Tough at night it seems

[fact5racer]

Been driving my GTM quite a bit lately and one thing I notice is that at night it's tough being so low to the ground. Even though approaching traffic has their low beams on, it sure feels like they have their high beams on to me. Any other finished guys experience this too?

[oldguy668]

Shouldn't you be at your desk getting my quote ready?

[fastthings]

Shouldn't you be at your desk getting my quote ready?

That's funny.^

I'm always in a low car, and yes the raised 4x4's that don't readjust their lights drive me nuts. I have found myself driving with 1 finger raised while resting my elbow on the passenger seat to block the beam from my eyes.

[fact5racer]

Don't worry Joe, the prints are here in front of me.

[tirod]

It's not the raised SUV's - it's all the tall cars in general. When the headlights are 12" further from the ground, they are still 12" higher up. I DD a '90 Cherokee on 16's, no lift, and the new F150s are all tall and in my eyes.

One problem area is that the DOT mandated American headlights are just a huge blob of light. Compared to Euro beams, they blaze away all over the road with no cutoff or control. Euro beams have a mandatory low beam cutoff that is literally a knife edge across the upper back valance when I drive up behind someone. My low beams will not get in their window or mirror, and very few flash me in oncoming traffic even tho the low beams are rated at 80 watts - 25 more than American high beams.

But, even if we all used the better Euro headlights, it's still going to be an issue with lower cars. One hope is the 2015 CAFE mandate of 35mpg. It might reduce the supersized abundance of American road toys a bit for better mileage and lower overall height. Until we get out of the ego race of diesel 3/4 ton commuter trucks, it's going to keep being a problem.

You are not alone.

[crash]

We are putting a light on the ROOF of the Mendeola Transaxles Baja Designs FFR PDG GTM so that other cars (Miatas ?) can see us better on the race track. It's about 50 watts of LEDs.

[mendo]

We are putting a light on the ROOF of the Mendeola Transaxles Baja Designs FFR PDG GTM so that other cars (Miatas ?) can see us better on the race track. It's about 50 watts of LEDs.


facing forward or backward? :eek: