[the radman]

I think it's possibly a regulation thing. My C43 does't have headlight washers and the dipped beam can turn day into night, so not so sure it's to do with light output.

wouldnt you be better turning night into day?

 

[Verodrive]

... and the dipped beam can turn day into night...

I guessing you mean 'night into day'?

 

[jasonde1788]

I looked at mine on the drive home yesterday - I have the same brighter rectangular patch but I don't find that it bothers me. Same with the adaptive high beam, I quite like watching it move about. I've not given it a real test yet, but I'm back in the UK for 2 weeks over Crimbo with plenty of night driving lined up, so I'll see how it works. Both my mk3.5s had adaptive xenons and I used to find on a twisty UK B-road that the lights didn't turn quick enough for the corners so I often took an early apex to get them swivelling. Colleagues tell me that the mk4.5 adaptive system is hooked into the map and camera so will start cornering before there is any steering input. Sounds like witchcraft, I'm looking forward to seeing how that works.

 

[troyneutron]

Thanks for the update and at least I know the brighter rectangular patch is meant to be there. I have manually raised the lights up myself and it's so much better and the bottom of the shadowed out section is alot nearer the cars now.
I've done a few night drives with no flashes so must be all good👍👍

 

[kevans]

Thanks for the update and at least I know the brighter rectangular patch is meant to be there. I have manually raised the lights up myself and it's so much better and the bottom of the shadowed out section is alot nearer the cars now.
I've done a few night drives with no flashes so must be all good👍👍

How have you adjusted them? Just curious. Is it just an Allen key screw like the mk3?

 

[troyneutron]

Yes just with a 7mm Allen key

 

[jasonde1788]

Yes just with a 7mm Allen key

That rarest of tools! I made one, never had a hex key set with a 7mm

 

[kevans]

Yes just with a 7mm Allen key

Yea they are rare. I put masking tape around a 6mm one and wedged it in on my mk3 to adjust those.

 

[Sean B]

wouldnt you be better turning night into day?

I guessing you mean 'night into day'?

Yes, thank you I have no excuse other than I just didn't read what I'd written.

They are extremely bright though, not sure how many lumens they are but I often get flashed on dip beam when going up or down a hill because people don't seem to understand about angles. But no washers.

 

[kevans]

I have done a few night drives and they are odd at first but used to them now. I had the adaptive lights on the mk4 and they were fantastic. these take a little while to get used to as they make up the light with boxes it seems. When the high beam is on the black areas around other vehicles are bigger than on the previous version. That's all i have really noticed. These seem just as bright and the height lines up with the same point on my garage. Only other thing is on the adaptive lights they used to do a dance when i turn the car on. I have not noticed the matrix ones doing it even though i thought they were supposed to calibrate when you turn the car on. They are moving and dipping ok etc when driving though.

 

[troyneutron]

Thanks for the update, I think we were spoilt with the mk4 adaptive lights.

 

[ST Jon]

Has anybody had any issues with auto levelling on the LED head lights? Got in 5am yesterday to do the morning commute which is mostly rural and noticed that the standard "low" beam was pointing alot "lower" and shorter than usual - almost like running foglights - they certainly were not lighting up the road ahead as far as they nornally do....pehaps a glitch but noticeable non the less ?

 

[troyneutron]

Has anybody had any issues with auto levelling on the LED head lights? Got in 5am yesterday to do the morning commute which is mostly rural and noticed that the standard "low" beam was pointing alot "lower" and shorter than usual - almost like running foglights - they certainly were not lighting up the road ahead as far as they nornally do....pehaps a glitch but noticeable non the less ?

Yes, mine have done it twice now, cycled the ignition and they corrected themselves both times. I'm gunna take a picture next time to show the dealer not that anything will happen though.

 

[kevans]

Has anybody had any issues with auto levelling on the LED head lights? Got in 5am yesterday to do the morning commute which is mostly rural and noticed that the standard "low" beam was pointing alot "lower" and shorter than usual - almost like running foglights - they certainly were not lighting up the road ahead as far as they nornally do....pehaps a glitch but noticeable non the less ?

