Hi folks,

Once again trying to fix/improve things on GFs 2016 Q5.

She said the dipped headlights were poor and when I drove it I agreed – definitely not very good. Certainly no better that my 04 Focus and worse than my 02 V70.

The main beam is fine

It has normal H7 bulbs and a thumbwheel to adjust the level.

I wanted to try adjusting the headlights up so I removed the plastic top cover and found what looked like two adjusters on top of both headlights – both were 6mm female hex’s – one white (circled blue in pic 1) one black (circled blue in pic 2)

The white one adjusted the entire headlight up and down – so I’ve adjusted it up a turn both sides and it has improved things a little (no on-coming drivers have been flashing us – so I’m happy it’s not too high)

I tried adjusting the other (black) adjuster but little happened and as it was quite tight to turn, rather than do any damage I let it be.

I’ve replaced the dip bulbs with a pair of Philips GT200 H7s (seem to get good reviews) – again it’s helped a bit but not much. When I removed the covers to remove/replace the dip bulb I noticed inside both headlights there is a shaft that has a male hex on the end – it looked like another adjuster (circled blue in pic 3) – but I didn’t know what it’s for and let it be.

Hoping someone has some useful experience/knowledge on Q5 headlights and can help:

1.       Anyone else found the Q5 dip lights to be poor and did you fix it using the existing headlamps and H7 bulbs  ? Are LEDs worth a try  – I’m not keen to upgrade to HID etc at the mo.

2.       What’s the black female hex adjuster on top of the headlights for ? I guess it’s for left/right adjustment ?

3.       What’s the shaft with male hex behind the dip bulb cover ? Does it (for example) adjust dip bulb up/down separately from the main bulb ?

Many thanks

Joolz

 

1 hour ago, Joolz999 said:

Hi folks,

Once again trying to fix/improve things on GFs 2016 Q5.

She said the dipped headlights were poor and when I drove it I agreed – definitely not very good. Certainly no better that my 04 Focus and worse than my 02 V70.

The main beam is fine

It has normal H7 bulbs and a thumbwheel to adjust the level.

I wanted to try adjusting the headlights up so I removed the plastic top cover and found what looked like two adjusters on top of both headlights – both were 6mm female hex’s – one white (circled blue in pic 1) one black (circled blue in pic 2)

The white one adjusted the entire headlight up and down – so I’ve adjusted it up a turn both sides and it has improved things a little (no on-coming drivers have been flashing us – so I’m happy it’s not too high)

I tried adjusting the other (black) adjuster but little happened and as it was quite tight to turn, rather than do any damage I let it be.

I’ve replaced the dip bulbs with a pair of Philips GT200 H7s (seem to get good reviews) – again it’s helped a bit but not much. When I removed the covers to remove/replace the dip bulb I noticed inside both headlights there is a shaft that has a male hex on the end – it looked like another adjuster (circled blue in pic 3) – but I didn’t know what it’s for and let it be.

Hoping someone has some useful experience/knowledge on Q5 headlights and can help:

1.       Anyone else found the Q5 dip lights to be poor and did you fix it using the existing headlamps and H7 bulbs  ? Are LEDs worth a try  – I’m not keen to upgrade to HID etc at the mo.

2.       What’s the black female hex adjuster on top of the headlights for ? I guess it’s for left/right adjustment ?

3.       What’s the shaft with male hex behind the dip bulb cover ? Does it (for example) adjust dip bulb up/down separately from the main bulb ?

Many thanks

Joolz

 

Hi the black adjuster moves the left to right adjustment the white adjuster does up and down the silver adjuster does the main beam left to right, leave that one alone, are your dipped beams projector lenses, can't see from the photos, if they are its most probably the reflective chrome in the bowl is burnt off at the top in which case it wont matter what bulbs you put in you wont get any light improvement.

Steve.

1 hour ago, Stevey Y said:

if they are its most probably the reflective chrome in the bowl is burnt off at the top in which case it wont matter what bulbs you put in you wont get any light improvement.

That's the exact problem I had on my Mk4 Mondeo, had to fit brand new headlights to fix it.

