What type of car lights do I need for this?

cobb · #1 01-06-2007, 09:22 PM

I am rather shocked that after commenting on a thread regarding hid vs regular head lamps that when I aimed my halogens higher it made the light way more usable than I could imagine and quit me from adding any extra lights to my cars.

I had a ford e250 econo van with square seal beams that I aimed higher so the usable light was in front of the van, vs the bumper. This allowed enough side spill to light up reflective stickers, eyes of animals and the ditch banks of the road.

My 240d mercedes has 2 8 inch round hell lights, sealed beams. I too raised them and found how great they were for lighting up reflective surfaces around the road and road side, not to meniton the road ahead of me.

I ve driven two rental cars since then and found both had fixed lights that were not adjustible and useless on dark country roads. I was thinking a cheap set of fog or driving lights that resemble a square 4x6 hallogen lamps may do the trick to light up reflective surfances like animal eyes, stickers, er.

Whats yalls idea?

hizzo3 · #2 01-06-2007, 09:40 PM

keep in mind by rasing the lights like that its like driving with ur highs..... and as far as the rental cars, they may have shotty reflectors in it. keep in mind they are rentals, not the mercedes. also since trucks ride higher, you can still have shotty lights, but not as noticeable b/c of the angle in which the light relects back.

if i were you, i would lower the lights back to where they should be and get a decent set of driving lights. Make sure they are driving, not a fog pattern.

cobb · #3 01-07-2007, 03:57 PM

Driving vs fog? Wouldnt white fog lights give side spill for lighting up reflective surfaces?

hizzo3 · #4 01-07-2007, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cobb

Driving vs fog? Wouldnt white fog lights give side spill for lighting up reflective surfaces?

fog is good for in front of you. lots of side spill, great if driving through neighborhoods. down side is you cant see better down the road like that. your headlights should provide most your side illumination. this as this is their primary purpose. driving lights will help you see further down the road. great for freeway or highway driving.

For the most part, fog lamps are pointless at speeds faster then 45 mph, b/c the added light they give wont help your reaction times.

Diesel_Bomber · #5 01-09-2007, 12:42 AM

Cobb-

If no one has flashed their high-beams at you you're likely just fine with the higher beam level. As you drive through rain or fog or just in traffic, keep an eye on where the hot spot is. Obviously, if it's lower than other driver's eyes, you're ok. Also remember that lots of stuff in the trunk will will throw your aim off.

It's entirely possible your Mercedes already has E-code headlights. E-codes have a very sharp horizontal cut off and an angle of light up and towards the right(in our country, anyway) to illuminate the roadside, with very little light straying above that horizontal cutoff. This allows you to aim the beam higher without blinding other drivers. There's no corona or spill upwards, just light and dark. The downside is that these lights are VERY picky about how they're aimed; aiming too high will blind other drivers badly.

Daniel Stern Lighting - Great info, great place to buy E-codes and GOOD fog and driving lights, great consultation before and great support after the sale. I recommend reading the entire tech section.

JC Whitney - Not quite E-codes, but damned good anyway.

One last thing. Several companies make sealed beam retrofits which claim various performance increases; be very dubious. If it's not E-code it's likely crap. Pilot comes to mind.

VWTim · #6 01-09-2007, 10:17 AM

Someone already beat me to the Ecode recommendation. That's all I use on my cars, the European beam pattern is much better than our poorly outdated DOT spec.

cobb · #7 01-09-2007, 08:50 PM

DB, that is what I have. Seems 99% of the light is focused in front of the car on the road 12 feet in front of the bumper and about twice the width of the car. I aimed them accoringly from another thread to the right to get a better view of the ditch bank.

I see what you are saying about the throw too. I just want to be ready for whenthis car dies to get the new one setup right and from my brief experience with a few cars, the lights will not cut it unless I go 25mph on a dark road.

Diesel_Bomber · #8 01-10-2007, 12:13 AM

Part of that Daniel Stern site covers proper aiming of E-codes. I've found that no matter how hard I try, I never get it right the first time. I usually get it close, then carry a screwdriver and adjust the aim while I'm out and about; based on where I see the beam pattern in relation to other cars.

chmsam · #9 01-10-2007, 01:41 AM

Back when headlights were adjusted to comply with annual inspection regulations, they had tabs on them for aiming equipment. New designs did away with that and the laws have changed in most if not all states. Headlights are horribly aimed now. Most are adjustable but you have to hunt for the adjusting screws. Properly aimed lights do not require HID, higher wattage, or even other color temperature lights.

