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After market headlights
- Thread starter Neilio
- Start date
Nearly as drastic as implying you can’t see at night with the current headlights. They’re good not great but good enough.
They are terrible. When you consider the current technology. The auto dimming feature is a:extremely basic and b: useless.
The lights themselves are so poor. I can't believe you can make LED headlights illuminate so little.
tomorrowman
Member
Is it an adjustment issue ?
Spent 1st few months blinding everybody as the lights where so poorly adjusted they basically just pointed up and in the eyes of all oncoming drivers.
Mobile ranger did the 'adjust against garage door' approach. While that improved matters, driveway being on a slope meant still wasn't quite right and seemed to end up not quite having so many car's flashing at me but not fantastic on the ability to see at night front.
Just had adjusted again at service centre while getting some other work done. Seem OK now.
Never had brightness problem with the lights, poor adjustment always seems to have been my issue
Spent 1st few months blinding everybody as the lights where so poorly adjusted they basically just pointed up and in the eyes of all oncoming drivers.
Mobile ranger did the 'adjust against garage door' approach. While that improved matters, driveway being on a slope meant still wasn't quite right and seemed to end up not quite having so many car's flashing at me but not fantastic on the ability to see at night front.
Just had adjusted again at service centre while getting some other work done. Seem OK now.
Never had brightness problem with the lights, poor adjustment always seems to have been my issue
must be your car. Mine are fine. More than bright enough.
Think there is adjustment on the in car screen.
Although once you adjust, there is no going back to the old setting.
So you want to be sure your doing it in the right environment to get a good setup.
maybe. But changing the headlight isn’t going to fix auto dimming.
In all seriousness if you think they’re that bad it may be your car. I’ve had plenty of fancy dazzling headlights and whilst they’re not as bright as they latest from Audi or Merc, they’re not bad and certainly provide plenty of illumination on the road.
Are matrix headlights an Audi proprietary thing? I’ve only heard about them on Audis.
Auto dimming main beam is a separate problem, and I agree it’s hopeless.
I’ve not personally felt like the light output of the Model 3 is that bad, but I’ve had limited experience of other cars. Could be that I don’t know what’s possible.
Auto dimming main beam is a separate problem, and I agree it’s hopeless.
I’ve not personally felt like the light output of the Model 3 is that bad, but I’ve had limited experience of other cars. Could be that I don’t know what’s possible.
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ACarneiro
Active Member
I also believe they’re perfectly adequate provided they’re adjusted properly. Mine were all over the place when I got my car (another win for Tesla’s legendary PDI!)
The auto-dimming is indeed useless but I never use that anyway in any car I drive so it doesn’t bother me.
Matrix would be great and it would be lovely if we could retrofit the 2021 M3 lights to older models (apparently we can’t). Apparently those are matrix (albeit not yet enabled).
The auto-dimming is indeed useless but I never use that anyway in any car I drive so it doesn’t bother me.
Matrix would be great and it would be lovely if we could retrofit the 2021 M3 lights to older models (apparently we can’t). Apparently those are matrix (albeit not yet enabled).
quentinsf
Member
My Model 3 headlights are so much better than the ones I had on my i3 that it's like, well, night and day!
Not as good as the ones on the Polestar 2 that I test-drove, of course...
Not as good as the ones on the Polestar 2 that I test-drove, of course...
Audi invented them but the tech is out there. My last 2 cars were Mercs and they had them. @michelerusso88 that can't be right as my CLS head amazing headlights.
@Neilio Take a look at this site:
Tesla Model 3
I'm not sure if they're compatible with RHD or even legal in the UK but this is the only solution I've heard of to upgrade the lights.
As for ensuring they're correctly levelled, find a friendly MOT centre, they have all the kit for measuring the height of the beam and will be able to make accurate adjustments if you show them how to access the configuration menu.
Tesla Model 3
I'm not sure if they're compatible with RHD or even legal in the UK but this is the only solution I've heard of to upgrade the lights.
