headlights

Man, our cars have horrible lighting and we all know it. I have new headlights and Silverstar bulbs and it is still not that great. My wife's 2000 Grand Am has Silverstars and they light up the road 100 times better than my GTP. When aiming the lights, is there any certain way to do so to get more light on the road? Should they be projected up so you can see further down the road and less directly in front of you or aim them more down towards the road to see in front of you? Should the light beams cross down the road or be pretty much straight ahead? I have tried aiming a few different ways and nothing seems to help. The snow will be coming and I would like to be able to see where I am going. Any info would be greatly appreciated. I am getting pretty frustrated.

you know,i was wondering the same thing i can barley see at night.i was just talkin about this with my friend,how it looks like mine light up the ground about 10 feet out but after that i cant see shit..let me know if you find a fix.~joe

Do you have your fog/driving lights on? With all four lights working properly your prix should light up the county. Silverstars make a HUGE difference when you use them for all four lights. High beam could be better, but low beam is excellent for spotting those deer running at ya.

(2003 Grand Prix Limited) I had the same problem with my headlights. I put the silverstars in them and that helped a ton. I think the year depends alot too. My dad has a '97 Grand Prix, and his lights are alot worse then my '03. Again the Silverstars did help too.
I drive in the snow too, so I know what youre concerned about. One thing you could do, is buy new headlight assemblys ($$$). I know on the '97 Grand Prix, the headlights are pitted and scratched and just overall not really clear.
Anyways, I adjusted my lights now so that the driver side is shot down at the road more, and the passenger side is out a little farther. (not too extreme though). And I've been pretty satisfied with that.

Yes I always use my foglights. I have Silverstar bulbs in there too. I adjusted my headlights so they are a little higher to see more of the road without shining on the back of somebody's head. I must have had them down too low. I have my fogs aimed down at the road so the front of the lights up pretty good. They could be better, but they will do. Should the fogs be pointed more towards the ground or raised up to shine a little further down the road?

I noticed on my car (1998) and I'm sure others, that there is a tube that the bulb goes into when changing bulbs in the headlight housing. It has a delflector on the top. I wonder if that cuts down the lighting on the road.

That deflector only reduces glare to oncoming drivers. Without it, the light would blind them, even on dim.

I've had the same problem with 2001 SE headlights. Swapped for Silverstars and they haven't done any better. So if anyone has a fix, PLEASE let us know.

The biggest issue is the headlight lenses tend to cloud up, and making sure the headlights are aimed properly. My 99 GT lights up the road excellent after using Meguiars plastic polish on the lenses, installing Silverstars, and re-aiming them.

Rich, Where did you get the polish and how did you aim your lights? Do you aim them more up or more down towards the road? How about the fogs???

Thank you.

I got the polish at Advance Auto parts. I aimed the lights myself in the driveway on a slightly foggy evening so I could see the beams in the mist. You can also do it in a parking lot with nice dark asphalt. The two adjusting screws (one for left/right and one for up/down) are located on the headlamp assembly.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f44/richtazz/GPheadlampaiming.gif

I have been adjusting the beams myself but cannot seem to find a comfort zone. I was wondering if yours was aimed more down in front of the car on the road, or up, and down the road. Thank you for your help!

Best thing to do is run the visual aiming procedure below to get it in the ballpark and then take it out to a parking lot at night to do some final tweaking to get them up as high as possible without blinding oncoming traffic. It is hit and miss. You can use a 1/4" socket from a 1/4 inch drive socket set on the Torx adjustment screws. Then adjust the fog lights up or down to fill in any gap up to the headlamp beam. Do not adjust the fog lamps too high because they will fail to work properly in foggy conditions when needed and will reflect enough light back to mess up your visibility.

http://www.coolbulbs.com/HID-VISUAL-HEADLIGHT-AIMING-PROCEDURE.pdf

Do you apply the polish to the outside or inside of the lens?

My lights dont seem to be to bad. Its when I go to high beam is where it gets bad. I think I can see better with high beams off...


GO BUCKS.....

I bought some cleaner/polish online. I polished the lenses and they actually look pretty damn good. Most of the cloudiness is gone. I polished the fog lenses as well. I aimed my beams a little higher down the road. I made sure they weren't too high as to shining in someone's back window. They seem to be a lot better now. I have silverstars in my wife's 2000 GA and those cars put out much better lighting than the GP's.

Go GATORS!

I tried the plastic polish, but it seems the cloudiness is on the inside of the plastic lenses. Is there an easy way to get these off to tackle the inside, or should I just replace the things? I have a '97 Grand Prix GT.

Thanks for the help.

So do I apply it to the inside of the lense or outside?

The cleaner/polish I use is made by Janvill. You use it to clean the outside of the plastic light. It does a pretty good job. If your problem is on the inside then I think you will more than likely have to get a new headlight assembly, or wait til the plastic front falls off like most of them do eventually :)

http://www.janvil.com/

Now do you apply the polish for the lenses inside or outside of the headlight lenses? I believe it would be inside!!

Now do you apply the polish for the lenses inside or outside of the headlight lenses? I believe it would be inside!!

Sorry but how about doing a favor and please do not resurrect old threads. Best to start a new thread addressing your issue or question. Thanks.

Thread closed.