rettenhu

I was driving at night this weekend on some dark, unlit, hilly country roads. While the intensity of the headlights is terrific, they seemed to be pointing too low and not providing enough light to see sufficiently down the road. This was of particular concern when driving down "dips" in the road. I actually came dangerously close to missing a quick turn that came up after a dip and rise. I was doing the speed limit (35 MPH). I found it necessary to turn the high beams on in order to get a better view of what was up ahead but this was not always possible due to oncoming traffic. I have driven down this same road before in other non-HID equipped vehicles and have not experienced this.

I called the dealer today to make a service appointment for the power steering recall and I mentioned the headlight issue to the rep. He said they would check it out when I brought the car in but that this is commnly reported and that the headlights are likely set correctly. Since this is my first vehicle with HID lights, I'm wondering if they are purposely set to shine lower than standard headlights because of their intensity in order to avoid blinding oncoming traffic? Is this the case?

Finally, this site is a wealth of information that I vist regularly. Thanks to all!

sotiri

search the site, you will find threads on how to raise the level of the lights.
I've done it, it takes a #2 phillips, some time, and you need to have the lights on and aimed at a wall while you adjust them.
its common for many to think the lights are set low.
however once you raise them, b e prepared to get flashed more often as (in my case) when you raise them to the max, people usually feel blinded, and flash you thinking that you have the HB on.
Imagine their surprise when I flash my HB back, and my HB are HID too!

Just02

Your headlights should be aimed straight out and slightly down. when you're 20' away from a wall and on a flat surface, you should see a _____/-------_____/------- cutoff about 2.5 to 3.5 feet above the ground.

You should be able to see very far on flat surfaces. However, when you're going up and down dips and hills, the projectors may end up aimed down, and due to being projectors (where the cut-off line, is well, a cut-off line) there is no light above it. If this is the case, then there isn't much you can do but use the high beams.

Check near the headlights, or refer to the manual; you should be able to aim the lights up. Good luck!


sotiri, you really should have your headlights aimed properly. It's nice to see the road, but there are others out there. Obviously, if you're getting a lot of drivers high beaming you, you need to lower them a bit. I've seen people with high beams on around here and no one flashes. People are actually getting use to improperly aimed headlights, and improperly used headlights!

dwboston

Be careful with the adjustment - it's a "gear and teeth" mechanism, and if you go too far up, there is a "point of no return" where they won't adjust down anymore. I believe it happened to someone here (Qatar maybe?) and the headlights needed to be replaced after that.

Mike_TX

I think we all have gone through this with our first set of HID's. In fact, my first set (on a BMW several years back) shocked me so much I actually tried to get then converted to halogens ('til I saw the cost!).

HID's cause the 'problem' for two reasons - one is that they have sharp cutoffs on the tops of their beams to avoid blinding oncoming drivers, and the other is that they are so bright that the darkness beyond the beam appears even darker than before.

The first issue is understandable. The lights are brighter than old-style lights and simply need to have a means to keep from blinding others. Older-style lights had a rounder top pattern, with a less extreme cutoff, since they don't tend to blind oncoming people like HID's do. As a result, you could actually see a little better into surrounding areas.

The second issue is a little more complicated. The brightness of the lights is a real advantage, but it causes the irises of the eyes to close down in response, making surrounding areas appear darker. That means there is a more extreme contrast between the lighted and non-lighted areas, and that bothers a lot of people, at least until they get used to it. And, depending on your own eyesight, it might bother you more than other people.

There's no solution to it, other than to avoid HID's or perhaps change the bulbs to a different color temperature that reduces the lumens of output. But I've found that you do tend to get used to it. Of course, if your headlights are aimed low, too, that just makes the problem worse.

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michaelbmenaker

I would have the dealer do the adjustment. I found it difficult, and as others have mentioned, if you break it, it's on you.

I had good luck by asking the dealer to adjust the left headlight to the same height as the right. In 3 years, no one has ever flashed their lights at me because I was blinding them.

Once this adjustment is done, I think you will be very satisfied with the results.

Treblig

I had my dealer make the adjustment some time ago and as michaelbmenaker says, I am very satisfied with the results. I've not been "flashed" yet either.

sotiri

let me clarify, I get flashed not that often, and usually its a senior citizen or someone in a very low car.
Geesh, I was just embellishing it a little.

