Well, all the cops here are my drinking buddies. Especially those nearer the top. They knew I had it, and I knew better than to abuse it.

Well, all the cops here are my drinking buddies. Especially those nearer the top. They knew I had it, and I knew better than to abuse it.

Wow. Wish I was that well-connected with the boys in blue.

If you hate HID's... you've never driven with them. They are amazing. When properly mounted and aimed, they shouldn't get in anyone's eyes any more than normal headlights. The difference to the driver is one of those things that makes you go wow. Getting back in my car with stock lights made me feel like i was driving blind.

I know I've seen these lights, because the area I live in has a large number of luxury sedans which seem to be getting them more and more now. My dad's car has them, actually, and I've driven head-on with him at night and the lights bothered me. I've also driven in his car, and I remember thinking that the lights were bright, but that they illuminated far too much.

I've never had any problem seeing at night. I never use my high-beams.

I've never had any problem seeing at night. I never use my high-beams.

Other than when my windshield's dirty (which seems to be more often than not, lately), I'm exactly the same way.

Actually, it's kinda funny. I actually married one of their daughters. Fun bunch of guys. Basically, I started hanging out with a girl from work. Eventually, we started going out with her folks when they played darts every thursday. Danna's (my wife) dad is 30+ year friends with all the guys in the PD, and since we hung out every thursday night, we soon became friends. Turns out, once you're "in" with this particular group, all the cops want to be nice to you.

*now adding "marry the daughter of a top cop" to my to-do list*

How about one like this.



Call Jake or Elwood for more info.

My dad has a solution to the bright oncoming lights problem. Make it mandatory for all cars to be fitted with windscreens and headlight lenses which have a 45 degree polarization to the right. You would still be able to see the reflection of your headlights but the oncoming traffic would be 90 degrees polarized to yours and therefore significantly dimmed.

Some of those train horns look like a perfect deterant for people intent on stealing your foglights off the front of the car. Put in an alarm sensor right behind them and set it with a close range. you'd need a timer circuit to only blast them for 10 seconds or so.

I vaguely thought about Xenons for my Scooby, and then decided they would really piss people off, so I just went for nice 120 watt bulbs all round[smile} Definitely works at night in the highlands.

I'm curious, Dylan, what kind of car do you drive? I've come to the decision that all Japanese cars have the wussiest horns ever conceived. Every non-Japanese car I've driven has at least a much better horn, and the Land Rover I drove had a very nice one. Not only was the entire center-area of the steering wheel pressable for the horn, but it sounded like it. The only thing and SUV is good for is barreling down on people and blasting them with your horn to make them stop going 50 in the left lane. I only miss that part.

For some reason, people just aren't intimidated by my Odyssey

My first car was an old ford fiesta that had the wussiest horn I've ever heard. It sounded like something noddy would have had!

The only thing and SUV is good for is barreling down on people and blasting them with your horn to make them stop going 50 in the left lane.

That doesn't intimidate me. It just makes me slow down to *exactly* the speed of the other car. If you'd stayed back and kept your distance, I'd have finished passing and pulled back over into the right lane, but as soon as you start tailgating, flashing lights, honking, and all the rest, I'm going to be an ass right back at you.

Flashing lights at a slow-moving driver is the generally accepted way of asking them to move over amongst the driving cognoscenti. Getting mad at it would be the same as getting mad at someone in a crowded grocery store aisle saying to you ``Excuse me, could I squeeze though, please?''

Of course, if he's also blowing his horn and weaving about the road, or failing to give you an appropriate amount of time to get over, then get mad all you want.

I just wish that I could avoid passing people on the right, and flashing lights seems like the best signal, seeing as how it's pretty much defined to be so.

I guess my horn isn't as wimpy as I thought. I just measured it at 110 db with the hood up and the meter as near as I could get it to the horn. Looks like I'll have to get an air horn if I want a big improvement. Not sure if I'm willing to go that far for my little obsession.

The car is an Audi allroad and it has those fancy schmancy headlights that everyone hates. They shouldn't be a problem for oncoming drivers if they are aimed correctly (my car auto levels them). In fact, I think mine would be less distracting because they have a very sharp dropoff while standard halogen lights have a gradual dropoff. I agree with what someone else said that the ones people hate are probably from aftermarket installs (were they on a Honda by chance?)

