[KhaosHammer]

Hello guys! new here and very happy to know that there a forum dedicated to my (our's) car.

I recently (6 months ago) purchased a second hand, but barely driven, I30 2015.

I really love the car, but I feel like my headlights (low beams) are quite dim.
Tried replacing my bulbs with the best Philips bulbs I could find, also tried some LED kits (the good ones, not those that look like converted H7's halogens)
But even though the LED's where brighter, the still felt quite dim compared to other cars.
The other day I waited for my GF below her house during the night, and a KIA Picanto was parked 2 spots to the left of me, both of us where with our headlights on, and his felt quite alot brighter than mine.
As far as I understand, I got projector headlights which are supposed to be brighter than Reflector's, but I don't know... perhaps I got defective headlight units?
I did some research and people suggested checking the headlights ground wiring for corrosion and for being not properly fastened... but I couldn't find where the ground wire was.
I am getting quite down as my headlight's truly feel inadequate... and it bothers me while driving at night.
I am pretty much clueless as to what I should do to make them better..
Any help would be appreciated!

(as far as car model, I am from Israel, and it seems like the model's here are named very differently from other places, what I can tell for sure is that my car is a 2015, 1.6 liter (on top of the engine it says GDi), 132HP 5 door hatchback I30, and according to the car registry, it's an "Inspire" model or whatever.)

Thank you all very much. also for good measure and because I love it despite my troubles with it, attaching a photo of my car.

Cheers!

[Dazzler]

  KhaosHammer (interesting moniker you chose!)

Impressive introductory first posting. 

Yes, you are not the first to comment on the relatively poor headlights in the (series 2) GD. The FD (Series 1) were poor too. I feel the Series 3 (PD) ones are better but I still upgraded the globes and they are great now.

I am a bit surprised that they are still poor after upgrading the globes though. Saying that, I did upgrade my wife's globes in her 2014 Tourer (a wagon version of your car) and they are better although she seems to think there is still a slight dark patch between the low and high beam even though I have adjusted them.

They do tend to be set a bit low out of the factory but are reasonably easy to adjust up a little.

[KhaosHammer]

Interesting moniker? That's a first, I'll take it as a compliment 

Thank you for the reply, I knew I forgot to mention something in my OP...
Right after I bought it I had a visit to the mechanic, to do some mainetenance
Just cause I didn't want to rely on what the previous owner did or did not.
The mechanic did check the lights for proper adjustment, and they were just right.
But alas, I found them aimed too low for my taste so I pit the car facing a wall and adjusted them slightly upwards.
Yet, All in all, I still feel that they inadequate...
So I just have to get used to it? Or is the something that can be done? Also, is there any truth to what said about the ground wire?

Thank you!

[Dazzler]

It certainly wasn't a negative about your choice of name, just an observation. 

The ground or earth can be an issue in the diesel. Particularly the series 1 FD where it is suspected of causing prematurely blown globes. I haven't ever heard of an earth causing the lights not to perform at their full brightness though. 

I also found mine dim when I first bought the car, after replacing the standard bulbs with Philips White Vision ( +30 ) there was a slight improvement but what really helped was raising the level they were set to as both sides were much to low.

[KhaosHammer]

I also found mine dim when I first bought the car, after replacing the standard bulbs with Philips White Vision ( +30 ) there was a slight improvement but what really helped was raising the level they were set to as both sides were much to low.

Any chance you can give me a link to some recommended bulbs through amazon? the whiter the better (though I prefer my bulbs to give that "xenon" look, I'd currently go with brightness over "whiteness")

It certainly wasn't a negative about your choice of name, just an observation. 

The ground or earth can be an issue in the diesel. Particularly the series 1 FD where it is suspected of causing prematurely blown globes. I haven't ever heard of an earth causing the lights not to perform at their full brightness though. 

I never said it was negative, just never had anyone take an interest in my moniker haha xD
As for the ground wire. look here How to Repair a Dim Headlight | The Family Handyman
Don't know how trustworthy this info is, but I came upon it not too long ago.
Told myself I better ask somewhere like here, probably someone can tell if it's BS or not.

cheers and thank you both mates!

I also found mine dim when I first bought the car, after replacing the standard bulbs with Philips White Vision ( +30 ) there was a slight improvement but what really helped was raising the level they were set to as both sides were much to low.

Any chance you can give me a link to some recommended bulbs through amazon? the whiter the better (though I prefer my bulbs to give that "xenon" look, I'd currently go with brightness over “whiteness”)

Philips White Vision - Diamond Vision - Crystal Vision can all be found easily enough through Amazon if you search, I don’t personally use Amazon though I’d suggest you browse the Philips website to check the specs you’d like before purchasing elsewhere.

Concerning bulbs you’ve mentioned using LED’s which will be far brighter than any halogen bulb so I’m thinking it may be more about adjusting the beams better if possible rather than purchasing more bulbs that inevitably you’ll be unhappy with if the beams still aren’t adjusted correctly.

