Everything Else

The US-spec headlights on all the European cars I've had have always been worse than the European versions. I've never bothered to look into what US Department of Transportation requirements result in worse lighting.

I don't really modify my cars much but I read plenty from people who do. My past few cars have been Volvos and no matter which model it was people wished they could get their hands on euro headlights. In addition to working better, at least on the Volvos they also look better. The problem making the change is always expensive, partly because of the cost of headlights in general and then shipping them to the US.

I just bought a Volvo S60 R. Amazing car but subpar headlights are one of its flaws. The US versions have a single Xeon bulb that tilts to act as both a low beam and high beam. It doesn't work all that well in either position. The US cars have a daytime running light in the spot where the European ones have a separate high beam. I guess that means daytime running lights aren't used in Europe so I'll explain them. Since the 90s we in the US have been driving around with our headlights on all day. They're on by default in all the cars I've driven that have them and turning them off usually means finding a tiny switch or in my case a little screw you have to turn.

I'd love to replace my lights with the Euro version but buying them new is over $2000. Since we have so many non-US members here I was curious if anybody ever shipped off lights (or other Euro version parts) to friends in the US.

You'd think those kind of arrangements would be better made on an auto-related forum but in my experience there aren't many people outside North America on the English-speaking boards, even for foreign cars.

To save any significant amount of money over buying lights or other parts from the few companies that import them, they need to be pulled from a junked car. Otherwise you're still paying for expensive new lights and maybe just saving a bit on shipping and the importer's profit.

I don't know how common junk yards are in Europe though I'd bet not as common as in the US. Even here (at least in my area) the old "pick 'n pull" yards where you wandered among hundreds or thousands of cars, took off the parts you wanted and paid for them at the office are getting rare. Now places catalog all the usable parts and pull them as requested which adds labor to the price.

I'm not asking for a volunteer to do this for me but I'm curious about how feasible it would be, say for a more common car. Is getting used car parts relatively easy?

Try retrofitting projectors into the headlamp housings. http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-priu ... s-max.html

while we are at it, if any euro person wants to ship me the rear foglight for a mazda 3...

I've had several US cars, only a few with DRL. that is a Canadian requirement. Optional in the US but you will save a bit on insurance if you have it. My 1991 mazda had them, because it was purchased in Canada. My parents recently bought a ford f150 in the US (no DRL) and moved it to Canada. It turns out, the conversion to enable the DRL is the exact opposite to disable it... install the relay in the panel. not much more to it than that and your dealer will be able to turn it on or off for free +parts.

I have considered adding DRL to my car as well, not sure why you would want to disable it. There are a lot of collisions where one person simply 'didn't see' the other person. In ohio they will let a 400 year old blind sea turtle drive a car, but oh well...

Every car is good for some things and not for others. Buying a car from a maker known for it's extraneous collision-safety features means that yes, you will get DRL headlights. I wouldn't buy a Ferrari F50 and complain that there was no stereo.

Daytime driving lights are required at least here in Finland. Driving with only parking lights is not sufficient.

Junk yards are pretty common here but it has gone pretty much to what you described and parts for newer cars are generally not that cheap.

In switzerland, it is not mandatory to drive with daytime driving lights, but highly recommended. Campaigns made by the Federal Office of Accident Prevention (or something like that) go in this direction for 2-3 years. More and more people do it and I think it is really a plus to help seeing moving vehicle, even in the middle of the day.

I don't know about cars junk yards here. I think old cars are taken back by the garage that would sell your new one. In the law, as soon as you throw something in a junk yard it belongs the country. So, normally, one should not have the right to take anything out for himself. In reality, it is tolerated... you can even find working computers... but not so many sgis... snif !

Daytime driving lights are not mandatory here (yet), but new cars often have them in the form of LED lights.

The traditional junk yard where you can scavenge parts and haggle over the price has all but disappeared, probably a result of environmental rules and regulations. These days cars are completely disassembled, and the parts are sold or recycled. Recyclers often specialize in a particular brand.

Oh, and Xenon light units are always much more expensive than traditional light units. Genuine Xenon kits (I'm not talking about that annoying aftermarket junk) need to be automatically adjustable to avoid blinding other people, and the ballast (high voltage transformers) cost around 500EUR a piece. I had a Xenon light fail on me a couple of years ago and fortunately it was the light bulb and not the ballast

Don't waste your money on euro-lights. They won't do you any good; there'll still be the same stupid SUVs and Trucks with hi-intensity low beams and fog lights that will blind you at night. The only people that salivated for them were subhuman euro-gearhead message board junkies. The S60R is a great car if a little small. For that monet spend it on a turbo upgrade+tune. That'll give you something worth the money.

that is likely the OEM retail price, unless your ballast is handmade of fairy dust and diamond.

There are very very good efficient digital ballasts available for about $150 or so /pair, often including new bulbs, and are more reliable than your old OEM units and reach full brightness in about two seconds. And sorry to say no matter how nice the car if it is more than a few years old the ballasts are not so good anymore. That is the progress of technology...

The car I have now has basic halogen headlights but with projector housings and they are simply amazing. They are better than the prius xenon with reflector beam headlights, for sure. I haven't bothered upgrading the headlights to xenon (there is no trouble with beam pattern changing because of the projector housing) simply because the halogen light is great.

