Washer for Xenon Headights

**noowve** · 03-06-2010, 02:05 PM

Hello Members

anyone here know why there are washers for every Xenon Headlights and not for your normal lights? i would think that normal lights to would require washers ..

any feedback would be very helpful..

**AdamD** · 03-06-2010, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by noowve

anyone here know why there are washers for every Xenon Headlights and not for your normal lights? i would think that normal lights to would require washers

It's a requirement of ADRs (with which a car must comply to be legal in Australia) that Xenon headlights be fitted with washers. Any car driving around with Xenons without headlight washers is illegal.

That requirement does not apply to cars fitted with halogen headlights (projector or otherwise).

**ConR** · 03-06-2010, 02:20 PM

correct me if i'm wrong someone, but I believe is mandatory in Australia to have washers on xenon headlight systems. Dirt build up on the xenons can actually cause a bad glare to oncoming drivers.

**Corey_R** · 03-06-2010, 03:23 PM

Correct.

Regular headlights are "reflective". This means that pieces of dirt on a headlight lens does not significantly impact the light spread of the headlight.
Xenon headlights are "projecting". So having dirt on the headlight lens can significantly impact the light spread of the headlight. A dangerous side effect of this could be that the light startles the drivers of cars in on-coming lanes.