I'll tell you what, though, from the driver's perspective the HIDs are awesome. I never cared about headlights before and I never thought I had a problem seeing at night. But now that I've experienced these I will never go back.

-Dylan

Oh, believe me, honking and getting mad was always my last resort. I agree that a quick flash of the headlights is good way of politely asking someone to move into the next lane (even though they should know to get over for faster moving traffic).

Also, like I said earlier, I don't get mad if they are taking they're time (at their own speed) to pass any cars on the right. It's when people stay fixed in the left lane that gets to me. I was very polite once, and actually had a guy signal for ME to go around HIM on the right. There wasn't anything wrong with his car, he was just too lazy to get over when there was plenty of space.

It just makes me slow down to *exactly* the speed of the other car

I'd suggest that slowing down when someone is mad at you and driving erratically, just to "teach them a lesson" is probably one of the worst things you can do.

FYI, Consumer Reports had an article all about HID headlights in their April annual auto issue titled "Blinded by the light." The gist of the problem: it's not that HID headlights are brighter. It's that they have a sharp cut-off edge in their brightness pattern. Says the article:

HID headlights tend to define the top of their beams with a sharp horizontal line, compared with most halogens' smoother fade to darkness. Bumpy roads can cause that sharp beam to flash at oncoming drivers and in the mirrors of cars ahead as it bounces in and out of view.

So, do HID lights give more light? Says the article:

Unfortunately, while many HID lights we tested were among the better performers, even the best didn't outdistance the best halogens.

Turns out, the best headlights they measured were the halogen lights on the Mazda Protege5, which lit up a marker at 600 feet. Contrast that with a HID-equipped Audi TT that only illuminated something 200 feet out.

Nice. It's good to see someone's got it right. The way they describe it makes perfect sense.

very interesting. so can anyone recommend some good halogens?

Hmm. I don't think that it's the edge that makes the difference. Maybe what they're saying, though, is that the halogens fade towards the edges and the xenons don't, but the edges are still the same distance from the center, so that an oncoming car 45 degrees to your side is still very bright with xenons, but halogens aren't so bright at that same angle. Is that it? The first time I read your post, I thought you were saying that the edge cutoff for xenons was closer in and the flashing between inside and outside the cone was waht was causing the problem, which is something I haven't seen.

It could be the color temperature of the xenon bulbs reduces night vision sensitivity, too. Actually, I think that makes sense, since red, orange, and amber lights are used in darkroom areas where you're trying to retain night vision and xenon bulbs are on the bluer end of white from halogens.

You misquoted them. They didn't say the "best" they said the "farthest" for the Mazda. There is only so much light that can be produced by the lamp. Where that light goes is determined by the reflectors. For the Mazda to illuminate so far in the distance the reflectors must create a narrow dispersion pattern. This is not necessarily ideal as explained above in the article in the section on pedestrian injuries.

A well designed HID lamp will produce more light then a well designed halogen lamp. That extra light is channeled to the sides so as not to blind oncoming drivers. The wide dispersion pattern, combined with the higher color temperature, is what makes HIDs more effective (at least for the driver of the car that has them).

Here is the article.

http://www.consumerreports.org/main/detailv2.jsp?CONTENT<>cnt_id=302617&FOLDER<>folder_id=113261

-Dylan

(at least for the driver of the car that has them).

Yeah, screw the poor saps like me who have to deal with a Blinkenlights display in the opposite lane.

In reply to:

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Yeah, screw the poor saps like me who have to deal with a Blinkenlights display in the opposite lane.

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That's right! I'm going to take my 8 billion lumen HIDs and 400 db horn and scare you so bad you'll have to throw out your underpants.

Seriously, I never considered my headlights to be a problem for others because I generally don't have a problem with properly aimed headlights from other cars - whether HID or halogen. What I do have a problem with are SUV/truck headlights and aftermarket HIDs that aren't aimed properly.

-Dylan

The height adjustment of the HIDs in the Audi TT is computer controlled (another example of German engineering overkill). There are sensors on the sway bars to determine the pitch of the car and adjust the headlights up and down to compensate for hills (a vertical version of the Tucker). I have see disputes of the consumer reports that they did not take this into account when measuring the distance.