Chas2

The December Acura Service News has a little article on headlight aiming for the MDX, between the halogen version (VOR) and the HID version (VOL) and the two different beam patterns. It is very interesting...or at least I thought it was at the time.

http://www.in.honda.com/Rjanisis/pubs/SN/B071200.PDF

neuronbob

My lights seem to point a little low, too, so thank you for the explanations, all.

I am occasionally flashed in my neighborhood, which has a lot of "older" people in it. I suspect that with the hilly main drag in my neighborhood, and the sharp cutoff of the lights, the lights look brighter than they really are.

NavyDoc333

The headlight 'cut off' was something that I thought was more from the "projector' lamps... not the HID bulbs. Something I've noticed about my GS300 .. is that it doesn't have such a sharp line of light ... it's a softer more diffuse beam. I'm not sure why. It also seems to have a slightly 'more yellow' light. I've always thought Acura/Audi/BMW had the bluest looking light. MB/Lexus seem a little more yellow. Looking it up online , they seem to all have the same bulbs. They may be D2S or D2R bulbs... but that shouldn't change the color (I wouldn't imagine). Anyway... just an observation.

rettenhu

I am definitely going to let the dealer check and make any necessary adjustments and thanks to everyone who responded. I will post back after the dealer visit.

LukeaTron

Even if the bulbs are the same temp, a projector housing (D2S bulb) will always look more blue because it scatters the light far less than a reflector housing (D2R bulbs). Since light on the blue, high energy end of the spectrum scatters more widely, the light from the red, low energy end of the spectrum makes up more of the flux coming out of the headlight. This shifts the perceived color of the bulb towards yellow. Projector beams will always have a shaper cutoff for the simple reason that they are more focused.

ssim3

I had the dealer check mine & he said they were in spec. The RL's were definitely lower than the HIDs in my 99 GS 400 or my new MDX

jftjr

I had the same complaint. Dealer said they were in spec, but that many people ask for them to be raised, and they raised them slightly. Made a huge difference and I don't get flashed.

Nocturnal

Get your lights properly adjusted for sure but don't be one of those people that blinds everyone around him just because he's blind as a bat himself. Few things more annoying than purposely poorly adjusted headlights although it gets worse when they are mounted on trucks and the fog lights are always on.

In other words, please be considerate. The simple test is to see where your beams reach. If you're a few hundred feet behind someone on a level road and your cut-off is not visible on the road or his/her bumper your lights are probably too high.

As a side note I don't think the high beams are HID. The light looks distinctly yellow.

sotiri

you can change them to HID.
I did.

rettenhu

Well the response from the dealer was that the headlights were properly adjusted and although I had requested that they raise them slightly they indicated that they did not want to "align them out of spec". So I may just carefully tweak them muself. I also had them take care of the power steering recall and that seems to have gone fine.

On a separate note, I reported a slow leak in a tire which they plugged at no charge--- a pleasant surprise as I expected to have to pay for that. They also gave me a loaner TL. While the Tl was nice, I am so glad to have my RL back!

Qatar

i upgraded mine to 6000k, which made a whole lot of difference.
in the past, i attempted to raise the headlight a bit and eneded up craking the headlight housing twice. the 6000k is pure white and the stock 4300k looks yellow compared to it

csmeance

This is what I did on my TL, I measured from the ground to the center of the projector and parked the car 25 Feet away. next i turned on the lights and adjusted them so at 25 feet away, they would dip about 1-2 inches.

acuda

Mike,
Your explanation of the issues with seeing downroad with HID lights was great. I sought out this topic for the RL because owners have commented on it in other forums and I am very interested in owning a new RL. But I personally owned a LS430 a few years back and returned it within 24 hours for exactly this reason...I didn't think I could get used to the poor downroad projection of the lights, along with the other factors you mention that limit nighttime viewing.

I note you have a LS 460. They purportedly improved the lights in that car over the 430. How do they compare to the RL?

Rexorg

As a bona fide "older" person (60 is the news 50) I must say I love HID headlights compared to halogens, that are so old school. Yes, the cutoff is something you have to get used to, but the quantity and quality of HID light is great. I've read somewhere that some old timers are trying to get HIDs banned and/or redesigned and have the support of a major auto club. There are also posts on NHTSA complaining about HIDs. I would bet they are all coming from the WWII generation. That's sad since their driving days will soon be over, or should be, but they shouldn't be allowed to stop what has been a major improvement in auto lighting.