Hey folks,

I don't if this thread's already been covered, but I'll say it anyway. I just got my new Anthracite TL and love it. But I am new to having HID headlights. To me they seem to provide beautiful coverage to about 150 feet in front of you, but past that I can barely see what's ahead of the point that the field of view stops. On lit roads it's no big deal, but when driving in the mountains at night (gotta do it once a week), it's a bit unnerving. I understand the need to not blind on-coming traffic, but is this just the price you pay for having HID's?

Just curious if anyone else has noticed this.

Otherwise, I gotta say: I love the car!

 

Left/low and Right/high. Normal. Our 35k car has no aut-leveling HID setup. But we have some things other 35k car doesn't have.



BTW, this topic has been bringing up every week since Day 1 in Oct. Just let you know.

 

Your right, that's the price you pay for hid's.They outperform as far as close range is concerned but a good halogen will always light up a greater distance.

 

Huh, I didn't know that. I thought HIDs were universally superior to halogens. Interesting. Thanks for the info!

 

I think the new directional HID plus Auto-leveling adjustment could solve this issue of too-focused light beam.

 

Can the HIDs be aimed higher? I could of sworn there are adjustment ports under the hood.

 

Consumer Reports had a good HID article out not too long ago. It stated that white light will give the appearance of increased contrast so that you see things better. BUT, the contrast also means that things that are not lit by the light will look dark and dim. Halogen light beam, in comparison, throws out a more "even" light that fades slowly into the distance. so that you get a more natural cutoff. Per US DOT regulation, the light can only be thrown so far down the road so more of it is thrown to the sides instead. I believe European standards are way different as road signs there are lit at night vs. the USA and self leveling lights are required. We had a more inferior standard IMHO.

Try turning on your fog lights to help even out the lighting a bit. You will notice that objects above the HID cutoff, esp. to the sides, are now much more visible and the contrasty shadows is lessen.

dsc888

 

i read that article about the good halogen light beam being better than HID. in fact in baja races those large lights mounted on the car are actually halogen bulbs. of course they are not anywhere near the same type on stock US cars. halogens can acutally light up the road better than HID. but most stock halogen lights on cars are don't perform as well as stock HID systems. they are not the baja halogens that are found on those off road vehicles. the HID bulb itself is not to blame for the poor cutoff. its the US spec headlights. if anyone is familiar with e-code spec lights (euro) they are far surperior to US lights. the beam is focused alot more and has a very sharp cutoff. when aimed properly the e-code lights do not blind other drivers and offer great lighting for the driver. if acura was ever to introduce the TL in europe and use e-code spec lights in that car you can be sure i would swap out these stock US spec lights.

 

Auto leveling will do nothing to increase the distance of your HID unless your car is traveling with more weight in the back of the car then normal.

I am afraid that this is part of the HID downfall for the TL. I have noticed that is flat low beem makes it a challenge to read street signs. You can see them from a certain distance, which I can't see from, and just when you get close enough to see what the sign says...no light. I still love the HID's and the TL. Most fun car I have ever owned.

 

Just use the hi-beams in those mountainous situations. Found out last week that the hi-beams are just a different reflection of the low-beams; you're not going to hurt bulb life at all by switching between the two. The hi-beam HID's are without question better than normal headlights, hands down. I think it's a matter of thinking of it this way:

On a busy road with lots of cars, use low-beams.

On a desolate road with no cars, use hi-beams.

BJ

 

the sharp cutoff of the hids is because they are projectors. in my 00tl there was no sharp cutoff an they light higher (signs etc). the 04 pattern really is not that low...i had an S2K (projector hids) now that had a LOW cutoff, if i wanted to see any signs i would have to use high beams

 

Not sure why you say that. It is commonly known and quite evident when driving at night that HIDs provide 4 times the amount of light you get from a halogen. And...with one third the power consumption! They are a WIN/Win headlight.
Expensive too but well worth it and happily included in our TL pricing.

 

i agree with that HID's put out more light. they measure light in lumens. i think a stock 4300K hid bulb gives off 3200 lumens and a stock halogen gives off about 1200 lumens. HIDS do give off more light, but there are other halogen lights that outperform HID's but those use alot of juice and are not the ones that are used in your headlight.