Lights etc (Fogs and sandblasted DOT)

["P-O Selander (EUS)" <EUSPOS@am1.ericsson.se>]

Can't keep quiet. Not intended as pointing finger or anything. Just a few
observations and experiences from my driving in various countries/states.

SANDBLASTED DOT
Someone mentioned about sandblasted DOT. I guess you refer to when they turn
"milky white" due (I thought) to exposure to UV. My old Audi mech. in Dallas
(long time at a dealership), claimed that the milky white was actually a
residue inside the light housing. Taking the light out of the car and VERY
delicately cleaning the inside of the glass with a swab saturated with
solvent (I would guess methanol) would do wonder. He aid that at Audi they
used to just sell you a new pair of DOT, whilst most of the time, cleaning
was the only thing needed. Now, I have not yet had time to try this myself.
Anyone out there who have done something similar? If so, maybe cleaning and
a small harness would do DOT wonder?!

FOG LIGHTS
On my Nissan 300 ZXTT I have two excellent fog lights. They are mounted very
low and have a very sharp and flat cut off pattern. The light are in other
words capable at illuminating the road in front of the car wide. The upper
cut off is however at about 18 inches, they way fogs should be to work - in
just that fog. higher up you will just be blinded. Among other, the DOTs on
the 300ZXTT beats anything. Very pleased with them.

SWEDEN
Sweden in the past had a restriction on auxiliary lights. You were only
allowed to use them with your high beams. Not very good for fog lights, eh?
I think that has luckily changed (but we still mandate low beams in daylight
- excellent practice).
There are essentially no limitations on how much lights you have on when
your high beams are lit. 18-wheelers in Sweden regularly have up to 6-8
additional driving lights. It's amazing to drive those things when you have
a bunch of Hella's/Bosch/Cibie's to light up the night. Same goes for
regular cars (many Audis) up north. Common to see 2-4 Hellas. Hella even
makes a special bracket for Audi for that (does not work on US models - had
to drill my bumper for my high beam driving lights).

That said, how do you prevent from blinding oncoming traffic? Well, you have
your high beams on UNTIL the oncoming car goes to low beams. That is an
indication that he/she feels that you are starting to blind him, and you
follow suite by going to low beam yourself. At about 3-4 car lengths prior
to passing the oncoming car, both cars switch over to high beam. This
ensures that high beam and good visibility is there as soon as the cars have
passed each other. Don't you get blinded during those four car lengths? No,
test and experience from back home proves otherwise. You are exposed to high
beam for such a short moment (mathematicians out there can probably
calculate it to appr. 1/3 of a second or so - highway driving).
Meeting a car in the middle of the night that makes a quick flash with his
highs does not mean that he's pissed. Simply that he wants you to go to
lows.

COLORADO
Well, don't try this at home. Coming down from Denver/Vail/Leadville, south
of Alamosa, heading towards the NM border in April, I do exactly what I have
done since 1979. One car oncoming at about 1.30 AM, open wide country road..
He's got low beams on and I go down to low well in advance (too early in my
opinion but since DOT highs are so crappy, it's sometime hard to tell
whether high or low is on the oncoming vehicle). About three car lengths
prior to passing, I switch back to high. Once car passes, I see three brake
lights in the rearview mirror. continue driving along and alone. Car makes a
U-turn and speeds up behind me. Wonder what the heck?. Did I piss someone
off? About 30 seconds later I see the familiar red-and-blue flashing lights
behind me. I did piss off a Colorado State Trooper. He wasn't interested in
even hearing about the "Scandinavian" high beam practice. Somewhat "anal"
IMHO. His colleague was however very nice and more interested in my Ericsson
cell phone and CB-radio than anything else. Got away without any fine.

That said, use common sense - Don't blind State Troopers...