G4, Light-output: Before/After *Pictures*

[AirMoore]

This thread is to help show the impact of Veil G4 on output of ones HL's


Car: 2000 Honda Civic EX Coupe (Stock HL system).
Veil coating: What I would consider 'light': (It actually looks WAY BETTER now that its 'set-up' for a good period of time). http://www.radardetector.net/forums/...-come-see.html

-These photos were taken in my back yard... facing one of our garages, there is another garage (large shed rather) to the left, and the deck off the back of our house to the right.


Low Beam: Before Veil G4


Low Beam: After Veil G4





High Beam: Before Veil G4


High Beam: After Veil G4




Some things to note:

1)The camera seemed to have a harder time auto-focusing with the Veil G4 applied... and also it messes with the colors the camera seemed to capture. I don't know if this is an anomaly somehow caused by the back-lighting where I was combined with the Veil or what,, but I can tell you that the color of everything is off, because when *to me* I saw very little difference in the color, the grass looked green to me?

2)I did the best I could to line the car up in nearly identical spots both times (under our clothes lines out back)... so they are in very similar positions.

3)You can make up your own mind as to how much you think G4 impacts Light Output, and remember I feel as if my application is on the 'lighter' side of them.

4) The High-Beam shots seem to be a truer representation then the low beams, I dnk what was going on in the low-beam after photos... but they are what they are (I took numerous photos and they all came out the same on low-beams after the application, but the ground did not look like that. So I would pay more attention to the high-beam shots. Both the high and low-beams after G4 was applied seemed to mess with the cameras auto-focus (as you can see), but the colors on the High-beam before/after photos are truer.


-Overall I am VERY satisfied and happy with the G4 (I wont be driving without that on my car again), and if I had a bit more skill with the application of the stuff, I would be down right ecstatic. Though I will say the product 'set-up' much better then i expected and from 15+feet out (in person) it looks beautiful.-



Comments: any and all... what are your thoughts? Anything else you would have liked to seen? Hope this helps other members.

[JDS]

1: The pictures are great, and it sounds like you set them up very scientifically. Good just

2: I am not sure what your camera setup is, but I should warn you that unless you can manually control the exposure, the photos are virtually worthless for a quantitative light output comparison.

3: Taking the previous warning into account...the pictures LOOK encouraging. The light output appears diminished and the cutoff doesn't appear as sharp, but the differences appear to be relatively minor, and the overall result SEEMS to be quite viable.

I find all of this quite interesting because, even under the best of circumstances, the light output from my headlights is a complete joke. I'm not worried about Veil reducing their usefulness because they're no use anyway...I do 98% of my night driving on very well-lit roads, but if I'm out in the middle of nowhere, my headlights are enough to keep me from driving off the road into a ditch, and that's about it. Now that you have applied the Veil, what is your subjective assessment of how much use the headlights are to you, in a situation with little or no ambient lighting?

[Arashi666]

looks good and promising. . . but there was always the nagging thing about HIDs on the older veil formula. . . I wonder how its gonna pan out here. . .because im looking at retrofiting HID projectors on the civic, itll be much better light, but the veil could save my ass too. . . hmmm, decisions decisions

[happya$$]

good stuff great pics and info

[JDS]

looks good and promising. . . but there was always the nagging thing about HIDs on the older veil formula. . . I wonder how its gonna pan out here. . .because im looking at retrofiting HID projectors on the civic, itll be much better light, but the veil could save my ass too. . . hmmm, decisions decisions

I've never really understood why people would be MORE apprehensive about light output with HIDs than other headlights. With HIDs you have output to spare, so who cares if Veil cuts it down a little? It's the rest of us with reflectors and sealed beams that need ever lumen we can get.

[AirMoore]

Ok: I shall try to get back to as much as I can:


JDS:
1) Thanks, I tried the best I could (without making it too much of a PITA for me) to get this done with some level of scientific measure. Since I hope many people can reference this for their future use.


