Focus MK3 bixenon poor light output, the way I fixed it.

[Foxxyblieu9]

I have seen many people on this forum (myself included) who have been upset with the poor light output on the road of the mk3 focus bi xenons. 

so here’s how I fixed it.

Previously the lights looked lovely and bright but did nothing on road (apologies for I do not have a beam pattern picture)

 

how to “fix” this issue. 
under the bonnet of your focus you can find a headlight adjustment that can be turned with an hex key.

you can turn the adjustment and watch your headlights go up and down on the wall, I positioned mine further down till they looked somewhat like this.

and that’s it nice and simple and I was done. I found the lights projected a much better pattern on the road than they did previously.

This isn’t a guide as such but more of a helping hand, I find this much better for the driving I do however you are welcome to adjust yours anyway you see fit.

 

hope this helps!

[StephenFord]

sounds good, but my ancient Mk2 has a dashboard mounted headlight leveler control for adjustment. Does the Mk3 not have one?

[Foxxyblieu9]

38 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

sounds good, but my ancient Mk2 has a dashboard mounted headlight leveler control for adjustment. Does the Mk3 not have one?

The MK3 has auto leveling headlights, I’m unsure if over time they slowly stop leveling properly or if they weren’t leveled correctly at factory. But as far as I know this is the only way to level them manually 

[alexp999]

Only the MK3 with bi-xenons has auto levelling, it's a legal requirement on high output headlamps.

The Mk2 with bi-xenons should have auto levelling too.

Have you had the pattern checked? You might fail an MOT if the aim is now off. (Or they may just adjust it back)

[Foxxyblieu9]

14 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

Only the MK3 with bi-xenons has auto levelling, it's a legal requirement on high output headlamps.

The Mk2 with bi-xenons should have auto levelling too.

Have you had the pattern checked? You might fail an MOT if the aim is now off. (Or they may just adjust it back)

I haven’t had them checked however I have asked a few people who work and own Garages they all say it looks fine. I’ll admit they way I did it is not exactly perfect and I will be readjusting again by marking the height of the headlamps moving a few feet away and adjusting to suit. However i can reverse the changes at any time and I’m not blinding people by aiming them lower 

[Foxxyblieu9]

Coming back to this, looked up how to adjust these properly and they were a smidgen low. I used a guide to adjust correctly and they now look beautiful. I’ll attach some pictures 

I used a piece of tape on the wall and measured the correct heights and used the correct markings.

here is the video I used ~ 

I applied the same procedures for hid.

this is how it looks now, the light shines around 90-95 foot away roughly.

this is still adjusted lower than how they were when purchased.

 

I’ll throw up some comparison pictures compared to a 2020 Volvo S60

the cars.

and their beam patterns, not the best photo as people actually park on their drives (how dare they :p) but as you can (kinda) see the focuses beam seems to be better than the Volvo :0

 

so, I’ll admit, the first way I “fixed” the headlights was only a temporary solution and I definitely aimed too low. But this way appears much better and I have checked and not blinding anyone :p.