[V8] Headlights

[rmwoodbury at roadrunner.com]

When I bought this particular V8 it had just 66,000 or so miles on it, and since my night driving had dropped considerably, I never considered installing European headlights.  Well, that's not entirely true:  my "normal" source in Europe had ceased offering them, and there didnt' seem to be another set lying around anywhere.  I also found that the stock headlights were really adequate since I really wasn't driving extensively at night.

My 1993 V8 came with stock DOT lighting, but since prior to that I had been driving an '89 Avant into which I had installed European headlights because those lights were so poor that I automatically bought a set of Euros for the V8.  

Now that the switch/dipper assembly is dead on my V8 I realize that I made a misjudgement in that it never occurred to me that in teh 60,000 odd miles on the car from new, it might never had had the high beams on.  The car had the original timing belt and I believe that the car was driving primarily in the day time.  So it is likely that the headlight switch had more than normal exposure to the current running through it on low beams, hence the death of the switch at this point.  Just a theory...well, non-scientific so I guess it is just a fantasy.


Anyway, my preference would be to install European headlights, relaying both high and lows separately on each side as they were done before, both in my previous V8 and the 200.  Incidentally, in my '93 I had 130 watt high beam bulbs.  I will also mention here that in neither the 200 nor the V8 did I experience the issues with the headlight warning system. Both of those headlights systems were installed by the dealer, and the autocheck systems worked normally.

The thread about headlights appears and reappears periodically on Audi lists, and perhaps on others as well.  My '87 Mercedes 190D-turbo had Euro headlights that I ordered through the Mercedes dealer and which they installed. I have had European headlights on every car that I have owned and regularly driven with very few exceptions for forty years, and a very loooon time ago, I had a hobby business selling European headlights and driving lights on Cape Cod.  Some day I will regale you all with the tales of my lighting installations on the Cape, especially about the set of Carello H4 7" headlights that I sold to the IRS supervisor of the South East Massachusetts region for installation into his brand new Subaru.  He installed them, fortunately.  (That was back in 1975 when Subarus were made out of recycled tuna fish cans and their wires were stripped out of used telephone cable, but I digress.....).

Anyway I find it interesting that people commonly relay their headlgihts and install 100 watt or larger bulbs and are impressed with their results.  In the Audi 200 20-Valve Avant that I had a few yeas ago, the headlights were set up that way.  The headlights in that car were a compromise of a European designed front end, with headlights that met DOT standards and still fitted into the body work.  They were simply lousy by design and installing 100 watt bulbs with relays only yields much brighter lousy headlights.  For most this is adequate.  Unless you drive where there are no streetlights or building lights for miles and miles, the system is sufficient.

The issue is not brightness.  Extremely bright light beyond a certain point yields glare and little additional benefit.  The chief difference between European headlights and DOT headlights is that the European design is based on a theory that is completely reversed from US driving habits and standards.  Here in the US we drive most of the time with what we call "low beams", and only occasionally do we switch to "high beams". Most Americans drive in heavy traffic conditions and high beams blind not only oncoming drivers but the cars in front also.  

The European term is main beam for our high beams, and "dipped" for low beams.  The dipped beam is a broad flat light pattern with a 15 degree rise on the right that will illuminate pedestrians or bicyclists on the shoulder of the road.  The main beam is a very large, very well focussed cone of light that projects down the road approximately two and one half times the size and distance of the DOT standard.  It is this focussing of the light beam that makes the European headlights so superior for deep dark driving than any other combination, and this is particularly so when regular headlights are augmented by driving lights mounted on the bumper.  Most driving light mounts are so flimsy that the driving light will vibrate on uneven surfaces, some enough to make them worthless.

My wife's 100CS Avant has European headlights (H4 single bulbs) that have been in the car for around 125,000 miles. They were made in some sweatshop in a suburb of Changhai or some place, but have worked exceedingly well with only one bulb failure in ten years.  Naturally, high and low beams on both sides are relayed.  We never did "fix" the autocheck system so whenever the low beams are on, the headlight symbol is illuminated in the instrument cluster.  I have told my wife that I will fix that someday, and she says to never mind because she likes to see the symbol. 

When I get the new bumper put on to the V8, I think I will upgrade to European headlights at that point...if I can find a set that I think I can afford, of course.  

Roger