Thread: High Level Driving/Spot Lights & Glare Off Bonnet

I have a lightbar mounted on the roof rack on my 79 series and that does reflect light onto the bonnet despite having a sun visor fitted to the truck.
With the quality and intensity of LED spotlights improving all the time the need for these high mount lights is diminishing.
I never use the top lightbar on the 79 series because it may throw extra light out But the distraction of having the bonnet lit up negates any advantage of using it.
I have LED spots with a spread beam incorporated into the spot fitted to my D2a and my Navara and when these are turned on it is pretty much daylight in front of the trucks and I have no use whatsoever of a high mount lightbar on them

I have a 42" straight light bar mounted to the front of my roof rack. I also have a white bonnet, the shape of the D1 bonnet dosnt really glare back into your face but it does light up. I dont mind the light its not straining on the eyes at all, it just seems like daytime.
I love the lightbar on the roof the only downfall is you dont get heaps of distance, but it lights up the surrounding area brilliantly and rabbits freeze up in front of it, giving you plenty of time to get out with the shotgun

I have a couple of small LED work lights fitted to the front of the tray on my Navara that I use occasionally when driving on bush tracks at night to light up the sides of the track, These seem to give me more coverage than a roof mounted lightbar and the glare is minimal because of their low output as they are only 40w lights.
I only use these off road and only when the track is extra rocky or if there is a drop off that I need to avoid otherwise the front spots are more than adequate.
I only mounted these for light around the campsite and when I am down the beach fishing in the first place But as with everything I like to try and use them for some other function as well.
I did have lightbars fitted to the bullbar on the D2a and the Nissan But they made very little difference when the main spots were being used so I removed them, One of these now resides on the bow of my boat
Lightbars are good if you don't have any other extra lighting But I find that they become pretty much redundant when a Good set of spotties have been fitted and putting up with the glare from an overhead light that doesn't really do that much to improve overall lighting isn't really worth the effort and expense of fitting them.
Sure they make the truck look "Tough" But overall you are not gaining that much by having the overhead lights fitted in my opinion.

Hi 4xsama, I have been running roof lights on most of my vehicles for the last 35 years.

The roof lights just make night driving so much safer than bumper mounted lights can do, and I no longer run bumper mounted ring lights.

But I leant very early on that lighting up the bonnet at night is not such a good idea and as such, I always mount my roof lights far enough back from the front edge of the roof that the light does not shine on the bonnet, and when I have had one fitted, does not light up the back of a bullbar.

This is the last vehicle that I fitted bumper mounted light to.




Even on my Tiguan, I only run a roof mounted LED bar

I have a 3/4 rack so this is where my 42" light is mounted on the Defender, right where the sloped front roof meets the flat main roof (if that makes sense)
Mounted this far back there is no reflection off the bonnet or bull-bar, but it does light up the UHF antenna.

I love it, it's like daylight out there. So much so that the ARB X-Force spotties on the bull-bar pale to little yellow dots in comparison, must be time to upgrade them...

I don't use the light bar much around here, too much traffic, and I don't want to blind on-coming drivers if I'm not quick enough on the dipper.

Roof mounted lightbars may be illegal, depending on the interpretation of state laws.

Where can you legally mount LED lightbars? | Practical Motoring

Hi Mick, that is from WA and I think it might be an old document.

But both NSW and VIC now allow roof mounted driving lights and there never has been a height limit in QLD.

It seems to be a dog's breakfast.
Another summary is below.
From what I can figure, even if roof mounting is allowed in a state, that is illegal if the glare causes discomfort.
Also, the roof-mounted lightbar has to be in the front half of the vehicle, measured from front to back.

Are my additional driving lights legal?