LED Headlights Poor Performance?
03-04-2018, 12:37 PM
#1
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C43W4
LED Headlights Poor Performance?
Hi all - I'm posting for a friend who has a 2017 C43 AMG with the static LED headlights. She's very happy with the car overall but constantly complains about poor visibility in certain conditions. I have had the chance to drive the car myself on a few occasions and now I agree with her that the lighting could use some improvement.
At first, it seemed as though there was a lot of light right in front of the car, but it fell off way too quickly. I would say at night you could see the lines on the road "okay" for about 10 feet out from the bumper but after that, it went to almost black very quickly. After I saw this myself, I had her take it to the dealership for an adjustment. The service report stated that they found the lights adjusted too low and corrected the level to be higher. That "correction" seems to have had two major effects. 1) Now you can see road signs lit up for a mile down the road, but can't see the road well - especially road lines. There are a lot of roads around here that have no street lights and if you're on those roads, you'll just be guessing where the lines are. I wish that were an exaggeration, but it's not. 2) Now she's occasionally being flashed by oncoming traffic because they think she's driving with the high beams on.
I think she should take it back to the dealership to have the level lowered "just a bit", but there is still the problem that these headlights seem to be inefficient above speeds greater than 35mph. I haven't seen anyone else complaining of poor light from them after scouring the internet for hours, so I am wondering if there could be something wrong with hers mechanically or electrically. The high beams light the road just fine, but she shouldn't have to use those full time. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to improve the headlight performance? Or is it reasonable to add some aux lights in the lower grille, perhaps? Thanks for any help.
At first, it seemed as though there was a lot of light right in front of the car, but it fell off way too quickly. I would say at night you could see the lines on the road "okay" for about 10 feet out from the bumper but after that, it went to almost black very quickly. After I saw this myself, I had her take it to the dealership for an adjustment. The service report stated that they found the lights adjusted too low and corrected the level to be higher. That "correction" seems to have had two major effects. 1) Now you can see road signs lit up for a mile down the road, but can't see the road well - especially road lines. There are a lot of roads around here that have no street lights and if you're on those roads, you'll just be guessing where the lines are. I wish that were an exaggeration, but it's not. 2) Now she's occasionally being flashed by oncoming traffic because they think she's driving with the high beams on.
I think she should take it back to the dealership to have the level lowered "just a bit", but there is still the problem that these headlights seem to be inefficient above speeds greater than 35mph. I haven't seen anyone else complaining of poor light from them after scouring the internet for hours, so I am wondering if there could be something wrong with hers mechanically or electrically. The high beams light the road just fine, but she shouldn't have to use those full time. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to improve the headlight performance? Or is it reasonable to add some aux lights in the lower grille, perhaps? Thanks for any help.
03-04-2018, 04:28 PM
#2
If you join/visit the AMG Private Lounge (https://www.mercedes-amg.com/private...stration/login) and search for "C43 headlight" you'll find a posting about a C43's headlights. The article has details on how to adjust the headlights. I used the info to tweak my headlights because they were also adjusted too low at the factory. The adjustment was pretty easy and took way less time than taking the car to the dealer.
