Dipped beams = too bright , auto wipers = arghh, rear saloon wipers = ?!?!

[Stelly]

They still have knobs on the light housing itself to adjust the beam height. The auto level sensor is for towing/extra load purposes so the sensor know where to aim the beam when you've got excess weight on the car.

During MOT, a tester should check the beam angle, but most do not, and new cars don't have to have an MOT for a few years anyway so are left to roam free, dazzling everyone in sight.

So I did learn something working in Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar and Vauxhall

Stelly

 

[P.B]

brighter lights better saftey no one will miss you lol

 

[Django x2]

No I'm not,

Yes, you are, because you were advocating that people should just turn their lights on when the conditions require it, therefore enabling the rear lights. My point was that they don't realise or think they have to do this as they assume their lights are in the Auto position because their dashboard is lit up and they can see, because their front DRLs are on.

I would honestly be thinking, if that was me, god, these dipped beam lights are awful.

 

[ttaskmaster]

What they do is ensure the speed of the wipers is always matched to the amount of water hitting the screen

Not all of them. Many are just on/off switch sensors.

I would not be without them and have never experienced failure of them on any car, ever. They just work?

I've known four such failures on our fleet cars this year alone. I even have the repair invoices here on my desk.

Dunno, I'm not the one claiming that manual control of window wipers and headlights makes me a better driver.

Given that it's no different an action to manual control of indicators, which you already do, I can't see how that would make you a better or worse driver. Heck, I still have to cancel the indicators on the bike and that doesn't exactly have me swerving wildly like a Transit Guy watching pron on his mobile...

Will you be disabling one-touch open/closing windows and the central locking too?

I already just press the button to move the window. I can't be bothered half-touching or three-quarter touching through its different modes.
Central locking not something I fully use anyway, especially on tailgates. Only time I see it as a benefit is if you're always carrying several passengers and actually need all five doors unlocked.

there was a time when wiper arms and blades were decent that intermittent at a constant speed was fine, but all the new cars these days seem to judder no matter what you do, unless you have auto wiping.

Don't buy cheap Halfrauds Value wiper blades?

 

[Jacksonn]

We RR owners like to let the peasants know we're coming.

Exactly.. How else do we warm everyone to get out of our way... We are very busy people..

 

[Yaayuh!]

Anybody got a rough guide to dipped height? We don't have level ground at home and the adjustment is manual under the bonnet, so will have to chalk mark on the side of Tesco or something .
They're LED and since this thread, want to make sure they're not blinding, it doesn't look as though they are from looking at the beam hitting the back of cars.

 

[TheVoice]

Yes, you are, because you were advocating that people should just turn their lights on when the conditions require it, therefore enabling the rear lights.

But the solution to that isn't to have rear lights on at all times, otherwise you might as well suggest that headlights be on at all times too. The people driving around with no lights on because they think they have auto lights are probably absent-minded enough that they'd do the same with manual controls too.

Most of the cars I see driving around with no lights on when it's dark/foggy/raining wouldn't have auto lights in the first place.

 

[Rilot]

They still have knobs on the light housing itself to adjust the beam height. The auto level sensor is for towing/extra load purposes so the sensor know where to aim the beam when you've got excess weight on the car.

I've owned many cars with HIDs and auto-levelling and none of them have had an internal adjustment for height. I thought the two features were mutually exclusive. My Mrs' CR-V doesn't have HIDs and does have the internal adjustment.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

I've owned many cars with HIDs and auto-levelling and none of them have had an internal adjustment for height. I thought the two features were mutually exclusive. My Mrs' CR-V doesn't have HIDs and does have the internal adjustment.

Mrk is refering to adjustment under the bonnet rather than interior, yes they self level but the datum/neutral needs to be correct.

 

[Howard]

Anybody got a rough guide to dipped height? We don't have level ground at home and the adjustment is manual under the bonnet, so will have to chalk mark on the side of Tesco or something .
They're LED and since this thread, want to make sure they're not blinding, it doesn't look as though they are from looking at the beam hitting the back of cars.

Measure the height to the centre of the headlight from the ground, then park the car 25 feet from a wall and mark 2-3 inches lower than the measured height on the wall, then adjust so that the top of the beam pattern matches that mark. There's usually a percentage stamped on the headlight housing to indicate the percentage of drop required, but it's usually 1-2% so the average tends to be 2-3 inches. More info here http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html

I've owned many cars with HIDs and auto-levelling and none of them have had an internal adjustment for height. I thought the two features were mutually exclusive. My Mrs' CR-V doesn't have HIDs and does have the internal adjustment.

