Here is an odd question. It's bugged me since I bought the car recently, and I'm wondering if it is normal. I'm not sure if it's a problem or something that needs to be fixed, so I didn't post it in that section.

When sitting straight up in my seat, as I'm looking over past my hood onto the pavement, I notice a distinct "cutoff" of light within 10 feet of the front bumper. Past that point is the headlight beams lighting up the street in front of me. If I sit low enough in my seat, I don't see it at all.

I've got OEM HID headlights in my '08 Mazda3, and the beams don't seem to have the same issue. Better product? Maybe... Look at the pictures and tell me what you think. Or better yet, post your own pictures so that I can compare mine with yours.

The projectors and bulbs are all OEM on an '04, installed at the factory.

Standing outside




Side view




Showing almost a car's length




HID lights on Mazda3, looking over hood (TL light pattern visible on far right of photo)

 

I hope the other HID gurus don't see this. Just to put it out there, the TL Bi-Xenon setup is one of the most sought after OEM HID lighting systems, even in stock form. Adding ZKW lenses and new Phillips 85122+ bulbs makes them one of the best lighting combinations out there. The Mazda3 HID's don't even compare. I think your difference is due to the 04 TL Osram bulbs showing their signs of aging and poor aiming. A new set of bulbs and a headlight aim will fix that easy.
Lowbeam w/ZKW with 85122+

Highbeam w/ZKW with 85122+

 

I'm guessing that these photos were taken from the driver's seat? Maybe I'm going to answer my own question here...

Upon looking closer at the "shadow" in front of the vehicle, it may be exactly that. The beams, which project at a downwards slope onto the road, are reflecting off the bumper, creating this anomaly. It looks like your car has the same thing going on, even with the upgrades. This all could be just a characteristic of the front bumper and how the headlamps are positioned.

I'm not convinced that they are the bulbs... yet. They still omit a bright white light that compares to the newer bulbs of my wife's '08 Mazda. As for projector alignment, I tried adjusting that tonight. The more the projector was moved down, the shorter the shadow stretched from the car. and vice-versa.

It just seems kind of tacky, if only from a trivial point of view. Everyone seems to have their individual gripes about this car. I think I found my first one.

 

My first gripe was uncovered on the first day of owning it... there is no place decent to put a box of tissues..... I NEED MY TISSUES DAMMIT

 

The line in front of the car is called the foreground limiter. every TL has them, I know they have a how to on HIDplanet to cut that out but I think they said it worsens the intensity. I?ve noticed JnC is on this site also, i'm sure he will know it's purpose .

 

I'm not sure how many of you have an HIDplanet.com account, but here's a thread about the forground limiter..

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/view...ght=foreground

 

Thanks for the link! The pattern looks a lot better without the limiter. Am I going to remove it? Not sure. I'll look around and see if I can find any further instructions.

I just wanted to make sure that it was something normal, as the only other car that I have owned that has HID lighting is the '08 Mazda3, and that limiter, if the car in fact has one, is designed a little differently.

I appreciate the input.

BTW... does anyone have a picture of a TL with the foreground limiter modified? The pics on the HIDPlanet forum are from a Tacoma retrofitted with the TL HID system. I just want to see it on our model before I make a decision to make the adjustment.

 

Nevermind... the limiter isn't going to come off or be altered. With my luck, I'm not going to like the results. Solution to problem: Sit low enough in seat so that the hood of the car blocks this shadow and all that I see is the headlights illuminating the road in front of me. It's free and it doesn't require disassembly.

 

If you want to get super creative and have the time, you could always take your headlights out and bend the foreground limiter a tad. Install ZKW lenses (or knockoffs) and get the Phillips 85122+ bulbs. This is one of the best projector combos you can get, as was noted in post #2.

Otherwise, you can sit lower and try not to look for the shadow. I have the same problem as you when I lean forward; the first thing I see is the damn shadow. Also, if you put a HID kit in your foglight housing this may give you enough light to fill in that foreground dead spot.

 

easy fix: install accord fogs with HID bulbs on your car

edit: i see 95o agrees

 

Thanks guys! I appreciate the tips.

 

HID kit in foglamp positions does fix the foreground issue. It's super easy install too in comparison to the Foreground limiter removal which is a 1 full day project. The HID foglamps turns the experience into overkill amount of light but is a great pothole finder in the rain. Although it puts a weird spec of glare to the far right and far left when they're on which confuses you when you go through intersections as it tricks you into thinking there are other headlights coming towards you from the sides. This same glare also lights up the rims on the cars next to you. I think this was also an issue with the stock halogen bulbs too though. Other than that, they don't glare too much at all in the forward direction.

 

red good to run into you again, I've been out the wife has family issues. I installed HID lower fogs to fix this problem. If you search my posts you can find pics. The whole install ran me about 350 bucks.

 

Well, to be honest with ya, I ended up sitting a bit lower in my seat, and I don't see it at all. Maybe I'm just getting used to it, but when I do see the shadow, I don't notice it as quickly. I also raised my projectors up a bit. It's a tremendous increase of light, especially in the back roads of our area. Now I can honestly say these are the best headlights I've had in any of my cars. I can see the cows grazing off of Dairy Road at 7PM!

 

Leave the foreground limiter in tact, first off you can barely notice the lack of light right in front of the car due to the fact that you sit low, secondly the limiter is in place to avoid glare within the headlight.

Foreground limiters are usually used in projectors found in SUVs due to higher ground clearance but in case of the TL the limiters avoid glare caused by light within the headlight.

If you take the limiters out you would notice the extra light to refract within the headlight due to the narrow shape of the headlight.

If you really want to increase/sharpen output then switch to ZKW lenses (real or replicas) and swap factory Osram 66404 bulbs for a pair of Philips 85122+ bulbs.

 

I might do this. How did you raise your projectors? I need mine up just a tad.

 

^^ Pop the hood on either side of the car near the headlight there is a hole in the shrouding showing "U" and "D", stick a phillips head screw driver through that hole and turn it in the direction of "U".

Also make sure once you are done your output is something like the following


_______________/'''''''''''''''''''''''_________/'''''''''''''''''''

 

Yep. It makes a big difference. I guess it isn't causing any issues with oncoming traffic. Two weeks have gone by with almost daily night driving on 2 lane highways and side roads, and not one incident of high beams from other drivers.

 

in the north american continent its ______/"""""""_______/"""""""" and the right side is always slightly higher because of DOT its like a safety thing for on ramps and people joining traffic because most traffic comes from the right... it lets drivers know ur there and coming and kinda glares a bit as a warning.
in some parts of europe the light beam pattern is like this """""""\_____ """""\______ and the lenses have the foreground limiter which slides over for adjustment so they dont have to make a whole diff set of lights for europe and japan and america etc. and it just changes the beam pattern

 

Haha!! I always get crap from my friends for having tissues in my car..well, that is until they need one.

 

That's one of the main reasons I use my fogs most always at night.. the other being all of the four-legged critters running around here in this part of Virginia.