[pdesjardins]

This is on a 2017 230i with the M package, although I'm not sure if that makes a difference with the headlights.

When I'm driving in the dark, it looks like they're illuminating about 50 feet in front of me, then when I engage the high-beams, it looks like how they should look without the high beams.

I'm in NH without much overhead lighting, so I'd like them to be brighter.

Thanks for any input!

[harma24]

Do what everyone with a jacked-up truck does: add fog lights aimed WAY above where they should be and drive around with them on every night, blinding everyone coming in the opposite direction. And don't forget to use them when it's actually foggy out and then wonder why you can't see $hit.

[peteyrx7]

Originally Posted by pdesjardins

This is on a 2017 230i with the M package, although I'm not sure if that makes a difference with the headlights.

When I'm driving in the dark, it looks like they're illuminating about 50 feet in front of me, then when I engage the high-beams, it looks like how they should look without the high beams.

I'm in NH without much overhead lighting, so I'd like them to be brighter.

Thanks for any input!

IMO BMW designs the base lights to encourage buying the optional ones. I had a 3 series a few years ago without adaptive lights and I couldn't see $hit at night. I'm never buying another BMW without upgraded lights.

[msej449]

PdesJardins One explanation could be that the standard beams have been set too low, or have dropped over time. This happened on my previous 3 Series with the full set of lighting options. When I took the car in to be looked at the garage said that they were simply set too low for some reason and they adjusted them up. I never got to the root cause of why but once reset, they were much better. When we drive on the continent, I can't use the HBA and Adaptive because the settings are all wrong so I'm sensitive to the same problem as you have because all I can use are standard or full high beam. Mine is a 2016 M235i with the full set of Xenon lighting options.

OR

As mentioned, it does seem as if the original designers expected the full combination of functions to be built into the car, and then later, BMW tried to separate the High Beam Assist and Adaptive into chargeable options. Also, the US Adaptive option doesn't get the full functionality either (due to regulations), so if you don't have the full set of options, and the only other setting is the full high beam, then the default standard beam is set too low.

There were a couple of threads on this over on the UK 2 Forums and the concensus seemed to be that in the absence of the full Euro-Adaptive+High-beam-Assist the only solution is to adjust the height angle of the standard setting.

In the full Euro High Beam Assist, the high beam is divided into two segments - a passenger HB and a driver's HB, which can act independently.

In my Euro Adaptive+HBA as well as the standard lights following the steering-wheel, the HBA drops the high beam (on the passenger side only) when there's oncoming vehicles but keeps the high beam on the driver's side (illuminating the roadside/ditch/pavement). This is really useful when driving cross-country, as the nearside gets full illumination all the time and you don't lose sight of the kerb/ditch.

On high beam, it also 'boxes' a car ahead in an unlit oblong, using the red tail lights as guides, and expands the box to exclude oncoming cars to the point where they are near enough to drop the passenger side high beam.

When I'm in an area with streetlights, it drops the high beam and also spreads the standard beam wider, to illuminate cyclists and pedestrians better.

As a result, the standard beam is actually set lower than I would like if all I had was a binary choice between standard vs the full high beam. A lot of the forum discussion involved complaints that BMW seem to have left owners who don't have the full repertoire of lighting with a standard beam that's too low. With the Xenons at least, it seems fairly easy to raise the dip angle to improve the standard headlight throw.

[Ajowhan]

Originally Posted by pdesjardins

This is on a 2017 230i with the M package, although I'm not sure if that makes a difference with the headlights.

When I'm driving in the dark, it looks like they're illuminating about 50 feet in front of me, then when I engage the high-beams, it looks like how they should look without the high beams.

I'm in NH without much overhead lighting, so I'd like them to be brighter.

Thanks for any input!

Bayoptik if you can are willing to put some money down to upgrade the headlight.

[TrboMike]

When I got my 240 and joined here I saw everyone complaining about the headlights. Once I started driving at night "yeah, these headlights dont light up shit".

But then I did what I wind up doing with all my cars. Parked 50 feet from a wall at night, popped hood, took a screwdriver to the headlight adjuster and raised them about half a turn or so.

Now the m240 has better headlights than any of my other cars that have upgraded bulbs etc.

Adjust your headlights up a little and see how much it improves things for you before you think about upgrading anything.

[Neverlost99]

Same problem fixed by aiming them up. I get flashed all the time but I put it on autodim and that seems to satisfy the oncoming drivers.