I've a FL VRs with Xenons. At first they seemed ok the corner light feature etc being rather good. However I'm finding the beam doesn't feel like it extends far enough and worse still the light seems easily over powered by cars coming in the opposite direction, resulting in more guess work than really seeing.

The dealer checked the beam height and one was very slightly above the limit the other dead on the legal limit. As the height seems ok, any ideas what else would result in the beam getting over powered by car coming in the opposite direction (most cars really)? I never had this issue with my previous Octavia with standard lights and philips extreme bulbs.

Do you notice this in the dead of night or at twilight on the way home from work? That sort of half dark with some light still in the sky makes seeing even with brilliant lights seem poor, while oncoming lights appear very bright. It is even worse when the road is wet.

Its worse in twilight (as expected) but still not that good in the dead of night.

Could it be the AFS system playing up? Read something about it deliberately shortening the beam length in some situation. I would be sorely hacked off not getting good illumination having paid for xenons.

Try turning off the AFS in maxidot and see if it improves things.

No matter how good your lights are, damp black roads will not look good :(

Well, it seems something is wrong. On the way home tonight the head lights suddenly went out for a second then back on again. No warning lights came on, all seemed ok afterwards. I have noticed a slight flicker before when going over bumps, mainly driving down back roads but I assume its the self levelling/AFS doing its thing. One for the dealers.

Sounds like you have either a loose connection or faulty ballast(s).

Well, it seems something is wrong. On the way home tonight the head lights suddenly went out for a second then back on again. No warning lights came on, all seemed ok afterwards. I have noticed a slight flicker before when going over bumps, mainly driving down back roads but I assume its the self levelling/AFS doing its thing. One for the dealers.

Did you wash the screen at the time?

dirty glass? at this time of year i find cleaning the glass of the headlight makes a significant difference.. road muck stops a lot of light.

Wasn't clearing the screen at the point the lights went out. The time the lights were out was small, it was literally off then on. I checked the lights when I got home and they wern't that dirty. It was odd as if you turn the light on, off then on agin using the switch there is a definate marked pause. This didn't seem the case last night. Unfortunatly I was following someone at the time so I didnt see the full effect of what was going on.

Wasn't clearing the screen at the point the lights went out. The time the lights were out was small, it was literally off then on. I checked the lights when I got home and they wern't that dirty. It was odd as if you turn the light on, off then on agin using the switch there is a definate marked pause. This didn't seem the case last night. Unfortunatly I was following someone at the time so I didnt see the full effect of what was going on.

I have noticed the same twice or three times since I had the car. The xenons extinguished just for a fraction of a second, then flared up immediately. I thought it was a contact fault, but as others here report the same, now I am unsure.

Unfortunatly the man I need to speak to at the dealer not in til Tuesday, I'll mention that you have had the same issue and report back.

I have noticed the same twice or three times since I had the car. The xenons extinguished just for a fraction of a second, then flared up immediately. I thought it was a contact fault, but as others here report the same, now I am unsure.

Kinda makes me glad I didn't order Xenons.... I may not have super bright lights with the standard bulbs, but at least they haven't cut out on me (yet)

I'm wishing I didn't have Xenons now! I found the standard lights with Philips Xtreme bulbs did a better job than the new Xenons.

I'm wishing I didn't have Xenons now! I found the standard lights with Philips Xtreme bulbs did a better job than the new Xenons.

I ummed and ahhed about them. My dads Merc E class has xenons and they are bloody brilliant... Just ran out of budget really which is why I didn't order them... At least I'd have got a low windscreen washer warning if I had the Xenons

No way do Halogens do a better job than correctly set up xenons apart from when it is foggy, yellow is the way forward in that case

Once a xenon lamp has ignited and warmed up it should not flick off and off unless there is a problem with the lamp, control gear or a loose connection somewhere.

I've never had any flickering from my xenons in 115,000 miles.