He means the permanent adjusters on the headlamp housing itself

 

[ttaskmaster]

I've owned many cars with HIDs and auto-levelling and none of them have had an internal adjustment for height. I thought the two features were mutually exclusive. My Mrs' CR-V doesn't have HIDs and does have the internal adjustment.

If it auto-levels, it won't need the manual levelling in the cab... but IIRC it should still have horizontal and vertical aim adjusters just behind the bulb housing itself?
The CR-V would use an HID conversion kit... not that it bloody well needs it. I blind my own self every time I'm behind any car with chromed trim!!

 

[adolf hamster]

Don't buy cheap Halfrauds Value wiper blades?

Thata not the case, 323 would take anything,even the cheapest of cheap blades, and ever since i've used aeroblades on everything and without the rain sensor it still isnt good enough.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Not all of them. Many are just on/off switch sensors.

I have never encountered a single rain sensing wiper system on a modern car that works like this - it would defeat the object if all it did was switch wipers on or off. How would you control speed?

I've known four such failures on our fleet cars this year alone. I even have the repair invoices here on my desk.

You must be running a fairly old fleet if every time this happens the warranty has expired, is it really that cost effective running 3+ year old fleet cars?

 

[ttaskmaster]

Thata not the case, 323 would take anything,even the cheapest of cheap blades, and ever since i've used aeroblades on everything and without the rain sensor it still isnt good enough.

Buy a better car?

How would you control speed?

You don't.
There's a lever or dial that adjusts the sensor sensitivity, but that's it.
How modern is "modern", though? The newest vehicle I've personally owned is a 2003 and half the cars out there with all this swanky automatic crap would cost me more than a year's salary.

You must be running a fairly old fleet if every time this happens the warranty has expired, is it really that cost effective running 3+ year old fleet cars?

I don't get a choice in the matter. The company has partnered with BT Fleet, so we get whatever. My current work wagon is a 60 plate Vauxhall Astravan.
I'm sure we could refit with brand spanking new less-than-three-years-old vehicles.... but you'd then be screaming about how much your bills have gone up!!

 

[adolf hamster]

Buy a better car?

i did, didn't help matters

 

[Howard]

There's a lever or dial that adjusts the sensor sensitivity, but that's it.
How modern is "modern", though? The newest vehicle I've personally owned is a 2003 and half the cars out there with all this swanky automatic crap would cost me more than a year's salary.

You could buy a Mondeo that old with automatic lights and wipers (and various other "automatic" features) for a couple of weeks' salary if you so wish. All of these systems on said car work perfectly well. The mk3 Mondeo doesn't even let you adjust the sensitivity of the auto wipers and it works well.

 

[[TW]Fox]

There's a lever or dial that adjusts the sensor sensitivity, but that's it.

Why would a system that purely switches on or off have configurable sensitivity? It wouldn't, therefore if it really does change the sensor sensitivity I'd suggest the rain sensor does vary speed depending on rain intensity.

How modern is "modern", though? The newest vehicle I've personally owned is a 2003 and half the cars out there with all this swanky automatic crap would cost me more than a year's salary.

'Swanky automatic crap' - it's a rain sensor not a robot. Still works on my 16 year old car!

 

[Jonnycoupe]

My mini you can change the auto wiper sensitivity in the OBC.

Jaguars you change on the stalk aswell.

https://wiki.bentleypublishers.com/...nsitivity+(VIDEO)+-+MINI+Cooper+R56,+R55,+R57

You have to press the end stalk to turn them on aswell at the start of each journey.

 

[ttaskmaster]

You could buy a Mondeo that old with automatic lights and wipers (and various other "automatic" features) for a couple of weeks' salary if you so wish. All of these systems on said car work perfectly well.

I did say half.
If they were that good back then, why do more expensive modern cars not all come with this stuff as standard today?

I still maintain that having everything done automatically makes people lazy drivers and over-reliant on the vehicle... as well as it being more expense to fix when it goes wrong. Then again, good friends of mine make their livings from fixing the things people don't even think to bother with, even when the manual tells them to...

So until an affordable car can predict if the lights are about to dazzle traffic, including those not directly in my path, better than the human mind can, I'll prefer to control, adjust and maintain my own lights, thanks. I drive the car, not the other way around.

 

[adolf hamster]

'Swanky automatic crap' - it's a rain sensor not a robot. Still works on my 16 year old car!

and my 12 year old car, although the sensitivity adjustment appears to do nothing (supposedly a programming issue that's fixed with a software update but i cba with that)