Matt Terroni

Fitted the Zenon 30% brighter (white light - brilliance) bulbs recently but have had nothing but trouble. Bulbs are excellant but loads of people flashing at me .

I got in my wifes car with the scooby behind with the normal beam on. Nearly blinded me! The lights look SO bright, brighter than my old mainbeam.

Replaced the brilliance bulbs with the Zenon blue bulbs. I still had some people flashing at me and the lights still look very bright, although not as bad as the brilliance.

Have now fitted Electra Blue which appear to be ok. Only had them on a day or so though so can't be sure. Expect everyone to flash at me now.

Have others had problems like this with the Zenon bulbs? I've had the headlights checked and the alignment is ok.

andybat

I've been using Xenon bulbs for a couple of years now and have not been flashed at all. It might be worth getting the alignment checked or check it yourself, details in the FAQ

bruceh

DavieR,

Well, I hope I don't meet you coming the other way on a dark road at night!

There are several reasons why people might flash their lights at you, but in most cases it's probably because you are dazzling them. And then completely blinding them for having the temerity to let you know that your lights might need the beam alignment adjusted isn't exactly conducive to road safety (IMHO). What do you do if they then put their Cibies on as well? Pile into the wall of whiteness in a state of indignant self-righteousness and into a head-on collision?

Seriously, it might be safer for you and everyone else you might meet if you get your beams adjusted down a little to allow for the extra lux output.

BTW, it's not that I'm a boring old fart (well, I might be that) or a killjoy, but if you've ever had the misfortune to be in attendance at a fatal RTA, and had to help get the mangled bodies of both adults and kids out, it colours your perception of these things a little (especially if you have young kids of your own at the time as I did, Jesus, truly, it's impossible to describe the feelings and emotions that pass through you). It is incredibly easy to get so pissed off with stupid postings like yours, even if they are meant to be even semi-humorous.

The explanation of the only survivor was that he was blinded by the lights of the oncoming car and lost track of where the middle of the road was! Both his wife and 2 kids were dead in there with him. All were trapped in the wreckage. He had to sit and look at them for half an hour till he was cut out. The other guy was also dead in his car. Alone, headlight switch still on high beam (not shining any more though).

All excrutiatingly sad, but true I'm afraid.

And probably in many more than just one case.



[This message has been edited by bruceh (edited 13-05-99).]

bruceh

Everyone,

I edited the above posting about five times after posting a much milder original. But the more I thought about it the more the awful memories came back, and the angrier I got when I thought about the completely wasteful loss of 4 lives.

PLEASE!! Anyone who gets brighter bulbs fitted, don't just assume that the beam spread pattern on a garage's machine reading OK means that they are alright. The beam pattern might be OK as far as the law is concerned, but the laws were passed when the INTENSITY of light produced by the bulbs was much less! The lux output per sq deg of modern bulb/reflector combinations is much more now! But isn't that why you've fitted them? Of course! But remember that some of that extra light energy is now going straight into the eyes of oncoming drivers! Please! Whatever, the handbook/garage says, if you fit higher output bulbs, adjust the units down a bit as well.

Bruce

ColmanC

Matt/Davie,

As a test to see if your lights *do* need adjusting, why not set the headlamp adjuster to 1 or 2. This should lower the headlight beam and if you don't get flashed any more you know that setting 0 is too high and needs adjustment.

Apologies if you don't have a headlamp adjuster switch, I don't know if pre-MY99 cars have them.

DavieR

Yeah, I've got the brighter bulbs too and everyone thinks my maim beam is on, and then you get flashed at. But I sort the B***ards, I do put my main beam on - complete with 130watt Cibies.

bruceh

Andy,

I don't think that you missed the point, but I'll restate it again just for safety's sake. I hope you don't mind me hijacking your posting. Too late now anyway :-)

At the risk of simplifying things, if somebody gets so irritated by your lights that they object in some manner, then either : -

a) it's annoying in your situation, or;

b) it can pretty quickly become fatal FOR YOU AS WELL if they are coming the other way.

That's the end of my contribution to this thread. It's all just common sense really.

Bruce

Matt Terroni

I changed my bulbs because not only did I get flashed at but on several occasions I had idiots tailgate me. They just hung to my rear spoiler so close they could have touched it. Also, a number of people just sat in front of me and slowed down.

I've had my lights checked out twice and they are ok according to the test. Common sense says otherwise. You've only got to compare them to another motor to see that they are very bright. My beam pattern was far longer than any other vehicle around me.

Third set of bulbs and some £50 later I seem to have found a solution using the Electra Blue bulbs. The irony of this is that I am not convinced that these lights are any more effective than the originals that I wanted to replace.

Mike Owen

Totally agree regarding the safety issue side of this thread. On both Imprezas I've had, I've run them with the headlight switch set one lower than either the handbook, or the garge says is correct. Set on the normal setting, you can see that the cut off point is set too high and you only have to go over a moderate bump to end up blinding on comming traffic... and yes, both times I've had the garage check the settings and both times they say it's OK but common sense says it's not. So down comes the switch setting. I do a lot of miles and with the Xenon bulbs fitted and the switch set lower, I think the headlights are reasonable (well in the MY99 at least). Not great but OK.