Can You Raise The Headlights
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,989
Likes: 10
From: Columbus OH
I can't see the ones on my car since it's at home and I have never adjusted mine, but from experience with other cars, you will need a phillip screw driver.
Look for notches on the front side of the frame around the headlight. There should be two notches for each headlight. The one that's on the vertical part of the frame will adjust the yaw and the one on the horizontal part of the frame will adjust the pitch.
Email me if you are not clear, I'll take a picture of one of the cars' headlights in the parking lot and give you the general idea.
Look for notches on the front side of the frame around the headlight. There should be two notches for each headlight. The one that's on the vertical part of the frame will adjust the yaw and the one on the horizontal part of the frame will adjust the pitch.
Email me if you are not clear, I'll take a picture of one of the cars' headlights in the parking lot and give you the general idea.
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 157
Likes: 0
From: Divide Colorado
I adjusted my headlights on my '02 Coupe using the instructions in the owners manual. The adjuster screws on mine are actually Torx heads, not Phillips heads. You have to open the hood, pop up the headlights then shut them off halfway to leave them up. Remove the black plastic housings and you'll see the gold colored Torx head screws. It's pretty simple really. Problem I had was once I got the low beams where I wanted them, my high beams shot up into space. I had to adjust several times to get it right. 
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,884
Likes: 2
From: Walnut CA
If you do a search, there's some pretty good info on how to do this assuming that the HIDs do not replace the torx head screws. On each side, there are two adjusters that are brass colored. One is for the left to right adjustment and one is for the up and down adjustment.
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,884
Likes: 2
From: Walnut CA
I found the info that I gathered from our fellow forum member when I did my search. From my experience, removing the bezel is a good idea but as is said below, don't worry about removing the headlamp covers (the part that you see when your headlights are closed):
Although you can gain access to the adjustment shafts by removing the caps on the headlamp bezels, the easiest way is to simply remove the entire bezel. Take out the 3 screws and slide the bezel out from the front. If you changed the headlight bulbs you probably already removed them. There are two adjusters. They have reversed torx heads located at the ends of short metal shafts. The first for side/side (horizontal) adjustment is located right behind the high beam and would have been completely visible and accesable if you had removed the circular cap only. The second adjuster for up/down (vertical) is located slightly below the one mentioned above and closer to the back of the low beam bulb.
I would pull the vehicle up to a wall or garage door about 20 feet away and mark on the wall surface with tape or something removeable the outline of the light pattern you want to change, and make the minor adjustment. Just make sure when your turning the adjusters that you turn them slowly and do not overturn or force them, they are plastic gears and will strip if forced. Make sure your watching while your turning to ensure your adjusting the correct direction.
Headlamp adjustment
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. I have the PIAA fog lamps, which are brighter than the high beams anyway. 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.
Just did this, first take of the black ring around the bezel, there will be two torx screws the one on the outside does left and right the inside one that is hard to get to does up and down.
Although you can gain access to the adjustment shafts by removing the caps on the headlamp bezels, the easiest way is to simply remove the entire bezel. Take out the 3 screws and slide the bezel out from the front. If you changed the headlight bulbs you probably already removed them. There are two adjusters. They have reversed torx heads located at the ends of short metal shafts. The first for side/side (horizontal) adjustment is located right behind the high beam and would have been completely visible and accesable if you had removed the circular cap only. The second adjuster for up/down (vertical) is located slightly below the one mentioned above and closer to the back of the low beam bulb.
I would pull the vehicle up to a wall or garage door about 20 feet away and mark on the wall surface with tape or something removeable the outline of the light pattern you want to change, and make the minor adjustment. Just make sure when your turning the adjusters that you turn them slowly and do not overturn or force them, they are plastic gears and will strip if forced. Make sure your watching while your turning to ensure your adjusting the correct direction.
Headlamp adjustment
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. I have the PIAA fog lamps, which are brighter than the high beams anyway. 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.
Just did this, first take of the black ring around the bezel, there will be two torx screws the one on the outside does left and right the inside one that is hard to get to does up and down.
