Reducing glare from headlights on bullbar

[mjr350]

Long story short
Hit stump last night at speed will aluminum bullbar destroying the bottom section and luckily the mate who was in the car at the time has a wife (my cousin) who has been on his back about selling a custom GU steel bar for a few years now that he bought for a rainy day. I ended up getting it for a song and fitted it up on the spot when we got home.

Anyway it sits forward a fair bit more than the stock bar so im getting bad glare from the headlights and HID spotties.
Whats the best approach that people have found?
I know matte black paint is probably the best but is there any particular type or brand that is recommended?

[BigRAWesty]

If their not keen on pain you could try some mat black tape.

But any paint should to. Just prep it first

[happygu]

I have seen some use flat black tape, as wide as gaffa tape, and just run a strip across the back of the bar above the headlight.

You would be best finding some 3M tape, or wide pinstriping material, as that will stick the best and for the longest

[the evil twin]

I've used tape in the past.
Works perfectly and doesn't look out of place

[sooty_10]

Is the bar black? I'm tipping not of your getting light reflections. Maybe consider getting it painted or powder coated black.

[jay see]

I thought all polished bars had a black strip on the inside to prevent this.

[threedogs]

Mask off infront of both headlights and spray some matt black
on the top and rear of the top loop

[mjr350]

All done. Looks great and works well. No more glare.

[BigRAWesty]

So what did they do??

[mjr350]

So what did they do??

I did it. Its my bar.
I masked up and hit it with a can if good quality ($30 not $3.99) automotive matte black.
Simple yet very effective.

[BigRAWesty]

Sorry mate. Got a bit lost with initial post.
Good to hear. And should last a long time

[jet]

Can also paint out top 25mm or so of driving lights themselves
Can paint inside clear covers
Works great

[mjr350]

Sorry mate. Got a bit lost with initial post.
Good to hear. And should last a long time

Yeah I re read it and saw the confusion.
The matte finish still had quite a luster about it so i actually hit it with a light 200 grit foam block and it dulled it down to perfection. Also moved the hid's forward so they sit inline with the bar so that eliminated the glare from them which was the main issue.

[bowerbird]

talking about glare, has anyone got a fix for lights cutting through sea spray mist at night, last time I was on Fraser Island racing the incoming tide to get back to camp at night I couldn't see a bloody thing with the lights reflecting back off the sea spray, there was an easterly blowing a fair bit of misty spray over the beach. I also tried the fog lights but no luck, in fact they were worse. was wondering is there was a trick to light placement colour of lens or ??

[gaddy]

talking about glare, has anyone got a fix for lights cutting through sea spray mist at night, last time I was on Fraser Island racing the incoming tide to get back to camp at night I couldn't see a bloody thing with the lights reflecting back off the sea spray, there was an easterly blowing a fair bit of misty spray over the beach. I also tried the fog lights but no luck, in fact they were worse. was wondering is there was a trick to light placement colour of lens or ??

Time your tides better and slow down , nothing you can do about the haze ! The worlds best spotties still reflect off salt hase , there was a rollover this week due to speed ,

[threedogs]

I would think in that situation low beam would be best,

[gaddy]

I would think in that situation low beam would be best,

Yep low beam and slow

[mjr350]

Yellow lights cuts fog/mist/smoke better than white light. Maybe try yellow covers for spotties and possibly yellow contact for temporary fitment to headlights if you know that the situation is coming up.

[the evil twin]

Yellow lights cuts fog/mist/smoke better than white light. Maybe try yellow covers for spotties and possibly yellow contact for temporary fitment to headlights if you know that the situation is coming up.

Actually that is a myth and the scattering of light by fog particles is independant of the light wavelength (colour).
Indeed the yellow fog ligghts put out less lumens than full spectrum lights on a watt for watt basis.

The most important factor in Fog is the beam focus and that is why hardly any manuf produce yellow 'Fog' lights anymore.
With the correct beam pattern white lights are better than yellow

The effect of the yellow filter whether it is on the light source or worn as driving glasses is almost entirely due to the perception of eye comfort of the user.

Salt spray and dust is different issue to Fog and most Smoke or low density pollutant conditions because the salt and dust molecules are significantly heavier and cover from the ground up.
Fog and smoke will often be subject to stratification and almost invariably a denser layer of cold air close to the ground provides a clearer path so the light projects further "under" the fog

Bottom line is that it is all about the speed.
Yellow doesn't do sqaut in real terms and not even low beam or fog beams will do much to Salt Spray but they will seem more comfortable to the user.

[bowerbird]

"racing the tide" is a saying, not literally racing. I would never speed on the beach, I was involved in a horrible accident as a kid in the back of a beach buggy with a irresponsible half pissed adult at the wheel. If you like its a slow motion race. yes timing the tide is exactly what I do , but unfortunately I explored an unkown road on Fraser and got myself nicely lost. by the time I made it back to the beach the situation was bad. I actually ended up having to drive the trol as far up the beach as possible and watch with bated breath as the tide got to within touching the rear tyres. eventually much much later on with hungry winging kids I drove back to camp - another 35km

[Mjcpatrol]

Great idea