Xenons- dangerous?!

[CazzaVR 0]

Was tailgated, on and off by a Range Rover last night for nearly an hour. Lost him several times, but he kept catching up when I met traffic. His headlights were absolutely blinding, and, quite frankly, darn dangerous :shock: I couldn't see anything on several occasions due to being blinded, even with my rear view mirror flipped, so had to really slow down and concentrate on the cats's eyes :? The lights in my wing mirrors were unbearable.

 

He was obviously some rich numpty, with no regard for other road users, but this really highlighted for me how dangerous xenons can be. Surely there must be some law for maximum output? His dipped beam was a lot brighter than a normal halogen on full beam. Not good for other road users, and I'm sure accidents must have been caused by this in the past.

 

Any thoughts?

[mattnorgrove 0]

I don't know if the Xenons are to blame or the ride height of the Range Rover. They should, by law, have a much steeper dip on the dipped beam I reckon.

 

Know exactly what you mean though, blinding. 8)

[dinkus 10]

Yeah, it's probably legal, but the combination of their stupid high ride height and your low ride height mean you get their beams right in the eyeball(s) :(

[Mystic Rado 0]

The way headlights are rated us fundamentally out of date - it's based on wattage, 60-watt halogen max. HIDs generally are rated at 35-watts, so legal on that basis, but put out approximate 3x the lumens of a legal halogen bulb I think. On normal height vehicles, the very defined cut-off you get with proper HID projectors (and the self-levelling mechanism required by law) kind of mitigates the issue, I think, but once you put them on some poxy great 4x4 it's all academic since once they're within a certain distance of your rear bumper, they're going to be in your eyes. I think that legally they do have to be aimed further down btw, but it doesn't seem to make much difference. Bastard things :?

[junkie 0]

I have had the same too from a chelsea tractor and same thing as im low and they are high, but i also get blinded by normal halogens too, its just the way it is with been lower down.

[russed99 0]

I spend several hours a day driving a transit van and i find xenons simply too powerful. I always seem to be drawn into them when on single carriageways and driving towards them and when being followed they often affect my eyesight as cazza said. Too powerful imo.

[dinkus 10]

I spend several hours a day driving a transit van and i find xenons simply too powerful. I always seem to be drawn into them when on single carriageways and driving towards them and when being followed they often affect my eyesight as cazza said. Too powerful imo.

 

True, but they are awesome if you're the one in the aforementioned tractor... you can see for miiiiiiles :lol:

[Yandards 0]

The real problem is as already mentioned that if the guy is basically trying to drive into your boot then you will end up with retina burn due to the height of the vehicle.

 

It also makes me laugh when you compared older cars with sealed beam units, if think corrados headlights are bad try driving an old (and proper) mini. Thing being your eyes get used to the level of light outputed by whatever you are driving, it only goes wrong when something else comes past/behind you with brighter lights.

[kaiserVR6 0]

i get this all the time on the A36 on my way home from work, the range rover sports seem to be the worst though, and whats with driving so close to the back bumper of my car....i know the corrado's a nice car, but if he wants to drive one he should have bought his own!

[ziderapple 0]

Just let them over take then tailgate the f**k out them with your full beams on. I hate tailgaters, I only ever do it to people who have done it to me. Revenge is SWEEEET. :)

[Traverse 0]

I love these things if they're on my car, but when they're on someone elses I hate them. I've almost gone off the road because they're so blinding before.

[Bojmobile 0]

I've suffered this on quite a few occasions too - some folk are idiots but some people don't realise they're doing it - sometimes I put my hazards on momentarily and brake to tell them to back off - it works a fair bit actually.

[corradog60stage4 0]

If you drive with HIDS you will never drive a car without them.

HID is the new technology that gives 3X more lumens.

There are those ricer kids with super blue lights that are really irritating.

[Neil VR6 0]

I reckon, as others have mentioned, that it's an unfortunate combination of you being very low, them being very high, and 'them' driving like a complete idiot too closely behind you.

[KipVR 1]

Just let them over take then tailgate the f**k out them with your full beams on. I hate tailgaters, I only ever do it to people who have done it to me. Revenge is SWEEEET. :)

 

If it's a Range Rover you're tailgating with full beams on it make fa difference, you're just illuminating the back of their tyres :lol:

[corozin 0]

Yeah, it's probably legal, but the combination of their stupid high ride height and your low ride height mean you get their beams right in the eyeball(s) :(

 

That's basically spot on. Not just a problem Range Rovers (& Corrado), but also happened to me with a Xenon'd Mitsubishi 4x4 last autumn. I ended up driving with my hand across the door mirror to prevent blinding myself.

 

The best (and only) thing you can do is to pull over and let them pass. It's not a problem with most cars because the height isn't an issue, but with 4x4's the height difference creates a big problem for other cars. I'm sure it's just something the safety bods at VOSA forgot to consider when the type approval for Xenons on 4x4s was defined.

 

Can I risk saying that Xenon upgrades for a Corrado are one of those mods you'll never regret doing? Absolutely fabulous IMHO, although I'm sure that stuff that my car towers over (including church mice, hedgehogs & small rabbits) will find the glare of my new Xenons quite painful, :)

[boost monkey 0]

Yeah it's not illegal unfortunately Andy, as standard vehicle ride height isn't taken into consideration much when applying the xenons to 4x4 and other vehicles with larger ground clearance.

[corradog60stage4 0]

Yeah, it's probably legal, but the combination of their stupid high ride height and your low ride height mean you get their beams right in the eyeball(s) :(

 

Can I risk saying that Xenon upgrades for a Corrado are one of those mods you'll never regret doing? Absolutely fabulous IMHO, although I'm sure that stuff that my car towers over (including church mice, hedgehogs & small rabbits) will find the glare of my new Xenons quite painful, :)

 

I cannot agree with you more on this modification. :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hmm, what is leaking now?

 

 

 

 

HID on, yes 4300K

 

 

 

 

HID for the low beams

 

HID for both low beams and fog light.

 

closer picture and the

 

 

 

going with a higher color temperature like 6000K as pictures in the high beams you start to notice the glare.