Hi All,

Just picked up my new mini yesterday (with 2 miles on it)....a beautiful car and an amazing experience! Everything I had hoped for including a wooden shift **** that I hadn't ordered.

I took her out at night to test the headlamps (not the xenons) and was less than impressed with visibility on backroads. The "horizon line" or delineation between road and lights was not very far out making it necessary to keep the brights on. Do you think these lamps need to be adjusted? Is that even possible?

When I shine them on the garage door, they seem to be aimed properly, but on the road with even the slightest downhill incline, they aren't great. Can barely see 25 feet in front of the car. Or is this just something that happens on backroads?

Thank yoU!

LG

 

Mine did the same thing...it just seemed like they weren't bright enough all the time. I switched out the bulbs to sylvannia silver stars H-13 on the advice of another club member....big difference for only $40.00 bucks!

 

thanks chilired for your reply!!

I looked up on the sylvania website for the bulb info and they asked if I had "HID" or replaceable halogen bulbs. I chose "replaceable" and these were the options they gave me....I don't see the H-13 you mentioned. Does this sound right? Should I try to mess around with the angle of the lamps I have before buying these? They seem bright enough, just don't extend beyond the car far enough. Many thanks!

Low beam headlamp:
H7
H7SU Silverstar ULTRA for Ultra Night Vision - The Whitest and Brightest Halogen
H7ST Silverstar High Performance Lighting: The Whiter and Brighter Halogen
H7XV XtraVision Halogen - The Brighter Light
H7CB Cool Blue Halogen - The Whiter Light
H7LL Long Life Halogen: Lasts two and a half times longer

 

Sounds like a plan!
Yeah I think I need brighter lights, then again, I rarely take the mini out at night.
Any pics?

 

That's how I would describe the xenons. What's more, they are so bright that you are completely blinded to what is beyond the "horizon line".

 

Robin, Have you confirmed your headlite adjustment? I thought others have mentioned their lites were too low from the dealer and profited from readjustment.

 

That was my thought as well. If you see a sharp horizontal cutoff of the beam, you probably have the xenons (i.e. HID). There isn't much you can do with xenons beyond verifying the aim adjustment.

The xenons are easy to identify. They have dots of lights surrounding around the main projector lens, and an extra fixture for the headlight washer.


This is the halogen:

 

I have the xenons and there is a very sharp demarcation line in front of me, and it is slightly closer on the driver's side (so as not to blind oncoming cars). I'd like the line to be higher so I can see farther away, but I think that's the way they set them to aim. Mine do move up and down when I start the car in the garage so I think they are set up correctly.

 

Found this on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Sylvania-H13XV.../dp/B000COCU8O

 

The sharp cutoff has nothing to do with xenon or halogen, but the ECE headlamp standards required for all cars sold in Europe. The SAE standards in FMVSS 108 permit much more light above the line, but most European cars sold in the USA come with the annoyingly sharp cutoff anyway--xenon or halogen.

Plus the movement up and down only signifies that the automatic adjustment for suspension height is functioning. Manual adjustment affects the aim at every suspension height.

 

My xenons were too low from the dealership. Lower still once the car got a 1" drop. Have the dealer check and adjust them before you buy new bulbs.