2) The camera was not set-up for optimal(auto) picture-quality, and therefore did not compensate (auto-adjust) for the lightening conditions (or any other environmental conditions) to make the best quality picture it could... in other words ruin(or be completely counterproductive) for what I was trying to show.

3) I concur, even though my 'coat' of Veil is what I would call 'light', it is certainly promising.


---As you can tell, a Honda Civic (especially my gen) was a "Honda Civic" so they didn't put 'the pinnacle' of lighting systems in it either... just ones that plain old 'work'. I would describe the high-beams as 'adequate', but nothing more; the low-beams I would say 'adequate at best'! So I see where you are coming from in that respect.

With that said I got to drive home from work @10PM on my road (a main-road with no artificial lighting to speak of outside the city)... where I am in, by any extent: 'the boonies'.

My opinion: The low beams seemed to 'light-up' everything (coverage wise) nearly the exact same, except at a reduced output (similar to a very humid/hazy day without the actual humidity/haze in the air). The overall distance (forward) seem to be impacted very slightly.

The high beams on the other hand seemed to have identical output (forward, facing directly down the road in my-path) then there was 2 very small 'pockets where you could see almost nothing on the shoulder... then there was light again off to the side with (again) very minimal reduction in visible output.

I am a bit perplexed as the the exact cause of these 'small' pockets of very reduced light-output (which were not there before the application). I think it has something to do with two things: A) This seems to be right where my headlight 'curves off' AND B) My headlight design: (it has two 'protruding' humps in those regions which were a pain to apply the Veil to, because they are like little "volcanoes"). Thats probably going to be a unique issue with my style headlight, though I am sure others headlights will have other unique issues.

The thing that impressed me the most is the 'main-tunnel' of the High-beams was not reduced at all... and this is where I normally 'scan' the road... and more importantly of the sides of the road! This is a huge plus for me, and I am extremely happy with the outcome of the HL output.

[AirMoore]

Arashi: I think TSi+WRX can chime in for you on your issue (more-so then me at least). (Not trying to speak for him), but I also think (from what I have read) he has been very pleased with minimal impact of his G4 application.


Happya$$: Thanks: again, its always good to see other forum members support, especially when taking ones own time (this goes for anyone) in putting these sort of things together for the benefit of other forum members!

[TSi+WRX]

Arashi: I think TSi+WRX can chime in for you on your issue (more-so then me at least). (Not trying to speak for him), but I also think (from what I have read) he has been very pleased with minimal impact of his G4 application.

I agree exactly with JDS - with HIDs, Arashi, you effectively have lighting "to-spare." There's really no need to worry, at all.

----

AirMoore that looks really good!

I've noticed the same accentuation of lighting artifacts that you've noticed.

I think that the combination of slightly reduced overall output, combined with the optical effects of having an additional "layer" (that's not optically "perfect") on top of the lens, both contribute to this.

Do you have a *slight* overwattage solution available, in your particular low-beam lighting fitment? Nothing outrageous, just a step up of, say, 10W.

That might be all that you need, to get back to factory headlamp "brightness."

As I've said before, with my 65W solution to the factory 55W, I'm now seeing - with what I'd imagine to be a *very* similar to your own G4 setup - a reduction in my lighting output to something that's, for lack of better words, "between" the 65W and the 55W.

[rsatmans]

Great pictures thank you so much for taeking the time to do this. My worry with the HID'S was not so much light output with veil but rather glare after veil.

[TSi+WRX]

Great pictures thank you so much for taeking the time to do this. My worry with the HID'S was not so much light output with veil but rather glare after veil.

^ That's definitely a valid concern.

I think that as long as your factory cut-off is decent, you shouldn't need to worry too much. Yes, it'll be sloppier after, but it honestly shouldn't be anywhere near offensive to oncoming traffic.

My projectors (incandescent) have a very tightly defined cut-off, and I can tell you that yes, it's definitely more hazy after G4. But it really hasn't changed all that much.

Within the actual beam throw, though, I can't help but imagine that there might be, incurred, some hot/cold spots.