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MG MGF Technical - useless dipped beam

As a very new owner of ten year old F, I cannot understand tolerance of miserable dangerous night vision on dipped beam. I can see what the problem is caused by and why it has happened(threads past). If buying new F headlight units will they be 'treated' or should I think about Trophy or TF unit upgrades? I will be replacing both headlights next week and would value any experience/thoughts.
C.R.B. Simeon

Trophy lights are the same I believe. (apart from the black surround)

If you want TF lights then you'll need a TF bumper, armature, new lamp mounts and slightly different wiring. I'm doing it at the moment, and it's not as easy as changing a headlight unit.
Chris Heinrich Perkins

This sounds like classic reflector bowl degeneration - see http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/group2/lighting/misty_headlights.htm for more details.
Rob Bell

If you dig into the archive you will find comments from owners of new cars complaining about the poor headlamps, but few have explained what they mean.

In my case, even when the car was brand new, I did not feel I would be able to stop from 50mph in time to avoid an obstacle on an unlit road.

Deterioration of the reflectors certainly doesn't help, but that is not the root cause of the poor performance.

Chris
Chris

Is this a case of car-to-car variation? I actually find the dipped beam on my 96 F to perfectly acceptable.
Graham Martin

I bought my '95 car last November, and I think the lights are terrible. I have inspected the reflectors and they look fine and the lenses are clear, but they have no penetration at all on dipped or main beam. I was thinking of trying Halfords 50% brighter bulbs.

Mike
Mike Howlett

Some of the early cars had poor beam pattern "candle in the dark" syndrome. Later ones thaen had problems with reflector degeneration as mentioned above. New ones will cure the problem ,sell the old ones on ebay and we can then reiterate all this again later;-))
mike

if you colour code the insides like some of the ones i saw in mgf 10 does this affect the proformance as well!
richard

Hi Richard,

Not at all. The beam is focussed past the coloured inserts by the reflector bowls.
Mike Hankin

looks like i will have to paint mine then!!
richard

This thread was discussed between 23/02/2006 and 26/02/2006

MG MGF Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGF Technical BBS is active now.