pulled over for headlights

[angoose]

hey all,

Hope you're all well.

Last night I was pulled over by a very pleasant police office for my headlights. His reason was because he thought he had my side lights on. He was shocked when I said they were my headlights.

He advised me to invest in some new headlights which I confirmed I was going to do as they really are dim.

Can anyone recommend some plug and play upgrades? Or headlights I should look into ans a link or where to find them.

Many thanks

[steve_k]

if you have normal H1 bulbs then get a set of osram nightbreaker plus,

55w & nice & bright, cheap upgrade to the candles the e30 comes with.

[angoose]

hi steve_k, i swapped the bulbs to phillips x-treme vision 130. after swapping to a more modern bulb the headlights were no brighter. I figured it was maybe the headlight design? (they are not smiley headlights)

[steve_k]

hi steve_k, i swapped the bulbs to phillips x-treme vision 130. after swapping to a more modern bulb the headlights were no brighter. I figured it was maybe the headlight design? (they are not smiley headlights)

i've never used non smiley lights before, maybe you could upgrade to smiley lights & see if they are any better, i've used the x-treme 130 before & they weren't to bad but went for osram nightbreakers in the end.

like i say maybe look into swapping to smileys.

[Brianmoooore]

I presume we're talking about the dipped beams, rather than the mains, and that it is post face lift lights under discussion?
The only difference in light patterns between 'smileys' and 'bull's eyes' is the level of illumination just in front of the car. The cut out in the 'smileys' was introduced to allow a proportion of light direct from the lamp to reach the road close to the car.
Post facelift dipped headlamps are of a far more advanced design than most of their contemporaries and many of the headlamps used today, and there is no reason why they should perform any worse. Their light output can be reduced by dust on the internal lens, but apart from that, there isn't much else to fail. The reflector is solely there for the parking lights and aesthetic reasons, and the front glass has little effect on the beam.
By far the most common problem is that they are set to aim too low - the beam cut off is extremely sharp, and being set very slightly low can severely limit their range.
HID burners are still a very worthwhile upgrade for these lights, and will still maintain a perfect beam pattern, but unfortunately, as a result of abuse by owners of inferior makes of car, these will now fall foul of your MOT tester.

[martauto]

I put osram nightbreaker unlimited in my e46 sport and it made a big improvement so may help the e-30? Worth a try before buying some more but if you do decide to replace them , have a word with "magpie" (Mick) on here, he does some great units.

Mart.

[steve_k]

I presume we're talking about the dipped beams, rather than the mains, and that it is post face lift lights under discussion?
The only difference in light patterns between 'smileys' and 'bull's eyes' is the level of illumination just in front of the car. The cut out in the 'smileys' was introduced to allow a proportion of light direct from the lamp to reach the road close to the car.
Post facelift dipped headlamps are of a far more advanced design than most of their contemporaries and many of the headlamps used today, and there is no reason why they should perform any worse. Their light output can be reduced by dust on the internal lens, but apart from that, there isn't much else to fail. The reflector is solely there for the parking lights and aesthetic reasons, and the front glass has little effect on the beam.
By far the most common problem is that they are set to aim too low - the beam cut off is extremely sharp, and being set very slightly low can severely limit their range.
HID burners are still a very worthwhile upgrade for these lights, and will still maintain a perfect beam pattern, but unfortunately, as a result of abuse by owners of inferior makes of car, these will now fall foul of your MOT tester.

there is a "work round" when it comes to the MOT & HID's, simply remover the HID "bulbs" & ballasts & replace them with normal h1 bulbs for the test then afterwards reinstall the HID's.

simples.

[angoose]

as usual i knew i could really on you guys for help. thank you to all of you. brian i will look to adjust the headlights tomorrow. them aiming too low would explain why i saw no difference when swapping to better bulbs. thanks for pointing me in the right direction. have a great wweekend all

[Brianmoooore]

For the UK MOT test, the dipped beam must angle downwards by between 0.5% and 2.75%. E30 headlamps are about 0.6m from the ground, so you're looking at a dipped beam range of between 22m and 120m which will pass the test. Near 120m is much better than 22m!

[ChrisHC]

As the headlights are not smiley, it seems the car is pre-facelift. If so, I wonder if this could be the dim-dip function, angoose, do the headlights come on dim if the sidelights are on, not the headlamps, and the ignition is turned on?

[angoose]

hi chrishc, thanks for your message. sorry for the late reply i didnt get notified. the car is post facelift. im not aware of the dim-dip function? so when the ingnitions on to turn on the lights i have a pull switch with two settings. sidelights/dipped headlights and full beam. the dipped lights are still dim despite changing to new h1 bulbs. there was a marked improvement after adjusting the headlights manually as suggested in the thread. but they are still very dim

[Brianmoooore]

Dim dip was fitted to early post facelift cars in anticipation of legislation than didn't happen, and dropped on later cars.
With the headlamp switch pulled out to the first position, the parking lights in the 'reflector' of the dipped beam headlamps should be lit. If the engine is started, the lamps in the centre of the headlamps, behind the big lens, should also light, but not at full power. If the headlamp switch is pulled fully out, then these lamps should increase to full brightness, provided the engine is running. The lamps used by the full beams are identical to those of the dipped beams, so when both are on, they should be of equal brightness.
The dipped beam lamps are dimmed by two resistors mounted right at the front of the LH inner wing, and are increased to full brightness by two orange relays, which short out the resistors. These relays are mounted behind the glove box area, right t the LH side.

[angoose]

thanks brian. so if what I understand is correct; if these resistors are removed it will get rid of the dim dip feature? Then my dipped headlights will run at full brightness on the first position of the switch when the engine is running?

[ChrisHC]

You just need to disconnect the resistors, the plugs are on the inner wing towards the front of the wheel arch, if I remember correctly. When disconnected, the first position of the switch will just bring on the sidelights (parking lights), no headlights. The second position will then bring on the dipped headlights, the outer ones on the car, at full brightness, if the engine is running. The dip switch will bring on in addition the main beam headlights, the inner pair.

But you do not need to disconnect the dim-dip, all you need to do is to pull out the headlamp switch to the second position, which should bring on the dipped beams at full brightness, WHEN THE ENGINE IS RUNNING. Why not try that, then we will know for certain whether your car has dim-dip or not.

[Brianmoooore]

There's little point in disconnecting the dim dip if the resistors are in good order. The pending legislation that was dropped in the late eighties was reintroduced in Feb. 2011, and all cars registered since then have to be fitted with a similar system.
If your car is stuck on dim dip, I'd check to see if the two orange relays are actually fitted.