Yaris T3 Lights

[Gearhead29]

I was driving last week in my yaris when this taxi slows down sticks out his arm and is waving at me wildly as it turned out my headlight wiring had fried and they weren't on and neither me or my dad who was in the car noticed a difference!!!!!!. Does any one know of any good light upgrades for a 2008 Yaris and where to get them if you do?

[Red Yaris 54]

I was driving last week in my yaris when this taxi slows down sticks out his arm and is waving at me wildly as it turned out my headlight wiring had fried and they weren't on and neither me or my dad who was in the car noticed a difference!!!!!!. Does any one know of any good light upgrades for a 2008 Yaris and where to get them if you do?

I do not have any problem with my 2006 Yaris..................The standard lights are brilliant

If you have a problem with a 2008 Yaris then I would suggest a trip to your Toyota dealer to get them sorted out under warranty

[Raeman]

Yep, sounds like a job for Mr T. ;)

Have you altered the lights in any way or fiddled with the wiring?

If your wiring is fried due to your fault, Toyota won't fix it for free. Won't be cheap either!! :(

[Gearhead29]

nope the car is stock standard but we have always thought the lights are a bit weak and this was the tipping point

[Red Yaris 54]

nope the car is stock standard but we have always thought the lights are a bit weak and this was the tipping point

Lights on a 2008 T3 Yaris should be bright......................They are certainly better on my Mk2 Yaris than they used to be on my Mk1 Phase 2

Get it to the Toyota dealer.

[Stoford Yaris]

This is one of the issues we have had on our 2008 1.3 TR from new. I rate the lights as bordering on dangerous, they are certainly very poor in my book. The dealer rates them as "normal" and they do seem to be on a par with the other 2008 models we've tried. They are certainly better than Mk1 Yaris lights so I guess it depends what you are used to!

Solution is that my wife uses my car when she has to go out at night - thankfully almost never but sort of defeats the object of having a car.....

I have been considering aftermarket HID lights but it goes against the grain to have to spend cash correcting bad design.

[alfiejts]

Get a pir of Philips X-treme Vision 80% brighter H4-fitting bulbs. It makes a real difference.

I got a pair for just £15 on the internet - but anything up to £20 is a good price.

The other option are Osram Nightbreaker which claim to be 90% brighter, but in an autoexpress test, they said the Philips were actually better.

They also have a "chrome" bulb tip and base which look much better in the headlight.

Whilst you're at it, get a pair of "silver" coloured indicator bulbs and swap those at the front too. You won't believe how much better the front end looks without the orange indicator bulbs being visible.

[Roweow]

I have a set of Philips X-treme vision bulbs which make an immediate improvement to the amount of road lit. I find the main issue for me driving in he country is that the lights don't go high enough to illuminate enough of the road in the distance.

[gar]

I have a set of Philips X-treme vision bulbs which make an immediate improvement to the amount of road lit. I find the main issue for me driving in he country is that the lights don't go high enough to illuminate enough of the road in the distance.

Halfords had a buy one, get one free offer on bulbs recently! not sure if it is still on, though!

[Madasafish]

I upgraded my Mark1 yaris to Philips Xtreme Vision and the results were startlingly good. Fitting the passenger side one was a bit fiddly!

[alfiejts]

I have a set of Philips X-treme vision bulbs which make an immediate improvement to the amount of road lit. I find the main issue for me driving in he country is that the lights don't go high enough to illuminate enough of the road in the distance.

Many cars have their headlights set very low. You can adjust them easily under the bonnet.

Each headlight has two adjusters, one to adjust the height and one the side-to-side position.

First check that the electric height adjuster on the dashboard is set on its highest setting (with the ignition on so that it definitely adjusts the headlight if you move it...)

Find the two adjusters on the headlight under the bonnet in the daylight and find a screwdriver to fit.

Then point the car at a flat wall at night and turn the lights on.

You might find it easier to have a cloth to throw over one light whilst you adjust he other - that way only the light from the light being adjusted shines on the wall.

Turn one of the adjusters exactly one turn of the screwdriver in one direction and you should see the light beam move.

If it moves from side to side, turn the screwdriver back one turn the other way (to the position it started from) as you've tried the wrong adjuster.

If it moves down, then turn the screwdriver two turns back the other way - to move the beam back to where it was and then a bit upwards.

If it moves up, then you've found the right adjustment screw the first time and turned it the right way the first time - well guessed!

Then do the same to the same adjustmentscrew on the other headlight.

You'll have now moved the beam up just slightly.

Then try the car on the road and see if the beam is better and throws further without shining too high and dazzling people.

If it is, turn it back, if its not high enough, try one more turn on the adjuster and see how that is again....

As long as you're careful and just adjust each screw one full turn (or half a turn) at a time and remember how much, you can always move it back again and you're no worse off.

If you want to adjust them really scientifically, then the beam pattern should be set at 1% down from the horizontal with the driver sat in the car, the boot empty and the fuel tank half full....

To do this, you'll need a tape measure and some sticky tape (masking tape or duct tape - anything bright)

1) Park your car on level ground, with the front of the car 10 meters from a flat wall.

2) Measure the height of the headlight bulbs from the floor (about 70cm on our 2008 Yaris).

3) Using the sticky tape (or a pen or chalk or whatever else will mark the wall) draw a line 70 cm up from the ground.

(so if the headlights shone level, the top of the flat part of the beam would be level with this line).

4) But they're not meant to be level - they're meant to be 1% down.

If you're 10m away, 1% equates to 10cm, so draw another line 10cm below the first. Ideally, that is exactly where the top of the flat part of the beam should align to.

Adjust the flat part of the headlight beam until its level with the lower line.

I actually push my luck a bit and usually aim them at "half way between" the two lines (i.e. 0.5% down).

That helps ensure that I get the longest light beam to illuminate country roads whilst still ensuring that I'm shining below the horizontal and not dazzling others....

[alfiejts]

I have a set of Philips X-treme vision bulbs which make an immediate improvement to the amount of road lit. I find the main issue for me driving in he country is that the lights don't go high enough to illuminate enough of the road in the distance.

Halfords had a buy one, get one free offer on bulbs recently! not sure if it is still on, though!

I got a pair of the Halfords buy one get one free - but replaced them with the X-Treme Vision which are noticably better. Halfords source their bulbs from different manufacturers so you're not actually sure who's bulbs you're getting when you buy from them. I made sure my halfords "+50% brighter" packets contained GE bulbs which were the best but they're still not as good as the Phillips...

[Cyker]

Out of curiosity, what do you guys do when there are people with excessively bright headlamps behind you on the motorway?

I can flick the mirror up, but still get blinded on the wing mirrors!

My dad's Merc has nifty mirrors which auto-shade when a bright light is shone on them. I want some of those; They're cool :)