What's the point in headlamp washers?
Discussion
I know the obvious answer is to wash the lamp. But do they?
For example, if you spray water at your windscreen without using the wipers does it remove the dead flies on it? Or even the dust and other road grime?
If the glass is hot do you ever notice how water dries quicker on it and leaves a water mark and dust stain? When a headlamp is in use are they not hot?
I know in years past some cars had mini wipers or brushes as well as headlamp washers. But unless I'm missing something I fail to see how squirting water at relatively low pressure and volume will have any real noticable affect at cleaning a headlight without something to physically wipe across the lamp face.
For example, if you spray water at your windscreen without using the wipers does it remove the dead flies on it? Or even the dust and other road grime?
If the glass is hot do you ever notice how water dries quicker on it and leaves a water mark and dust stain? When a headlamp is in use are they not hot?
I know in years past some cars had mini wipers or brushes as well as headlamp washers. But unless I'm missing something I fail to see how squirting water at relatively low pressure and volume will have any real noticable affect at cleaning a headlight without something to physically wipe across the lamp face.
I've had them on a couple of cars and they were useless. In fact, worse than useless as drivng on the motorway in mucky weather when the screen needs cleaning frequently, I'd have to remember to turn the headlamps off first otherwise the washer bottle (which was massive) would empty rapidly.
300bhp/ton said:
I know the obvious answer is to wash the lamp. But do they?
For example, if you spray water at your windscreen without using the wipers does it remove the dead flies on it? Or even the dust and other road grime?
If the glass is hot do you ever notice how water dries quicker on it and leaves a water mark and dust stain? When a headlamp is in use are they not hot?
I know in years past some cars had mini wipers or brushes as well as headlamp washers. But unless I'm missing something I fail to see how squirting water at relatively low pressure and volume will have any real noticable affect at cleaning a headlight without something to physically wipe across the lamp face.
No, the water won't get them completely clean. Remember with a windscreen you need optical clarity to see things in focus. A headlight glass will work better when completely clean so you get the neat 'MOT' cutoff, but a little haze won't make a lot of difference.For example, if you spray water at your windscreen without using the wipers does it remove the dead flies on it? Or even the dust and other road grime?
If the glass is hot do you ever notice how water dries quicker on it and leaves a water mark and dust stain? When a headlamp is in use are they not hot?
I know in years past some cars had mini wipers or brushes as well as headlamp washers. But unless I'm missing something I fail to see how squirting water at relatively low pressure and volume will have any real noticable affect at cleaning a headlight without something to physically wipe across the lamp face.
I think the water will help if there's a thicker layer of grime/mud. For example when following a car on a damp road they will be flicking up mud and or dirty water from the floor which will go on your lights (and windscreen to a lesser extent). When you wash/wipe the windscreen your headlights will get a bit of clean water on them which will wash off some of the dirty water while it's still wet.
Agreed, not much use on dried on dirt, but should work for clearing dirty water from road spray.
All mine seem to do is make a mess of the bonnet and empty the reservoir at an alarming rate.
My old Lexus LS had a separate button for headlamp wash (which never got used) but other cars seem to activate them whenever the headlamps are on and I wash the windscreen. I usually wait until I can stop and switch off the headlamps before washing the windscreen.
My old Lexus LS had a separate button for headlamp wash (which never got used) but other cars seem to activate them whenever the headlamps are on and I wash the windscreen. I usually wait until I can stop and switch off the headlamps before washing the windscreen.
When driving to the campsite at LeMans you have to negotiate a track which is often full of ambling pedestrians.
If there are cars running on track these folk cant hear you approaching from behind, even if you sound the horn as they wear earplugs etc....
I find getting within a couple of inches of them and washing the headlamps gives them a shot of soapy water over the backs of their legs, that is usually enough to get their attention, because the windscreen washers are used to activate the headlamp washers it is a good way of clearing an exclusion zone around the car as the locals generally shy away from the soapy water......
If there are cars running on track these folk cant hear you approaching from behind, even if you sound the horn as they wear earplugs etc....
I find getting within a couple of inches of them and washing the headlamps gives them a shot of soapy water over the backs of their legs, that is usually enough to get their attention, because the windscreen washers are used to activate the headlamp washers it is a good way of clearing an exclusion zone around the car as the locals generally shy away from the soapy water......
300bhp/ton said:
I know the obvious answer is to wash the lamp. But do they?
For example, if you spray water at your windscreen without using the wipers does it remove the dead flies on it? Or even the dust and other road grime?
If the glass is hot do you ever notice how water dries quicker on it and leaves a water mark and dust stain? When a headlamp is in use are they not hot?
I know in years past some cars had mini wipers or brushes as well as headlamp washers. But unless I'm missing something I fail to see how squirting water at relatively low pressure and volume will have any real noticable affect at cleaning a headlight without something to physically wipe across the lamp face.
This is one of my pet hates i have to be honest!!For example, if you spray water at your windscreen without using the wipers does it remove the dead flies on it? Or even the dust and other road grime?
If the glass is hot do you ever notice how water dries quicker on it and leaves a water mark and dust stain? When a headlamp is in use are they not hot?
I know in years past some cars had mini wipers or brushes as well as headlamp washers. But unless I'm missing something I fail to see how squirting water at relatively low pressure and volume will have any real noticable affect at cleaning a headlight without something to physically wipe across the lamp face.
Mine are quite powerful and the whole bonnet gets covered in soap and water which, when you have not long washed the car, is very frustrating!!! I have considered disconecting them but glad i didnt now as i guess that it would fail an MOT on it.
Evil.soup said:
I have considered disconecting them but glad i didnt now as i guess that it would fail an MOT on it.
It wouldn't be too hard to wire in a relay to a switch on the dash.(You could either trace the wire back from the pump and splice the relay into that, or if you didn't want to cut the wires then find the fuse in the fusebox for the pump and take a wire off that, through a fuse and relay and then into the other side. Not sure if you can get 'dummy' blade fuses for this purpose.)
Uhura fighter said:
Good for winter with salt on the roads.
Not in my experience - that's exactly the situation I mentioned above. A few operations of the windscreen & headlmap wash-wipe system (usually you can't control how much water is blasted at the headlamps, it goes through a cycle) and you empty the bottle.
Uhura fighter said:
Good for winter with salt on the roads.
I agree. With the old 7-Series it really did make a big difference to the effectiveness of the lights......whilst we're on the subject it had auto dip full-beams which were wicked when driving at night on busy A roads and motorways.
Jonny_693 said:
This.PH must be ace if you have alzheimers...new and exciting threads every day and not one repost
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