Lighting in rain at night not good

A

akboy2000

:
Mazda CX 5 Touring
Hi folks,
I have a 2017 CX5 Touring. I find that when I drive at night in the rain or when its wet out, and VISIBILITY of ground details is POOR.
I think its a quality of LED lighting, which I think is more directional and less diffused, therefore does not bounce off the
reflective lines when wet as well as I have found conventional incandesant lighting offers.

Otherwise I love the lights. I was wondering if others find that, and what are things I could do maybe aftermarket-wise
to make this situation better. Sometimes I feels like its dangerous!
 
It might be reasonably easy to install incandescent factory fog lights. I dont know about the headlights. I get the impression they are more 'integrated'.

Do you think fog lights would help? They are closest to the stripes and curbs.
 
IMO, LED lighting is superior to traditional lighting in every single way.
 
7eregrine said:
IMO, LED lighting is superior to traditional lighting in every single way.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The only drawback (WRT the LED headlights in newer Mazdas) is having to replace the entire headlight assembly if the headlights fail. Was a problem on the 1st gen CX-5, doesn't seem to be an issue on the current gen.

akboy2000, LED lighting is more powerful and can throw the light further than basic halogen lighting. More light = more reflection = better visibility. I think you may just be used to seeing the area immediately in front of the car more clearly due to the "light pollution" that is inherent in halogen lighting. My suggestion would be a set of aftermarket foglights, configured to throw light on the ground in the area that appears to be lacking (which I assume is approximately 10 ft ahead of the front bumper).
 
natureman said:
I will respectfully just throw out there if it is not the vehicle lights then you might want to have your eyes checked. Night vision problems are really common. https://health.usnews.com/health-ca...ping-with-impaired-night-vision-while-driving
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As people age, their night vision decreases very rapidly. Natural aging process. The difference between 20 and 40 is startling, t he difference between 20 and 60 is honestly depressing. It happens so gradually you don't "notice" it, but think back when you were a kid, remember how a moon would literally light up an entire field? You could play foodball in it and see the dark ball just fine. Think about trying that now...yeah, you remember...mmmm....age. Trading your body for wisdom.
 
I have a 2017 GT. The reflective lines in my city were recently repainted and it is a day and night difference in visibility when wet or in darkness. There are other stretches of road where the paint needs to be redone and you can really see the difference when compared to the newly painted streets. Maybe the reflective paint on the roads you drive on is getting faded.
 
I love the LED headlights, they're great when conditions are good. In rain they do suck especially when there's not many reflectors on the road and our useless fog lights don't make a difference. I honestly believe they're just for show lol White light just bounces off the water. Even HID's are no good in rain. I've always had HIDs and always had poor visibility in the rain at night. When I had my 2009 pontiac vibe gt with halogen headlights and fog lights, I could see quite a bit better when driving in the rain at night. I'm tinting my fogs to make them yellow and see how they do in the rain. I have yellow overlay on but gives a lime greenish hue, waiting on some amber overlay to see if it'll give a deeper yellow and see if that helps visibility in the rain.
 
The led lights in mazda cx 5 2017 is one of the best both in rain and no rain situation. Halogen lights as in my other cars never come up to that level. I have a feeling you have not checked it against halogen lights at the same time, same situation and place. Try it and you will be surprised. I have a lot of problem with night vision due to age (65+) but mazdas led headlights have given me more confidence to drive at night. Yes it gets terribly dark in Sweden at this time of the year. It feels night at 4PM, not to mention the rain.
 
Do you have fog lights? on my 2015 CX5 I replaced the fog light with some CREE leds from PRC. I also removed the little cover over the tip (circumcized?). The result is mught better ground output direct in front and to the sides.
 
From my flashlight experience, the wavelength of warm or yellowish light cuts through fog and rain a lot better than white light. Maybe replace the fog lights with warm leds.
 
MyFirstMazda said:
From my flashlight experience, the wavelength of warm or yellowish light cuts through fog and rain a lot better than white light. Maybe replace the fog lights with warm leds.
Click to expand...

Yes, that and I think it has to do with the more directionality of the light from LED vs. the more diffuse quality of the light from
an incandescent bulb. But not sure what aftermarket Fog lights are there as options for 2017 CX-5. Ideas?
 
Chris_Top_Her said:
Do you have fog lights? on my 2015 CX5 I replaced the fog light with some CREE leds from PRC. I also removed the little cover over the tip (circumcized?). The result is mught better ground output direct in front and to the sides.
Click to expand...

Previous vehicle had H11 halogen fog lights. Very easy to replace in minutes (literally) with drop-in LED replacements with much better performance. Many new cars, including the current CX-5, have changed this to a single LED (cost cutting) in order to not put in a headlight-grade wiring harness and proper LED modules. A little cheaper to build. Luckily, the performance of the LED headlights is very good per IIHS, with most distances in the several hundred feet range.
 
Unobtanium said:
It has much lower CRI, typically. Also, less spectrum of output.
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You're right on the mark here. Most people don't know much about the science behind light. These LED lamps put out a lot of lumens, but the fidelity of that light is often poor due to limited spectrum coverage just like you said. The end result is lots of light but still not being able to actually see anything. I'm hoping in another generation we start to see LED chips with better CRI that can still put out the lumens. Right now a trade-off has to be made, they can't get the brightness and still have good spectrum coverage.
 
Haven't seen much aftermarket options for the 2017+ CX5. I've finally got my amber overlay and tinted the fogs, giving it a deeper yellow color and output. We're expecting some rain here next week so I'll see how it performs, if any better than the stock white LED.

49235989731_152f2d220e_b.jpg
 
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