MD mondeo headlights: good?

[cooperplace]

what are the headlights like on these? I'm contemplating buying an MD wagon. I'd like my next car to have much better lights than the halogens on my current car. While I can read the spec sheet, advice from MD owners would be appreciated.

[cobrin]

The HIDs in the Titanium spec are fan'bloody'tastic! sharp cut off adaptive, wide and bright.

[Mechan1k]

I thought they ran an adaptive/Matrix LED setup (nowhere near as complex as the Euro brands though.)

[NX74205]

I don't know if there's a problem with mine or not, but to me, they don't seem to illuminate far enough ahead for my liking, despite emitting a whiter, brighter light overall.

Suggest taking one out for a test drive at night and decide for yourself.

[Smoke Pursuit]

My MD Titanium has the Adaptive LED's and they are great on low beam. Highbeam is pretty standard same as my previous HID equiped Mercs etc.



Im just about to fit an LED light bar in the front grill.

[cobrin]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

I thought they ran an adaptive/Matrix LED setup (nowhere near as complex as the Euro brands though.)

Sorry I meant to type LEDs (so use to typing HIDs for others), yes again to Matrix type in that they use multiple lens LEDs to make one beam and whilst it's not as fancy as other Euro vehicles (audi/bmw), least we forget, it's a Ford and priced like one. They're still a step up.

[cooperplace]

OK thanks, what about the lights on the Ambiente/trend?

[thebigd]

Originally Posted by Smoke Pursuit

My MD Titanium has the Adaptive LED's and they are great on low beam. Highbeam is pretty standard same as my previous HID equiped Mercs etc.



Im just about to fit an LED light bar in the front grill.

Would like to see that !

[thebigd]

Originally Posted by cooperplace

OK thanks, what about the lights on the Ambiente/trend?

I would say very standard on both low and high beams. When Ford decided to use the projector style low beams, the overall light throw decreased, in my opinion. They do throw a more precise light with a better cut off, but nowhere near the overall light like the BA / BF / Territory reflectors offer, especially with a good H4 upgrade. Have thought about an LED upgrade on my Trend, but since it's nose cone off, I'm not motivated.

[cooperplace]

nosecone off? so what's it like changing bulbs on these?

and maybe I need to limit my search to a titanium? They are much rarer.

[AlanD]

Originally Posted by NX74205

I don't know if there's a problem with mine or not, but to me, they don't seem to illuminate far enough ahead for my liking, despite emitting a whiter, brighter light overall.

Suggest taking one out for a test drive at night and decide for yourself.

I had a similar problem and asked the dealer to re-aim the low beam "reach" - based on that experience DON"T do the same as me.

The car was returned with the beams pointing above the horizontal - and set for driving on the right hand side of the road.

A bit of research got the information about the location of the mechanical adjustment and then it was a case of creeping up on the right aiming position. To adjust for driving on the left you need to go into the software settings and pick the "right hand" traffic setting

The low beams have a reach of about 60 - 100 metres versus the previous 30 metres with excellent visibility and such a sharp vertical cutoff that the top half of highway road signs are not well lit - there are always some compromises.

The high beams have a reach of 300 metres or more and are bright enough that I get told abut them by oncoming drivers before the automatic dipping occurs - so I'm assuming that they are very bright on high beam since sometimes this has happened on divided highways at distances of up to 1000 metres, sometimes it is HGV drivers who let me know.

They are a significant improvement over the MA we used previously and I regarded those lights as very good.

If anyone wants the details about how I got the lights aimed correctly, let me know and I'll post up a reply.

Cheers

[NX74205]

Originally Posted by AlanD

If anyone wants the details about how I got the lights aimed correctly, let me know and I'll post up a reply.

Cheers

That would be much appreciated.

[AlanD]

Hi all,

Apologies for the delay - Things got busy here over the last few days.

I made up a "tool" shown in the first photo, I'll call this "the stick" from now on. If you do this it is important to make sue that the edges of the vertical part are very close to vertical, because if they are not it will throw off the headlight height calibration.

I did the adjustment with the car unloaded but with a full fuel tank and with all tyre pressures at the tyre label recommended levels. (Over or under inflation can disrupt what you are about to do.

You are going to need a level horizontal surface that allows you to get a 2 metre clear space in front of the car when all wheels are on the surface. I have a good sized under roof garage that allows this.

Make sure your headlights are set for "right hand traffic". This might sound counter-intuitive since we drive on the left, but our cars are built to allow adjustment for both drive on left and drive on the right - and in our case the on-coming traffic is on the right. This setting is in the "settings"submenu. you get thers using the left hand steering wheel keypad. The right arrow on this keypad takes you to submenus and the up down arrows get you to a setting submenu. ÖK" takes you to that sub menu or sets a check box. S0 >settings>vehicle>lighting>adaptive headlamps>traffic setup>choose right hand traffic>OK (to check the box), as you will find it is buried in the sub menus quite a way down.

Get the stick as close to the headlamp as you can in front of the projector lens, hold it steady and scribe a mark on the stick using a marker and a carpenter's square against the sticks vertical edge and the rule pointing at the centre of the projector lens.

You now have a headlight height registration mark for your car. Check the other headlight - it should be within a mm of the same height providing there has been no front end damage to the car. If it isn't the same then mark another registration mark across the stick and label which is which.

Turn the headlights on and position the stick in front of the drivers headlight with the registration mark facing the car at a distance of 2m or more and with the horizontal beam cut off line adjacent to the bright spot across the stick - ordinarily it will show below the registration mark - but it might be above.

Do the same thing on the passengers side of the car - on this side the cutoff line ought to be slightly higher so that light reach along the road left edge is greater. If it isn't don't worry you are going to adjust this discrepancy out in the next step.

To make adjustments you will need a 6mm allen key with at least 15mm of reach. In my case the adjustment screw also had a plain screwdriver slot that could be used.

At the rear of each headlamp housing there is a channel, At the bottom is a hex socket screw (White in my case) which is the adjustment screw. See photo 2.

With the stick illuminated use the allen ket to adjust the beam height on each side of the car.

I ended up with the passenger side about 2mm belo the registration mark on the stick and the drivers side a mm lower than that. This gives me the illumination reach I've detailed elsewhere and on low beam I have not had any request from oncoming traffic about the headlamps - high beam yes low beam no.

Don't be tempted to adjust higher than the registration mark(s). If you do you will be making life difficult for oncoming traffic - especially on suburban residential roads.

Hope this helps

Cheers

[arnoutboer]

Thanks a lot, exactly what I was looking for.


Greetings from the Netherlands,


Arnout

[cbunney]

Done. My low beams have been too low since I bought the 2018 MD Mondeo TDCi 12months ago. It was very hard to see at night on low beam. High beams excellent. Although, I needed a 15cm long 6mm allen key not 15mm. Thanks AlanD. Chris

[AlanD]

Originally Posted by cbunney

Although, I needed a 15cm long 6mm allen key not 15mm. Thanks AlanD. Chris

Yes - Thanks.

I can't even claim that "m" and "c" are close together on the keyboard

Cheers