We bought this car last year, during the day, and later found that the headlights are way too bright. I hate driving it at night! I don’t think changing the bulbs would help since they probably don’t make a normal version of them, but how can I make them less blinding? Should I frost the covers? Tint them? It’s a 2018 Buick Enclave, if it matters.
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Make sure you’re using stock bulbs, not those overly bright ones that Autozone pushes. Those things are blinding and don’t work well with the housing that wasn’t designed for them.
After that, check to see if they’re aimed right.
@Stevie
Pretty much this. Also, if your headlights have that high/low flapper thing (not sure of the exact name), you can use those super bright headlights, as long as they’re properly aimed. Sounds like yours might not though. Stick with the stock ones! Good luck.
@Stevie
Do you think the original owner swapped the bulbs out? It feels like it would be a huge pain to do that now, since you can’t just reach behind the housing anymore. Now you have to remove the bumper or go through the wheel well.
@Cai
It’s possible the previous owner swapped them out with bulbs that didn’t fit properly.
If you’re only replacing the bulbs, you just need to remove a couple of bolts from the inner fender liner to move it out of the way.
[Video Guide Link]
First off, thanks for actually caring about your headlights. One of my biggest pet peeves is people using high beams all the time or putting LED bulbs in reflector housings meant for regular bulbs. LEDs are great for brightness, but if they’re in a housing that wasn’t designed for them, they can blind other drivers.
If your headlights are meant for regular bulbs and have aftermarket LEDs, just swap them back to the original bulbs. If your car came with integrated LEDs, you could try aiming them a bit lower. Unfortunately, some stock LEDs are so bright that it’s hard to aim them properly from the factory (I’m looking at you, Jeep, Tesla, and Ford trucks). And just in case, double-check that you aren’t leaving your high beams on by mistake. Some cars make it easy to leave them on without realizing it.
@Quin
Thanks for the input. I feel like pointing them down won’t help much. I used to have a Landcruiser, and its headlights were fine, but the brights were crazy. The Buick on regular mode is almost as bad. The only time we used the brights on the Buick was on a curvy mountain road. We tried the auto-dim feature and it works great. The brights are crazy though. I’ll check if I can change the bulbs, but I thought LEDs and incandescent lights would have different power needs and can’t be swapped. Hopefully I’m wrong.
You can try aiming them lower or swapping in warmer bulbs if they’re not packed with LEDs.
First, I’d check that you’ve got the stock setup and that the previous owner didn’t change it with aftermarket bulbs. Secondly, lowering the brightness could be illegal depending on your local laws, so be cautious. Modern headlights are much brighter than older ones, but when aimed right, they work perfectly.
What kind of headlights do you have? If they’re HID or LED, there’s not much you can do. If they’re halogen, you can just change them back to regular bulbs, though even halogen bulbs today are brighter than they used to be.
Could you get a close-up shot of the headlights so we can see if they’re aftermarket LEDs in a halogen housing? That’s a common issue if you bought the car used and the previous owner swapped them out. Also, a shot of the headlights on would help.