 

As for the adjustment, is there not a local garage who could check the alignment for you? 

3 hours ago, Mark M. said:

That's the exact problem I had on my Mk4 Mondeo, had to fit brand new headlights to fix it.

 

As for the adjustment, is there not a local garage who could check the alignment for you? 

Have a look at the earlier Audis same problem, H7 bulbs give off massive amounts of heat which is why they changed to HID less than a third of the heat and brighter lights on less power, Halogen bulbs are typically used on non projector headlamps as they have a larger area for the heat to dissipate, common misconception is after market LED bulbs give less heat, WRONG! thats why they have cooling fans on the back of them, the original equipment LEDs dont have this.

Steve.

51 minutes ago, Stevey Y said:

Have a look at the earlier Audis same problem, H7 bulbs give off massive amounts of heat which is why they changed to HID less than a third of the heat and brighter lights on less power, Halogen bulbs are typically used on non projector headlamps as they have a larger area for the heat to dissipate, common misconception is after market LED bulbs give less heat, WRONG! thats why they have cooling fans on the back of them, the original equipment LEDs dont have this.

Steve.

Not quite accurate, LED's do give off a lot less heat than halogens. But where a halogen bulb has a lot of area to shed that heat in the form of visible light and infrared light. LED's are more susceptible to heat damage and degradation and have a, comparably, much smaller surface area so can't dissipate heat anywhere near as quickly, nor can they shed it via infrared as they don't produce it. The only way to remove that heat is with a heatsink and a fan to cool the heatsink.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ6REQ4Wma4

The beginning of that video show the internals of an OEM LED headlight, you can see the massive heatsinks and the fans that are inside the housings

Edited August 31, 2025Aug 31 by Mark M.

16 hours ago, Mark M. said:

Not quite accurate, LED's do give off a lot less heat than halogens. But where a halogen bulb has a lot of area to shed that heat in the form of visible light and infrared light. LED's are more susceptible to heat damage and degradation and have a, comparably, much smaller surface area so can't dissipate heat anywhere near as quickly, nor can they shed it via infrared as they don't produce it. The only way to remove that heat is with a heatsink and a fan to cool the heatsink.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ6REQ4Wma4

The beginning of that video show the internals of an OEM LED headlight, you can see the massive heatsinks and the fans that are inside the housings

Hi if you read some of the replies to that video you will note its a laser head lamp from a Range Rover circa 2018, this particular design was so successful they stopped making them after two years, because A the failure rate was astounding and B the replacement cost was also astounding, the LED lights on nearly all new Vag vehicles are designed with an alloy body which contains the control board which also stuffed full of silicon, so maybe that acts as a heatsink the same as the paste on chips in an ECU, Definitely no fans as I have had one apart on my Passat to repair a DRL, I was just trying to point out that for the O.Ps point of view any LED retrofit bulb with a fan unit attached was not a good idea.

Steve.

22 hours ago, Stevey Y said:

I was just trying to point out that for the O.Ps point of view any LED retrofit bulb with a fan unit attached was not a good idea.

Couldn't agree more, fitting LED bulbs in a reflector or projector style headlight unit is just a horrible idea.

Thanks Stevey and Mark for help and information.
Even tho' I'm a long time mech engineer and car/bike enthusiast I never got well acquainted with all things light related - so I’m learning a lot here.
I've done some googling and looked at the headlamps and am pretty certain they are reflectors not projectors.
Can't see anything wrong with the silvering in the headlight generally - nothing peeling off etc. They have the little glare cover (?) over the bulbs – can’t really see the condition of that but have never had a problem with them in any other car.
We tried the new dip set up again and think the GT200 bulbs have made more of a difference than we first thought and also the lights are still too low – so am going to adjust up a little more and see if we can get to something that we can live with.

I won’t be fitting LEDs anytime soon – I understand a lot of the cars that half blind me these days (the ones you flash and they then blind you completely when showing they were actually on dip) are running AM LEDs that aren’t compatible with the headlights and throw light everywhere ?!
Thanks for all
Joolz