aiming headlights

[cheyenne10]

This is spinoff another headlight post. How does everyone adjust their headlights or do they have shop do it? I know with big load they will be off but how about for ave. daily use?

[RON WOODGEARD]

There's a way to set the back wall of your garage up. I don't recall exactly what it is any more, but it's like at 25 ft. distance.

Any more i use one of them gadgets that you set against your headlight. It's a 2 way level. Park on a level surface, turn the adjustment knobs until they "level" and your done. Really easy to use and I bought it at a parts house.


It's hard to find anyplace to adjust them any more. (at least around here)

RON

[bobs409]

You used to be able to have them adjusted at almost any garage for $5 bucks but now they want $20! This is probably due to newer cars with their stupid headlights forcing the shop owners to buy different equipment, therby raising the cost. (same deal with wheel alignments-used to be $19.95. Now try to get it done for less than $35!)

Why can't things stay simple. Round headlights!!! Heck, we had a choice of 5" or 7".

[67Fleetsidedream]

I pull up to a wall at night with them on. Get the screw driver and start adjusting them until they look about the same from top to bottom and from left to right. I pull up to about 10 ft from the wall. Then I give them a test drive. If they are off to more of one side of the road then the other, then I go back to the wall and readjust until they are where I want them.

Ben

[cheyenne10]

I've tried that way with limited success. Maybe I should get the wife out on a dark hwy at night with walkie talkies to let me know how it hits oncoming cars, I hate to be flashed when I'm on low already. I also should check for shops around town. I would liek to do it myself (have a few sets to do!!)

Adjuster mentioned sounds good, any leads on supplier?

[Shane]

here ya go ... found this on Ebay. Hope this helps ...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2400044468

[StingRay]

Headlight aiming is properly accomplished in one of a few different ways depending on the type of light. If and only if the lights have three stand offs in a triangular pattern on the lens face then a Hoppy type light aimer ( not that little yellow piece of crap on EBAY) can be used. This aimer is worth at least a few hundred bucks and comes in a suit case full of adapters and other parts. It takes about 45 minutes to do right. If the lights have no stand offs then you will need to use one of the old style machines with a huge lens on the front that focuses the light down to a distant pattern inside a box and the light is adjusted untill it aligns with the pattern in the box. Both methods work well for their specific kinds of lights. The pattern on a wall can work OK if you have a very level floor and a flat wall at the correct distance from the lights. The pattern must be laid out on the wall exactly as per the light manufacturers instructions. This method is not exact but will work in a pinch. I have both machines and have used all three methods personally.

[Shane]

not that little yellow piece of crap on EBAY

I was only trying to help a fellow board member out ... geez

BTW: The ad LISTS that unit as a Hoppy ... but then again, I'm no Headlight Aiming Expert.

[Brad]

Shane, I don't think he was slamming on you, just the plastic unit. At least I hope not! Fwiw, I didn't read it like that, but I could see it being interpreted that way.

[cheyenne10]

I appricate all the comments. It looks like there are do-it-yourself tools as well as commercial tools. It sounds like I should probably try to find a reputable commercial shop if I'm very concerned. I did not know there would be detailed specs but it makes sence, everything else does!!

[StingRay]

Nothing personal on the E-bay thing guys. It's definitely the part not the people my comment was directed at. My appologies for not making that more clear.

[TERRYP]

As far as I'm concerned, where my headlights point is highly sobjective, I lijke mine out and higher on the right, and down lower on the left. Easy enough to do yourself in the dark against the grocery store wall.

[mrein3]

If it makes you guys feel any better I used to work at a shop while I was going to college. We used to adjust customers headlights for free if they asked. (This would be the 1987-1989 time frame)

The tool we used had a level and a prism. You mounted the two pieces of the tool on the nipples sticking out of the headlight. If memory serves there are three of these bumps on each headlight to align the tool to the light. First you leveled the headlights for the up/down adjustment. Then you used the prism to look over at a mark on the tool stuck on the other light. Using this method you adjusted the left/right adjustment.

I had the only completely rusted out old piece of crap college student type car at the UofM with perfectly adjusted halogen headlights.

[Truckstr]

It looks like everybody has "their" method for aiming headlights. I guess that I'll chime in.

What I do is a two-part method.

First, I get my car/truck on a level surface about 10 (minimum) to 25 (maximum) feet away from a wall. I then measure from the ground up to the center of the headlights and then transfer that measurement to the wall. Place a piece of tape at that height on the wall.

(*Important: make sure that the base of the wall and the place measured from at the front of the vehicle are at the same height)

Place a piece of tape to make a cross-hair on the wall to show the right to left position of the beam relative to the center of the headlights.

Now, just adjust your headlights so that the high beam hits the center of the cross-hair or just a tad higher (What's a tad, anyway? ). The low beam should be just below center.

Second part: Now take the vehicle out on a level stretch of highway at night. Sitting in the car, decide if the beam is hitting where you want it. Adjust as necessary.

If desired, take the car/truck back to the shop and check to see the difference between the preliminary and "final" setting.

After all of this, and oncoming traffic still "flashes" you when you are on low beam, well, you probably need to do somemore adjusting.

Good luck,
Jeff