Heading down through France in about a month, going to do a few long stints at night. Is there a way of converting the dipped beams easily? Or is there a switch on the units to convert them? Given the power of the FF lights seems harsh to dazzle most of France for 1000 miles each way...
Don't you have an owners manual? Every European car I've ever owned has a headlight adjuster for driving on the "wrong" (depending on your home-town point of view of course) side of the road. And every one of them gives instructions on how to adjust the lights in the owners manual. For example, my 360 Modena owners manual gives detailed instructions on how to gain access to the rear of the headlight cluster and move a lever to adjust the lights for left hand or right hand driving. It's under "Adjusting The Headlights for Left/Right-Hand Driving Conditions." Surely your car has something similar, wouldn't you imagine? I'll bet if you take a look in your owners manual, you'll find just what you're looking for.
I just searched the user manual pdf for the word 'headlight' and found NO reference to left or right driving. In fact it says "To adjust the headlight beam, please contact the Ferrari Service Network." I then searched for 'left' and found nothing. Rick
Suffice to say I am posting here because the user manual and quick start manual (uk versions) have nothing to say on the subject. Thanks for checking the PDF Rick - I'd love a copy in case it has anything my printed one doesn't! In the meantime if nobody has any info, then I'll ping the dealer and see what they have to say and report back
My skepticism got the better of me, so I downloaded the FF owners manual full of confidence that I'd find the left/right hand headlight adjusting instructions. To my surprise, it don't say nutten, nada, niente, zero, not one @#*&%&^$#*ing thing about the headlights. How can that be? Surely a car sold in England or Europe must be able to adjust the headlights for the correct side of the road, or at least one would think so. Please fill us in when you contact Ferrari. Curious (and cynical) minds want to know.
I drove my FF down to France and enquired about the same thing to my dealership. They told me that only a full headlight replacement would accomplish this! Didn't sound cheap at all. There is no switch either hardware or software that does this that they were aware of. In the end I used those circular stickers to obscure the beam from left side approaching traffic. It was fairly easy to put on. The pack had directions for applying the sticker for a 458, so I used the same guidelines.
Had the issue last year it seems the FF head light system is designed with a flat beam on dip that is usable left or right. Dealers do not have any other options? I'm off again next week through Europe so any new ideas welcome?
A lot of the modern cars have flat beams. I hadn't heard or read anything definitive in terms of what the FF uses, so wasn't sure. I didn't want to give any police officer any excuses to fine me for anything, so I put on the light stickers. The police there tend to stop anything flashy with British plates just to look for an excuse to fine you.
My worry too, likely to get stopped and don't want there to be any reason I can be fined just for a technicality..
Update: So the official verdict from the service department at my dealer is 'go by the beam converter stickers from Halfords'. As mentioned above follow the instructions for the 458 as the lights look fairly similar. No clever software of flat dipped beams, just good old tape...
Can someone educate a dumb American? What is the difference between LHD and RHD in terms of the headlights? Do certain countries have brightness limitations? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
The direction of the beam is different to suit driving on the right vs driving on the left of the road.
UK beams are set up to point slightly to the left to prevent the headlights dazzling oncoming drivers on the right hand side of the road. In Europe, those same beams would aim directly at oncoming traffic on the left side of the road and dazzle those drivers. The sticker is supposed to cover up the left side of the beam to prevent this.
I've driven to the south of France dozens of times, never had an issue with dazzling oncoming drivers (perhaps I should have looked in the rear view once they'd passed). The beam certainly appears "flat". I've also been stopped for speeding at night, the police didn't so much as look at the lights.
Not in France my friend, you'd need to cross the border to Italy for that. In France you get a haughty shrug of Gallic indifference........which is equally endearing in its own way.
When the lights are dipped - yes. On main beam, not significantly. Given that the FF headlights on dip are brighter than my classic Porsche headlights on main beam(!) it's all relative anyway....
Pulling in the driveway last night in my FF I could EASILY see that the light beam was identical from left to right. There appears to be no need to put dots on the lights. Up against my 4 door garage it was very obvious that it was exactly the same left to right with low beams. Rick
Thanks Rick - I'll see if Euro spec cars are the same when I gets chance later this week. Can't see why they wouldn't be... However, whether I can explain a flat dip setup to one if Frances finest in my poor French at 2am on the morning and avoid an undeserved telling off is another matter....
The French seem more interested in Alcohol control, Ive been breatherlysed 3 times now close to Monaco so be warned, the French limit is less than UK. Just about to head back via Misano them Marenello up through Switzerland back to UK, for Goodwood. Hopefully event free.
