[F30_CH]

Good morning all,

I just wanted to get some feedback regarding the brightness of your headlights. I just took delivery of my 2014 335 a couple of weeks ago and have noticed every time I drive at night at least one or two people flash their high beams at me. I asked the dealer to check them out and make sure they were leveled to spec. They said all checked out well but I am still getting people annoyingly flashing their lights. My concern is they may be leveled a bit high and could be potentially hazardous to oncoming traffic. Am I over thinking the new car or do other members get the same reaction while out on the road??

Thanks guys

[IndotagSwizz]

Originally Posted by F30_CH

Good morning all,

I just wanted to get some feedback regarding the brightness of your headlights. I just took delivery of my 2014 335 a couple of weeks ago and have noticed every time I drive at night at least one or two people flash their high beams at me. I asked the dealer to check them out and make sure they were leveled to spec. They said all checked out well but I am still getting people annoyingly flashing their lights. My concern is they may be leveled a bit high and could be potentially hazardous to oncoming traffic. Am I over thinking the new car or do other members get the same reaction while out on the road??

Thanks guys

they are way too bright!!!....want to trade for my halogens...way safer

[otay]

Everyone else's are too dim.

Seriously though...I've had someone else flash their hi beams at me maybe twice in 18 months with this car. Also had an older Acura that was one of the first in the US to have brighter halogen bulbs. Had way more people do the same back then. It's all relative.

If dealer says it's OK, then it's most probably OK.

[G30 B58]

Florida = old people.

[pjkbrit]

May be out of adjustment...mine were ....too low shining uselessly into the ground....very easy to adjust with a long Philips screwdriver. Am actually impressed with how good the lights on this car are...

[mike@x-ph.com]

OP,
I think OE brightens is perfect

Originally Posted by IndotagSwizz

they are way too bright!!!....want to trade for my halogens...way safer

[AndDown]

Originally Posted by pjkbrit

May be out of adjustment...mine were ....too low shining uselessly into the ground....very easy to adjust with a long Philips screwdriver. Am actually impressed with how good the lights on this car are...

+1 search threads for how to do this. I had to adjust both my previous F30 and my current F36 upwards slightly.

[DJ Rocc]

Originally Posted by F30_CH

Good morning all,

I just wanted to get some feedback regarding the brightness of your headlights. I just took delivery of my 2014 335 a couple of weeks ago and have noticed every time I drive at night at least one or two people flash their high beams at me. I asked the dealer to check them out and make sure they were leveled to spec. They said all checked out well but I am still getting people annoyingly flashing their lights. My concern is they may be leveled a bit high and could be potentially hazardous to oncoming traffic. Am I over thinking the new car or do other members get the same reaction while out on the road??

Thanks guys

My headlights are perfect! And I am even adding more brightness with some 7000 Lumen LED Foglights!!

Maybe they are just warning of some speed-traps ahead?

Or if all else fails you could just Flash them back to show them that you "don't" have your high beams on.

[F30_CH]

Thanks all for the feedback. I believe the dealer when they say they are ok, but when I am driving down a two lane road and get flashed literally 3 times in a row.... I mean something is up haha.. I'll have to check out the DIY on that. Thanks for the input.

[F30_CH]

Originally Posted by F32 N55

Florida = old people.

Thats great... So true though haha

[M3maniac20]

Are we talking about LED's or Xenon's?

[jd_perspective]

Originally Posted by F30_CH

Thats great... So true though haha

was gonna say this too... I don't have issues here in Orlando but get "flashed" sometimes when I visit my family down in Vero...

[Kabrich]

Originally Posted by F30_CH

Good morning all,

I just wanted to get some feedback regarding the brightness of your headlights. I just took delivery of my 2014 335 a couple of weeks ago and have noticed every time I drive at night at least one or two people flash their high beams at me. I asked the dealer to check them out and make sure they were leveled to spec. They said all checked out well but I am still getting people annoyingly flashing their lights. My concern is they may be leveled a bit high and could be potentially hazardous to oncoming traffic. Am I over thinking the new car or do other members get the same reaction while out on the road??

Thanks guys

Check the ihs story from Wednesday and that should answer your question.

[Mauricio Palacios. MD]

Originally Posted by M3maniac20

Are we talking about LED's or Xenon's?

