It's not about how they look, it's about how they work!

Now that the days are getting shorter, I've had more opportunities to use the car in the dark. I live in a mostly rural area with rolling countryside with roads that are quite dark at night.

The low beams, while being very bright, have a distinct cutoff of the beam on the top meaning the beam goes from light to dark in a distinct horizontal line. You may not notice this when driving in well lit areas.

This cutoff is a problem on hilly roads. When you go down the hill, the beam shines only to the bottom of the hill but does not shine at all up the other side because it's cut off on the top. So you end up driving down into a valley but are unable to see far enough up the road as the road goes up the other side until the car actually starts up the hill. To me, this is quite dangerous, resulting in overdriving your headlights and possibly not seeing that deer in the road quick enough. Yes, I can use the high beams but as bright as these low beams are, that should not be needed. It also may not be possible with traffic coming from the other direction.

I can raise them up to where this is not quite as objectionable but then I get people flashing their high beams at me. I can't seem to find the proper height without a compromise.

I guess the car was designed to be driven on flat roads or only during the day.

 

I'm pretty sure that's what the high beams were designed for.

 

Ya can't have it both ways. If your low beams didn't have the cutoff, they would blind oncoming drivers. The specific situation you mention really calls for high beams. Don't worry about it!
GM

 

I find it the best lighted car I have ever driven bar none! Compared to my old Mustang Cobra lights, night & day. Pun intended!

 

This issue is even a little bit worse on the really lowered cars.

 

 

i dont have my vette yet

but on my sti, the factory HID's came on too low, i raised them about 2 inches up or so when, i used a wall and it came up alot nicer and showed the road better..

the only thing was, the STi had a 4 point adjustable headlight where I could raise and lower the beam from the inside of the car. So i had the highest point for when I was on back roads and I used the setting 2 for when other cars were around.

I guess you could adjust them on the c6 but you could also potentially blind people. Rofl...

 

I think you didn't catch the mention of oncoming traffic? With cars coming the other way, you have no choice other than to drive into a black hole.

 

fun to drive both day and night.

 

I too noticed the original complaint on hilly, curvey roads at night. I found the high beams worked great in those situations and usually there is a minimum of on-coming traffic so it works out perfect.

 

I've had this problem on other cars. Self leveling lights (which I have now on a Lexus) help some as they adjust some to the attitude of the vehicle...but this doesn't entirely fix the problem either. This is a definite downside to the HID lights that is really not 'fixable.'

 

You could move to Florida. No snow here.

 

Had the same headlight pattern on my 470 Lexus. Really hated it because it was difficult to see any critters at night.