MQ Headlights shining too low

[daniel944]

With the headlight adjuster all the way up its only illuminating perhaps 15-20m in front and with the lights all the way down less than 5m in front. Is this normal or should I report it to the dealer?

[Dunga71]

I rekon mine are crap on high beam and they seem to shake a bit on the rough stuff

[Bigfoot kiwi]

Mine also were shit.. Seemed to have a dull area to the right just in front of car on high beam.. Changed to +130 phillips halogens (gxl) .. Better but not right .. Now have fitted HID kit .. Much much better..

[Dunga71]

They are HID

[Bigfoot kiwi]

Are now.. Were halogen .... Gls has hid .. Gxl not ( nz)

[tommydadog]

Mine also were shit.. Seemed to have a dull area to the right just in front of car on high beam.. Changed to +130 phillips halogens (gxl) .. Better but not right .. Now have fitted HID kit .. Much much better..

Mine seem to be angled too high and are also crap. Care to say what HID kit you got?

[pickle]

I wasn't a wrap for the HID lights on the MQ. Very concentrated light down low. Even high beam was unimpressive.
Dave

[bobski]

Yeah the lights aren't amazing, the low beams don't go a great distance (but are bright enough). Haven't tried adjusting them though. The high beams are just pretty ordinary.

Adding driving lights once I have a bullbar installed and will upgrade the lowbeams while I'm at it.

[Bigfoot kiwi]

Got the kit from Jaycar--- "Response-H4-6000k. Hi-low". Has nice slim ballasts all plug an play . $99 nzd

The $80 kit is high only -not what you want..

[bobski]

Edit - I just got some time to read about the HID kits, and yeah not so sure this is legal in Aus. I'll get some better halogens.

[tommydadog]

Got the kit from Jaycar--- "Response-H4-6000k. Hi-low". Has nice slim ballasts all plug an play . $99 nzd

The $80 kit is high only -not what you want..

Are they legal for nz? I though you had to replace whole headlamp if you wanted to covert to hid.

Also how is the light pattern of those in the stock housing?

[mooky]

I agree. I have wondered a few times if they were actually on. But the mrs said that they are very bright. But will be adding spotties when the bulbar goes on.

[Bigfoot kiwi]

Technicaly maybe not legal in nz .. But nobody has " flashed " me to say to high.. I have a 3 year Wof ( road worthy）and i can see where im going:)... Easy to stick the halogens in if need for next check! No wiring altered..

[Bitsamissing]

I have an MQ GLX+ with the stock halogens.

The headlights are adjusted way too high. It was an ex-Mitsu executive vehicle, second-hand with 6,600 km on the clock. It was sold with a certificate of roadworthiness which it should never have got with the headlights aligned like that. I will get the dealer to align them correctly when it goes back for its 15,000 km service in a couple of weeks. Until then I can't really say whether the light output is adequate or not...

However, just out of curiosity, I measured the voltage difference between what the alternator outputs and what reaches the headlight bulbs. I was quite surprised to find a whole volt lost in the wiring: 13.8 at the battery, 12.8 at the headlight. There was a fairly even split between the voltage drop on the positive side and on the earth side. Seeing a substantial voltage drop in the headlight wiring is a common problem in a whole range of cars, although my experience is more with old cars than new ones, and I thought they would have fixed that kind of shit by now...

The last few inches of wire to the headlights is very thin, thinner I think than what is in the rest of the loom. and I expect that this would be where most of the drop occurs. Upgrading this wire, or adding a headlight relay, would probably go a long way towards improving the light output if I deem it to be inadequate.

The knee-jerk reaction to inadequate headlight output is to put higher-wattage bulbs in, but if the originals are too dim because of voltage drop, the problem will only get worse with higher-wattage bulbs. More watts means more current, and more current means more voltage drop. And depending on what's causing the drop, things can overheat and fail.

Caveat: There is a trade-off in reducing the voltage drop to get more light out of your existing bulbs, and that is reduced lifespan. While the bulbs might be rated to operate at 14V, they'll definitely last longer if you run them at 13...

[Crash486]

Ran the higher spec globes in my MN for 7+ years replaced them twice in that time so bargin I think.
Enjoy the MQ.

crash486

[NowForThe5th]

The knee-jerk reaction to inadequate headlight output is to put higher-wattage bulbs in, but if the originals are too dim because of voltage drop, the problem will only get worse with higher-wattage bulbs. More watts means more current, and more current means more voltage drop. And depending on what's causing the drop, things can overheat and fail.

Caveat: There is a trade-off in reducing the voltage drop to get more light out of your existing bulbs, and that is reduced lifespan. While the bulbs might be rated to operate at 14V, they'll definitely last longer if you run them at 13...

If only more people realised this. You have to fix the cause of the problem, not the symptom.

[Coaster]

I have a 2018 MQ GLX-+ and noticed straight away the headlights were pointing too high. On high beam you are spotting koalas. On the 1500km courtesy 'look over' I mentioned that I wanted the headlights adjusted. Got the car back with the response they are adjusted to the manufacturer's recommendations. The result - I'm still blinding koalas.

[sAsLEX]

2017 GLX-R here in NZ, lights seem way too high, the high beam illuminate Possums was up in the trees, coupled with the lack of 'fill' in close where the low beam would be they are terrible.

Will get them adjusted down by the dealer, could do it myself, but this is my first new car and I expect a bit for my money......

Then will look to new bulbs.