HID headlight position setting
 

What is the appropriate setting for the HID headlight cutoff? I find when I'm driving at night alone I'll go to the 0 position setting on the switch and bring the headlights to full tilt, and when I approach a car I'll set it down to 1. But wondering, if I leave it in the 0 setting is it obtrusive to oncoming drivers?

Our cars are low enough that 0 is just fine with factory HIDs.

I usually leave mine on 1. I which they went higher though.

They do. Go to 0.

I stay at the 0 position and have had a few cars flash me, then I hit them with the high beams and that fixes that.

Thanks for the replies, it's definitely easier to see the road with the position at 0.

I go with 1 in the city, 0 outside the city at night, and 5 when its foggy + fog lights.

I like your style.

I put mine on 0.

I guess I was unclear. I know they go to 0 but I want them to go even higher than they do at the 0 position.

On my STI, the "0" position was designed for normal driving. You would only switch to "1" if there were passengers or cargo weighing down the rear.

Yeah I know what you mean. 0 is not high at all. The lights cut off below the rear license plate of most cars. I don't think there's a physical adjustment to the lights other than the one inside the car.

I have mine on 0 the entire time. Going up on numbers only lower the lights.

0 and never had anyone flash me.

We're really too low-slung to need to put the headlights anywhere other than 0.

I think going to something a little (not much though) higher power and higher tempurature (something like 6k) could help with the light casting.

That said, hi beams are perfectly adequate. Use them when canyon carving at night, exclusively unless following or I see oncoming traffic.

But yeah the low beams definitely need to be projected further out. Them being HIDs in the BRZ certainly helps a great deal (the difference between the low beams in my 08 WRX, which were standard halogens, and the HIDs my STI came with was very significant in the positive sense), but the low height of our cars still puts us at a bit of a disadvantage.

Problem is that if we angle them up farther, then farther out, they will be blinding other drivers. Higher power may work, but it can't be too high power, else we will dazzle drivers like they had a 150 lumen tac light strobe their eyeballs from 5 yards away.

i need to tweak mine.. been running them at 0 right now, but really need a 0.5 setting.. 1 is too low...

The headlights are correctly aimed at 0 with only the driver on board and no luggage.

The other settings are to compensate for vehicle attitude if the trunk or back seat is loaded.

Frankly, the springs are firm enough that you will probably never use any other setting.

If a number of oncoming drivers flash their high beams at you then it is polite to drop your low beams by one number, and so on if the objections keep coming.

Owner's manuals says it should be set at '0'. Only turn it to 1 or 2 if u carry heavy passengers/cargo in the rear.

We can't put heavy passengers in the backseat anyway unless they don't have legs.

So, I guess the only time we have to toggle it up is when we have crapload of stuff in the trunk.

Yup, 0.

This. :cheers:

I wish it went just ONE LEVEL higher than 0... you really can't see that far ahead when there are no street lights. It's fine for city driving, but definitely inadequate for illuminating upcoming turns on twistier back-roads. Yea, I do end up using high beams in those cases, but that means I have to constantly trigger them off and on for oncoming traffic, which is a nuisance

it's generally bunk, though. With this car, you're not going to raise the level too much if at all with passengers or "heavy cargo." So, set it to 0 and leave it there.

One thing to consider though when driving in the hills, coming up over a hill the headlights set to 0 go over at a higher angle and possibly become dazzling or blinding to other drivers in those cases. So, I'm saying that those who drive on relatively flat roads don't need this consideration, this is more for those who drive around twisties and hills.

I've had it happen to me before by another car that was fitted with factory HIDs, coming over a hill in my direction I was absolutely blinded by their beams coming down on me. That's why I go to the 1 setting.

That's going to happen no matter what the squirrel finder is set to, unless it's set so low (max) that it isn't illuminating anything but what the factory fogs would.

This is an example of the gratuitous use of technology normally associated with BMW.

Same for pretty much any car out there (my gf's house is down a very hilly and winding road and I have to use my high beams constantly)


Happens even with halogens, but HID's are nearly 3x brighter, so yeah, it can suck. Many of the expensive euro cars have leveling systems to stop such an event, but even they aren't perfect in this case.

Anyone know if moving the knob also adjusts the high beam level? Does the motor move the entire projector assembly?

You don't adjust high beam level. the leveling scroll wheel is for low beams only.

Technically, the levelling wheel alters the position of the low beam shutter. The aim of the lense doesn't change. Bi-xenon lights use only one fixed position filament for both beams, one beam but an adjustable shutter.

This is why you don't adjust the actual alignment of your lights, as you would with conventional lights, but have an electric control instead. Some bi-Xenons are auto self level and this is actually required in some jurisdictions.

It depends on how they're achieving the level setting. Many move the entire projector, and in that case you'd be moving the high beam as well (as the high beam is just moving the cutoff shield)