Not noticed but will keep an eye out now.

 

[kevans]

Thanks for the update, I think we were spoilt with the mk4 adaptive lights.

Yes those lights were really impressive

 

[ST Jon]

Yes, mine have done it twice now, cycled the ignition and they corrected themselves both times. I'm gunna take a picture next time to show the dealer not that anything will happen though.

Mine were back to normal this morning on the way to work so it must be an intermittent fault on them then if you've had it too! Thanks for confirming I wasnt going mad and imagining it 🤣

 

[Hitchin_Brian]

Mine were doing the same thing soon after I got the car.

I found when they were dipped I felt like I only had about 10 feet of light in front of me. I also found in the fog I had to switch the adaptive full beam off as it was continually pointing into the fog.

However it does seem to have improved of late. I appear to be getting better distance on dipped beam.

It was also mentioned earlier in the thread about the adaptive full beam. My wife has a Puma and her adaptive lights just switch full beam on and off however with the Mk4.5 the full beam stays on with traffic coming towards you and the light unit appears to adjust the squares of light around the oncoming vehicles. It's very weird and takes time to get used to it.
Tonight the beam moved away from an oncoming vehicle and swung towards a white road sign on the left hand verge.
However the light reflected off the sign and back into my eyes.

Having spoken to a few work colleagues this seems to be the way adaptive headlights should work and it's a case of getting used to it. I still tend to switch it off with traffic coming towards me.

 

[kevans]

So after doing more drives at night I can say that if didn’t have the adaptive LED lights on the mk4 I would say the Matrix ones are really good but I have to admit I prefer the adaptive ones. These black out too much when on full beam if that makes sense. Best way of describing it is the adaptive ones used to light up to just below the rear window when on full beam and around the car in front and not blinding other road users. The matrix ones black out the car in front entirely and the some of the road behind it too. No idea why they are programmed like that. Even on dipped beam it lights up to just below the rear window of the car in front so when on full it shouldn’t black out more of the car than on dipped. Anyway just a small niggle. I agree now they are a step backwards. A small step back but still.

 

[Sean B]

So after doing more drives at night I can say that if didn’t have the adaptive LED lights on the mk4 I would say the Matrix ones are really good but I have to admit I prefer the adaptive ones. These black out too much when on full beam if that makes sense. Best way of describing it is the adaptive ones used to light up to just below the rear window when on full beam and around the car in front and not blinding other road users. The matrix ones black out the car in front entirely and the some of the road behind it too. No idea why they are programmed like that. Even on dipped beam it lights up to just below the rear window of the car in front so when on full it shouldn’t black out more of the car than on dipped. Anyway just a small niggle. I agree now they are a step backwards. A small step back but still.

That's how the lights on my C43 work - they will create a dark area that starts just behind the car in front. I'm not entirely sure why you think this is a problem, why do you want the lights to go so high on the car in front? It won't take much of a bump for the lights to go higher and be in their mirror dazzling them.

 

[kevans]

That's how the lights on my C43 work - they will create a dark area that starts just behind the car in front. I'm not entirely sure why you think this is a problem, why do you want the lights to go so high on the car in front? It won't take much of a bump for the lights to go higher and be in their mirror dazzling them.

I probably didn't explain it too well but the adaptive lights on the mk4 the dipped beam stayed at the normal driving height when the full beam lit up all around the car in front. Not dazzling them but lighting up the car as if the full beam wasn't on. I feel with the matrix lights there is no need to create a black spot for the whole car in front when the the full beam is on. i would understand if it was far in the distance but if the car is only a few car lengths in front then i don't see why the dipped beam can not stay at the normal height. I don't really know how else to explain apart from you see more with the adaptive lights over the matrix ones. I think the adaptive ones reacted quicker than the matrix ones too.