M35 Headlight Performance Part II

[bambamramram]

I'm fairly newbie on this site and just got 2009 M35 and would like to resurrect what seems to be an old issue--M35 headlight performance.

The headlights on the 09 M35 I just purchased are terrible--angled too low to be driven at high speeds at night on unlit roads--Dealer said they were angled properly. I saw some really good threads/discussions from this site ( the one titled M35/45 Headlight Performance which started in 2006 and seemed to end in 2007 which showed how to manually adjust) seemed to be the most useful. I made a manual adjustment (based on the dissucsion threads and, my low beams shine much further which is good. However, the high beams are linked and are now practically useless illuminating the top of trees and power lines more than the road ahead. My questions to any of you smart folks / tech gurus out there are:

1) Is there an aftermarket fix out there (as of May 2009) for this problem or is the best fix just to manually adjust the angle?

2) Are the factory bulbs the best to use in terms of illumination performance and bulb life?

Thanks in advance (and if I've overlooked a key thread out there, I'd appreciate a good vector).

BTW: This site rocks.

[george926]

I have mine headlight adjust from the factory..

they seems more then happy to adjust that for me.. it's not that hard.. i will try to see if i can get a good pic on where to adjust..

BTW, mine were 07', not too sure if it's the same with 09..

George

[fiveliterbeater]

The headlights on the 09 M35 I just purchased are terrible--angled too low to be driven at high speeds at night on unlit roads

i could'nt agree more and the reason i say this is because when i was driving an 09 G37 loaner car; i could see the road up ahead better than on the G than on my M at night. i think it's time to pay another visit to the dealer soon. let me or us know if you find anything on your end.

[06M35Sport]

I noticed the same thing about my headlights. I came across a thread showing how to adjust and I did a manual adjustment. Wow, what a difference. I moved the beam relflection on the wall up about a half inch. I just simply made a mark on the wall and went to adjusting. From what I saw they said they moved theirs anywhere from a half inch to a full inch up on the wall reflection. Im sure its different between all of our cars, but I would definitely reccomend the adjustment if you think yours is to low. However, you are correct about the high beams. Everywhere i read on here I dont see any correction to this problem. Mine are shinning in the tree tops now, but with this adjustment you might not need to use the high beams anymore. Since I just adjusted mine last night I havent fully been able to test the high beams, but Im sure they will provide some sort of extra light and might not help fully like regular high beams but should help some. If you search for Headlight adjustment on the search page on this site you will get some very helpful information. The thread named "Headlight Adjustment, Sorry to beat a dead horse!!!!" has some pictures. Hope this helps.

[bambamramram]

Yup--saw all the threads w/ the pics and I did make the adjustments (with the phillips head screwdriver) recommended and those adjustments worked great for the low beam. I just took a 3 hour trip this past weekend, through heavy rain and at night and I could see fine--I was happy with the info I found on this site--a great site it is, because the dealer could not help me!

The hi-beams were still pointed really high and useless on flat roads or when going down hill. They worked better the steeper the incline as I was driving, but that said, I did not really need to use them because the low beams worked well after I made the adjustments.

Anyway, shame this has been an issue on the M since the 2006 models and the factory or dealer has not come out with a fix--I feel like I should not have to do a "shade tree" fix to an essentially brand new car. Both hi and low beams should be able to be adjusted independently (considering the low beams work so poorly). Anyway, just seeing if any improvement had been made besides manually adjusting...looks like this is still an issue that won't be solved (from the factory) until they release the new models. Anywho...thanks all.

[antzrus]

You know I had read a lot about this "problem" before I purchased my M. Sure enuf when I got her, her lows seemed way too low. I read all the threads up to that date and finally began an adjustment, only to break one of the cog heads in a failed effort to get some movement; it was frozen tight.

As the months have passed w/out the change I really don't notice what I thought was too low a beam w/the lo's. I am so used to them now it isn't even an issue. I don't drive especially fast so maybe that is what makes a difference; usually not faster than 70-75 on the highways posted @ 70 w/out any problems.

The cut off of the low beams is very sharp-sharper than any other beams I've experienced over the past 45 years driving. Maybe the cut off w/out a lot of the normal bleed over is what throws us off. But it does seem more than adequate as time moves on-or we move thru time (?).

Modified by antzrus at 7:34 PM 5/17/2009
Modified by antzrus at 7:34 PM 5/17/2009

[M4T5]

I too find the low beams of adequate adjustment as they are. The only ones I have an issue with are the high beams. Way too high in my opinion. Is there a fix for this?

J