Text | Teng Sanmao
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I remember when I was in elementary school, my teacher always said, "The eyes are the windows to the soul." I didn't understand the meaning of this at the time. When I grew up, I discovered that in addition to the basic function of seeing things clearly, the eyes are also an important channel for transmitting inner emotions. Therefore, we have the saying "Looking at the eyes, knowing the heart" statement.
Perhaps influenced by Chinese culture, many netizens look at people and cars the same way, and have strict pursuits for the "eyes" of cars. Recently, Maomao saw many car owners modifying their headlights on the street, and the modifications were so fancy.
There is such a——
Such--
Such--
There is also this——
Maybe when you see a lighting modification like this for the first time, you will casually say "Wow, it's so handsome."
But when you see such "colorful" headlights every day for many years, do you still have the shock and passion you had when you first saw them? Are you feeling a little bit visual fatigue or boredom?
So the question is, are these colorful headlights that look cool and eye-catching really practical? Why do many netizens regret it immediately after changing their headlights? What are the pitfalls of car headlight modification?
First, the failure rate.
Here we need to make it clear that when the car is designed and produced, the headlight assembly is considered as a small part in the design of the entire vehicle. The designer will make necessary optimizations for the circuit and heat dissipation in the headlight, and during assembly In terms of technology and level, we also pursue one-time molding and improved quality.
In sharp contrast to the car manufacturers, the headlight modifications at roadside shops seem to be a little less popular. Not only was the removal of the headlights difficult and unwieldy, but the handling of the sealant was also very rudimentary, which created hidden dangers for the car owner in future use of the car, ranging from fogging up inside the headlights and the light not shining, to the circuitry of the lamp body at worst. Burning or even causing the vehicle to spontaneously ignite.
The headlight seal is poor, causing water vapor to enter the interior of the lamp body
The power cord plug of the headlight assembly was burnt
The left side of the low beam light is on, but the right side is not on.
If the fogging of the lamp body can flush the sealing assembly, then the heat dissipation problem after the headlights are changed from halogen to xenon or LED is intolerable to car owners no matter what. The reason is simple. Just think about it, who wants to drive a vehicle that may catch fire at any time due to the headlights heating up? Especially after changing to LED headlights, the heat dissipation requirements of the light body are higher. If the modification shop does not handle the heat dissipation problem properly, the probability of subsequent failure is very high.
What’s even more embarrassing is that if the modification of the headlights causes an accident such as fire or spontaneous combustion, the insurance company will refuse to compensate.
Secondly, the level of modification.
In addition to the high failure rate of modified headlights, the uneven level of technicians in roadside modification shops also leads to low modification standards. In the circle of automobile headlight modifications, there is a saying: "It's bright." The lamp is broken."
In fact, it is hard for you to imagine that those who just used a pair of hands and a few simple tools to pry open the front bumper, headlight assembly, wiring and other components. The final result of such a simple and crude modification method, The original headlights were cracked and damaged, and the size of the gaps with the hood and front bumper had changed. From a distance, it looked like there had been some kind of accident.
Third, penetration.
It is common to encounter rainy days when driving at night. The deepest feeling of many car owners who have changed their halogen lamps to xenon or LED headlights is that they cannot see the road clearly on rainy days. Why is this?
In fact, the color temperature of car lights can be divided into the following grades: 3K, 4K, 4.3K, 5K, 6K, 8K, 12K, 30K, from low to high, corresponding to yellow to white, and then to blue.
The main reason why many car owners choose to replace halogen lamps is that the yellow light irradiation range of halogen lamps is small and the irradiation distance is short. After replacing with xenon or LED headlights with a color temperature above 6K, the light color becomes white and the irradiation distance is The range has been improved, of course, this is based on a clear night sky.
But if it's raining, snowing or foggy, driving on the road is a different story. Since the penetrating power of yellow light is better than that of white light, the yellow light of halogen lamps has an advantage in such bad weather conditions. In other words, it is not that the higher the color temperature, the better the light, but the weather changes need to be taken into consideration. Of course, there are also car owners who choose 4.3K xenon headlights. What Maomao wants to say is, if the color temperature is also yellow, is it necessary to go to a lot of trouble to install a ballast and replace the xenon headlights?
Therefore, in summary, if the original car's high beam is a halogen headlight, there is no need to replace it. If you must feel that you cannot see clearly when driving at night, it is recommended to replace the low beam with xenon or LED headlights. If the vehicle already has xenon headlights, Maomao recommends that you don’t bother replacing LED headlights. Maybe the lights you replace are not as good as the original ones.
Finally, visual fatigue.
Visual fatigue is a slow process. Many car owners have made in-depth modifications to the lights. They were still not satisfied after the "Angel Eyes" modification. They finally upgraded to "Devil Eyes". They were very satisfied just after the modification. They looked good looking left and right. However, it would slow down over time. Visual fatigue slowly occurs, and there is even a sense of boredom.
This is like chasing a girl in college. When you first start pursuing her, you feel that she is good in everything. After you catch her, you love her more and more. However, after a year or two, you will slowly find that the passion in the past is no longer there, and some are just a routine life. It can be seen that changing the headlights is the same as chasing a girl. The more fancy and complicated the color of the car headlights is, the faster you will get bored.
Write at the end:
Modifying car lights is a technical job. The current modification methods and operating techniques of roadside modification shops are far from being comparable to those of the original manufacturers. When car owners change the lights, they must check in advance whether the existing lights have reached a point where they must be modified. How strong is your willingness to modify, and whether you can accept the result if the modification fails, or the gap around the headlight is different in width. If you are mentally prepared, then find a professional lighting modification shop with good technology and good reputation to "toss" it.
What do you think about car headlight modification?
car totem
Mr. Mu Si (Liu Xiaomen), a senior automotive media person, leads the creation of Tengye Culture · New Media under NDIMedia
Mu Si (Liu Xiaomen) personally
