Aweful dipped beam range

[Spanner]

Was driving on the motorway on saturday night and realised i could not see any light from my lights directly infront of me at all and it was not interupting the lights from the overhead ones. I've been dissapointed with the coverage of my lights for ages and put it down to the fact the car is probably a bit lower on the nose of the car due to the suspension upgrade and why they dont seem to go out much further than 10m from the car. If i'm sat in traffic 1.5 to 2m from the car in front they tend to illuminate the bumper only.

I'd changed the them about 10 months ago for one of halfords whiter, super brilliance ones? anyway I've noticed one of the bulbs is turning black on the lower half and the fact the covered portion on the end extends further than the standard ones. So have decided to go back to the original Osram brand ones and have order some of their silverstar lights.

I do remember being amazed when i first drove the car by the light coverage, even seeing some of the lens ridges being lit up on the trees along the side of the road. Now

[yegnold]

Right hand side of the steering wheel just above knee hight, to the right of the switch that turns the light on. What number is the headlight adjustment dial showing? I'd bet it's 3 - either set it back to 0 or to 1 and see how you get on

[Spanner]

Err.. no! I've never taken it off -- , well ive flicked down and up just to try and see the movement to gauge where it is pointing on something.

[yegnold]

:( Worth a try though

[andy2407]

With the current weather my lights - infact the whole car - is pretty dirty after only a few miles of m'way driving. This does have quite an impact on the light performance.

[Dalgor_]

With the current weather my lights - infact the whole car - is pretty dirty after only a few miles of m'way driving. This does have quite an impact on the light performance.

Don't know all the correct terms in English so sorry, but try to understand what I mean

If you switch the light switch to the rightmost position (which you'll do if you want to use the long beams) you can wash your lamps at the same time you put windscreen washer to your windscreen.. When you wash your windscreen for like 1-2secs, you'll see your lights dim a bit, that's because the lamp washers rise up from their little holes and throw the liquid on the lamps and voilá, you've got clean lamps again :P

Was a long time before I noticed that the little plastic pads under your headlamps are not just a place where the washers could be installed but rather the washers themselves, just hidden in the bumper

[bobjim]

Don't know all the correct terms in English so sorry, but try to understand what I mean

If you switch the light switch to the rightmost position (which you'll do if you want to use the long beams) you can wash your lamps at the same time you put windscreen washer to your windscreen.. When you wash your windscreen for like 1-2secs, you'll see your lights dim a bit, that's because the lamp washers rise up from their little holes and throw the liquid on the lamps and voilá, you've got clean lamps again :P

Was a long time before I noticed that the little plastic pads under your headlamps are not just a place where the washers could be installed but rather the washers themselves, just hidden in the bumper

you prob have xenons which by law need a squirter i think, well for the u.k anyway

for normal folk like me we dont have holes, oer squirters in the bumper under the lights :thumbdwn:

[Dalgor_]

you prob have xenons which by law need a squirter i think, well for the u.k anyway

for normal folk like me we dont have holes, oer squirters in the bumper under the lights :thumbdwn:

What the... All Fabias I've seen here in Finland (Xenons or not, mine doesn't have 'em), they all have the plastic caps (aka lamp washers) O.o

Maybe they've figured the weather conditions here in Finland require them by default

Well, never mind then, didn't know you don't have them there :(

[MoggyTech]

If the car is lowered, this can significantly impact on headlight performance (basic trigonometry) The dip beam will need to be adjusted up slightly. You can do it by following the adjustment guide in the Haynes manual, but with an extra step, which is to use a trolley jack to raise car to standard height, on level ground and pointing at a wall or garage door at the correct distance. Mark the centre line of the beam pattern on the wall. Drop the jack and adjust dipped beam pattern to bring it up to the mark you made in step one.

[ollymonkeynuts]

Standard headlight bulbs + Lamin-x gunsmoke light film + the crud on the roads at the minute = similar pain Spanner is feeling!!!

[Dalgor_]

If the car is lowered, this can significantly impact on headlight performance (basic trigonometry) The dip beam will need to be adjusted up slightly. You can do it by following the adjustment guide in the Haynes manual, but with an extra step, which is to use a trolley jack to raise car to standard height, on level ground and pointing at a wall or garage door at the correct distance. Mark the centre line of the beam pattern on the wall. Drop the jack and adjust dipped beam pattern to bring it up to the mark you made in step one.

For example, if you mark the "standard height" beam center line into a wall from 1 meter away, and the beam lowers in a 1% angle over height, when you lower the car back to it's current height (about -40mm) and adjust the beam to point to the exact same mark as in standard height, the angle your beam drops isn't 1%, but can be closer to 0%, which would give you a beam that drives oncoming drivers mad because they get the beam in their eyes, and yet the beams don't really hit thr ground at any point.

Hope you got the point of my post there :P

What we've used here is that - knowing the angle for the beams to drop is 1% which is printed somewhere near the lights - the beam should drop 1cm for every meter you add to the distance to the marker wall, for example:

Figures below are fictional

1m distance from wall - base mark

2m distance from wall - 1cm drop compared to base mark

5m distance from wall - 4cm drop compared to base mark

This way you'll have to optimal angle, and if you want, you could adjust the beam up very slightly if your car has been lowered.

[MoggyTech]

Yes obviously optimum settings will require some fiddling, and making sure other drivers are not dazzled is very good advice. Can always pop into MOT centre and have beam alignment checked after adjustment.

Slide rules ready

[Spanner]

Been meaning to 'borrow' my parents drive and their white garage door to try and look at the patten though i think i'll have to scale the distances down to just a couple of meters. Cant have the car parked in the middle of the road!

Doesn't the haynes manual method detail how high the pattern can be off the ground? I'm sure i've seen it mentioned somewhere on the net.

[PastyBoy]

I find theres a huge difference between top and bottom setting on the roller switch on the dash.

On 3 i can't see anything (but useful for fog)

and when left on 0 i get occasionally get flashed

although the Osram Nightbreakers might have summin to do with that

dirt also makes huge difference