On 28/11/2012 02:38, Arfa Daily wrote:


"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Arfa Daily wrote:
Unfortunately, many
modern headlamp units are so awkwardly located that bulb replacement
can only be carried out by feel. In these cases, it is perfectly
possible to get the bulb in place such that at least one of the
locating tangs is not in its slot.

It's possible to cross thread a nut too.


Your point being ? Many people *do* cross-thread nuts, just like many
people mis-fit headlight bulbs ...

And leave it like that?


Because the retaining clip is only made of a thin gauge spring steel
wire, it is vanishingly easy to force it back into its clip, thus
holding the bulb in its seat at an angle. The result of this is a
beam pointing either at the ditch, or the moon

And you'd leave it like that till the next MOT?

No, *I* wouldn't, because I know how to fit them correctly. Sadly, I
appear to be in a minority ...

The vast majority of vehicles I see with headlights that 'dazzle' ain't
just one headlight, but both. So my opinion is it's down to poor
headlight
design and or setting - not an owner changing a bulb incorrectly.

--
*Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.


Well then, you must have a different breed of car owner in SW London.
Perhaps they are all wealthy enough to just have a decent garage change
their bulbs. Tonight, I drove the short distance to my local Tesco, and
just for sport, counted all the wrongly aligned headlamps - that's just
one, not both so definitely an alignment issue rather than a height or
main beam issue. I would guess that I encountered perhaps 30 vehicles
over the 3 miles of country road before I got close to the store on the
main road. I counted 4 cars and one bus that each had one light pointing
normally, and the other right in my face. How would you explain that, if
not by incorrect fitting of bulbs ?

I think it must be you who lives in an odd area. I drove 8 miles last
night in fairly heavy traffic and did not see a single vehicle with
misaligned headlamps.

Colin Bignell