In the US the self-levelling and turn-in headlights are optional as well regardless of the light source (xenon or tungsten)

I'd disagree on that. It may be common on cheaper cars, but premium (or mid-premium) they are built to last. My BMW 740, which by the was sold this summer, had factory optional Xenon projector lights fitted and with a bulb replacement they were running as bright as my Mazda 6 which also have Xenon projection. And that beemer was manufactured 1995...


I see *much* better with xenon lightning and that's most often related to bulb temperature (color), but xenon looks more "intense" in the same way. Over here in europe I can't find any xenon-fitted car with reflector beams, so I guess I'm a little biased toward projector+xenon...


Here in Sweden we have a law regarding cars with Xenon lights that force self-leveling to avoid blinding other drivers - no matter if it was factory fitted (like those who import JDM cars with original Xenon) or retrofitted. This makes retrofitting Xenon headlights illegal, unless you come up with and can prove a system that does the auto-leveling. Oh, and it needs to be "E"-marked as well...
But on the other hand they fully approve high-level beam conversions...

Thanks for the info; interesting. I'm enjoying the car and I don't feel the need for any power - at least not yet. The back seats are cramped but I rarely have more than one passenger so that's not a problem.

Need to change my avatar to the new car

I say, you should get something a little bit happier

Talk about anthropomorphizing things.. There was a car at a train station I passed that had huge eyelashes just above the head lights..


R.

I have something similar actually and I can tell you that the bumper itself was not photoshopped into that shape. That is a japanese car called a Mazda 3 and it is somewhat famous for it's happy face. this type is rare here I see another one maybe every week or so.

I have the basic model, though (no sunroof, foglights, xenon, auto transmission, etc). and it's blue


I have a friend with a smart fortwo and the obvious solution is a big wind-up key that can be affixed to the back. next step is a motor so it turns as he drives along.

I was talking about the teeth in place of the grill, not the shape of the grill.

Mazda3s are pretty common in Australia.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16623&p=7291357#p7291357

The older model sedans have almost no boot space to speak of, the wagon will take an Onyx2 deskside easily.

R.

so, there's another reason front plates are abominations for car styles. I keep my old Mass Green Plate because the law says I only have to display a rear plate.

i like the happy car look; as long as it's not on mine. I never noticed it on that particular model more than any other smiling grill. they all looked vaguely like faces to me.

so, there's another reason front plates are abominations for car styles. I keep my old Mass Green Plate because the law says I only have to display a rear plate.

i like the happy car look; as long as it's not on mine. I never noticed it on that particular model more than any other smiling grill. they all looked vaguely like faces to me.

Yeah front plates suck. I've never lived in a state that required them.

Retrofitting can be a drag. The previous owner of my Audi A4 wagon replaced the headlights with the following generation's projector housings. But unfortunately in doing so the whole housing is a little... off. The low beams are aimed much too low, and I can't get at the adjusting mechanisms, so I'm going to have to disassemble the front bumper, et cetera. I also have no fog lights until I collect those updated parts from a later car and find a way to mount them.

I hate front plates. If no means was provided to mount them by the manufacturer, why the hell am I stuck trying to kludge something up? Zip ties are not the answer (tested empirically), and I'm not looking forward to that ticket now that the plate is missing...

@smj yeah people care more about satisfying some need than doing it right and the next owner is stuck with the problem of trying to deal with a mongrel. not that this thread is about that, but it could well be. I saved all my garage records, and a detailed explanation of what i did to the car in the event the car is sold to someone else. plus everything is reversible with standard parts.

Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that I can go out and mod my vehicles as I see fit (within my abilities and (sometimes) the law). But I would rather do it right than do it over again - since I've been down that road a number of times already. I now know that odds are if I'm reassembling something, I'm likely to be the next guy having to go in there. So if some anti-seize is appropriate, put it on; if you've run some wires, work it into the stock loom or secure it safely out of the way somehow. Yadda yadda.

None of which helps the OP. If the real Euro parts are too expensive, I'd consider trying to get some used US-spec headlight housings to experiment with, and then start a long research project at HIDPlanet.com or where ever. Something that's been sitting on my own to-do list for a long time.

Bumping up an old thread...

After going on quite a few night road trips in the US (including to and through philadelphia) with european-spec cars recently (Merc ML450, S55, BMW x5, etc), there is a very good reason why they US spec is different than euro-spec. US roads have reflective signs, euro roads most of the signs are backlit and there are also much more areas with streetlights. Also, Euro spec headlights allow more light on the road because they are less concerned about dazzling oncoming motorists when the car crests a hill. Also, on most euro cars headlight washers are required for high-output lights (metal halide, xenon, led, etc).

Nothing better than driving through PA,WV,and OH at 3 in the morning and not being able to see any signs on the PA turnpike except for some shadows of blue on the signposts.

This is why on most US-spec car, even with a sharp cutoff there is more light cast upward. Some projectors are simply more diffuse, some have a "squirrel finder" or similar in front of the lens that reflects some of the light upward, some are just purposely unfocused.

That being said, some enthusiasts like a super-sharp cutoff with color bleeding upward.