Is anyone else getting flashed

[smoothcall]

Flash them back! I admit that the Mk5 Xenon's are bright but not flash worthey.

Flash them back and show them just what the high beams are like! (Hopefully brighter, to prove your point successfully)

The point being what? That his lights are not set up correctly?

[maca]

The point being what? That his lights are not set up correctly?

Yeah!.... Or that he's driving past whimps?

[soogs]

If you can see inside the car in front on a level road then your lo-beam lights are obviously adjusted way too high. You may have to be very insistent with your dealer ( I had to be a bit stern with my Skoda's service people the second time around to get them to lower them).

Flashing back when you know your lights are too high is an invitation to a light war battle - don't try it with someone who has good lights (eg 4wd with HID driving lights). You both end up unable to see much at all - not a real safe situation, and may even provoke some serious road rage violence.

A simple test for your head light alignment, would be it should cut out at the top of the boot of the car in front of you, at the highest, when you are stuck in traffic, but that probably does not apply to bi-xenons as from reading this thread they seem to have a mind of their own.

[Maverick]

A simple test for your head light alignment, would be it should cut out at the top of the boot of the car in front of you, at the highest, when you are stuck in traffic, but that probably does not apply to bi-xenons as from reading this thread they seem to have a mind of their own.

How is a test that has no chance of being replicated going to be anywhere near accurate?

The top of the boot of what? The Magna has a high boot and if your lights are hitting the top of that and you're on level ground then you'll be blinding people everywhere even if you 30 metres away. EF Falcon has a low boot but even this is too high and if the road you're using is not level the results will be even more inaccurate.

Even using bumpers is not accurate, depending on the road and the height of the car in front means you'll always get a different result and a 5cm rise in your headlight at 2m is going to be a lot more at 30m and there's no way you could pick that up a small change like that.

The easiest way to check is to measure the top of the light cutoff in front of the car using a measuring tape whilst on a level surface and then measure this at 1m and 3m away, if it's not rising then the lights are pretty right and won't be blinding anyone. You can even measure this out and mark it on your garage door/wall so you know if they're out of alignment.

[Man In Black (MIB)]

I have had the lights tested already by the local VW service centre and was told the alignment is fine. I find that hard to believe but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt given they put a big box like structure in front of each light and had the car hooked up to a desk top computer to test it.

So what I was thinking is that the wrong globes have been put in or the wrong power supply. Can anyone comment on the likelihood of that as they are still too bright?

Also, if the light's alignment is fine then what else could it be?

[Maverick]

I have had the lights tested already by the local VW service centre and was told the alignment is fine. I find that hard to believe but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt given they put a big box like structure in front of each light and had the car hooked up to a desk top computer to test it.

Good that's about all you need to know, they've been tested and are compliant.

So what I was thinking is that the wrong globes have been put in or the wrong power supply. Can anyone comment on the likelihood of that as they are still too bright?

If the wrong globes were in there this would have been picked up and there is no way for this to occur. Why do you claim that they are too bright? How are you measuring this?

Also, if the light's alignment is fine then what else could it be?

Stupid drivers in your area who don't know what xenons are, the roads are not very flat or a combination of the two. Most likely the former, you get stupid people who think you have high beam on and just flashed them when you went over a bump on the road. If they flash you then hit them with the high beams back and they might realise how stupid they are.

Go and get them checked by your motoring organisation in your state if you don't believe VW, most will charge around $20-50 for this or just accept that they're adjusted correctly and move on. You and the dealer would have seen if there was a problem with the units and the testing they did proves there is no problem.

[Jase]

I'm no expert on xenons (only had them a week) but can offer my experience. I've noticed mine are aimed highish, on the upper limit of where you'd aim halogens. They're damn bright of course but do have a distinct cut-off. I can see where mine "cut-off" all the time at night. Been flashed once in a week but I couldn't blame them as we were both on the flat but the ground was undulating. I could see the cut-off going up and down against the other car...falling just below the windscreen and then going right over the car.

I reckon a few other drivers have come close and in the future I expect the odd driver to flash me as they are bright and set at the upper limit of acceptable lighting (normal for xenons I suppose).

I doubt the globes or ballast would be wrong as it'd be standard across the range (I'm guessing).

[MistaKa0s]

There are alignment markers in the front of the lens, you need to be a X amount of distance away and adjust the headlights until the cutoff hits a certain height.

from memory 'Funny' or someone wrote out a how to on GolfMKV. (here you go http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21688)

For the guys that have the drivers side higher than the passenger, check to see if your headlights are in LHD or RHD (yes there is a switch to adjust that).

http://www.thewindinglane.co.uk/images/pdf/xenon.pdf

[BarneyBoy]

Gee, I thought only after market Xenons meant you'd be getting flashed.
OEM Xenons NEVER do...

[Maverick]

Gee, I thought only after market Xenons meant you'd be getting flashed.
OEM Xenons NEVER do...

Stupid people are everywhere....