The skinny on HID headlights

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Danny Tanner

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This is representative of the desired cutoff. If the LED option doesn't produce a cutoff extremely similar to this, you are doing your fellow drivers a huge disservice.

[Broken External Image]

This image is blocked for me at work. That LED replacement is a direct drop-in, which should mimic the spread and cut off of the OEM halogen, give or take the same minor tolerance you'd expect out of any other high performance, legal halogen replacement.
 

Lurkerinthewoods

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Until you blind an older lady with night vision issues and she headon's you. The life you save may be your own.

You don't seem to follow along very well. Let me help you out. After the first month I took my car into the dealership for warranty work. I asked them to check the headlight beam because people keep flashing me. They put some gadget on the headlights and measured the beam and said everything was in spec. When I watch oncoming traffic approach, the light beam doesn't go above their bumper, usually lower and there is a clear line where the beam cuts off.

Are you suggesting I should lower the light projection so it basically shines onto the street? That way it would cut the visibility enough so my wife and daughter can't see any road hazards ahead and possibly cause then to hit something and cause bodily harm to themselves all because people over react because my lights are brighter than normal? My wife has driven her Fusion towards me when we were coming back from the dealer and she said she didn't have a problem with the light beam.

Maybe grandma with night vision issues shouldn't drive at night.

Please let me know what you suggest, since my headlights are in spec and shine no higher than the bumper and usually lower?
 

sixseven

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I have a 2013 Ford F-150 FX4 and it came with the stock HID lights. When I got my new wheels and tires, I also put in a 2" leveling kit on the front to make sure the truck set level, but never considered my head lights. I got flashed multiple times after that and realized that the leveling kit had raised the light level too high. Took it to the dealer and they adjusted it. If your car has the factory HID lights, you can look in the manual and it tells you exactly how to aim them. You park on your driveway X feet away from the door on a level surface and measure the height of the top of the line and make sure it is only X number of inches tall. It's easy to adjust the light just by opening the hood and turning a Phillips screw.
 

kroberts2131

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I have a 2013 Ford F-150 FX4 and it came with the stock HID lights. When I got my new wheels and tires, I also put in a 2" leveling kit on the front to make sure the truck set level, but never considered my head lights. I got flashed multiple times after that and realized that the leveling kit had raised the light level too high. Took it to the dealer and they adjusted it. If your car has the factory HID lights, you can look in the manual and it tells you exactly how to aim them. You park on your driveway X feet away from the door on a level surface and measure the height of the top of the line and make sure it is only X number of inches tall. It's easy to adjust the light just by opening the hood and turning a Phillips screw.

Let's see a pic of that f150! I got a '12 Fx4 and I wanna level and get wheels
 

sixseven

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Let's see a pic of that f150! I got a '12 Fx4 and I wanna level and get wheels

Here's the only pic I have, right after I put on the wheels and tires, but before the leveling kit. The leveling kit was on the front only and makes the gap in front the exact same as the gap in the rear fenders. I have since also stripped all the stickers and emblems and blacked out the mirror reflectors.

i77.photobucket.com_albums_j52_bigwillokc_155792_4742780094150_753302924_n_zpsd9cff791.jpg
 

Sanford

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Sanford

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I guess the 8 out of 10 drivers that flash me can now kiss my arse.
You could be getting "guilt by association" flashes. There's been such a recent rash of the "crapola" (for lack of a better term) conversions that actually do blind oncoming traffic that I think people may have started automatically flashing anything that looks "bluer than usual". I've been flashed when driving OEM HID-equipped vehicles that were aimed correctly, and that's the only reasonable explanation I could think of.
 

Lurkerinthewoods

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You could be getting "guilt by association" flashes. There's been such a recent rash of the "crapola" (for lack of a better term) conversions that actually do blind oncoming traffic that I think people may have started automatically flashing anything that looks "bluer than usual". I've been flashed when driving OEM HID-equipped vehicles that were aimed correctly, and that's the only reasonable explanation I could think of.

That's what I'm thinking as well. It seems to happen more going down streets without any street lighting. I don't have a level driveway, so when it got dark around 7:15 I parked my f-150 about 10 feet or so away from the mustang in front of the house and the headlights shine just under the front bumper. Not really going to worry about now.
 

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