These headlights, though...
 

These '17+ headlights are incredible. I can't think of anything else I've driven that has better flame throwers, and I own a '17 Focus RS.


That's all. Anyone else?

Sure.

Meh

My sentiments exactly. I came from a '17 Golf R that had great headlight functionality (IMO), and the ones in my '17 86 don't seem anything beyond normal to me.

Or the Focus RS ones just aren't that good.

Maybe that's why the paint is blistering on the outside of my garage door . . .

But I would agree, these headlights really illuminate the road. Unfortunately, I have had quite a few people flash their high beams at me. When I look at the light pattern and elevation it seems to be correct. But have you noticed how bright most any late model pickup truck or full size SUV headlights seem to be? Due to the size of the vehicle the LEDs are usually located higher above the ground and you really get an eye full when meeting them. And maybe the color temperature (more white/blue than yellow) is more difficult to look into as well.

Those of you that aren't impressed, what have you driven that has better headlights? I've driven a late model GTI at night and my BRZ's seem to be at least as good.

I guess it depends on what your previous car had.



Halogen > LED obviously night and day difference,
HID > LED the difference is almost negligible.

Most of my cars were so old that they used sealed beam bulbs so ANY headlight after about 1990 seems like a magical device to me.
In fact any of the new lights that require a shield to cut them off at a certain height freak me out and I don't like them.


Instead of slowing dying off in the distance and giving at least some visibility you get a really bright light up close and then a line of no light at all above that. How is that increasing visibility when you get bright, bright , bright, NOTHING?


Now THESE were headlights that worked!

Very easily adjusted with a 6mm socket. There is a tube vid showing this.

I love them. I was flashed a couple of times until I lowered the car. No flashing since.

Yes, multiple.

Any well designed D2S system outperforms a D4S system in my experience.

The S2000 has the best headlights of any car I've ever driven with an OEM setup. The setup in my E36 M3 was better - but also completely custom built.

The BRZ lights aren't bad, but they aren't anything special. Neither are the Focus headlights.

Sure adjust them up so you can see further and become the douche that I hate that blinds me. They are set at a height for a reason.

Shut up old man.









:)

Hey! I can hardly see as it is. Usually some asshat in a BMW that blinds me so we don't want to be associated with that crowd now do we?

haha my BMW did have a great light setup but it was also aimed CORRECTLY.

I only ever got flashed if the car hit a bump.

But no, I don't want to ever be associated with BMW owners again - unless I buy an E30 M3.. I'll live with the association shame for that.

Next level clueless
Assume trolling.

I also love the headlights on my 17 BRZ. I've owned multiple cars with HID headlights before (including the previously mentioned S2000) and while they were better than halogen, they still weren't as good as the LED headlights in the BRZ. The only downside is all of the other cars with inferior halogen bulbs flashing their lights at me because their simple brains are thinking "his lights are brighter than mine... he must have his brights on!!"

And get off my grass!

Only semi trolling. Lights have gotten far brighter than they need to be to see the road. You do not need to blind everybody else in order to see.

For about 2 weeks after I started driving my new BRZ I was getting people flashing me.I thought it was because they were so bright. Finally I was flashed by a cop who I flashed my brights back. He made a uturn and pulled me over. He told me he passes me several days a week and told me what the problem was. He asked me to raise my hood which I did. With his flashlight he showed me where to adjust the headlight level. I did so and had no more flashing. So thankful for that officer, no more blinding flashing in my eyes!

Very cool cop, I had one that wrote me a fix-it ticket once and left.

They are definitely far superior to the nonsense halogens in my 19 Crosstrek and my wife’s 19 WRX. I feel like I’m driving in the dark in those cars. In comparison to my previous 16 Golf R and 05 C6, I don’t notice too much of a difference.

It sucks that the BRZ has a D4S setup, D2S definitely has nicer light output. An annoyance, but not quite worth spending the money on converting. I recently put in Osram CBB bulbs and they helped with brightness and nicer color output, but not D2S level bright, to me at least.

I too miss my S2000 from a headlight (and car) perspective. On the fence with swapping in some STI-R clear lenses into my headlights this summer which will get it close to S2000 level from a beam pattern perspective..in addition to doing a blackout and putting in switchback white/amber boomerangs from DD.

If you guys are getting flashed I'd definitely verify your headlights are aimed correctly using the adjustment screw on the headlight. The Osrams are much brighter than stock and I haven't gotten flashed yet.

sure you do.

