done right.
Try the Seat dealer in Thurrock or Harlow and see how confident you feel in their ability to do it right when your hear their response.
Much better chance of it being done properly at a back street garage IME.
Sent from my piece of shite iPhone - according to Muz.
And I am saying that it was worse when I bought it. So what is worse? That I do it myself or leave it be? If I take to a garage they will defenitly lower them as they are not exactly in the right position according to the law. As I said I like them a little higher but at the same time not blinding anybody. I'm no expert but I don't care about law if I can't see at night the way I should. What am I going to say, when something happens? Well, at least I obeyed the law. You obey your allmighty law, I've got my common sense.
do you have such a regular "government" inspection as we do here?
The MOT is compulsory for cars over 3 years old, and you have to have the pass certificate to buy the annual road tax. No pass, no tax, and trouble with police.
So a failure will cost money. I've had a fail on a previous car (saab 9-5) because the lights were set too high, even with the dash adjustment on "low". Had to do some adjustment and put in for a retest next day.
and re-adjusted them back up afterwards, because they were crap. Put in uprated bulbs and they were brighter, but still the beam just wasn't long enough.
it's worth making a fuss at the dealer while it's in warranty - almost all of them have MOT test facilities with the legal settings on the wall...
The MOT is compulsory for cars over 3 years old, and you have to have the pass certificate to buy the annual road tax. No pass, no tax, and trouble with police.
So a failure will cost money. I've had a fail on a previous car (saab 9-5) because the lights were set too high, even with the dash adjustment on "low". Had to do some adjustment and put in for a retest next day.
and re-adjusted them back up afterwards, because they were crap. Put in uprated bulbs and they were brighter, but still the beam just wasn't long enough.
it's worth making a fuss at the dealer while it's in warranty - almost all of them have MOT test facilities with the legal settings on the wall...
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