How do you adjust the Headlight beams?
Drifting
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 1,681
Likes: 23
From: Newark CA
Re: How do you adjust the Headlight beams? (DAP)
Raise the headlamp doors, then turn off the lamps by turning the light switch to the parking-light position. Remove the plastic shields that surround the front and sides of the headlamps (3 screws each). Push the shield down to clear the bottom lip of the door, then pull it forward and up. This will provide access to the four adjusting screws (2 per lamp). These are brass screws facing toward the center of the engine compartment. They can be turned with either a T15 Torx driver or a 1/4-inch socket (one of my screws stripped out and the socket wouldn't fit, so I had to use small vise-grips). I suggest oiling all of the screw threads, because I could not turn mine until I did.
One screw on each side is just below the headlamp door behind the high beam. This screw adjusts the beam left and right. Turning the screw clockwise moves the beam toward the center of the car. The other screw is below and behind the first screw, and more difficult to get to. Raise the hood to access this screw. This screw moves the beam up and down. Turning the screw clockwise moves the beam down.
The high and low beams cannot be adjusted independently, so I just adjust the low beams and live with the high adjustment. Leave the shields off until you are satisfied with the adjustments. Without a headlamp aiming tool, the best way to get the aiming correct is trial and error. Take the car out to a dark street or parking lot and see how the beams hit the asphalt. Adjust them to your liking. I like to have the beams point slightly inward about 75 feet out.
These aiming instructions were provided by SWCDuke:
"Find a flat area with a wall. (Parking garages are often good.) Measure the distance from the ground to the center of the headlight with the car at normal trim height. Place a couple of pieces of duct tape on the wall THREE INCHES below the level of your headlight centers, then position the car with the headlights 25 feet from the wall. Adjust the center point of the beam so it is straight ahead, then adjust the headlight pitch so that the cutoff is at the level of the tape, which will mean the beam drops 3 inches in 25 feet. This will provide excellent lighting and not blind oncoming drivers. While you're at it, check your foglight adjustment. Fogs have a flat cutoff and this should be at the same level (from 25 feet) as the center of the lens, in other words, parallel to the road at the same height as the center of the foglight lens".
Once you are satisfied with the adjustments, replace each shield by lowering it between the bumper cover and the bottom front of the headlamp, then pull it up, making sure that the plastic tab at the top goes between the door and the metal clip on the bottom side of the door.
One screw on each side is just below the headlamp door behind the high beam. This screw adjusts the beam left and right. Turning the screw clockwise moves the beam toward the center of the car. The other screw is below and behind the first screw, and more difficult to get to. Raise the hood to access this screw. This screw moves the beam up and down. Turning the screw clockwise moves the beam down.
The high and low beams cannot be adjusted independently, so I just adjust the low beams and live with the high adjustment. Leave the shields off until you are satisfied with the adjustments. Without a headlamp aiming tool, the best way to get the aiming correct is trial and error. Take the car out to a dark street or parking lot and see how the beams hit the asphalt. Adjust them to your liking. I like to have the beams point slightly inward about 75 feet out.
These aiming instructions were provided by SWCDuke:
"Find a flat area with a wall. (Parking garages are often good.) Measure the distance from the ground to the center of the headlight with the car at normal trim height. Place a couple of pieces of duct tape on the wall THREE INCHES below the level of your headlight centers, then position the car with the headlights 25 feet from the wall. Adjust the center point of the beam so it is straight ahead, then adjust the headlight pitch so that the cutoff is at the level of the tape, which will mean the beam drops 3 inches in 25 feet. This will provide excellent lighting and not blind oncoming drivers. While you're at it, check your foglight adjustment. Fogs have a flat cutoff and this should be at the same level (from 25 feet) as the center of the lens, in other words, parallel to the road at the same height as the center of the foglight lens".
Once you are satisfied with the adjustments, replace each shield by lowering it between the bumper cover and the bottom front of the headlamp, then pull it up, making sure that the plastic tab at the top goes between the door and the metal clip on the bottom side of the door.
