Aftermarket headlights

[PoleDriver]

Does anyone have any experience with aftermarket headlights?
In January I started to fit some VW Lupo headlights to my Cerb. I cut out the unwanted parts of the wing and fitted the lights as squarely as possible. The garage opposite work had some work to do on the car and, while doing this, checked the alignment for me... It was miles out! There was no definite pattern and it looked like the lights were mounted way off!
Because I caused a little damage getting them out I ordered another pair.

Fast-forward to last weekend (Work, other cars and affairs of the heart did not permit any Cerb-time till now!). I managed to borrow a headlight alignment unit and started to check the fit using the older lamps before I finally fitted the new ones in place.
I could not get the correct beam pattern (Picture below) just a straight line with a very vague scattering of light below with no real definition. I've tried the old and new sets of lights, with the adjustment box and by shining against a wall, even when hand-held I cannot get a proper pattern. Is this common with after-market light units? If so, how do they get away with it?

Picture of the beam-pattern I'm supposed to see.

[Ozzie Osmond]

You should be able to align lights satisfactorily with nothing more than a flat roadway, a vertical wall and a screwdriver.

• High beam
• Car right against wall
• Mark headlamp centres
• Reverse back about 10 metres
• Adjust lamps so they still centre on your marks
• Check dip beam which should be pretty much as per you picture - job done!

If the lights are useless no amount of adjustment will turn them into good lights. Sounds like time for some decent ones.

[SSBB]

I don't get it, are these Lupo lights straight OEM units from a Lupo, or new aftermarket units for a Lupo?

[PoleDriver]

My dipped beam!

[williamp]

Aftermarket lights. Hmmmm...

Other way around...


...Are they Quartz Iodine???

[kambites]

Hmm, that dipped beam light looks like a full beam pattern. What does the full-beam look like? It's not as simple as you having wired them up back to front is it?

[PoleDriver]

kambites said:

Hmm, that dipped beam light looks like a full beam pattern. What does the full-beam look like? It's not as simple as you having wired them up back to front is it?

Thanks! That was the first thing I tried, although I hadn't changed any of the wiring! The main beam is even more vague!

[kambites]

Can you take a picture of the light units themselves? You can usually see the beam pattern etched into the refractors. Is it possible that they're non-UK lights? Obviously LHD and RHD refractors are different from each other. I don't know if any countries have symmetrical dipped beams.

Do Lupo lights have two bulbs, one for each beam, or a single twin-filament bulb?

[PoleDriver]

Picture of front of light, difficult to capture the refracting parts as they are in the reflector, not the lens.
The headlamps are sold as UK fitting and the unit have left-hand dip markings!

[marshalla]

i) are they "E" marked ?
ii) are you sure you're mounting them the right way up and at the same angle as they would be in a Lupo ?
iii) are you sure you're using the right sort of lamp (bulb) in them ?
iv) have you tried each one independently of the other to be sure that the problem lies in both ?

[Defcon5]

kambites said:

Do Lupo lights have two bulbs, one for each beam, or a single twin-filament bulb?

Twin filament.

It shouldnt have the black bit over the bulb though, and where is the rest of it?

[kambites]

Is it possible it's lighting both bulbs for high beam, and just the high beam bulb for dipped? Or something.

[DannyVTS]

Off topic:

Have you sold the BRM?!

[Torquey]

Is that both Lupo headlights on?
I'd be interested to see how it looks with only 1 light on...

Is it worth pulling the plug/wire out of one light and seeing how it looks?

[Defcon5]

Is this with a HID kit in?

[marshalla]

Defcon5 said:

Twin filament.

It shouldnt have the black bit over the bulb though, and where is the rest of it?

Standard H4s have a black cap/tip.

[PoleDriver]

marshalla said:

i) are they "E" marked ?
ii) are you sure you're mounting them the right way up and at the same angle as they would be in a Lupo ?
iii) are you sure you're using the right sort of lamp (bulb) in them ?
iv) have you tried each one independently of the other to be sure that the problem lies in both ?

i) Yes
ii) Yes! Picture taken is out of car and I tried holding them in front of beam adjuster as I originally thought I'd mounted them wrongly!
iii)Yes, H4. Even checked with supplier in case they needed a special.
iv) I have two pairs of lights and have tried all four. They very from bad to awful!

Defcon5 said:

Twin filament.

It shouldnt have the black bit over the bulb though, and where is the rest of it?

The 'black bit' is to ensure that all of the light shines backwards towards the reflector. I've not seen any lights which don't do that for a long time.
The rest of what?

kambites said:

Is it possible it's lighting both bulbs for high beam, and just the high beam bulb for dipped? Or something.

I checked that, definitely only one filament at a time, and the correct one!

DannyVTS said:

Off topic:

Have you sold the BRM?!

Yes, at the end of February!

Torquey said:

Is that both Lupo headlights on?
I'd be interested to see how it looks with only 1 light on...

Is it worth pulling the plug/wire out of one light and seeing how it looks?

I've only been testing individually!

Defcon5 said:

Is this with a HID kit in?

Nope, H4 OSRAM NIGHTBREAKER PLUS

[PoleDriver]

Good news! The supplier has agreed to give me a full refund, despite 'modifications' done to the fittings on the lamps. He'll be sending them back to his supplier, can't say fairer than that!


Back to my original question... Is it normal for after-market lights to be so problematical?

[kambites]

I guess the lights aren't designed to angle then, or the bulbs are wrong. Can't think of another way that both filaments could give an un-angled pattern.

[marshalla]

PoleDriver said:

Back to my original question... Is it normal for after-market lights to be so problematical?

No. Apart from having to modify the mounts (Lotus Excel example - switch from Mini to Land Rover fittings : http://www.lotusexcel.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=14... )