Xenons are better?

[nunya53]

Hey all,

I just traded my 330 for an '02 M3 with Xenon headlights. Once it got dark, I was very disappointed in the coverage the (low beam) lights provided. In fact, they only seem to project out about thirty feet or so. Is this normal, or are they seriously out of adjustment?

I tried to do a search, but couldn't think of a good keyword.

Thanks for the help,

Jerry

 

[Wadula]

first of all congrats to your purchase.

second, as long as you can clearly see the end of where the headlights project the light on the street, they are out of adjustment. the normal way of illuminating the street is in a way that you can no more clearly see a border line between light and sark on the street.

a good indication whether the light are okay or not is if you stop the car in front of a wall and switch the light on. you should see this border between light and shasdow about a meter high when the car is like meters from the wall. or check it out at your gazstation or service.

 

[nunya53]

Thanks for the reply.

I can definitely see the line on the street where they end...about thirty feet in front of me. It was tough to drive it in the dark last night.

Jerry

 

[MrElussive]

The Xenon headlights are projected very evenly onto the road, so there is a very sharp cut-off where the illumination onto the road ends. From the factory, xenons are also set to be pointed conservatively low onto the road to minimize glare for on-coming drivers.
Perhaps the illumination length far down the road is not that far, but the area where the light is projected should be intensely bright.

Finally, if the roads were wet, you will not have been impressed with the lighting if last night was your first drive with the car in the dark. The streets need to be dry for the xenons to work their best (this is due to the much higher color temperature of the ligths compared to standard halogen bulbs).

 

[epj3]

The Xenon headlights are projected very evenly onto the road, so there is a very sharp cut-off where the illumination onto the road ends. From the factory, xenons are also set to be pointed conservatively low onto the road to minimize glare for on-coming drivers.
Perhaps the illumination length far down the road is not that far, but the area where the light is projected should be intensely bright.

Finally, if the roads were wet, you will not have been impressed with the lighting if last night was your first drive with the car in the dark. The streets need to be dry for the xenons to work their best (this is due to the much higher color temperature of the ligths compared to standard halogen bulbs).

dude ANY light will look bad on wet roads due to the pure reflection of light before it even gets to the surface.

 

[nunya53]

It was a dry road. Like I said, they only projected out about 30 feet, but the illuminated portion was great. However, beyond the cut-off line, it was very dark. I think they are seriously out of adjustment and I will have them checked.

Thanks,

Jerry

 

[MrElussive]

dude ANY light will look bad on wet roads due to the pure reflection of light before it even gets to the surface.

Very true.

 

[tool fan]

Jerry, my xenons were the same way, there is nothing wrong with them, just takes a little getting used to. The reason they provide a shorter illumination path is for on coming traffic, have you ever seen xenons coming at you, damn near blinding. In the long run your illumination will be better. After I sold my first 5 series I got an X3 with normal lights and I truly missed my xenons.

 

[Wadula]

i doubt that the lights are set significantly lower to avoid upcoming traffic from getting blind. a properly adjusted system actually does not blind anyone. they are brighter and people tend to think they are blinded, but they are not. have look directly into the headlights and you will know what getting blind means.

my xenons do not draw a clear line between light and shadow. and 30 feet are definetly too short. they are not adjusted correctly.:

check this:

this is how xenons compare to halogen lights

and the following are taken of hella.de. you can clearly see that there is no line