Headlight beam benders

[jaiymes]

Hello again folks.

We are taking our van to France this month, and it is our first venture abroad with it or the car.

We obviously need a number of extra kit to keep legal, and have covered it for the most part already, but not these.

Can you tell me which brand/type is best suited for the job, or are they all very much of a muchness ?? I have searched online for them and am gettting confused by the different types available. The car has headlamp wipers and I was wondering if they might rip the blades to bits when on etc. Are the beam bender type any good, or is it best to go for the sort of black patches to stop the beam ??

I know this seems such a trivial question really, but we just want to get it right from the outset, and keep the Gendarmes happy . .. . !

Thanks in anticipation

Kind regards

James

 

[lynton381]

Hi there James,

Like you we travelled to France recently and I used beam benders that I got from Halfords the totally do the trick. Although I have no wipers on my Renault Vel Satis it has a poweful spray, and if the beam benders are securely fixed I'm sure there will be no issues.

Hope that Helps

Tony & Lyn

 

[Lutz]

I'd advise removing the wiper arms of the headlamp wiper if you're going to fit lens patches. Even if the plastic film is thin, it's not going to do the wiper blades any good. The other alternative is to forget about stick-on patches altogether and adjust the headlamps down and preferably a bit to the right.

 

[petercoachman]

hi got my halfords beam benders knicked at portsmouth dock did'nt notice for a couple of weeks so used black tape no problems happy vanning peter

 

[Clive-Cardiff]

hi got my halfords beam benders knicked at portsmouth dock did'nt notice for a couple of weeks so used black tape no problems happy vanning peter

Hello Peter, How did the holliday go?

 

[Lutz]

The optical quality of beam benders leaves a lot to be desired. They cut out dazzle more by reducing the light output and by scattering the light than actually bending the beam. Patches are therefore no worse and a good deal cheaper.

 

[ThePlotter]

The main problem eith beam benders or patches is that modern lights do not have the reference points marked on them as they did in the 'good old days' so it is not easy to know exactly where to fit them and of course if they are not in corect place you are wasting your time and also reducing your visability.As a point of interest when you go have a look and see how many brits no longer bother and also how many French etc reciprocate ( I am told their lights are different,they would be wouldn't they.

 

[Lutz]

With more and more cars fitted with xenon headlamps and even in some cases with adaptive forward lighting which steers with the car, beam benders and patches are of no use anyway and the only thing you can do is to adjust the whole beam pattern down and to the right.

Plotter, it's not the French lights which are different, it's the UK lights which have an asymmetric pattern. French headlamps, like all others on the Continent, have a symmetric beam pattern.

 

[ThePlotter]

Lutz,you are right but I was following the british way by saying its not us that is out of line its everyone else,not like us Brits to be different!

 

[richardpalmer]

I did hear that perhaps you only need them if you're in France for more than 120 days...true or false?

 

[ThePlotter]

no that is way off the mark,but right or wrong few seem to bother with them I must confess I tend to just dip the lights a bit with the headlight adjuster switch that a lot of cars have these days.It may not be the correct way but I dont get irate drivers flashing me so assume it works.

 

[Lutz]

It doesn't matter how you do it so long as you don't dazzle oncoming traffic. If using the beam adjuster is adequate, there's no need for any other measure.

 

[chrissie2]

I haven't used beam benders for years. My car handbook gives instructions for adjusting the beam (just raise the bonnet and move a small switch behind the headlight on each side, which seems to sort things out nicely. On return to the UK, the adjustment is simply reversed. I have a 2001 Vauxhall Omega - surely it cannot be so technologically advanced that no one else's vehicle has this facility? It is certainly a lot easier than fiddling about with bits of sticky-back plastic.

 

[jaiymes]

Hi guys

Thank you all very much for your kind advice. I think I will try the ones from Halfords. I take onboard the comments about using the headlight adjuster to dip the beam, and will probably do this also, but I just want to keep it all legal and so will fit these beam benders as well (belt and braces approach) and so hopefully keep the locals happy, and the Gendarmes off our tail.

All we need now is for the weather to hold out for us and all should be well.

Thanks again

Kind regards

James

 

[ThePlotter]

I dint know what car you have but fitting benders or black electrical used to be easy on older cars as they were marked which area to blank,modern headlight are now almost clear glass/plastic without ant reference points.Last time I tried it I had to contact the manufacturer Ford im my case who sent me a template for the patch and also of the light to determine where it was to be fitted.

 

[cooky1]

The lights on my Jag S-Type were clear with no markings on the lenses. I had to buy a cover for the lights with a blacked out bit to bend the beam -

 

[Ken_5040834]

Might as well put them on eBay!

 

[Keith_5115722]

I haven't used beam benders for years. My car handbook gives instructions for adjusting the beam (just raise the bonnet and move a small switch behind the headlight on each side, which seems to sort things out nicely. On return to the UK, the adjustment is simply reversed. I have a 2001 Vauxhall Omega - surely it cannot be so technologically advanced that no one else's vehicle has this facility? It is certainly a lot easier than fiddling about with bits of sticky-back plastic.

I think you'll find it's mainly older cars that have the beam adjusters on the headlights. I'm surprised you still have them on a 2001 car as I haven't seen them since the early 1990s. They worked because headlight bulbs used to have a shield inside them and by rotating the bulb, the asymetrical pattern could be changed from left to right.

More recent headlights did it by the pattern of the lens, and many mid 1990s cars by the pattern of the reflector. I don't know about the most modern cars though.

Keith