Head Lamp Alignment

[Northern Banana]

Pottering along the country roads at night, I notice that drivers in front are always dipping their rear view mirrors, suggesting I am blinding them. I must admit that when using full beam I don't seem to get must additional benefit as if the alignment is too high, and on normal headlight setting the beam looks to be quite high up on roadside objects such as road signs.

 

What is correct way of adjusting this, I have tried re-positioning the whole of the headlight and indicator arm, positioned under the nose cone, but this results in the indicator pointing at a downwards angle a little too much.

 

As a non-techie, any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

[Mike Bey]

You get used to being flashed by drivers coming in the opposite direction, too. Treat them as if they are friends of yours and give them a cheery wave back, and drive home with a warm glow at how many new chums you have made with your little car.

[Northern Banana]

Thanks Mike,

 

The friendly ones are OK, and are probably more concerned about the what the hell has just rocketed up behind them, it’s the roadrage-prone types that are the problem. Once you pass them they decide to illuminate the back of my head for the 5 secs that I'm still in view.

 

Are they not adjustable, and part of my little car's charming character?

 

 

 

[S33VEN]

Paul:

 

Park your car, at night, in front of the garage, on the flat. Turn on the headlights on dip. Check the pattern on the door. There should be a horizontal line from right to left, light below, dark above, and then the pattern raises on the left, to illuminate the kerb. Which is why we need beam deflectors on the continent. It is easier to do this one light at a time, by blanking one with, say, a baseball cap! If both lights are similar, no problem. I had a case where I had one on dip and one on main. Dipping merely reversed the pattern!

The pattern, on dip should leave the horizontal line at approximately headlight centerline height!

Hi beam, is 'what you get'.

Hope this is a help.

 

Tony Stattersfield

[Nick]

Paul - yours may be different but my headlights are held in place by a swivel bolt attachment thingy (from one techie to another) with a nut underneath. Undo the nut a bit and the headlamp can be swivelled up, down, backwards, etc.

 

I dare say there is a proper way to adjust them, but I just use Tony's garage door technique.

 

Nick

[Northern Banana]

Thanks chaps for the help.

 

Garage tip sounds good, I thought the adjustment of the whole arm was a little crude, so will try your suggestions.

 

I need help with preparation for my first track day, so if you have the time maybe you can reply to the new message.

 

Cheers,

Paul.

 

 

[Graham Sewell]

If you have a daily car, it may be worth adjusting your lamps to coincide with the height of that at a given distance.

 

Failing that, get them checked by an MOT station:-( You will need to point out how to slacken the nut to adjust them...

 

Cheers,

 

Graham

[John E]

And once they are correct mark the garage floor around two opposite wheels and wall/door with both high and low beams. I took mine around to a mates house cos his had just had its build approval test so I knew that it was right and we simply did the above around his car and then slotted mine into the marks.