Here's the way we used to aim them and you mght want to play around with this a bit first because YMMV:

- find a fairly good sized wall in a parking lot with a level pavement. Flat and level is important.
- when it's reasonably dark park about 20' or more away from the wall and aim your lights squarely at the wall.
- start with the highbeams on first -- you want to see a rectangular box of light in front of the car but not too widely spread. The top of the box should be a little lower than the height of the hood of the car at most.
- switch to low beams and with them on you want a bit of spread of light but again, you want the light a little lower than the hood of the car, and preferably a bit lower than that.
- this works for 4 light systems and for 2 light systems as well, but remember, you do not want the low beams too high. If the car has a 2 light system, keep the lights well below the level of the hood so you will not blind oncoming cars and find a reasonable compromise with the spread but not farther left than the outside edge of the vehicle, again to avoid blinding oncoming cars.

There are adjusting screws that are found on around the edges of the headlight buckets (mounts). Some use Phillips and some Torx but don't confuse the screws with the assembly retaining screws. Usually a small amount of adjustment goes a long way.

Remember also that daytime running light settings should be checked as well so you can avoid obnoxious lights for the other drivers and still be able to see better. If you are getting flashed by other drivers, re-adjust fast! One other point to consider especially at this time of year is that the added weight of traction sand or whatever in the back will raise the front of the vehicle.

Again, YMMV but I hope this helps you see better w/o blinding the rest of the cars on the road, especially me!

cobb · #10 01-12-2007, 08:58 PM

Thanks, sounds like what I have done. I like the HID suggestion I got in my inbox and see about getting a pair mounted to a custom push bar.

hizzo3 · #11 01-17-2007, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cobb

Thanks, sounds like what I have done. I like the HID suggestion I got in my inbox and see about getting a pair mounted to a custom push bar.

A few companies like IPF make sealed beam replacements that run ecode off of h4 bulbs....

TXArsonCop · #12 01-17-2007, 11:26 PM

I'll 2nd or 3rd the E-code headlights and Daniel Stern Lighting

I went as far as buying the bulbs, housings/lenses & relays from him too to replace the crappy plastic ones on my old S10. Wired it up like he recommended. Aimed per his specs & never got "brighted" once by oncoming traffic. As usual we're far behind the Europeans (don't even get me started on their firefighting tech. VS ours...)

It's worth noting that E-code headlights are not D.O.T. approved however. But unless you aim them horribly and habitually glare the same cop I doubt anyone but you or a very sharp passenger will notice the beam shape, although it is pretty obvious.

IME if you are really anal about following his aiming directions and take your time it can be done right the first time. But I had a big, open fire station bay and big, wide doors to aim at. It took quite a while measuring everything and making sure the marks on the door were "square" to the truck, but it paid off.

Now if only I could replace the plastic lenses on my '99 F150...

hizzo3 · #13 01-18-2007, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TXArsonCop

Now if only I could replace the plastic lenses on my '99 F150...

you talking about hazing, or the whole reflector? hazing there is restoration products you can use. as far as the reflector, you can always go to a hid or halogen projector depending on how much you wanna spend....

TXArsonCop · #14 01-19-2007, 11:52 AM

Nope, ideally I'd like to replace with glass. No more worries about yellowing, hazing or cooking oils/bug guts into the plastic. But my Ford has those goofy shaped lenses so that's outta the question.

IMO Plastic lenses are a huge injustice to the car buying public. HID &/or halogen projector will still be subjected to the inferiorities of the plastic lens.

We've got a 2003 Ford at the firehouse that has 1 headlight hazing already regardless of the fact that it is "garaged" full time except when it is on calls. Somebody probably put their hand on it while we were mounting the front replacement bumper/grillguard, siren speaker or while washing it, that's ridiculous.

PursuitSS · #15 01-22-2007, 09:24 AM

My patrol car is a 1996 Chevy Impala SS, they came with HORRIBLE headlights with a plastic lens!!! The problems with these cars on their headlights were numerous. One MAJOR problem was they ran everything on the headlight circuit through 18ga. wiring. Also the beam pattern was worthless.

Fortunately for me there was a solution, in 1991 & 1992 on Caprice's shipped to Germany they had glass headlights known as T-84's. These were H-4 headlights that had a VERY SHARP horizontal cut off. I built a wiring harness using four Hella relays and 10ga. wiring. I'm running Narva 100/130 watt bulbs and I never get "flashed" on low beam.

Unforunately these headlights are no longer in production and I've seen used sets bring $900. on eBay.

PursuitSS