Yes, another headlight thread. I searched and couldn't find anything on point, so I figured I would start a new thread.

Is anyone else unhappy with the beam pattern on their headlights. The beam pattern on my Audis look like that below. There is a sharp cutoff line and they really project light down the road without causing glare for oncoming vehicles.



In contrast, on the Jaguar, they look like a pair of upside down UU. Whenever I go down a slight dip the lights just don't illuminate the road at all. It is actually kind of dangerous. I took it to the dealer for an adjustment and they said it is fine. Reading other threads on the issue, it seems other people are less than pleased with the headlights.

So what to do? I am thinking about swapping in a pair of Audi bi-xenon projector lenses to see if that solves the problem.

So here is my question, does anyone have a picture of the projector lenses from their bi-xenon XF? I would like to see what they look like so I can get a similarly sized Audi projector. Does anyone know if the XJ uses the same projectors? If so, I may just get this one and use it for sizing purposes:

OEM 11 12 Jaguar XJ XJR XJL HID Xenon D3S Projector Lens Mint | eBay

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

Your Audi lights may not be true projectors. Which Audi are you comparing your XF to.

I "only" have halogen projectors on my base XF and they are fine. My Audi has aftermarket Xenons and while the light is brighter you can't see any better with them.

The true projector lamp uses different optics from ordinary bi Xenons.

The idea is to send less light down the road to minimize glare for oncoming drivers but to direct the light more accurately, especially in a long finger shape down the right side of the beam. It takes getting used to. Remember that you don't need to see the road, only unlit things on the road.

If you can find a copy, get the Bosch Automotive Handbook. My 7th ed explains some of this at page 946: PES (poly ellipsoid system) lights work differently from other bi-xenon designs. Less light wasted to scatter and more light sent down the road where you need to see it reflected off objects in your way, or more importantly about to be in your way. These new lights direct more light down the right hand edge of your line of travel, which is where the most danger comes from. Danger from the left is well illuminated by the oncoming traffic.

The British also complain about their low beams but nobody from Germany sees a problem, har har.

 

I am not talking about the amount of light, I have a problem with the light pattern. The beam pattern on the XF with bixenons is just not as good as my Audis. My B5 A4 with factor xenons has a projector that looks like this (but not this exact one):



My bixenon Q7 has a projector that looks like this:





I don't want more light, of course that never hurts. I just want a better light pattern/cutoff than the current headlights. The current Jaguar cutoff just doesn't appear sharp on my car. The Audi cutoff is much better defined and I suspect this is why they are aimed a bit higher from the factory. I don't want to simply raise the current lights up and blind other drivers. Rather, I want a beam pattern that travels out flat and level with a defined cutoff. The Jaguar pattern seems to droop.

 

When did you fit projectors to your B5?

Mine has pretty standard Valeo aftermarket fixed Xenons (Canadian cars didn't get factory Xenons due to our then bumper reg).

 

B5's in the US came stock with projectors stating in the 1999.5 model year. Xenons were an option. Earlier cars may have had projectors as well, but not certain. All S4's in the US had stock projector xenons.

 

Hard to say why the Jaguar xenon projectors are unsatisfactory then.

My aftermarket xenon projectors on my Audi look very similar to the halogen projectors on my base XF. The UK owners with complaints about headlight strength are discussing the halogens. Stronger bulbs seem to help that issue. The Xenons should be bright enough. I wonder who makes Jaguar xenon headlights.