Since everyone in North America drives on the same side of the road, you understand that there is a dearth of available literature on stick-on headlight handedness converters. I’m looking at some on ebay, and I thought I would see if anyone had any comments on which brand/type was the best bang for the buck. Also, how do they affect headlight performance aside from handedness?
I dont have an answer, I just want to know what the heck you are talking about.
it looks like english
I think it’s about how cars have the headlights aimed slightly towards the middle of the road. If you drive on the right, as in Canada, the headlights are aimed slightly to the left. If you drive on the left, as in England, the headlights are aimed slightly to the right. Evidently there are add-on lenses that reverse the horizontal aim when you cross a driving-on-which-side border.
I thought that people physically readjusted their headlights, but it stands to reason someone would come up with an easier way. It would be a pain in the neck to design, though; it would have to be custom made for each model of headlight.
Actually, the “handedness” of the headlight for reflector style headlamps are built into the lens and reflectors, and cannot be adjusted (projector style headlights sometimes can be adjusted. European ones generally can, anyway.).
Basically I can either use something like this. Or I can buy entirely new and rather expensive “left hand drive” headlight assemblies. I’m not quite sure if I want to invest that much yet, so I thought I’d try the cheaper route first.
It’s not clear from the illustrations whether the sticker is applied to both headlights, or just one, i.e. whether they also adjust the other headlight up, so that no headlight functionality is lost, or simply redirect the “traffic” side light.
It appears there’s only one company that makes these things, so I will probably end up buying it, I just thought I might fish for some insight here first before taking the plunge.
Actually this is incorrect. On a car driven on the right side of the road, the right side headlight points straight ahead, and the left side head light point slightly inward (to the right) so as not to dazzle the oncoming drivers.
European headlights typically have a very horizontal pattern that has a 15 degree or so rise on the shoulder side. So if you have LHD (driving on the right) European headlights, they would have a flat beam cutoff for most of the pattern and a 15 degree rise on the shoulder side. If you drove with these headlights on left side of the road, the 15 degree rise would dazzle the oncoming drivers.
Here is a graphic of a Europen beam pattern vs a NA one
Here is a photo of a European beam pattern (LHD)
Ah, okay. I was wondering whether I’d gotten that backwards.
Hmm, I didn’t realize that North American cars didn’t have the rise on the shoulder side - I thought all headlights had beam patterns of the “European” type. Is it still done this way, or are we talking about 3rd Generation Camaro sealed beam lights here?
Sorry I can’t give an answer to the OP on the best beam benders - it’s about 10 years since I took my car across the Channel - I must have adjusted the headlights then but I can’t remember how 
These days I fly out and hire.
I did a quick check on the AA web site and - for UK cars going to the Continent it notes that:
The discussion regarding the different North American and European beam patterns is interesting - do American cars not have a Main/Dip beam facility? I feel dim myself - I’ve rented a car in the States but just don’t remember :smack:
I seem to remember cars on the Continent had those yellowish headlights and tourists who’d returned home could be spotted with little filters on their headlights.
Yes cars in NA have both main and dip beam (we call it high and low beam). What differs is the pattern of the dipped beam. See my first link above for a comparison.
Throatwarbler Mangrove the laws on lighting here in North America have been changing and I believe they are now much closer to European standards then they were before. They are not the same however.
That was a French thing, but they have white headlights too these days.
I don’t remember doing anything with the headlights when driving a British car in France (admittedly somebody else’s car), apart from maybe aiming the beams lower with the little adjuster wheel on the dashboard. You do see some people with bits of masking tape to block out the “shoulder” of the beam.
Which beam bender is best?
Bender Bending Rodríguez
Anecdotally, I believe this may be the case - I had an old Japanese market (i.e. essentially same as the European type) Mercedes that had the beam adjustment dial, which was not present on the North American version.
EDIT: I’m not referring to hi-low beam, but an actual graduated dial that adjusted the aim of the low beams.
Update: My Beam Benders arrived in the mail today, and I have installed them. There is some cause for concern, however, as I’m not sure how well the adhesive will hold up to the -30C weather, especially during spirited driving. I will have to be extra careful and double check them prior to each trip. The cost was high: ~ 12 pounds/set plus 2 pounds shipping.
They do seem to be quite effective. My headlight beam is now aimed at the correct side of the road. There were in fact two bean benders included in the package, one for each headlight. It can also be used to convert left hand drive vehicles for right hand drive countries, by simply flipping the little buggers upside down.
Now at least I have an idea of what you were talking about. I was one of the first to open this thread. I was thinking what does this guy actually want. At last I know.