Euro headlamp beam deflectors

[spitfire4v8]

I've put this in general TVR as it applies to tuscan and cerbera owners equally ..

I'm struggling finding a mask shape and position that eliminates the upwards beam pattern kick-up on my Tuscan dip beam units.

Rather counter-intuitively fitting a mask of some sort on the lower portion of the lens seems to have some/most effect, but I'm really struggling to eliminate a large portion of the kick-up without severely compromising the light output as a whole.

What have other owners fitted and what shape/positions did you end up with ?

I have factory fitted HIDs in the projector-style units (I'm assuming they were factory fit anyway, interestingly they have up/down motors and wiring attached for those motors which looks very TVR-like, even down to the fact they don't actually work )

cheers

[so called]

I've never fitted anything in the past on either my Mk1 and later my Convertible Tuscans.
Never been flashed or had a problem of any kind.

In the past on other cars, I have parked up close to a garage door with lights on and stuck and cut electrical (polly) tape to blank out the higher aspects of the beam.
Did this on my Chimaera.
Light deflector on a roll.

Forgot to point out many 10's of K's mileage as daily drivers in Germany from 2007 to 2017 and annual trips to southern France, Spain etc.

Edited by so called on Friday 10th May 14:25

Edited by so called on Friday 10th May 14:25

[TravelsVeryRapid]

I don’t bother either as we tend not to drive anywhere in the dark, but be careful what you use if you do. The first time we took the Tuscan to Europe I used masking tape, it got hot and cracked one of the lenses.

[RONV]

we travel twice a year in the EU years ago we used to cut a piece of black tape on them but I now have these stick on ones and remember you may travel mostly in the day but there are a lot of tunnels were you need your lights on

[ianwayne]

spitfire4v8 said:

I've put this in general TVR as it applies to tuscan and cerbera owners equally ..

I'm struggling finding a mask shape and position that eliminates the upwards beam pattern kick-up on my Tuscan dip beam units.

Rather counter-intuitively fitting a mask of some sort on the lower portion of the lens seems to have some/most effect, but I'm really struggling to eliminate a large portion of the kick-up without severely compromising the light output as a whole.

cheers

A few years ago (c. 2004) I took a Peugeot 405 to Spain for many months when I had an apartment there. I remember buying a pack of headlight deflectors and there was a pull out with all the different cars lamps and where to put them. I DO remember that it was in the bottom corner half of the glass front and it seemed to be bizarre to me. But it must be the way the glass acted as a lens because it worked.

European dipped lamps don't show a flick up to the passenger side so they don't need deflectors here. Only UK lamps have that flick up that illuminates higher up on the passenger side. The Tuscan with its small projector lamps (unless you mean 1960s Tuscan?) may not have this flick up on the passenger side like the big old square or round glass lenses so it may not be necessary. I'd check the beam in front of a light coloured wall.

[spitfire4v8]

Cheers all

I have ended up with a back-to-front L shape on the lamp glass .. not brilliant but the best I could do. It seems that quite a lot of the glass carries the flick-up lighting so it's rather difficult to eliminate that without covering almost all the glass area!

There's some hella units that you can unscrew the retaining screws on the back and rotate the whole lamp unit to make the kick-up horizontal (and so put a kick-up on the opposite side) but mine don't have that facility sadly.

[ninetynine]

the lights can be adjusted 2 screws on the rear of the lamp can be loosened and the internal part twists its a bit of a faff
so i have never bothered

[TwinKam]

Have you tried the prismatic type deflectors?... or is the glass too convex for them to adhere properly?

[spitfire4v8]

ninetynine said:

the lights can be adjusted 2 screws on the rear of the lamp can be loosened and the internal part twists its a bit of a faff
so i have never bothered

yes my lights don't seem to have that bit .. maybe because it's a very early car or maybe because they're HID from the factory .. but I can't see any way of rotating the lamp unit or the innards on my set, that would have been far preferable if it had been the case though

[spitfire4v8]

TwinKam said:

Have you tried the prismatic type deflectors?... or is the glass too convex for them to adhere properly?

not seen those before, the glass is quite curved so might not work, but bearing in mind what others have said about them not bothering with anything at all, and also that hopefully we won't actually have to do any driving at night, I've just gone with the best masking effort that gives some reduction of the kick-up when shone against the wall.

cheers all

[FarmyardPants]

I have the projector HIDs and travel a lot on the continent so I feel your pain.

What I did was take the light unit out from the wheel arch panel and modify the plate that controls the beam pattern.

The plate is removable from the lamp with a couple of torx screws.

As standard it has a sloping bit for the nearside upsweep, but I used a bit of tin foil folded and stuck over the whole width to make the beam pattern completely horizontal.

Bear in mind that the pattern is upside down compared to the projected image, so the bit you need to make flat might not be the bit you think. Hard to explain but it might take you two attempts .

Edit: I remember the details now in case you decide to do the same. The plate looks like this:

   \
    |

One straight section is longer than the other. You will be tempted to extend the longer straight section, whereas IIRC the longer bit is the upswept part, and it is the shorter length that you need to extend. It’ll make more sense when you have the plate in your hand.

Another edit: you'd think that the plate would be reversible, but the position of the screws and a locating pin prevents this.

Edited by FarmyardPants on Thursday 16th May 14:06