FIDGET T

My Xenons have lousy range. They look more like they shine a foglight pattern and only throw light about 20 feet in front of the car, then cut off abruptly. The high beams reach about as far as the low beams on our other cars. And the fogs? Forget it--I can't even see them when the're on.

I thought the headlights were auto-leveling in these cars. Can they be adjusted? I hate having awesome headlights that are crappy...

Thanks in advance.

TTschwing

I've had on any car. Sounds like you need an adjustment. Dealer has a specialized tool for doing this but there are manual adjusters clearly labeled on the front plastic engine compartment covers near the lights...

Lloyd of the Rings

you may need to adjust them (up or down, side to side) first. The dealer has a fancy beam adjuster to do this, or you can find the proverbial long, dark, straight country road to set them your self.

They are (when adjusted correctly) awesome!

Karrera4

Have you ever had a BMW? I dunno why, but they always seem to have the best lights.

Karrera4

If you have VAG...you can adjust them that way.

BillK

Right behind Porsche HIDs and BMW HIDs, but still incredibly good (at least on the TT).

On the A4 and S4 they have the same sharp cutoff that the HIDs on most Japanese cars do; on the TT they're amazing...

OtoH, the HIDs on the Volvo S60R and V70R are absolutely <b>horrible</b>; they're just about useless on dark (non-streetlit) roads...

TTGram

My high beams reach forever, but my dims cut off abruply after about 20 feet

rollie

Volvo's R HIDs need to be turned up for some reason. It took about 1.5 turns for me before I was quite happy with the performance of low and high beams on the S60R. Some owners have done nearly 4 turns of adjustment.

I don't know why but for some reason the North American spec Rs HIDs come pointing too far down which becomes a real problem above 40 mph at night. Once adjusted they worked very well given their 4300K light (which various sources say is the ideal temperature for emulating day light.)

Thanks.

fredfromny

TT xenons were worst of the group in a CR test.

vwtoys

...the fact that there are a lot of complaints of HIDs blinding on-coming traffic. The may have an internal memo that tells the tech to adjust them low. I had mine adjusted by the dealer a few months ago and mine only go out about 20 feet. The beam projected on the freeway center divider is not even close to horizontal. It's roughly 15 degrees dipped. Whereas prior to the adjustment they are maybe 3-5% dipped. Absolutely horrible adjustment that they made. I'll get my VAGCOM out to re-align them myself soon.