Anyone know of a fix for lousy low beams? Mine have supposedly been adjusted by the dealer but they seem to have a throw of no more than 30 feet, especially the left one (nearest the opposing lane of traffic...). Really poor visibility making me feel unsafe.

 

BTW: the high beams seem very good compared to the low beams. Excellent visibility.

 

Have you thought about fitting Xenon lights? My car came with them, and they are excellent...

 

Hi hoary2001,

It does sound as though you may still have a problem with the low beam adjustment, so that would be worth re-checking. If the low-beam bulbs are original to the car, their light output may have diminished with time. I like the Sylvania SilverStar bulbs for their whiter, brighter output. They don't last as long as standard bulbs, but the increased output is well worth it in my opinion.

And as RichardPhuket mentioned, the optional HID lamps are very good, though converting to them would probably be expensive, even with salvaged parts.

Cheers,

Don

 

Yes, the bulbs are original, but the car only has 25000 miles if that makes a difference. Regardless, I'll look into replacing the bulbs first, then go to an independent I've found for another check.

BTW: Do you happen to have the part number of the Sylvania bulbs you used (assuming you put them in your 04 XJ).

Thanks,
Bill

 

There are usually some quite inexpensive but efficient xenon replacement kits available on Ebay. What I did was just replace the bulbs with 100w xenon gas filled H7 bulbs. Although not a complete xenon system replacement, they give a much brighter, whiter light. It also sounds to me that you need to do a diy low beam adjustment. The beam adjuster inside the car also adjusts just the low beam. Have you checked it isn't set to low?

 

A couple of things you can do yourself, one, is to remove the cover and insure the H7 tab is properly indexed. Then, take a roll of masking tape, a 25' tape measure and find the backside of a local WalMart so you can use the building and one of the concrete expansion joint at a 90 angle to the wall. Pull the car up very close to the wall, and place a vertical and horizontal X in the middle of the beam on the wall in front of the headlamps. Using the 25' tape, mark a spot 25' back, and back the car up until the car is that distance from the wall. You adjust the 6mm hex (closest to the fender) to raise or lower the beam until the center of the horizontal plane is just under the horizontal masking tape on the wall. The way the refractor in the lens works, a flare happens upwards and should be centered to the vertical masking tape.

Hella is the vendor who makes the lamps, and I use Hella's H7 High performance bulbs from Amazon, and at 6 bucks a pair and about a year's life... They do rival the SilverStars.