White/Blue headlights are a menace.

[Folsom]

I think they’re the worst thing to happen to cars, surpassing auto-off when stopped in traffic and many other things.

They only give you the illusion of seeing more. But what they really do blind the hell out of everyone. Even when they’re not direct, they do weird flickering things all the time that distracts other drivers in all directions.

It’s amazing to me that something so tasteless has taken over. Why so we desire to burn holes in our retinas and distract people guiding thousands of pounds of metal around other humans? To me they’re about as tasteful as bird poop landing in your salad when you’re eating outside at a restaurant with friends.

 

[Folsom]

Street lamps and general building lighting I feel the same about. Otherwise when not white light, street lamps and building lighting often can be beautiful and inspiring. Humans have a lot of fond and iconic memories attached to street lamps and such. But today, today... who wants memories that feel like you’re in an operating table???? These things are wholly repelling in nature.

I think were Thomas Edison to time travel forward and see what we have going on he’d be struck asunder at how appalling his creation has become. He might assume demonic alien overlords had taken over and have been forcing the conversion to such torture devices to subtilely destroy our psyche as our adrenal glands melt.

 

[accwai]

It isn't just the color, some of them are far brighter than average. Around here use of high beam at point blank range is illegal so I would assume most of the those really bright ones aren't high beams. But the final effect is no different. And often the bright ones are on tall SUVs. Those headlights are at right your eye level if you're in a low sports car. When they pull up beside you, they completely flood your side mirror to the point of affecting your forward vision.

 

[Folsom]

Yes that is a big a problem. Sometimes it seems like they aren't aimed correctly from the factory. The thing is the white ones I find very blinding, distracting, and repugnant whether they're really bright or not. Amber on the other hand might be temporarily bright on highs, but overall just isn't a big deal as the eyes adjust fairly quick from them and they don't flicker. The only time I really don't like ambers is if a big SUV/truck is riding right up on my rear with (maybe with highs on) highs on because then it's overwhelming. I still find even when that happens with ambers I can flick my rear view mirror and survive, with white ones I have to get away because I can't see anything.

I'm sure highs are illegal in general when passing near other cars.

 

[DaveC]

It isn't just the color, some of them are far brighter than average. Around here use of high beam at point blank range is illegal so I would assume most of the those really bright ones aren't high beams. But the final effect is no different. And often the bright ones are on tall SUVs. Those headlights are at right your eye level if you're in a low sports car. When they pull up beside you, they completely flood your side mirror to the point of affecting your forward vision.

Your side mirror should be adjusted outward if that's the case.

It wasn't until getting a car with limited rear visibility that I found out side mirrors should be adjusted so there is just a little overlap with the rear view mirror, which means you shouldn't see the side of your car in the side-view mirror at all.

---

Folsom, idk why but the color temperature of headlights doesn't bother me at all. Having them aimed incorrectly can be an issue though, especially for modified trucks.

 

[Folsom]

The side views should be moved out just until the side of the car disappears, not past that. You need to be able to see what's going on right around the rear of your car where someone/thing could go behind it.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

full spectrum lighting (white) is safer, but there is a greater need for aiming properly.

auto-dimming helps too. given a choice it's what i prefer.

OTOH improperly used i agree it's a pain.

 

[Folsom]

It's safer to have a hand rail for 2 steps going up, but that doesn't mean it needs to be. And I still think white is simply the illusion of visibility. I've been on/in different things with amber lights that lit up the road like CRAZY, way beyond what I see with white lights.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

It's safer to have a hand rail for 2 steps going up, but that doesn't mean it needs to be. And I still think white is simply the illusion of visibility. I've been on/in different things with amber lights that lit up the road like CRAZY, way beyond what I see with white lights.

true high performance lighting in particular cars is pretty awesome to drive with. white/blue light for the sake of the the look is a different thing.

