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How to Align your headlights! if you don't know now you do.


MiniStiGuy

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  • 2 weeks later...
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so let me get this right. the lower arc is supposed to be LOWER than the top one? I thought the point of aligning the headlights was to have a straight beam going across, meaning both arcs are aligned the same horizontally. or does the lower arc have to be lower than the right one so you don't blind oncoming traffic? I'm confused :spin:
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The lower arc is designed to stop from blinding oncoming traffic but still allow light to hit distance and such by the higher arcing section.

 

The only way to make the beam flat would be to cut the shield flat which would just be stupid because you wouldn't have any light for roadsigns etc.

 

To answer your question. YES.. the lower arc is suppost to be lower then the higher one for the reason as to not cause glare into oncoming traffic's eye's.

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  • 4 months later...

Also wanted to add to this.

 

As someone pointed out in another thread, you can use an 8" phillips screwdriver to adjust the vertical aiming as well (instead of 8mm socket/wrench).

 

I had a difficult time getting to the horizontal aiming with the tools I have, so I decided to do a small mod. If you drill a hole (the size of the shaft of your screwdriver) directly above the horizontal aiming bolt on your housing, you can stick the screwdriver straight down and adjust that bolt the same way you can with the vertical aiming. Having the hole as the exact size of the screwdriver keeps it in place, and you can just turn the screwdriver to adjust aiming.

 

Sorry if this is a re-post or has already been done. I just found this MUCH easier than trying to get at that bolt via a wrench or socket.

 

:whore:

Need a CarPC bezel? PM me!
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  • 1 month later...
Question. I am going to hook up a HID kit. If I make markings of where my headlights are aimed right now and use that as a template for my HIDs, would that pretty much ensure proper alignment? I think I'll aim them SLIGHTLY lower just to be safe either way.
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This post is great! I understand how to adjust the horizontal aim, however I'm a little unclear on how they should end up looking horizontally... should they end up looking the same as the 1st image (showing the marks), or is there another method?
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no it wont.

I'm not doubting you, I'm trying to understand why that is. Basically if the light pattern is the same as before, what's different?

I ask this not because I'm lazy to do it, but because unfortunately I don't have a flat surface next to a flat wall in front of my house. My driveway angles slightly.

The plan was to park the car as it is now at a predetermined distance in front of the garage door, mark the beam height and such, do the HID conversion and make sure it matches up.

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This post is great! I understand how to adjust the horizontal aim, however I'm a little unclear on how they should end up looking horizontally... should they end up looking the same as the 1st image (showing the marks), or is there another method?

 

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u280/garrett804/Picture2copy.jpg

 

 

Mark # 4 is the mark for the distance at which the lights are from eachother.

 

you want the arc to line up to that line so that the point where the beam goes up is at that line.

 

the pink line is how the arc looks so notice how where it starts to rise that at that point is is lined up with line 4.

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MiniStiGuy - Many thanks I understand now... My driver side light is so far out the diagram wasn't making any sense to me... at 25', the start of the high arc is > 3' to the left of where it should be.... And these were just recently aimed by the dealership... Glad to see they know what they are doing.

 

I'll try tonight and see how I make out. Hopefully I don't run out of adjustment to correct this.

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Just finished re-aiming. I went through the steps, and after I had almost finished, the drivers side still didn't seem right. I ended up pulling the cover off the back and found that the bulb wasn't seated properly. No wonder it looked off ... after seating the bulb properly everything was fine. I'm a little upset that the dealership didn't catch this.

 

Headlights are great now, what a difference. Thanks for great guide, and for all of your help folks.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
05 Legacy Outback 3.0 VDC. I got my eight millimeter on the bolt in the picture and turned and turned to no effect, so I turned it the other way and I still don't see a noticeable difference. What am I doing wrong? We replaced both of the low beam bulbs in the past six months, with a dramatic decrease in headlamp effectiveness. After replacing the driver's low beam recently we can barley see the road without the high beams.
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Have you checked to ensure that the bulbs are seated properly? I don't know about the Outback, but on the LGT the low beams take an H7 bulb, which has a notch in it that needs to be lined up properly with the fixture. If the bulb isn't seated properly, it will appear to be out of aim and not output light into the desired area.
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  • 1 month later...

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