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[–] 4 points 34 minutes ago

My newish car has LED headlights, but it's a CAR, and is low to the ground. I hope it doesn't blind oncoming cars like these fucking trucks that are 3,000 feet tall.

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  • [–] 3 points 29 minutes ago

    Tip: DO NOT install LEDs if you had halogen previously.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 hour ago

    I don't blame the individuals, no one is recomending shops to their friends on how to get these adjustments.

    The fact that no one believes in regulation, or MAINTAINING regulation depending on our needs, that these things happen.

    Wish I could blame the assholes, but I leave that for the people who commute in big fucking truck 1000 because they are too insecure to buy anything else for their commuting machine.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 hours ago (4 children)

    Why do people feel the need to have headlights so bright they can see to the horizon?

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  • [–] 6 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

    The problem isn't really the brightness, it's that they don't bother aiming them.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 hour ago (1 child)

    First thing I do in a car is set them to the lowest they go. Some recent cars are missing that dial though...

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  • [–] 1 point 27 minutes ago

    You might be increasing your risk while night driving doing that by making it substantially easier to overdrive your headlights and reducing visibility.

    Im not saying dont properly adjust them, but going to the lowest setting possible is likely not the answer and a very real risk factor.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 hours ago

    Good thing I hold up my hand at night to stop from being blinded ensuring I can't see your oncoming superbright truck.

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  • [–] 14 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

    Add a border of that 3M high reflective silver tape and they'll notice real quick

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  • [–] 11 points 13 hours ago (1 child)

    I'm in Japan and I get blinded by lights by a lot of cars these days. It shouldn't be aiming as we have bi-yearly inspections that check that (both for regular and highbeams). It is possible, though, that people change the lights for inspection and swap them out after (though this is not legal).

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  • [–] 1 point 1 minute ago

    SE Asia was brutal when I went there. India had all nice old yellow lights and sometimes light bulbs and sometimes oil lamps or candles to light their way. That was nice, and constantly terrifying.

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  • [–] 19 points 16 hours ago (14 children)

    Don't blame LEDs, it's because of the alignment of the headlights. Any type of headlight can be misaligned.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 hours ago* (1 child)

    LEDs are so point source and intense that any misalignment, which is very common, is going to be an issue. Plus they blind you much more when a car's nose is elevated relative to you. Put HID or LED lights on trucks and they are always in your face, and it feels like 50% of the vehicles are massive trucks.

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  • [–] 13 points 14 hours ago (8 children)

    To be fair, depending on the housing, alignment is nearly impossible. Many housings are simply not designed to have a sharp cut off. As far as I'm concerned, LEDs should only be allowed in projector housings with projector lenses. Those are the ones that have a damn near razor blade level of light cutoff, so when you aim them to just below the windshield level of most vehicles, it's not going to blind them at all.

    That is what I have done with my car, I have LEDs brighter than the sun, but I have them in projector housings with projector lenses, and I have them aimed to be below the windshield level of a typical sedan, not a stupid SUV or truck. So nobody ever flashes me or gets annoyed and I have tested by having a friend Drive towards me on a road in the car while I am in a different car

    It has the added benefit of my high beams are still mostly road level rather than up in the trees like many peoples so for like a mile in front of me it is just daytime which is very helpful out where I live in the middle of absolute nowhere rural where streetlights are just a myth and the deer are plentiful.

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  • [–] 17 points 14 hours ago (5 children)

    I really appreciate your attention to properly aligning your lights... but doesn't that only help with very level roadways? Where I drive with lots of gentle hills, a car with a razor thin cut-off looks like its constantly flashing its high-beams at me. I feel like a headlight with a gradual transition would be less blinding for other drivers.

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    [–] 29 points 18 hours ago (19 children)

    I fucking hate those things. I saw somewhere that it's almost always an alignment issue, but I feel like with today's technology it should be self-correcting if it's going to otherwise blind people. We have phones that can photograph an ant's asshole at 300 meters. they could fix this shit if they cared. They'll only care if they lose billions in a class action lawsuit.

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  • [–] 12 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (3 children)

    It's super easy to adjust in most cars that don't do it automatically. There is usually a slot near the lights and you use a philips or flat screw driver and turn the adjustment nut either up or down depending on need. Instructions are in the manual or you can look it up online for every vehicle I've owned.

    There is an exact method but generally line the car up facing and super close to a wall, turn the lights on, the center of the beam should be about 2-3 inches below the height of your headlights. If you have space the beam should hit the ground 7.5m or about 25 ft from where your car is parked.

    A common issue in my hick town is people lifting vehicles and never adjusting the light angle. Any time you put bigger tires on a car or lift the body you should adjust the lights.

    Edit: I just wanted to add, if you get brights flashed at you a lot it's time to adjust your lights.

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