Autumn and winter bring naturally shorter days, cloudy weather and unfavorable lighting conditions. The dark season thus gives all road users worse visibility in traffic. Help is provided by bright headlights and reflective vests, which ensure that drivers are better seen and seen.
If you have a very modern car with laser light, lack of brightness should not be a problem in principle. Even with LED lights or xenon headlamps, the lighting of the street should be sufficient.
But what can one do, if the light from their own halogen headlights is not (or no longer) bright enough? We will tell you how you can improve the light output of your vehicle headlights and what you should pay attention to.
Clean headlamp
First of all, the headlights should be clean. A soft fabric cloth and a little warm water are usually sufficient for external cleansing. In this way, not only dirty old headlights are bright again, but also new.
Dirty headlight glass not only reduces the light output but can also provide stray light. This, in turn, poses a danger because it may dazzle oncoming traffic as significantly as if the car headlights were set incorrectly.
If you want to clean your headlights thoroughly, you can clean the reflectors inside. Over time, however, the reflective elements may “go blind”. Then, depending on the extent, an exchange should be considered. The same applies to the headlight glass.
For example, if it is very cloudy or milky due to its age, even thorough cleaning inside and out does not provide much better light. Depending on the make in such cases, the purchase of new headlamps can be cheaper.
Change light bulbs
While the replacement of a complete headlight usually requires a visit to the workshop, the change of a light bulb can often be done in a few simple steps. Car models where the average consumer has to change the lamp in the workshop are fortunately the exception.
Therefore, it is worthwhile to change the bulbs in many cases. If you would like to use a more powerful bulb than before, you should first check out the manufacturer or the owner’s manual of which vehicle is approved for the respective vehicle type.
By changing the bulbs you can often increase the light output of the headlamps compared to the old lamps for little money often. About 10 to 20 euros cost brighter bulbs from major manufacturers. For this price even very durable “Longlife” models are available. Their lifetime is about four to five years, “normal” car lights depending on the manufacturer or quality sometimes only one year. Attention: Forbidden is especially bright special lamps as they are used in rally sport and afford up to 100 watts instead of the allowed 55 watts.
Upgrade old headlights
If you think that their correctly adjusted halogen headlamps are not bright enough, even when clean and with stronger bulbs, then only a conversion will help.
You should consider this, for example, if you no longer feel safe in the low light conditions in the fall or generally in the dark at the wheel.
However, switching from halogen headlights to LED or xenon technology is only possible if the technology in question actually exists for your vehicle type. This can give you in doubt, a car repair shop information.
The upgrade should anyway make a professional and can be associated accordingly with relatively high costs.