You have to outblind the blinders. Its a dog eat dog world out there, and the brightest douche shines supreme!

Agreed.

The 2017+ are LED but I honestly didn't notice them being significantly better than the older lights although I don't have that much time driving one at night. Ironically when I did drive it I was drove my Focus RS to the dealership, the same care the OP mentioned. Neither really impressed me that much for lighting.

I get flashed all the time in my '17 Series.Yellow, and I'm lowered on RCE Yellows'.

I checked how they're aimed and the beam cutoff is at my kneecap from 25ft away.

I really think the LEDs are just that bright. I've seen many of the LED headlights on other newer fancy cars appear blinding as well -- then they do their auto adaptive magic when they see me approaching. :D

Even the bloody tail lights on the 17s are to damn bright! I still have Johan's burned into my retinas and that was two years ago.

Headlights have become too fucking bright. Is there no legislation to protect us from this macular assault?

Right?

Anything other than the BMW i3 lights are fine in my book.

LED's are not as bright as HID, I have read. The aim has to be off if you are getting flashed regularly. This goes without saying, but headlights are designed to not blind oncoming traffic.

After almost a year of ownership, I have not noticed anyone flashing their brights at me. Probably blissful ignorance due to the fact that I'm seated so close to the ground every car on the road appears to have their brights on. :eyebulge:

Most importantly... the 17+ heads/tails look fantastic! The "86" engraving on the side of the headlight bezel is also a nice touch for an OEM headlight.

https://86speed.com/images/thumbs/w_...headlight.jpeg

D2S is brighter then D4S but the difference is ~100 lm or so, once you go with aftermarket bulbs the difference becomes greater. I'd love to get some better bulbs than what I have now(Osram D4S Night Breaker Unlimited) but the price is killer(~130 USD per bulb).

Here is a copy/paste of an old post I made from a different thread about getting flashed. It didn’t really get any responses, but I think my unanswered question is still relevant:

I have owned a MY17 86 for almost a year now, but I have never been flashed like this. I wonder if my driveway is responsible. I park my car at home with the nose tilted up each day. Now I know the automatic adjusting headlights are supposed to do their thing when they detect a slope, but there is so little information about the details of how this works. So when I start my car on an up slope, presumedly the lights should adjust down. Once I back out and drive on level surfaces, presumedly they should level out. Or do they? How often do they adjust? Only at start up? Constantly as you drive? It can't be constantly or else they would be bouncing around with every hill, and I don't notice that happening. Maybe they only level off if at an incline for a set amount of time? Maybe they move so slowly that it is imperceptible? I can't find anything in the manual that explains under what parameters the auto leveling headlights work. If they level only at startup, my inclined driveway might always point them down. Just a theory. However they work, I do not think the shine level is ever high enough to be above another car's hood. They are bright, though. My old Integra has the dimmest lights ever and compared to that I'm driving in a lighthouse for lost ships!

Myriad

They adjust for the weight in the car, not the slope the car is on. There are level sensors on the suspension, it measures front and rear ride height to determine the angle the car is at relative to the pavement. No way to know the slope of the pavement.

Headlamp aim is a determined drop at a set distance, 4" at 12' I believe? Flat ground, angle ground, doesn't matter as long as the 12' out is the same slope as the car is sitting on.

I've read that the MY17+ cars only adjust during start up and hold that till the next start up. Which, overall, makes the auto level feature, pretty fucking stupid.



I hope that's not the case.

Uses only the rear control arm, it doesn't read the front. Meaning on a slope facing up, with the rear suspension under greater load, it would think there's weight in the back.

The ride height difference parked flat or on a slope is going to be very very small. I'm just saying the car isn't accounting for the fact that it's parked on a hill. If it considered that it was parking on an uphill the lights would be pointed at the ground, not up.

Checked the aim of my headlights. Lowered on Eibach Pro springs. The only manual adjustment I see is on the adjustment motor itself. I did not touch the adjustment.

Left and right cut off just above the center line, exactly how I set them. Works for me :)

Also noted the cut off on these LED lamps is nothing like the bi-xenons from a few years ago. They fade off at the top, no harsh line at all.

Older Honda projector headlights were amazing. Even the Integra halogen projector headlights had a really wide beam pattern and very bright, and this was before HID was even a thing.

I would imagine these newer LED headlights have worse contrast than Xenon HID headlights, not so much about brightness. The glare coming off these LEDs also sucks big time for us eyeglasses wearers.