Probably about xenons. LEDs are just Mediocre, sorry... Marginal (... IIHS said that, not me…)

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1243678

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/veh...s-4-door-sedan

[goj]

Originally Posted by Mauricio Palacios. MD

Probably about xenons. LEDs are just Mediocre, sorry... Marginal (... IIHS said that, not me)

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1243678

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/veh...s-4-door-sedan

These are interesting data points. But since I can see very well with my LEDs these results don't mean a whole lot

[F30_CH]

Thanks for the links and input guys!

[JamRWS6]

Originally Posted by Mauricio Palacios. MD

Probably about xenons. LEDs are just Mediocre, sorry... Marginal (... IIHS said that, not me)

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1243678

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/veh...s-4-door-sedan

They rate any of them that glare other drivers as marginal. Doesn't mean they aren't bright. The US spec for the LEDs is garbage anyways. Would love to see this same test with the euro anti-dazzle. The difference is huge.

[Mauricio Palacios. MD]

Originally Posted by JamRWS6

They rate any of them that glare other drivers as marginal. Doesn't mean they aren't bright. The US spec for the LEDs is garbage anyways. Would love to see this same test with the euro anti-dazzle. The difference is huge.

The consequence of saving money (for God sake) by lacking of projector lenses, is that the halogen-like LED units (at least in F30), don't cut the light beams properly, causing auto-glaring and disturbing other drivers too... Nothing to do with EU or US or whatever specifications, IMHO. Greetings.

[SheckMastaFlex]

I was going to start a new thread, but the Search button brought me here....

I've got a 14 335 M sport with Xenons lowered on H&R SS springs - I can't drive anywhere with my low beams on without 1 out of 3 cars flashing their lights as me. Anytime I'm behind someone, I can see them struggling to adjust their mirrors so they aren't getting blinded. I've also noticed that my headlights light up the reflective signs, construction barrels etc. like most folks hi-beams. Is this just the way it is? I've got to take it in for service soon, so I can always ask the dealer, but I tend to trust the forums a little more. It's obviously worse for everyone else, but I don't like living up to the stigma of the badge if I can help it - I even use the turn signals!

[CalCarNut]

I thought the xenons 'auto-leveled'..at least mine do in a '15MY......

[JamRWS6]

Originally Posted by Mauricio Palacios. MD

The consequence of saving money (for God sake) by lacking of projector lenses, is that the halogen-like LED units (at least in F30), don't cut the light beams properly, causing auto-glaring and disturbing other drivers too... Nothing to do with EU or US or whatever specifications, IMHO. Greetings.

There are absolutely no problems with the method of projection used with the new LEDs and they certainly do not have problems with cutting the light beam. A lot of the issue with these IS the US spec coding BMW employs. The euro spec coding not only completely alters the light positioning with variable light distribution but also changes the intensity of light output. These items are completely independent of no glare high beams and the difference in the low beam coding is significant. I am running the euro spec coding on my car and have first hand experience. Compared to the Xenons I've had in my 535 or the xenons on my wife's 335 the LEDs are a nice step up. Projectors make sense on xenons that can't control their light pattern, LEDs do not have that issue and hence a projector does nothing but limits the available area an LED could illuminate.

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by SheckMastaFlex

I've got a 14 335 M sport with Xenons lowered on H&R SS springs - I can't drive anywhere with my low beams on without 1 out of 3 cars flashing their lights as me. Anytime I'm behind someone, I can see them struggling to adjust their mirrors so they aren't getting blinded. I've also noticed that my headlights light up the reflective signs, construction barrels etc. like most folks hi-beams. Is this just the way it is?

It depends on how your lights are aimed. One method is to have the top of the cutoff of the low beam pattern a given distance above the ground at a given distance. That method is flawed, as the lower the car is the more upward angle the lights will have. The other method is to have the top of the cutoff beam the same height as the middle of the headlights at a given distance, which accounts for the height of the car. That's a better method, but still not perfect, especially if you have high output lamps. If you're getting flashed a lot chances are they're aimed too high. Park your car at the entrance to your garage, turn on the low beams, put a line of masking tape on the garage wall at the top of the beam cutoff. Aim the lights an inch below that line. If you're still getting flashed repeat the process.
In my case with halogens I had to go the other way, raising them so that I could see more than 50 feet. I raised the fogs as well. The factory aim point was only ten feet in front of the car, making them useless.