I have been very happy with the light output. I have driven at my car to see the effect on other motorists, and didnt think it was much different. Other TT owners have complained that the factory height adjustment was too conservative and with a VAG interface, reprogrammed the trim without blinding oncoming cars.

Ahh, I didn't realize they had the article online. It's recommended reading for everybody who cares about headlights. Consumer Reports says they'll be including headight tests as part of their standard car ratings. I don't know if it will change how anybody chooses what car they want to buy, but it will definitely cause some heat with manufacturers who disagree with the ratings.

The height adjustment of the HIDs in the Audi TT is computer controlled (another example of German engineering overkill). There are sensors on the sway bars to determine the pitch of the car and adjust the headlights up and down to compensate for hills (a vertical version of the Tucker). I have see disputes of the consumer reports that they did not take this into account when measuring the distance.

In the UK the self-levelling mechanisms are mandatory for HID/Xenon lamps.

I've found most HID systems are implemented pretty well, but I guess one in four cars annoy me

In my Camaro the previous owner fitted aftermarket Cibie lamps and they are very, very good. On the Caprice the stock lamps are very poor - the pattern has many mishapen blobs all over it! It's made worse because I have to put tape on the lenses to cover the LHD kick-up. Unforunately the Caprice was never sold in RHD form and the best upgrade is a set of $400 glass headlamp units made by GM for the German/Middle East market. I'll probably get a set before this winter - it really does annoy me.

Gareth

The height adjustment of the HIDs in the Audi TT is computer controlled

Wow, didn't know that. Is it something you would notice when driving at night?

I get people that flick their high beams at me all the time - mostly because of that top edge is so sharp and distinct, and people think you are flicking high beams at them. I just flick mine back anyway. Usually I wait until the last minute before turning my high beams off so people can tell the difference. Funny though, when driving in the city and well lit areas, I never get people flicking high beams at me, its only in the dark country side.

I think the aftermarket/knockoff xenons have the bluish twinge to them - probably because some riceboy put a xenon bulb in his normal not-designed-for-xenon lens. I've seen other Audis and even Acuras and BMWs with xenon bulbs and they don't look very blue to me.

So now that everyone is complaining so much about people with HID lights - #1: Tough and #2: What about all these people in their SUVs and stuff? I've been fooled many times thinking the oncoming vehicle's high beams were on only to find that it was some tall SUV or truck or something, the lights are that much higher and pointing right down at you.

Either way, HID is the way to go. Once you drive with them you'll know why.

So now that everyone is complaining so much about people with HID lights - #1: Tough and #2: What about all these people in their SUVs and stuff? I've been fooled many times thinking the oncoming vehicle's high beams were on only to find that it was some tall SUV or truck or something, the lights are that much higher and pointing right down at you.

We already had a nice, long SUV-bashing thread. I hate them, too. An SUV with HID lights is/would be the worst (I'm sure it's been done, just can't think of any examples off the top of my head.) But really, saying that because SUV's blind people, that regular cars with HID lights should also be allowed to blind people... That's not sound logic. I say more regulations should be placed on how bright regular lights can be, and whatever it is about the HID's, whether it's aiming angle, the color, the "blinkiness" or whatever, should be regulated. Not every car with HID lamps blinds me, but I'd say a good 80% of them do. To me, that points to a problem that needs to be addressed.

What about all these people in their SUVs and stuff?

As ranting season seems to have come early this year, what is it with people who don't think it's necessary to dip their headlights if it's "only" a cyclist coming the other way? More than once I've had to screech to a halt because I can't frickin' see -- cycle paths, say the one on the A603 west of Cambridge, often have much less margin for error than the main roadway.

Having said that, that's the same cycle path where, one dark and moonless night, I was belting along when a voice comes from the dark, "You can't see me, but I can see you. You go right, I'll go left". Fortunately I was a quicker thinker than he, and disobeyed him and went to his right, my left, to be rewarded by the sight of a completely lightless cyclist swishing past at a combined closing speed of maybe 30mph. Crack-smoking psycho [censored][censored]!

Peter