Author Topic: Xenon Headlights  (Read 2529 times)

Offline ub7rm

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Xenon Headlights
« on: 05 January 2022, 14:22 »
I’ve had my 17 GTD for a year now and can’t say I find the dipped beam headlights very good. I had a 15 plate GTD with the same lights before and don’t remember thinking they were poor.

Also I notice some tiger striping / shadows in the beam. Especially when they first come on. Again I don’t remember this from the previous car. 

It’s recently been MOT’d, and I mentioned that the headlights probably needed adjustment but they said the beam height was within spec.

The car has only done about 26k miles, I might have thought it needed new bulbs but I wouldn’t have thought they would need replacing this soon.

Is this normal? Maybe the old car was the same but I just didn’t notice. Any thoughts welcome.
2020 BMW 128ti
2017 Golf GTD Estate

Online Watts

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Re: Xenon Headlights
« Reply #1 on: 05 January 2022, 15:18 »
If they are the original ones then they are likely on their last legs - 3 or 4 years is normal. A pain to fit but doable, expensive if done by a dealer. I think I paid around £90 for a pair and spent about two or three hours fitting them. Plenty of guides online.
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Offline ub7rm

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Re: Xenon Headlights
« Reply #2 on: 05 January 2022, 19:48 »
Oh really? I thought they lasted much longer than that.  To be fair I can’t imagine what else the problem would be.
2020 BMW 128ti
2017 Golf GTD Estate

Offline oryx3dr

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Re: Xenon Headlights
« Reply #3 on: 05 January 2022, 19:58 »
I also had issues with mine so upgraded to Osram Nightbreakers. I'm not entirely convinced they were worth the cost but I would say they helped. This main issue I have is the range rather than the overall brightness. My partner has a 2017 Cooper S and the headlights on that thing are like two very small but intense suns mounted to the car. I suspect there is a small generator powering them, likely fusion.

I fitted them myself which was quite the job in itself, there's a few bolts that are hard to reach with conventional tools so I had to improvise. Taking the bumper off partially was my approach and it's the first time I've ever done it, I was very surprised at just how much force needed to actually get it to unclip after all of the screws and bolts were removed.

I'd say the best thing to do first is raise your current ones to the absolute highest they can (within the legal limit, naturally) and then go from there.
Current - 2020 Black Golf GTI Performance Pack DSG, Sunroof, Dynaudio, Climate Windscreen, Brescia's
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Offline ub7rm

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Re: Xenon Headlights
« Reply #4 on: 05 January 2022, 20:40 »
Yes it’s the range that’s the issue (second order is the strange pattern thrown on the ground for the first couple of minutes). 

Unfortunately I’m well versed in removing the bumper from a mk7 golf… it’s not so bad if you’ve done it before.
2020 BMW 128ti
2017 Golf GTD Estate

Offline willni

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Re: Xenon Headlights
« Reply #5 on: 05 January 2022, 23:48 »
How are the lenses on your actual headlight unit? Is it a case they've yellowed a bit and could be causing the patching "tiger" pattern you speak of?

I also agree the Mini/Bmw are some of the brightest on the road but they're also mostly LED and have been since around 2016, but it all comes down to the shape of protector lens, as they're designed to only emit so much light so if you want more output you'd need to swap them out essentially.
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Offline Exonian

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Re: Xenon Headlights
« Reply #6 on: 06 January 2022, 06:16 »
The range is controlled by the shutter which cuts off light sharply at a certain point. Usually xenons are intense within the near field area but cut off abruptly leaving the surrounding area appearing very dark in comparison to the lit area unlike halogen bulbs which have a gradual fade out.
One test of xenon bulb performance I used to use was to drive down an urban street with cars parked at 90 degrees to my approach so that their wheels were illuminated side on. If the intricate details of the brake callipers and disc scores were clearly visible through the wheel cut outs from a reasonable distance it signalled that the bulbs were intense enough and any range issues were shutter height related.

As for the MINI headlamps, I had a 2016 Cooper SD briefly while I was waiting for a GTD to be built. The Cooper had LED headlamps that were far brighter than any other car’s headlamps I’d ever experienced until I got my TCR in 2019. The MINI headlamps are also positioned a bit higher than Golf headlamps too I think which again helps with range.
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Offline ub7rm

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Re: Xenon Headlights
« Reply #7 on: 06 January 2022, 09:10 »
Thanks all, part of my perception of them being poor could be that I have a 1 series bmw with adaptive led’s which are fantastic… but still I think these are worse than the last car. I’ll raise them up a touch first and see if that does the trick then change the bulbs.
2020 BMW 128ti
2017 Golf GTD Estate

Offline Carbon VW

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Re: Xenon Headlights
« Reply #8 on: 06 January 2022, 12:40 »
My 2013 car is on the orignal xenon bulbs if that helps and havent noticed a massive degredation in light quality. Usually a slight flicker in the light is a sign they are on their last legs. I have however, changed the static cornering bulbs on more than one occasion. I have adjusted my lights to a higher setting from factory. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
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Offline Finglonga

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Re: Xenon Headlights
« Reply #9 on: 07 January 2022, 10:16 »
Ditto above but 2014 and origibnal HID bulbs same with our other 2009 BMW. HID's las much longer than 4 years unless you have am electrical problem or have gone for cheap ones. No filament to blow they just arc over two electrodes.

Did replace the cornering lights with LED ones years ago. :grin: