Loan of Superb for 30 Minutes

[Ozsko]

Does anyone here owning a Superb live in the Southern side of Sydney. A dealer has stuffed up the height of my car's headlights and I need a reference to re-set them correctly. I do not need to drive the car just place it facing a wall and mark the light heights on a wall. Beer given in thanks.

[thejack72]

We're in St George area. PM me if you don't get anybody closer.

[woofy]

Just in case, and to save you mucking around. The light heightt adjuster on the right hand side of the dash hasn't been bumped has it? Assuming you don't have xenons....

[Ozsko]

All Superbs have zenons. The car was damaged and the OS light replaced, the H3 in that light was pointing at the ground so I asked the dealer to bring it up to the correct height. They did not read the RO in the workshop correctly assuming it was written correctly and lifted all the lights so I was spotting possums, I then took it back and they lowered them so far it is now dangerous to drive on unlit roads and they admit they do not have a headlight aimer and therefore can only aim them against a wall. Next week it goes back and as I am not dependant on the car it stays there until it is right, they stuffed it so they can fix it. Having said that I doubt their ability to fix it so I await the results of their efforts. It would be a simple fix, either get a headlight aimer or another car car, mark the height of the lights on a wall and the distance of the car from the wall then put mine in the same position and use the marks from the other car. It appears I have to tell them how to do the job which I am sure is going to go down well I don't think. The original reason I gave it to them was I thought the headlights might be set up via computer as they all have motors on them for auto height setting when the vehicle is started.

[woofy]

Oh ok, I thought it was just the Elegance Superbs and couldn't remember what you had. I'm guessing the repairers didn't adjust the lights, as most dealers don't have headlight aiming boards I've found.

[Antiplastix]

How can they not have a head light aimer ? They have to have one to be able to pass a vehicle for a pink slip.

[Jake02]

All Superbs have xenons.

Sorry to correct, but no, it's only Elegance/Elegance 4x4 (V6) models that have them as standard (unless someone buying an Ambition optioned them :). But I've never seen a Superb Ambition on the road, so it's safe to say that most Superbs do have xenons because most are Elegances.

[Ozsko]

Mine is an an ambition and has Zenon's so I am guessing all Superb's sold here have Zenons. These cars are optioned for each market to arrive at a base car to be sold in that market. For instance the MFD display in ours is different to other markets, we get the multi function steering wheel standard (mine has it as an Ambition) and so on.

[BlackSuperb]

Ozsko, did this happen at a Skoda dealer? They can't adjust headlights? Sounds second rate to me.

[Ozsko]

Yes and it is, second rate that is.

[woofy]

I think there is a bit of confusion, the Elegance gets bi-Xenons, I'd be guessing that the Ambition has Xenons for one beam only. Either way I didn't know that as bi-xenons are an option for them so I assumed they were Halogen by default.

[coastie]

My ambition has bi-xenons

[Ozsko]

I think there is a bit of confusion, the Elegance gets bi-Xenons, I'd be guessing that the Ambition has Xenons for one beam only. Either way I didn't know that as bi-xenons are an option for them so I assumed they were Halogen by default.

Sorry but you are guessing wrong. The ambition has the full shebang of bi-xenons with the self leveling and the speed focus system but also has a H3 inner globe that works as a headlight flash and also on high beam. In this country in respect of the headlights there is no difference between Ambition and Elegance. I was going to trade the Ambition and buy an Elegance wagon but the difference in equipment levels is not great enough to make it worthwhile as mine came with leather as part of the deal and I just don't get the whole Columbus adoration scenario. Beyond those two things there is not much difference that I can see on the base cars before extras.

[Jake02]

In this country in respect of the headlights there is no difference between Ambition and Elegance.

No again. Unless optioned accordingly, the Ambition comes with projector beam headlights, whereas the Elegance comes with bi-xenons. Unless the headlights are actually on, there is no visual difference between the two.

[Ozsko]

Explain how mine has bi-xenons then. A mistake on Skodas part? Also the post above whose car also has them.

[woofy]

I've not really heard of bi xenons with H3 headlight globes. Bi xenons means both low beam and high beam are xenons. Some are low beam only, and in that case are not bi xenon. That would be what I guess the ambition might come with. Seeing as yours has leather all bets are off though as it's not stock spec and has had at least one factory option fitted.

Unless the website and brochure is wrong, the specify bi xenons as standard on the elegance and an option on the ambition, they change specs a lot so it might not have always been like that. I've been watching them since launch though and don't recall xenons being standard, but it might have been due to them listing the bi xenons as an option.

[Ozsko]

Sorry I mislead you, the leather was a dealer fit in Oz, not a factory fit. I would not be willing to bet anything on the spec of the cars that were brought in as initial stock. Mine has hill hold as well as the MF steering wheel and none of this was specified as an option. Is the MFSW a standard fit by the brochure? As for the H3's all cars for instance in the UK have them to supplement the xenons for the reasons I stated, what car have you seen with bi xenons and no H3"s?

[dArK5HaD0w]

all bi-xenon factory fitted cars generally have a halogen reflector unit for high beam flashing purposes.
it is impractical & inefficient to b using the d1s (xenon) globe to "flash", for watever reason, due to the igniting voltage required and the startup times for it.
hence a halogen setup is required. in the superb's case - using a h3 globe.

doesn't matter if u have xenons or bi-xenons, ur superb will still have a "high-beam" halogen reflector (closest to the grill). even those not equipped with xenons.
http://indianautosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/skoda-superb.png
the only difference is with bi-xenons (afs II), when u need high beams, not for flashing, the projector cutoff is changed for the beam pattern to show further away.
with normal xenons, when u need to use high beams, again not for flashing, the halogen r used. that's the behaviour with the vRS, optioned with xenons.

don't assume that just because the low-beam unit is a projector housing that u have xenons.
for some reason a lot of ppl think that a projector headlamp = xenons!! it doesn't!

[Ozsko]

I got my car back from the dealer today after the third visit to rectify the headlight problem and they are still stuffed. They assured me they had driven it at night which they might have, around the block. I think I am going to have to have a long and meaningful talk with the service manager and mechanic and assure them they have not fixed it. BTW they have had it since last Monday and I said I did not want it back until today to give them plenty of time to fix the lights and do a service. It goes back on Monday and I am not having it back until it is fixed as I have another car to drive so am not dependent on it. The next time I get it back someone is going to come for a ride in the dark before I take delivery.

[Ozsko]

We're in St George area. PM me if you don't get anybody closer.

Craig, thanks for coming all the way down and letting me see what your lights were like in comparison, much appreciated. An interesting hour long chat about Superbs and what can be done to them.

[kaanage]

You'd think the dealers would just do the wall trick with another Superb :facepalm:

[Ozsko]

I think I have figured out what they are trying to achieve. They are used to xenons being single beam only as most cars are and they think the xenons only work on high beam. When high beam is switched on the tree tops are lit up, literally and there is no increase in depth. They have looked at the car and seen H3 lights and somehow deduced they are the low beam but how they could deduce that beats me. I blame Skoda for all this as it is obvious that they have not done enough training at dealer level to all introduce the new technology coming through. The new headlights coming out of Europe lift as the speed increases, now that is something else again, no high beam anyone?

[BlackSuperb]

Doesn't the dealer have a manual, electronic or paper, so they can look up the beam alignment specs?

[Ozsko]

That is a question for tomorrow.