Is it just me, or are 2008 Camry headlights dull ?

[Forest Boy]

I have 2008 Altise, and I think there is a problem with the headlights - they are not very bright!

Hi-beam is fine.

Are projector headlights meant to be brighter than normal ones, or just more focused ?

I had a 99 Sonata before this and it's headlight's were way brighter.

I was driving around last night, and basically every other car on the road has brighter head-lights, even 15 year old hatchbacks.

We've had the car since late 2008, my wife drives it mostly, but I didn't notice until I drove it a round a few times at night. When I mentioned it to her, she says that sometimes she has to flick the hi-beams on in urban areas just to see what is ahead (yep, I explained to her it is illegal and dangerous).

I'll be taking it in for a service soon, but it will be hard to illustrate the problem in the middle of the day.

In summary, if you have a gen7 Camry, have you noticed the headlight are not very bright ?

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

[DJKOR]

Projector headlights are typically lose a very very small amount of brightness typically because of the optics involved. However, this difference is nothing major.

The main issue you are getting here is that because the light is highly focused, it doesn't appear as bright. With reflector headlights, you're used to light being scattered in many directions. This gives an illusion of a much brighter light, when in fact it is the glare that is causing that.

The best way to think of it is like a laser pointer. If you get just your run of the mill 1 milli-watt laser, you'll notice that the light shines to a small dot and can even travel a good distance. Then you get a tiny cheap red LED light. It will light up more things, but it's lighting ability drops off as the distance goes up. Not the best comparison, but you should get the idea.

I just use my high beams when no one else is around... and I have HID's as well. Because the cut-off for the projectors is not very high up, it makes seeing into the distance a little difficult.

[1stKill]

My projector headlights in my 08 Aurion are sh!t...i do the same as your missus,i use my hi-beams in urban areas sometimes (when no other cars around of course) just to bloody see where i'm going...when i 1st got the Aurion i must have drove past my driveway 3-4 times on low beam grrrr,switched to hi beam for a while before i worked out a new turning point in dimmer light...i'm kinda used to it now,i did notice on the way back from Sydney last week that they perform better when there is no other light around,in pitch black they work ok...

maybe HID is all thats left for us,i've already talked to Toyota about the lights on my car and really got no plausible respose...not that they can really do much anyway,it's in the design. :(

[chicken]

are the low beam lights bulbs h11 for aurion and camry?

you can try brighter h11.

or if you can confirm that a h9 filament is in the SAME position as the h11... you can try modifying a h9 light bulb to fit the h11 socket (DIY http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=119161). h9 creates more lumens than h11 [2100 lumens (H9) as opposed to 1200 lumens (H11) according to Ken33f]

[DJKOR]

In my opinion, stepping up to a bulb with a higher output isn't necessarily going to correct the issue that he is having. Mainly because the light is focused as I mentioned earlier, and that it doesn't really light up much outside of its beam pattern. I have HID's (which are about 2900 lumen) and still find that it still doesn't help and that I need to resort to high beams at times, all because it is focused to a small area.

[Speed]

i use to have H4 for my camry 55/65v i can't see a thing on the road. then i change it to H4. 130/90v thing getting much better now.

[David the Viking]

You can try Osram Night Breakers. I have a set which I bought on ebay from a UK seller. They have the standard wattage but are brighter and make a it a bit better. The down side is that they will only last about half the life of the OE Philips bulbs.

I think PIAA also have something similar.

[Forest Boy]

DJKOR, I understand your point about the focus, but the reach of the headlights is poor as well.

It is not just that the lights "appear" to be dull due to the focus, I am certain that the lights "actually" are dull.

Often cars driving behind me will light up trees and signposts in front of me (well not directly in front, there is just a murky yelllow illumination directly in front!)

I'm just suprised that a fairly popular, modern car can have such crap headlights. It's bordering on dangerous.

I don't want to get ito HID/xenon, as there seems to be ambiguity about their legality (NSW)

The bulbs are actually H7. I'd read good things about Philips X-treme Power and Osram night breaker, so was about order some from PowerBulbs. Anyway, I decided to pull the orignal bulbs to make sure they are not too hard to replace, and found this..

I don't claim to know that much about auto bulbs, but thay grey coating on the inside sure goes a long to explaining why the lights are so dull !

[chicken]

DJKOR, I understand your point about the focus, but the reach of the headlights is poor as well.

It is not just that the lights "appear" to be dull due to the focus, I am certain that the lights "actually" are dull.

Often cars driving behind me will light up trees and signposts in front of me (well not directly in front, there is just a murky yelllow illumination directly in front!)

I'm just suprised that a fairly popular, modern car can have such crap headlights. It's bordering on dangerous.

I don't want to get ito HID/xenon, as there seems to be ambiguity about their legality (NSW)

The bulbs are actually H7. I'd read good things about Philips X-treme Power and Osram night breaker, so was about order some from PowerBulbs. Anyway, I decided to pull the orignal bulbs to make sure they are not too hard to replace, and found this..

I don't claim to know that much about auto bulbs, but thay grey coating on the inside sure goes a long to explaining why the lights are so dull !

wow that is not good at all. that would be your problem the glass should be clear. replace them asap!

Edited July 26, 2009 by chicken

[DJKOR]

I think you just answered your own question on why your headlights are dim.

[Forest Boy]

Indeed, they were faulty bulbs.

I ordered some Philips Xtreme Power bulbs from PowerBulbsDirect on Monday morning, arrived in Friday's post !

Here are my "garage-door" shots for comparison:

Faulty original bulbs:

Philips Xtreme power:

'nuff said.

Edited August 1, 2009 by Forest Boy

[Whip Cracker]

HOLY CRAP - huge difference mate.

