whats the point of headlight washers?

[Figit090]

What exactly is the point of the supra headlight sprayer/washers?

have they been proven to help with anything? does anyone on here ever USE them?? i dont have them but i've always wondered who gets their headlights dirty enough to use them.... and how a spray could possibly help anything much.


Then once that's answered...what about the funny little headlamp WIPERS i see on mercs and other luxury vehicles? they arent used much on cars so i'm guessing its an extra crap "luxury" that is meant for sales and not for practicality....

but maybe i'm missing something? i could see washers and wipers being necesary in a country without paved roads.... but in the US?

 

[lagged]

they get pretty damn dirty over time.

 

[MA70Supra88]

The only time I ever use the headlight washers is to spray people that are standing near the front of the car. All they do is make a mess everywhere. Maybe it was just one of those cool things to have in the 80's.

 

[johnathan1]

I don't ever use mine, in fact one of them doesn't work, it just sprays on the ground...lol. I'm assuming they are mainly for cold climates, where snow and ice can form on the headlights (they can be left in the upright position when parked, so that they don't freeze closed). They don't just spray a little stream of water, they spray pretty hard...like when you put your thumb over the end of a garden hose.

I have also heard of the sprayer system being used to spray the intercooler with water for better heat transfer, and more power.

 

[Figit090]

oh, well then... that's cool.

lol. i feel better now. sometimes little pieces of seemingly pointless engineering have to be explained or i view them as pointless and wasteful. now i dont

i was imagining a wimpy spray that would just make the lights wet. and i totally forgot about the ice factor because i've never been anywhere that gets that cold... at least nowhere that makes the lights freeze over.....i've found out cars covered in ice and on the windshiled but its been a while (have a garage now).

the intercooler sprayer idea is great. personally if i had them i've flip them around to squirt cars in front of me at stoplights. that would rock. hahaaaha.....i get passed so many times on the highway only to see the same leadfoot RIGHT in front of me once we reach a stoplight....oh how i'd love to squirt suds on their cars....

do they spray a stream or a fanned-out spray that coveres a largish area?

 

[theKnifeArtist]

i just flip my lights on and give em a good wipe with glass cleaner whenever i clean my car.

 

[JENNY!]

when i drove my 86.5 i used them all the time, but now that i have an 89 so miss them.

 

[artmo]

yeah i was goona use the winsheild sprayers for my itercooler, does anyone have recomendations on what i should use to spray it.. water? alchol and water mixed?

 

[iwannadie]

my lights get very dusty(living in a desert). i wish my sprayers worked. i end up cleaning the lights once a week or so.

 

[IJ.]

To wash headlights perhaps??

 

[HIDPLANET]

Headlight washers were introduced primarily for the European market but some manufcturers included them in all of their cars. European lighting laws are MUCH more strict versus DOT laws and they require non glaring headlights as well as strict cutoff regulations. With these laws in place, a dirty headlight lens causes excessive glare when dirty so washers clean the lens to reduce glare to comply to the laws.

 

[SupraSpeed]

so you can re-route them to spray your intercooler!!!!

 

[s383mmber1]

oh, well then... that's cool.

i was imagining a wimpy spray that would just make the lights wet.

WIMPY SPRAY!?>!?>!?>

JEZZZ this thing scared the crap outta me the first time i used it! I thouhgt i BHG'ed.

The thing is sickk. I get people that think its sooo cool all thie time! Really!

 

[s383mmber1]

so you can re-route them to spray your intercooler!!!!

O yeah, ill be doing it this winter, maybe putting i na bigger resevoir or something to put ice in it!

 

[bluepearl]

They are meant to be used for the hard core over the road traveler in freezing, snowy, wet and salt covered roads. Can you lmagine if you did'nt have windshield washers on a trip? I never did a light output test, but at least with the washers, headlight output would remain optimal. The cars with the wipers would be the best.

 

[FredMk3]

I don't ever use mine, in fact one of them doesn't work, it just sprays on the ground...lol. I'm assuming they are mainly for cold climates, where snow and ice can form on the headlights (they can be left in the upright position when parked, so that they don't freeze closed). They don't just spray a little stream of water, they spray pretty hard...like when you put your thumb over the end of a garden hose.

I have also heard of the sprayer system being used to spray the intercooler with water for better heat transfer, and more power.

Exactly...that's the only reason I can see for what headlight washer would be used, or maybe if you make a long trip on sandy roads following cars at night, headlight could become pretty dirty.

And yes there's very good pressure comming out of there. 4 years ago I was comming back from work and it was snowing pretty bad( first snowstorm of the year, wouldn't have took my supra if I would have knew it would have been that bad) and in the middle of my trip, I noticed that I was not seeing quite as good, press the washer button a couple time and BAM plenty of light again. When I arrive at home, checked my headlights and sure enought theres was a bit of ice left on the corners of the headlights. The washers did there job.

 

[Jayhall]

i always get people at meets, you know your friends who pretend to not see you when your pulling in, and stand infront of you. Well they get a wet ass, and they learn their lesson. Or if someone in a cross walk gets too close, ill see them coming and fire a warning shot

 

[Figit090]

wow i appriciate these much more now.

i like the icewater idea. i wonder if anyone's ever made an arragement of coolant-filled pipes that come in contact with the metal onthe intercooler....i know that freon or equivilent gets pretty cold... you could extend A/C pipes along the intercooler....let that do it. but then you rob HP if the AC clutch is engaged...i dunno. rev it and cool her down and then hit the AC button when the tree begins to light...lol.

 

[ForcedTorque]

Then once that's answered...what about the funny little headlamp WIPERS i see on mercs and other luxury vehicles?

These are used after taking the Mercedes through the Mud Bogs!

 

[tekdeus]

I once had dirty headlights and the spray did nothing to clean them. Pretty useless IMHO.