Hello All!
I'm a bit of a novice with FI, but I've accumulated some knowledge on cars that I can confidently share. As most of us are probably driving cars that are depreciated and bought with cash, one area that usually can be lacking are the headlights. Here's some helpful tips to maximize your car's lighting as the days get shorter:
Definitions:
-Headlamp =this is the whole assembly with outer lens, reflectors, bulbs, wiring, bulb caps, etc.
-Bulb = filament source that emits light that is replaceable.
-Burn = illuminated filament
-Headlight = can refer to headlamp, but also the light on the road from a headlamp. Think lamps emit light.
-Lens = outer clear cover of headlamp assembly that you can touch with the lamp installed on the car.
FREE:
1. check the bulbs are correctly installed. Previous owners or ourselves can sometimes install replacement low or high beam bulbs incorrectly so they are at an angle or "clocked" incorrectly in the housing resulting in incorrect filament placement making the light pattern on the road ineffective. Check the owner's manual or youtube for a video of how to install correctly. This is more common on European cars, or lamps developed by European lighting suppliers that use bulbs with metal bases (H7, H1, H3, H4 bulb types) that require little bent metal clips to retain the bulb, but good old plastic bases such as HB4/HB3 can have the same issues. Be aware of the "poke-yoke" or idiotproofing feature that encourages the operator to install the bulb how the designer intended. Pull up a chair to the fender and take your time in the daylight when possible.
2. check the grounds. If corrosion should develop on the ground, the car will have a strange "brown out" type condition where the high beams may glow dimly when the headlamps are on and one low beam will be dim too, the last bright. On Japanese and some GM cars there will be a ground through a relay with a metal base that is bolted to the fender causing this issue.
3. If there's water or fog inside the headlamp, remove the entire headlamp and see if it's missing any caps on the back of the headlamp (from bulbs being serviced but caps not being correctly reinstalled). Bring lamp into house and let it dry out if possible, or burn the high beams with the remaining caps off to dry out the lamp. Source replacements on ebay or junk yard...or sometimes the cap will be wedged in the engine bay somewhere. If there's standing water in the lamp, drill a few 3/8" holes in the bottom corners of the headlamp housing to let it drip out until you can find a replacement headlamp at a good price.
4. check the headlamp alignment/Aim. This is my favorite as it is strangely satisfying to me. I've never set up a rifle sight, but I imagine its similar as small changes can have a big change down the road. Daniel Stern did a much better job that I could at spelling this out, but I consider it a great exercise on a newly acquired car or after suspension work. Or if you travel often with lots of weight in your car for work or fun as a squatting car will make the headlamps point into the sky.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.htmlCHEAP:
5. When replacing light bulbs, avoid the expensive tinted bulbs or high output bulbs. The marketing is fantastically great at taking money out of your wallet. Bulbs dim over time as the filament breaks down, so any replacement bulb will be brighter than your memory. Any tint to the bulb is just placebo as for a bulb to be street legal the light output and color must be within a specified range. Unless you are planning of getting rid of a car soon, buying pairs for low or high beam bulbs is generally a good idea as they can fail after each other because they "burn" together. Check online for deals on standard output bulbs as autoparts stores capitalize on people needing a bulb RIGHT. NOW.
6. Avoid any LED or HID replacement bulbs for lamps not intended. They are needlessly complicated and perform worse than filaments as the angle of the light source to the reflector will be incorrect causing the bulb to be dimmer than a filament source. Save your money for LED bulbs for your house to cut your electricity bill. :-)
7. Restore the lens clarity by removing the degraded lens coating. If you have plastic headlamp lenses (most likely), the sun damages the lens coating and causes it to yellow/fog. If you don't have a garage, park it with the headlamps facing away from the equator or East to avoid this from happening. Larry does a great job talking about restorating here:
https://www.ammonyc.com/detailing/3-methods-for-headlight-repair/ EXPENSIVE:
8. Replace the entire headlamp assembly. Avoid "upgraded" aftermarket headlamps that are heavily stylized or feature new technologies. These will have poor light output and will degrade quickly. Stick with OEM quality for reliable, safe lighting or reverse-engineered insurance grade lamps if needed. If you sink the cost into new lamps, consider adding protection film from someone like xpel.com but avoid the tinted films.
