(Too) Bright Headlights

[Stingler]

I get highbeamed in my TRX from time to time too. LED’s are bright in general. GM had a recall recently cause theirs were brighter then regulations allow.

Whenever I get highbeamed and I don’t have my highs on I also flash them back and say ”see I can do that too”

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[AVGeek99]

Any Jeep or truck with LEDs and has a lift or leveling kit should adjust their headlights. In stock form, most Jeeps and trucks are raked back to front so the front end is 1-2" (or possibly more) lower in the front than the back. The headlights are aimed assuming this raking. When a lift or leveling kit is added the raking is removed leaving the headlights aimed too high.

There are a lot of full size pickups around where I live. It's very easy to tell which ones have a lift or leveling kit becuase their headlights are blinding. Adjusting them is super simple, at least in Jeeps, not sure about others. I just had my '21 JLUR lifted and I had to adjust mine significantly, only took a few minutes.

 

[AVGeek99]

I get highbeamed in my TRX from time to time too. LED’s are bright in general. GM had a recall recently cause theirs were brighter then regulations allow.

Whenever I get highbeamed and I don’t have my highs on I also flash them back and say ”see I can do that too”

Good that GM had a recall, they are the worst. Even their crossovers are blinding on low beams. Their full size pick ups are the worst, especially when lifted or leveled.

 

[kurt13]

Are you lifted? Any chance your lights need adjusting because if that?

No sir. Stock. Been an issue since I got her in Feb 2018, but it just seems worse/more frequent these days.

 

[AFD]

I rarely get flashed with my JL, but when I do it's usually when I haven't cleaned the lenses in a while and they're getting excess scatter/diffusion from dirt, mud, dried bug guts or snow/ice.

The only Jeeps with LEDs that really blind me are usually LED bulbs in the stock reflector housing or a similar aftermarket setup without a defined cut-off, or guys that did a lift and never re-adjusted their beam to match the change in height or angle.

My personal advice is clean your headlights often, clean your windshield often and if lifted or towing often, aim your beam angle down a bit.

 

[DewHawk]

Haven't been flashed in a hot minute (giggidy). I did some adjusting to compensate for my lift and tires which put it pretty perfect for distance without being in peoples face. That being said, the last dude that threw the brights at me had some cheapy halogens so it looked more like a redneck light show than a blinding wake up call. He received a quick blast from my dual 2Banger combo beams and knocked off his little dance pretty quick. ?‍

I know the old school thought of aiming is to adjust from a wall. I found a dark road in the middle of the night lined with trees to have some extra references. Seems to have worked since I don't get the high beam salute anymore.

 

[roaniecowpony]

I'm on 37s with a 3.5" Metalcloak lift. It's fully 6" taller than a stock Rubicon. I have LED bulbs that are about twice the lux of the OEM LED headlights. I've taken care to adjust them. I don't get flashed.

 

[Byrds8]

I get flashed sometimes when I am out at night. I just flash them back. There was guy driving a Cadillac CTS that likes to wait til he is up on me (as in almost to the corner of my Jeep) to turn his brights on. The last time that ass tried that, I flashed him with my ditch lights. Hasnt happened since.

 

[jav_eee]

The easiest way to aim your headlights is to make sure they're just below the top edge of the trunk of the vehicle in front of you at a red light when stopped a few feet behind it. If you're lights are shining into the rear window then they're aimed too high.

 

[mgarciaknight]

No sir. Stock. Been an issue since I got her in Feb 2018, but it just seems worse/more frequent these days.

Could it be that your rear springs and or shocks are sagging causing the front end to raise ever so slightly raising your headlights cutoff point and blinding oncoming traffic. Its now been 5-6 years on your Jeep and xx amount of miles.

 

[LARSONEM]

I've got a 2022 Rubicon XR with LED lights. I run with my fog lights on all the time. And I have a Tazer in my Jeep with the fog light drop set to leave the fogs on with the high beams (does a great job putting light on the road in the front area between the Jeep and where the high beams hit). The LED lights are beautiful and bright. And yes I get flashed frequently with the low beams on. I feel badly that it's bothersome for some drivers, but with the amount of rural driving I do, I want to be able to see everything that's moving while I'm on the road.

 

[NWJeepr]

Now that it's dark all the time here in the PNW, I've been getting flashed on rural roads. A lot! I'm in a stock Rubi XR with the factory LED package.

Don't get me wrong, the lights are great. Even better than the Trucklite 7" LED's I had in my JK.

Now that one or both of the agencies (NHTSA/IIHS?) are rating headlamp quality, OE's are reaching for that "good" rating and lights are getting brighter and brighter. Certain new Toyotas, Subarus, Fords are simply...blinding...when coming at you.

Jeep's headlamps are generally good/better these days. Not sure about the halogens. In the JK, they were like candle-lit chandeliers, completely worthless.

The little Volvo C40 EV I rented recently had LED headlamps with "pixel" technology. It shines the LED through an LCD screen in front of the bulb and the car senses oncoming traffic and will automatically block out part of the screen as to not blind oncoming traffic. They are probably the most amazing headlamps I've ever used.

 

[Jkrezdorn]

Yep happens all the time. 21 wrangler

 

[Heimkehr]

Jeep's headlamps are generally good/better these days. Not sure about the halogens. In the JK, they were like candle-lit chandeliers, completely worthless.

The little Volvo C40 EV I rented recently had LED headlamps with "pixel" technology. It shines the LED through an LCD screen in front of the bulb and the car senses oncoming traffic and will automatically block out part of the screen as to not blind oncoming traffic. They are probably the most amazing headlamps I've ever used.

There is a plain contrast between the transmission and the OEM headlights in my Jeep. The 850RE is easily the best automatic transmission I've ever used; the stock halogen lights, the worst. No other vehicle I've owned has had such distinctions.

It'd be interesting to know the replacement cost for the video game headlights in that C40 that you mention. They might make the cost of the OEM LED lights in the Jeep seem like an absolute bargain.

 

[roaniecowpony]

The easiest way to aim your headlights is to make sure they're just below the top edge of the trunk of the vehicle in front of you at a red light when stopped a few feet behind it. If you're lights are shining into the rear window then they're aimed too high.

Whether they shine in the back window of a vehicle at a light depends on many things. But if you have a lifted jeep and the car in front of you is a low car or very low sportscar and you are close to them, you'll never get the headlights to not shine in their back window unless you shut them off. You may not even have the range of adjustment in the headlights to point them down at that steep of angle. If you feel that is the criteria, you would have to lower the mounting position of your headlights, which is possible if you go to a smaller headlight and mount in the bumper.

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