[jfdelacruz]

Hi Guys,

Like many of you, I found the i30's headlights to be lacking and so I changed the bulbs to Philips XtremeVisions. I really like them and they're really bright. I've also tweaked the alignment of the headlight and raised them up a bit (not blinding other drivers) and now I can see really far down the road even with low-beams on.

My problem is, after changing the bulbs I observed that the left-side headlight (where the battery is) is "sharper and defined" compared to the right-side headlight. I attached some pictures to show this. You can't quite see it but it is very apparent in person. Also the color of the "step" on the left-side headlight has a bluish-tint to it whereas the right-side has an orange-tint to it. When it was all original, the left and right headlights looked absolutely identical both in sharpness, coloring and definition.

I tried going back to the original bulbs with the right-side headlight (where the problem is) but the original look didn't come back. I'm quite 100% sure that it's not a bulb-seating problem as I have done this 10x just to check if it's a bulb-seating problem (even going so far as wiggling the bulb in place while lit.

Right-side
Left-side

both

Is it possible that the projector somehow shifted? Can I fix this myself or should I just buy a new headlight assembly? Car is still under warranty but I don't think they will accept this as it's perfectly working. But I am kind of OCD...

Hoping for suggestions guys!

[Dazzler]

Very odd.. have you tried switching the globes side to side? Also, have you inspected the bulbs to ensure they are identical? Maybe, when they were packaged up they got the type or wattage mixed.

I doubt the projector thing has moved (a replacement would be expensive) 

The only other thing I can think of is that some dust or an insect or something (or maybe moisture?) had got in there .. can you try cleaning the inside of the lens??

Good luck with it!

[Phil №❶]

@jfdelacruz,

Can't help with the sharpness issue, but I don't think you should have adjusted your lights at all. With standard light fittings, this can be done moderately but there is a real danger with projection lenses that you are blinding incoming traffic.

Notice in your display of your lights the top edge of the beams. They are shaped differently but most importantly, there is a very distinct boundary between on light and full light. You have shifted this boundary up to give yourself longer distance vision, but you have exposed oncoming traffic to the full beam of the projector too. I believe it is now unsafe.

The lights should be reset at a dealership IMO.

[jfdelacruz]

Hi Phil,

Im fully aware of this which is why I aligned the lights to ECE standards. Here in the Philippines new cars are delivered with too low low-beams. You can see on the last pic I have markings for aligning the headlight.

[Phil №❶]

Why would Hy do that, do they use a different system, at pre-delivery 

[rustynutz]

Some of us here in Oz reckon the i30's lights were a bit low as standard too.....

I ended up cranking mine up a whisker....

Curiously, mine always seemed to be too high if anything but not enough to bother chasing up (noone complained). I didn't measure but just noticed the road signs lighting up a long way up when lights are dimmed.

[Lorian]

Make sure the bulb is sat into the collar properly and the key is home properly.

[kyle0968]

Kabayan,   Basing it from your post, the first thing i would still check for is a bulb seating issue (although you have said you have checked against it)  i would suggest this as you said you have put back the original bulbs/globes and the sharpness didn't come back. also check if your old bulbs are exactly of the same type and brand. or try putting both of them on to the problem headlight and see if it makes any difference. 

after making sure this isn't the problem, you may want to readjust back to your previous alignment setting just to see if the geometry could have been a bit offset when you have tried adjusting the alignment.

is your headlight a projector or the reflector type? is your bulb an H7? i asked this because h7 bulbs are of two types; H7S for projectors and H7R for reflector type headlights. which may affect the sharpness or light output on projectors
 

[jfdelacruz]

Kabayan!

Alright will do that again when I find time for it. The bulbs are H7 and the headlights are the projector types (these have the black shrouds stock). I didn't know that there were two types but if it helps, the left one has the "proper" sharpness while the right one doesn't. so I'm fairly sure it's either the headlight itself or as you guys said, the bulb seating. I'll re-seat again (and try both original bulbs) and check back.

[kyle0968]

if a further check still yields the same result, it is possible that the geometry of the lens, reflector, and the bulb could have shifted a bit when you changed bulbs.  But on the contrary, it wont be that easy to upset the projector geometry by simply changing a bulb...

a simpler solution to that?

do a proper retrofit and go slap in an HID projector in there...  and you'll be all smiles afterwards