Headlights too bright?

[coda72]

Does anyone else get high beams flashed at them frequently from oncoming drivers? Everytime I drive at night, I get at least a few people that flash their high beams at me. Over the 11 months I've had my car, I've had this happen quite a bit. They just don't seem to think I have my low beams on, even though in the suburbs of Philly I rarely ever turn on my high beams. I was just wondering if this is a common thing. I have a 128 vert with Xenon headlights.

[KingOfJericho]

It's definitely happened a few times. I flash back and that settles it, usually.

[coda72]

Last night I flashed back, and someone in an Audi (with their distinctive LED lights) decided to still keep flashing me. I don't get people sometimes.

[ken1137]

It's happened to me too. You may as well check the height of your beams to be safe. otherwise, happy flashing

[kensington]

Immediately swerve into their lane, that usually scares them enough to stop doing it.

[siegester]

Find a nice level spot with a wall about 20 feet away. Park facing the wall and turn on your lights. Measure how high up on the wall the top of the highest point of your beams hit, and then measure from the ground to the center of the light bulb on your headlights. Again i'm not too sure with BMWs, but most other car's I've checked had a little bump or circle on the headlight that indicated the center of the bulb.

If the wall measurement is greater than the headlight measurement, you need to aim your headlights down. I don't know about on the BMWs, but I'd say the wall measurement should be about 2" lower than the headlight measurement at that distance.

[bdoooh]

Don't the headlights auto level?

[Tom K.]

And if your headlights are properly aimed, do you drive with the foglights on? Many of the foglights in my area are poorly adjusted and can blind oncoming drivers as much as brights.

Tom

[1ToBeOn2Wheels]

Originally Posted by bdoooh

Don't the headlights auto level?

The headlights auto-level is based on what the height adjustment is set at (either up or down from the setting). Park on a level surface and shine your headlights against a wall, then adjust the (white I believe) plastic screws on the headlights. They move the beams higher or lower based on your preference. In your case, a couple clicks down might fix your issue.

[1speedbike]

Of course the DIY for this has the picture missing:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=250520

But it's similar on the e90:



You can tilt them slightly down yourself if you feel like you're blinding people more than you should be.

[Dackelone]

OP - you should have your headlights checked for proper height adjustment. The way I do it at home is pull up close to a wall at night. Use some black electrical tape to mark the horizontal cut off... and use another piece of tape for vertical (center brightness) of each headlight. THEN... back up the car for about two car lengths. (on a flat, level surface I might add!) Now your headlights should STILL be aimed onto those "X's" you put up on the wall. IF not... use an 8mm hex to adjust your headlights up/down. Its that simple.

One other thing to check... is there are two suspension sensors on our cars control arms. One on the LEFT FRONT and RIGHT REAR of the car. Make sure those little "links" are not broken for some reason. Those links tell the sensor what position your car's suspension is on - like under braking or acceleration - our car's headlights will self adjust.