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Re: A friendly tip, now lighting annoyances

To: <autox@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: A friendly tip, now lighting annoyances
From: "Justin Hughes" <ka1ult@channel1.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 13:45:41 -0500
> Typical foglights help to light up right in front of your car and off to
the
> sides.  You may not think this makes much difference, but it can make a
> difference between hitting something and not hitting something.

With 80/100 watt Hella H4s, I usually don't run my OEM foglights.  I have no
need to.  And no, after a full month of a lot of night driving not one
oncoming car (including many boys in blue) have complained that my
headlights are blinding.  But that's another tangent.  I don't use my
foglights, except on two occasions:

1. It's foggy. (duh)
2. I'm bombing down a dark, twisty back road.

Why #2?  Because like Ron said, they illuminate off to the side.  Around a
tight corner with the fogs on, I can see the edge of the road all the way up
to where my hood blocks my view.  Without the fogs there's a dark spot as a
result of the beam cutoff, low or high beam.  I know, I know, I should be
looking further ahead than the front edge of my car, and I do.  But being
able to see the edge of the road is important too, and around a sharp turn
the only thing your headlights illuminate is where the car's pointed, not
the direction you're actually going.  Then, when the road straightens out or
becomes better lit, I turn the fogs off to preserve my nocturnal anonymity,
as previously suggested. ;)

> Daytime running lights (the ones that use headlights and not superbright
> turnsignal bulbs like the f-bodies and C5) are intended to make cars more
> visible.  What they do instead, is make cars LESS visible, because they're
> so bright that people stop using their mirrors.  Take the Saturns, for
> example.  I _hate_ those cars simply because of their damn DRL.  They're
too
> bright.

As a Saturn driver, I feel I should say that... I agree with you
completely!!! :)  That's why I have an earlier SC2 that does NOT have DRLs.
That, and I like the look of them better than the newer ones.  But even if I
had a newer one, I would disable the DRLs (it is possible, quite easy, and
detailed on a few Saturn sites).  Thanks, but I know how to turn my own
headlights on and off.

> Here in Jersey its the law. Wipers on headlights on.

And that's exactly when you should turn your lights on.  It's not a law in
Mass, but I think of turning on wipers and lights as one single motion.  I'm
rambling too much already, so don't get me started on the subject of the
government regulating us into stupidity... :)

What this lighting thread has to do with autox, I have no idea, but it's an
interesting topic, nonetheless.

    - Justin
      95 SC2 "Locutus"
      83 320i "Igor"
      00 DRLs



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