Phil21185 Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 Only something I've noticed since starting to drive the car more at night (bought in May so no night driving really before winter) but the headlight angle seems to be very low, really only lighting about a car's length in front of me. The adjuster on the dash is set to its highest (0) setting so its not that. I can think of a few possible reasons and would value what other folk think: 1 - Since putting whiter bulbs in, the spread of light is generally poorer and this is to be expected. 2 - Since farting around with the headlights (removal to fit other stuff etc), I've inadvertently screwed something up. If I have, I've also inadvertently performed the same screw up to the same degree on both lights, as the pattern appears to be even (ie, not one light higher than the other). 3 - That's just the way modern cars are these days. Basically, I find that driving at night, I'm either having to put my full beams on almost all the time, or else only able to see about 15 feet in front of me or about to the next white line in the centre of the road. Coming from a 2004 Mk1, I can't remember ever having these problems and rarely needed to use full beam. I don't know why, but it makes me much more edgy when driving at night... It's due an MOT in mid Jan so that's something I'll mention specifically, but was wondering if others had similar problems? Cheers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F0CUE Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 Dunno about mk3 but on the MK2 if you don't put the bulbs into the headlight first then place the holder onto it the light beam is smaller if you do it properly it spreads out fully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JW1982 Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 To find out whether this is normal or not you should have the beam pattern checked/adjusted first. My experience is that the light output of the standard halogen Focus MK3 headlights is pretty insufficient. Because of this I installed a pair of Sky Wing projector headlights with HID lights a few weeks after I bought my car. The light output and beam pattern of these headlights is a lot better than the original halogen headlights. It actually is even better than the OEM HID lights. I also drive my parents Focus MK3 sometimes which still has the standard halogen headlights. Driving this car in the dark makes me feel like driving with 2 candles on the front of the car. The headlights are in perfect order and correctly adjusted but the light output and beam pattern are just insufficient in my opinion. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert27 Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 1 hour ago, JW1982 said: My experience is that the light output of the standard halogen Focus MK3 headlights is pretty insufficient. I would agree with this statement. Having just bought a mk3, the main beam is completely inadequate! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan_Tango Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 I put some nightbreaker lasers in mine and thought they was junk but they failed the MOT and the tester aligned them for me properly and now they're amazing, i'd bet it's just the alignment you have accidently messed up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil21185 Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 Thanks folks. As I said I'll be asking the tester to pay special attention, though if good a his job I won't have to. Would love to fit some HIDs Wilco but prohibitive in initial cost and finagling to get it all legal... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JW1982 Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 The Sky Wing Headlights I have are based on the USA Focus MK3 headlights. These projector headlights have H7 sockets and are fully compatible with the manual (electric) height adjustment of the Focus MK3. Combined with a good quality 5000K H7 HID Kit the light output and light pattern are perfect. Next Year I would like to change the HID Kit for a pair of good quality H7 LED lights. I am in the fortunate position that this setup is completely legal in the Netherlands. The latest Dutch regulations prescribe that headlights may not blind other traffic. Headlight washers and autolevelling are no longer required for retrofitted HID lights. Car manufacturers are even allowed to sell new cars with manually adjusted HID lights without headlight washers as long as the HID lights are < 2000 Lumen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pebbleheed Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 I was thinking about this recently too. Driving at speed on a dark road with the MK3 focus is really hard work due to the lack of light throw. I need to look at changing this to see where I’m going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan_Tango Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 29 minutes ago, Pebbleheed said: I was thinking about this recently too. Driving at speed on a dark road with the MK3 focus is really hard work due to the lack of light throw. I need to look at changing this to see where I’m going. About 80% of the roads I drive on are country roads with no lighting at all, I think properly installed headlight bulbs with good quality bulbs is all that's needed, my previous bulbs had terrible throw but the ones I have now are excellent and light up the road perfectly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pebbleheed Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Which ones have you used? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmole Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 Use Phillips Ultra's or extremes and all will be good. The Mk3 has perfectly good bright halogen headlamps The issue is people put cheap nasty ebay blue coated so called "white" bulbs in that are totally out of focus and put out a lot less light. ANY bulb with a blue coating will be dimmer than one without. That blue white light is made by filtering out the red light (ie half the output of the bulb) Plus if they are really low, there are screw adjusters on the headlamps, just raise em up 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil21185 Posted January 24, 2018 Author Share Posted January 24, 2018 Well it failed. On the headlight pattern being too low! Had Philips bulbs in already so knew it wasn't a bulb problem although would like to out osram hyperblues in to match my DRLs like @kpg's sexy vehicle :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpg Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 Well it failed. On the headlight pattern being too low! Had Philips bulbs in already so knew it wasn't a bulb problem although would like to out osram hyperblues in to match my DRLs like [mention=41109]kpg[/mention]'s sexy vehicle :) Thanks pal. Ive actually been looking at the new Hyper Blue Boost as I think the brightness in mine has deteriorated since i got them. Good visual brightness but the actual throw of the light is worse than ever now.On a side note, my car is looking a lot less than sexy atm :(Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpg Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 *EDIT Wrong thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil21185 Posted February 8, 2018 Author Share Posted February 8, 2018 No, its the right thread, you just weren't supposed to be in it! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpg Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 No, its the right thread, you just weren't supposed to be in it! [emoji23][emoji23]Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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