 

[NorthStar]

Interesting; nice vision for the trucker sporting those lights, but not all sport car drivers riding on front and facing him directly share his enthusiasm.

 

[Folsom]

I find being in a vehicle with white lights to be more exhausting, even when they are not pointed at you.

 

[rando]

I think were Thomas Edison to time travel forward and see what we have going on he’d be struck asunder at how appalling his creation has become.

Take care to remember all that he stood over after inventing them. Particularly where he used every means possible to deconstruct them for the purpose of immense profits. A light that gets changed twice a year vs. once a century is not prone to continuing down the road he cut. But the one he paved and walled in afterwards.

Otherwise I agree they are an imbalanced solution. Sports cars can be used to menace though too.

 

[DaveC]

My last 2 cars have LED projector beam lights and they do work better vs anything else I've had. They evenly illuminate everything, it's really impressive.

 

[DonH50]

They are great if you're in the car that has them but I hate them too. Where I live there are lots of hills and it's just murder when one of them going the other way tops a hill at night. And then there are the endless number of drivers that never take them off the high beam setting, and now we've been warned the old "flash your lights at them" is not advised because an elderly guy did that and was followed, stopped, and beat up by three guys in the car for flashing his lights at them. What a world.

 

[accwai]

Your side mirror should be adjusted outward if that's the case.

It wasn't until getting a car with limited rear visibility that I found out side mirrors should be adjusted so there is just a little overlap with the rear view mirror, which means you shouldn't see the side of your car in the side-view mirror at all.

Yup, pp. 38-41 in Ross Bentley's Lost Art of High-performance Driving. In this setup, when the car totally disappears from the side mirror its already beside you and almost in your peripheral vision. Excellent. And as bonus, you also have a real nice up close view of those bright headlights breathing down your neck

 

[Blackmorec]

My BMW has the latest adaptive LED lights. Essentially there‘s a camera that monitors headlights of oncoming vehicles and tail lights of preceding cars and blocks off small segments of the light with shutters to place the other vehicles in dark ‘boxes’ with no light, while maintaining my high beam on the rest of the road. Thus i can be proceding along a country lane with the oncoming car in darkness and the verge on my side on high beam. Brilliant (s’cuse the pun). I hardly ever get ‘flashed‘ by oncoming drivers, which is just as well because if i flashed them back I’d probably blind them and they’d run into me.
The only thing that must be wierd is if you’re in front of me. My car blocks out the car and its mirrors but shines high beam on either side so suddenly the visibility for the driver up front gets really good.
The visibility on rainy nights is truly outstanding....hardly any different to dry nights. Halogen slights seem to get swallowed up by wet roads and pavements
The only downside to these lights are reflective traffic signs, that can be quite dazzling.
The last car I had with Halogen lights was a BMW X5. Put your foot down at night and its felt like you were about to catch and overtake your own lights. It was the one thing i really hated about that car

 

[ack]

How do the LEDs compare to Xenon (which is what I have)

 

[Blackmorec]

I always felt that the illumination with Xenon was slightly better but the additional controls with adaptive LEDs mean that you can use partial full beam when Xenon would be dipped, so overall visibility is better with LEDs

 

[NorthStar]

What do you do with the plastic covering the lights when it gets blurry yellowish?
The car in a garage is not much a problem, even after ten years plus, but outside in the sun, the cold, all the elements those plastic coverings get affected after years and the light's performance suffers greatly. And they are not cheap those headlights to replace.

 

[Blackmorec]

What do you do with the plastic covering the lights when it gets blurry yellowish?
The car in a garage is not much a problem, even after ten years plus, but outside in the sun, the cold, all the elements those plastic coverings get affected after years and the light's performance suffers greatly. And they are not cheap those headlights to replace.

Depends how bad they are
From not bad to very bad
1. Toothpaste then wax sealant
2. Aluminium polishing compound then wax sealant
3, Wet and dry 800 grit, 1200 grit, 2000 grit, polishing compound, wax sealant