As for ensuring they're correctly levelled, find a friendly MOT centre, they have all the kit for measuring the height of the beam and will be able to make accurate adjustments if you show them how to access the configuration menu.
From the manual page 58 :-
I have done this to avoid dazzling others, it allows you to adjust using the thumb wheels.
Some have reported that an update can reset them to factory settings
Headlight Adjustments To adjust the angle of the headlights, touch Controls > Service > Adjust Headlights, then follow the onscreen instructions. You can choose which headlight you would like to adjust by selecting it on the touchscreen. Warning: Proceed with caution when adjusting headlights. Tesla has carefully calibrated the position of the headlights to be in an optimum position for most driving scenarios. Tesla recommends that you do not adjust headlights unless you are familiar with how headlights should be adjusted. Once adjusted, you will be unable to automatically restore them to their originally calibrated position. Contact Tesla for assistance when adjusting headlights.
I have done this to avoid dazzling others, it allows you to adjust using the thumb wheels.
Some have reported that an update can reset them to factory settings
Headlight Adjustments To adjust the angle of the headlights, touch Controls > Service > Adjust Headlights, then follow the onscreen instructions. You can choose which headlight you would like to adjust by selecting it on the touchscreen. Warning: Proceed with caution when adjusting headlights. Tesla has carefully calibrated the position of the headlights to be in an optimum position for most driving scenarios. Tesla recommends that you do not adjust headlights unless you are familiar with how headlights should be adjusted. Once adjusted, you will be unable to automatically restore them to their originally calibrated position. Contact Tesla for assistance when adjusting headlights.
ACarneiro
Active Member
Hahahahahahahaha!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
But seriously, what were we talking about?
Glan gluaisne
Active Member
The headlights are dire. I live in a designated Dark Skies area, so when it's dark here it's very dark, and the roads are generally narrow and windy. The Model 3 headlights are the worst lights I've had in any car I've owned in the past 20 years, with the sole exception of the i3, which was a bit worse.
Also, the headlight adjustment on my car was way out when it was delivered, so I got it adjusted properly. Then the lights went out of adjustment again, following an update, so I got them adjusted again. Then this happened a third time, an update caused both lights to point skywards, and I managed to get them back to somewhere close to where they should be myself, by going into the headlight adjustment menu and starting the process, where they just automatically motored back to a reasonably OK position. They still aren't perfect, but I can't be bothered to keep taking the car in to get the lights re-adjusted, so live with them as they are.
The beam definition is hopeless, with a very poorly defined dip beam cut off and apparently no form of left hand road edge/hedge enhancement. Most cars have lights that when dipped allow far better illumination of the left hand side of the road than the Tesla lights, they seem to be almost flat. High beam is OK in the centre, but lacks the spread of light to the sides compared to other cars, something that's a PITA when you want the full width of the road ahead to be properly illuminated. Around here, deer crossing the road is a significant issue, and the first you see of them is when they appear out of one of the hedges at the side, so having a wide main beam spread is a real advantage, and something the Model 3 seems to lack.
Also, the headlight adjustment on my car was way out when it was delivered, so I got it adjusted properly. Then the lights went out of adjustment again, following an update, so I got them adjusted again. Then this happened a third time, an update caused both lights to point skywards, and I managed to get them back to somewhere close to where they should be myself, by going into the headlight adjustment menu and starting the process, where they just automatically motored back to a reasonably OK position. They still aren't perfect, but I can't be bothered to keep taking the car in to get the lights re-adjusted, so live with them as they are.
The beam definition is hopeless, with a very poorly defined dip beam cut off and apparently no form of left hand road edge/hedge enhancement. Most cars have lights that when dipped allow far better illumination of the left hand side of the road than the Tesla lights, they seem to be almost flat. High beam is OK in the centre, but lacks the spread of light to the sides compared to other cars, something that's a PITA when you want the full width of the road ahead to be properly illuminated. Around here, deer crossing the road is a significant issue, and the first you see of them is when they appear out of one of the hedges at the side, so having a wide main beam spread is a real advantage, and something the Model 3 seems to lack.
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