[KhaosHammer]

I also found mine dim when I first bought the car, after replacing the standard bulbs with Philips White Vision ( +30 ) there was a slight improvement but what really helped was raising the level they were set to as both sides were much to low.

Any chance you can give me a link to some recommended bulbs through amazon? the whiter the better (though I prefer my bulbs to give that "xenon" look, I'd currently go with brightness over “whiteness”)

Philips White Vision - Diamond Vision - Crystal Vision can all be found easily enough through Amazon if you search, I don’t personally use Amazon though I’d suggest you browse the Philips website to check the specs you’d like before purchasing elsewhere.

Concerning bulbs you’ve mentioned using LED’s which will be far brighter than any halogen bulb so I’m thinking it may be more about adjusting the beams better if possible rather than purchasing more bulbs that inevitably you’ll be unhappy with if the beams still aren’t adjusted correctly.

I had my lights adjusted "professionally" at a certified Hyundai shop. then I was unsatisfied with the low beams and they were too... low, so I manually adjusted them upwards and the effect was good.
I know my LED's were much brighter, but unfortunately for some stupid reason, LED's or whatever "mods" to my lightning is not road legal if it didn't originally come with the car from the dealership. meaning that if it didn't came with LED's and they are not written down in the car registration, a cop could fine/take the car off the road. I never heard of anyone actually finding such a d*ck of a cop to fine them over bulbs, but it's a possibility apparently.
So in order to avoid unnecessary run in's with the law, I settled down on Halogens. 
Any recommended's between those 3? White Vision - Diamond Vision - Crystal Vision

Cheers and thank you!

[Dazzler]

Thanks for the link KH. The fact that My Wife, Craig and others have found the i30's lights fairly average from new, would tend to suggest it is more a design issue than a gradual corroding of the earth connection. Would you agree @nzenigma @tw2005 ?

If the LED's were acceptable brightness wise I would have been VERY tempted to stick with them. In fact I am very close to biting the bullet on converting my headlights to LED.  Mine in the PD are suitably bright with uprated bulbs but I am worried about their longevity as the brighter bulbs are known to have a significantly shorter lifespan.     

[nzenigma]

The issue with poor earth can be resolved simply with a voltmeter.
With headlights ON:

Measure between +12v and -12v at the globe, it should read 12-13 volts.
Next measure between battery -ve and -12v (earth/ground) at the bulb. It should read 0v (zero).

I suspect that  the ground (-ve) is not a problem because the lights have separate ground wires. Therefore, only one faulty light will be dim.

Now with low beam on; take the voltmeter and measure from battery +ve to low beam +ve. Ideally you should have 0v or close to that.

 If you measure say +2v, that means you have a two volt drop in the circuit and your light is only working on 10 volts. Where is the drop occurring?

[ the above tests basically replicate each other, but it will be the procedure needed if line drop is detected. If it is an inherent loom problem , the simple remedy may be to add a relay close to the light. ]

An aside on cops and bulbs  we cannot legally retro fit Xenon light kits, because they have a wide spray pattern.
If you look at the original i30 set up, the bulbs are hooded to keep the light low on the road. If the LED does the same, it shouldn't be a problem.

[Dazzler]

@nzenigma Thanks Gary great post. Just what we needed to know. 

[KhaosHammer]

The issue with poor earth can be resolved simply with a voltmeter.
With headlights ON:

Measure between +12v and -12v at the globe, it should read 12-13 volts.
Next measure between battery -ve and -12v (earth/ground) at the bulb. It should read 0v (zero).

I suspect that  the ground (-ve) is not a problem because the lights have separate ground wires. Therefore, only one faulty light will be dim.

Now with low beam on; take the voltmeter and measure from battery +ve to low beam +ve. Ideally you should have 0v or close to that.

 If you measure say +2v, that means you have a two volt drop in the circuit and your light is only working on 10 volts. Where is the drop occurring?

[ the above tests basically replicate each other, but it will be the procedure needed if line drop is detected. If it is an inherent loom problem , the simple remedy may be to add a relay close to the light. ]

An aside on cops and bulbs  we cannot legally retro fit Xenon light kits, because they have a wide spray pattern.
If you look at the original i30 set up, the bulbs are hooded to keep the light low on the road. If the LED does the same, it shouldn't be a problem.

I'll be sure to check voltages as soon as I'll have some free time. Thank you very much for this very detailed post!
As for cops and bulbs, I know that Xenon is not legal due to problems with spread patterns with headlights not built for them. So I'll never try them, not to mention having to deal with shady conversion kits, yuck.
As for LED's, they actually provide light noticeably stronger than even the best halogens I could get, they are bang on spread wise as well, mimicking the halogen spread to the mm. but unfortunately, as I said, for some reason here in Israel using any lightning solution that is not what the car originally had installed (e.g halogen, or LED's) is illegal. The law considers it to be a "structural modification"and a very nit picky cop might get the vehicle completely off the road.
For now Ï guess I'll have to stick to what I've got.

Thank you all for your assistance, awesome guys each and every one!