Headlamp Deflectors

[Klive]

While in Europe recently I had to drive the car at night so I needed to use the Headlamp Deflectors. Of course there's nothing in the instructions for a Maserati but then when I'd used for the day car they didn't work.
To get it right this time I simply faced a concrete wall and stuck them on so that the kick up on the left hand side was covered. Here's a couple of photo's with them in position before I took them off.

 

[Parisien]

Gee Klive...you coulda at least cleaned off those dead flies........

P


PS Good that they worked!

 

[Klive]

After 3,500 miles they weren't easy to come off, so the deflectors had to come off at the same time. I generaly don't like using a pressure washer but in this case I had to.

 

[conaero]

Klive, they dont work with our lights, so you dont have to use them. The Zenons are self levelling on the vertical and point dead ahead only.

 

[Parisien]

Klive, they dont work with our lights, so you dont have to use them. The Zenons are self levelling on the vertical and point dead ahead only.

Theres £4.99 down the drain Klive.....woulda taken the car another............18.925433333 repeating miles..............


P

 

[conaero]

I was told this by the the customs guy in the ferry terminal whilst he took my boot apart looking for banned substances...as if....we smoked it all on the way to the ferry port!

 

[Parisien]

The Zenons are self levelling on the vertical and point dead ahead only.

Does he have Xenons though..........?

P

 

[conaero]

This was on my old 3200 which did not have Zenons, so yes, it applies to all that sealed type design on the Coupe.

 

[Parisien]

This was on my old 3200 which did not have Zenons, so yes, it applies to all that sealed type design on the Coupe.

Learn something every day!


P

 

[conaero]

There is always the chance that he was wrong, but I doubt it.

 

[Klive]

Matt,
I don't have Xenons and when I point my car at a wall you can see they light up higher on the left hand side. The picture below isn't the Maserati but you can clearly see the part of the beam I mean.



There was another thread, here or there, concerning oncoming cars drifting towards you from the other side of the road. Well if your lights are shining into their eyes then you increase the chance of that. It's also illegal and you risk a fine, so why chance it.


It's necessary in the UK to highlight pedestrians on the footpath so I would be surprised if the Xenons aren't the same. Can anyone post a picture of the xenon dipped light beams shining on a wall?

 

[conaero]

Ok Klive, it appears you have contradicted the Dover custom guy, and from your picture I agree....now try and deflect it with your stick on beam guides....good luck!

loving the picture mate, very nice.

 

[Paul3200]

Thanks for the pictures. I had no idea where to stick them apart from up a French Policemans bottom !

Paul

 

[safrane]

The self leveling on HID or xenon lights is a mandatory EU. regulation as is a auto wash system. This is due to the risk of dazzling oncoming drivers if the car is carrying a heavy load or lifting during acceleration. Our cars have a sensor on the front and rear which automatically compensates for lift and weight...what it does not do is compensate for driving on the opposite side of the road.
the beam from a car equipped for left or right had road use must also illuminate the curb on the side of the car nearest the curb again an DU reg...however due to the projector style system fitted to ours and others there is significantly less visible 'kick' but it is still there.
Kieth is right and if you examine the instructions of his reflectors it explains how to position them over the centre of the projectors lens to compensate for the kick.

 

[Elliott653]

I've just bought some from Halfords to fit on my 2006 QP V. The instructions only cover "QP 2008 on". So, did Maserati change the lights in 2008? If so, where should I be placing the deflectors on my car?

Thanks.

 

[alfatwo]

So where abouts do you stick them on an old 3200GT then....I normally don't bother as I like to upset the French as much as possible!

 

[TridentTested]

In the old days a headlight was a simple cone of reflective metal with the bulb at one end and a sheet of glass at the other. The glass had some ridges cast into it which gave this 'kick' to illuminate the pavements. In those days I simply stuck black insulation tape on the glass (at between 7 O'clock and 9 O'clock viewed from the front). It was cheap and fully effective.

Then headlights became complex.

My Alfa 166 was the first car I owned with complex optics in the headlamps. Not HID, just ordinary halogen bulbs but they had fancy lenses and reflectors and whatnot. I tried every deflector on the market but none worked.

My Citroën C6 was even worse. The discharge lights were enormously powerful and blinded pedestrians in the UK, and oncoming traffic when in France. Several owners approached Citroën about it and they told us not to stick anything onto the outside of the lamps because they run hot and this could affect the housing - hard to see how but that's what they said. Citroën UK actually issued an official statement saying the inconvenience for other road users (on the Continent) was acceptable but if you intended using your vehicle there "for extended periods" (unspecified) you should consider fitting Continental lights.

Great eh?

So in conclusion I haven't fitted anything for over ten years. I go to France many times a year and have never had problems. If you were concerned about being stopped you could stick a token bit of black tape. It will do nothing optically but the cops won't know that and it will look like you've complied.

 

[Elliott653]

Thanks for that.