Spose you asked the question and answered it all in one go there..

[Tash]

I know...that's a massive difference!!! Certainly makes me want to go and check mine out, although I think they're alright. Now you can see the rabbits running in before you hit them :P

[mtbrider]

The lights on my Camry Grande 2008 are rubbish.

Can you provide the details of the bulbs and where you ordered them from or can you just go down to Super Cheap or AutoBarn and pick these up.

Is it easy to get the bulbs out and what where the costs.

Thanks.

[David the Viking]

The lights on my Camry Grande 2008 are rubbish.

Can you provide the details of the bulbs and where you ordered them from or can you just go down to Super Cheap or AutoBarn and pick these up.

Is it easy to get the bulbs out and what where the costs.

Thanks.

The bulbs are actually H7.

I ordered some Philips Xtreme Power bulbs from PowerBulbsDirect

The answers you are after were already answered above!

They are fairly easy to remove and replace. With halogen bulbs make sure you DO NOT touch the glass with your fingers as it causes a hot spot and will cause the bulb to fail prematurely.

Edited August 4, 2009 by SupaTouring

[Forest Boy]

Mtbrider, the reason the there was such a big improvement is because presumably the orignal bulbs fitted to my Camry were faulty (see my earlier pictures above).

If the bulbs on your Grande are not faulty, there probably will be less of an improvement.

and yep, I did find them hard to get in without touching the glass

[mtbrider]

Mtbrider, the reason the there was such a big improvement is because presumably the orignal bulbs fitted to my Camry were faulty (see my earlier pictures above).

If the bulbs on your Grande are not faulty, there probably will be less of an improvement.

and yep, I did find them hard to get in without touching the glass

I think there is something wrong with them. I would go so far as saying they are nearly dangerous they are so dull. Will probably just go and get some at Autobarn.

[elgrande]

yeh the camry lights are pretty dull.

those bulbs look pretty good compared to the stock ones

[Les]

Hey dudes, my parents just bought a 2009 Altise (aka gen 7 ?)

Assuming it is the same size bulb (H7) for me to change I am going to try some from Supercheap - Calibre - I heard they got some good reviews.

Is it ok to handle the bulbs using a cloth or a silicon glove ? It's quite hard to handle without accidently touching the bulb itself...

Oh and how difficult is it to remove the bulb ?

Edited February 8, 2010 by Les

[DJKOR]

Hey dudes, my parents just bought a 2009 Altise (aka gen 7 ?)

If it's the facelift, it would be the Gen 6.5.

Assuming it is the same size bulb (H7) for me to change I am going to try some from Supercheap - Calibre - I heard they got some good reviews.

Never assume. Double check the manual... or even look at the bulb itself just to be sure. If you are just going to replace witht he Super Cheap house brand, then I wouldn't bother changing your lights at all. You aren't going to achieve anything.

Is it ok to handle the bulbs using a cloth or a silicon glove ? It's quite hard to handle without accidently touching the bulb itself...

If you absolutely must, use a clean cloth or cotton glove.

It's extremely easy to handle the bulb without touching the bulb surface. You just grab onto the back of it and handle it that way. If you aren't able to do so, maybe you shouldn't change the bulb at all because it would indicate that you aren't taking enough care.

Oh and how difficult is it to remove the bulb ?

Once you get your hand in there, it is just twist and pull.

[Les]

Thx for the info.

This is a test of a few bulbs.

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/3789/upgradebulbs1.jpg

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6479/upgradebulbs2.jpg

http://img214.imageshack.us/i/upgradebulbs3.jpg/

The Calibre (supercheap) Xenon Blue (just the name, not the colour) rated very well against better brands.

[DJKOR]

The Calibre (supercheap) Xenon Blue (just the name, not the colour) rated very well against better brands.

Feel free to change your OEM Phillips or Osram bulbs if you think putting the Calibre ones in will be an improvement.

It's your money.

[Les]

The Calibre (supercheap) Xenon Blue (just the name, not the colour) rated very well against better brands.

Feel free to change your OEM Phillips or Osram bulbs if you think putting the Calibre ones in will be an improvement.

It's your money.

I am only going off that magazine review - better if someone could give me their review if they have tried this particular brand/model.

Obviously Phillips Vision works as I've heard good things about them but cost a mint.

BTW I am after brighter light, not **** factor/bluish tinge or what not - stock lights are too yellow and the oldies would prefer something brighter.

[DJKOR]

I am only going off that magazine review - better if someone could give me their review if they have tried this particular brand/model.

BTW I am after brighter light, not **** factor/bluish tinge or what not - stock lights are too yellow and the oldies would prefer something brighter.

I already got the idea you were after brighter lights due to the nature of the post.

This is why I'm saying that putting in these Calibre bulbs is not going to fix your current problem at hand.

The OEM Phillips/Osram bulbs used by Toyota are quite bright enough as they are and when you change it out for other bulbs of the same classification (ie. the Calibre bulbs), you aren't going to gain anything that is enough to make a different.

You are better stepping up to a bulb like the Osram Nightbreaker or equivalent. Sure you need to pay more for it, but it's better than wasting 30 bucks on a new set of bulbs that is going to do SFA.

BTW, I had used Calibre bulbs before in my old Camry prior to selling it. They were just about the same as every other halogen 55W bulb.

[Wixy]

Thx for the info.

This is a test of a few bulbs.

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/3789/upgradebulbs1.jpg

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6479/upgradebulbs2.jpg

http://img214.imageshack.us/i/upgradebulbs3.jpg/

The Calibre (supercheap) Xenon Blue (just the name, not the colour) rated very well against better brands.

hey, how old was this mag? and was it an australian mag?