At this point, you already know what high beams are. High beams are basically the higher light settings of your headlight as they are better at covering far distances compared to low beams.
That said, even though high beams are actually pretty bright, there are instances where they might not be bright enough for you especially when you compare them to the high beams of other cars.
How do you make your high beams brighter?
Doing things such as restoring the faded lenses of your headlight, adjusting the aim, and using newer lights can make your high beams brighter. This will allow your headlights to cover a longer distance so that you can drive safely especially when it is night and you don’t want to drive seemingly blind.
Even though many drivers find high beams annoying especially when they are too bright, you have to understand how important they are especially when you are driving on the freeway at night.
That said, it should be a good idea to know how to make your high beams brighter so that you will be able to drive safely at night or whenever the road is very dark.
Why my car headlights are not bright enough?
One of the most useful devices on your car is the headlights.
That’s because the headlights are capable of illuminating the road especially when it’s night and there are no lights that can help you see what’s happening out there. Of course, it is very interesting to note that your headlights are very important and are legally mandated especially when you are driving at night.
In relation to your headlights, you should know that there are different settings that you can use.
The low beam is supposed to be used whenever there is enough light on the road such as when you are driving in the city, which is full of different lights that are more than enough for your visibility.
Meanwhile, the high beam setting is supposed to help you make sure that you can see well at night especially when you are driving on a road that isn’t quite illuminated.
When you are using your high beams, it is important to note that your headlights should be able to illuminate up to 500 feet or probably more than that depending on the settings of your car.
That means that this should be more than enough for you at night especially when you are driving on a particularly dark road at night. You don’t want to end up not being able to see what’s in front of you until it’s too late, and that is why your high beams should be bright enough at night.
However, there might be instances when you feel like your high beams aren’t bright enough for you. This might be something you notice when you are driving at night on a freeway that’s not illuminated well enough.
So, if that is the case, what are the possible reason why your high beam isn’t bright enough for you?
Reason #1
Well, there are quite a number of different reasons why your high beams are not as bright as they should be. It really depends on certain instances such as the age of the car and on the conditions surrounding the car. But there are common reasons that are usually the causes of high beams that aren’t bright enough.
First off, your car’s headlight lenses might not be polished well enough or are probably cloudy. This is quite common for any kind of car regardless of how old they may be but the fact is that you might have headlights that have become cloudy due to the moisture building up inside the lenses or for other reasons like dirt or dust.
Reason #2
Another reason why your high beams might not be that too bright is that they are not properly aligned. In such an instance, the high beams are actually bright enough but what happened is that something caused the headlights to change their alignment. This would thereby make it seem like they are not bright enough even though their brightness is really normal.
Finally, there is also the possibility that your bulbs are already too old to the point that you can no longer rely on them during low-light conditions. As such, even though you tried your hardest to restore your headlights, you can’t do anything if the bulbs are already too old and are in dire need of replacements or upgrades.
How do I make my high beams brighter?
Now that you know the possible reasons why your high beams are not as bright as they should be, let’s look at some of the different ways that you can use to restore the brightness of your headlights or make them brighter.
Restore the cloudy or faded lenses
It is natural for a car’s headlights to fog or fade especially when the headlights are already quite old.
There are even new cars that may end up with cloudy headlights. In such instances, the best way to make your high beams brighter is to restore the cloudy or faded lenses. This is something that can be done even when the plastic lenses have become yellow or dull.
So, the best way for you to restore faded or cloudy lenses is by using a headlight restoration kit. This is one of the best DIY maintenance tools that you can buy and use for your car as it is pretty affordable and is quite easy to use for anyone.
By using a restoration kit for your headlights, there is a chance that you will be able to clean out the yellowing or clear out any cloudiness in the lenses. As such, you will be able to improve the overall capabilities of your high beam and bring them back to normal.
However, there is also a chance that this won’t end up being the case.
Adjust the alignment of the lenses
As mentioned, there are some instances where the lenses are actually bright enough.
However, the lenses don’t appear to be bright enough because the lenses were not properly aligned. As such, the only way for you to remedy this problem is to re-adjust the aim of the headlights.
The best way to check if your lights are properly aligned is to shine the headlights on a garage door. If the headlights are shining on the door at a weird angle, then that could mean that you need to have them re-adjusted. The only way for you to be able to do so is to take your car to the repair shop.
Can I put a brighter bulb in my headlight?
While we did say that you can actually find ways that you can brighten your headlights up without replacing the entire unit, there is actually a fast and simple way for you to make sure that your high beams are brighter than ever for a long time.
And that is through replacing the bulbs of a headlight with a brighter one. In other words, you can put a brighter bulb in your headlight.
One of the many things that you can do with your headlights is to replace the stock bulbs with an upgrade that is better and newer than your old one. So, in that regard, you will be able to have lights that are now much brighter than your old ones because you just replaced the old and faded ones with new lights.
You have the choice of using new halogen lights that are similar to your old ones but now brighter because they are newer and less faded.
However, you also have the choice of using LED assemblies that are brighter and better in terms of almost every aspect.
LED assemblies can brighten your headlights by up to 500% while utilizing less power. But these assemblies are also quite expensive and may cost you more than $2,000. And you can only upgrade to brighter LED lights if your car already came with LED headlights.
What is the brightest headlight bulb that is legal?
While it might be tempting to get the brightest headlights for your high beams, the fact of the matter is that there are limits to how bright your headlights can be.
After all, you probably noticed that there are some headlights that can be annoying especially when the high beams are too bright for your eyes.
High beams that are too bright can cause accidents due to how they can end up bothering the eyes of a driver who sees the headlights.
In that regard, what you should know is that the limits regarding your headlights is in relation to the wattage and not exactly to how bright the bulbs are.
In most cases, 35W headlights should be more than enough for city driving. Meanwhile, if you are driving off the road, you may be able to have something more than 50W in your headlights.
So, because the limits are in relation to the wattage and not to the brightness, the one thing you need to know is that you can use LED headlights but there are hardly any LED headlights that pass Federal safety standards.
And the most important thing you need to understand is that, if you have halogen lights in your car and your car did not come with LED headlights, that means that you are not allowed to upgrade to LED headlights.
Sources
Car From Japan: 3 Ways To Make Your High Beams Brighter
