How do I align my headlights?
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From: Cave Creek, AZ
How do I align my headlights?
Just installed my Vertex group buy 6000k HID's and they looks awesome! First one took 1.5 hrs. Second one took about 20 min.
But I noticed the bubbles in the levels are not centered. I know about getting in front of a garage door on level ground. But where are the adjustment screws and what's the theory behind the alignment? Since we drive on the right side of the road here, should my lights be aimed slightly to the right, so as to not blind oncoming cars? What about height adjustment? Please help! Thanks!
But I noticed the bubbles in the levels are not centered. I know about getting in front of a garage door on level ground. But where are the adjustment screws and what's the theory behind the alignment? Since we drive on the right side of the road here, should my lights be aimed slightly to the right, so as to not blind oncoming cars? What about height adjustment? Please help! Thanks!
Racer
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From: RI
Rick, in front of car luggage area, pull back carpeting on right and left front sides. You should see oval looking plastic cover that opens upwards i think. Anyway this cover should reveal two holes that are really the guides for adusting your lights. You will need a long metric allen wrench either 5 or 6 i think to reach the female screw. the allen wrench should fit into this and you turn counter or clockwise as you need to. the front and back holes control the up/down and side/side adjustment. Hope I described it well enough, but fairly easy to do once you locate things. Go easy so you don't strip the adjustment screws they are made of plastic. When you had lights out, you may have noticed the two female screws on side of light facing to the trunk on both the left and right light. Good luck
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From: Agoura Hills (Los Angeles) California
Rick's advise is right on. However, after stripping on adjuistment screw, I always remove the light make the adjustment. For me, it was too easy to strip the plastic gears with the headlight in.
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Anyone have a photo of the adj. screws? I don't understand how removing the lights makes adjustment even possible, let alone easier. How can you see where they're shining if you remove them?
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From: Agoura Hills (Los Angeles) California
Originally Posted by Rick Lee
Anyone have a photo of the adj. screws? I don't understand how removing the lights makes adjustment even possible, let alone easier. How can you see where they're shining if you remove them?
Racer
Joined: Sep 2004
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From: RI
Rick, you don't have to remove lights to adjust. If you want to see what the allen wrench is fitting into, you can pull your light and look at it. When I say be careful, I mean don't jam the allen wrench into the guide hole because the metal will definitely win over the plastic and you won't have a nice fit anymore. It's really easy to adjust, just insert allen wrench into hole gently until you feel hook up and can turn screw. Also once you hit limit on the turn of the screw, don't force it as you don't want to strip the internal rings whereby the screw becomes useless.
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Pro
Joined: Aug 2004
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From: Menlo Park, CA.
Originally Posted by rkass
Rick, in front of car luggage area, pull back carpeting on right and left front sides. You should see oval looking plastic cover that opens upwards i think. Anyway this cover should reveal two holes that are really the guides for adusting your lights. You will need a long metric allen wrench either 5 or 6 i think to reach the female screw. the allen wrench should fit into this and you turn counter or clockwise as you need to. the front and back holes control the up/down and side/side adjustment. Hope I described it well enough, but fairly easy to do once you locate things. Go easy so you don't strip the adjustment screws they are made of plastic. When you had lights out, you may have noticed the two female screws on side of light facing to the trunk on both the left and right light. Good luck
Three Wheelin'
Joined: May 2005
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From: oceanside, ca
Mark: I posted that the bubbles and ruler were useless (on my car) for aligning the lights with the HID upgrade. Start by poiinting at a garage get them where you think they are right, go for a drive and repeat. It ook me 4 iterations before I was satisfied and did not blind everyone.
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Joined: Apr 2002
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From: Laguna Niguel, CA
My experience with this is as tj90 describes. For whatever reason, after the HID instal I adjusted my lights per owners manual and the lights were not optimized.. I found the best method was to "rough align" using a flat garage wall etc. then take the car out at night (with your allen wrench in your pocket) and fine tune by driving around. You can get a much better feel for where the lights are really pointed by driving at night. I found doing a few 360 turns in a safe, open area and watching where the light beams reflected against objects at different distances was very helpful. Adjustment is tricky because up/down adjustment also changes left/right adjustment, so you end up see/sawing back and forth to arrive where you want to. Takes a while, at least for me.
Track Day
Joined: Feb 2006
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From: Snohomish, WA
I found this article on headlamp adjustment very useful when converting my '87 to H4's: www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2002
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From: Encinitas, CA "Surf Capital of the World"
I've now had two failures within 1 year from the Vertex HID kits. The most recent one is either the bulb or ballast. I'm still troubleshooting. I bought this kit new from Vertex less than six months ago and hope they honor their stated 1 year warranty.
This HID thing is getting old. I doubt I have more than 3 hours total on the new bulbs and ballast since I rarely use my lights. However, this past weekend I was driving to an AX and the new CA law requires driving with your lights on when it's raining. I turn them on and only one is working.
This HID thing is getting old. I doubt I have more than 3 hours total on the new bulbs and ballast since I rarely use my lights. However, this past weekend I was driving to an AX and the new CA law requires driving with your lights on when it's raining. I turn them on and only one is working.