In order to avoid problems such as reduced visibility zone at night, as well as increased risk for drivers traveling in the opposite lane, it is necessary to properly adjust the headlights of the car.
There are three effective ways to adjust them: manual, using the car service specialists, or using the right equipment. If you want to save money, but also to carry out this procedure correctly, align headlights of your car by yourself. It is hold in four stages as follows:
- Making marks on the wall;
- Marking of lamps;
- Low beam configuration;
- High beam configuration.
Before performing this procedure, it is necessary to check the vehicle settings such as:
- The difference in the tire volumes;
- Suspension springs condition;
- Full distribution of all kinds of loads;
- Tire pressure level.
If there are such faults, the lighting angle is wrong, which, in turn, will certainly affect the quality of the adjustment. Of course, to make headlight adjustment right, you will need to keep some important conditions, the first of which is the presence of a vertical flat wall with enough space for the car, the length of not less than 24.6 ft (7.5 m). For marking, you may use either chalk or tape. Since each vehicle has its own dimensions, the markup for it runs individually. However, there are several default values that can be used for virtually all cars.
We present two universal DIY methods for headlights adjustment.
First DIY methods
Find a flat area, which side should rest against the wall. Wall, in turn, should have no protrusions, corners, various irregularities and be strictly vertical. Drive back to the wall and mark the center of the car, as well as the central axis of the lamp. To properly implement the wall markup, mark the distance from the floor to the lamp and the lamp to the center of the car. Then draw another line, located 5 cm below the first one. Next, drive away from the wall at 24.6 ft (7.5 m) and mark a horizontal line, which will connect the center points on both lamps. Then, draw vertical lines through the center points of the headlights. Another vertical line is to be drawn through the center point of the car. This line should be on 0.25 ft (7.62 cm) lower than the one that connects the center of our headlights.
By carrying out the markup, switch on the low beam and produce immediate setting in which the angle of the light coincides with our horizontal line. And the point where the light starts to rise up should coincide with intersecting lines.
As a result, to get a perfect beam of light, you need to tweak the adjustment screws, which are located under the hood of a car on the back of the headlight.
Ideal option is the situation where the light is slightly below the center of the headlights.
If your car has a separate system of low and high beam, each light beam has to be adjusted in its turn. And the wall markup is slightly different, so as the low beam is adjusted by the method described above. And the high beam should be placed so that it accurately hits the central headlamp counting. In this case, it is better to use special equipment, without which the ideal adjustment is hardly achieved.
Second DIY methods
We need the same flat wall, but with a large distance to set the car, about 32.8 ft (10 m). To produce the most accurate adjustment, you should first prepare your car: define tires, fill a full fuel tank, ask someone to sit as a driver with the most suitable weight to yours.
Note space on the wall, which correspond to the lamps’ center, as well as on the distance at which they are in reality. Connect these two points horizontally, and draw two horizontal lines:
- At 0.39 ft (12 cm) below;
- At 0.72 ft (22 cm) above.
When you have finished marking, exhibit lighting width control at the zero rate. The upper limit of the headlamp light spot should be the second line, and the third line is the upper limit of the fog lamp. The intersection of all the luminous flux shall be at the intersection of our lines at number 2 and 3 below the center of the lamps at 0.39 ft (12 cm) and 0.72 ft (22 cm) respectively. Also, the driver should definitely note that the additional screw is in pristine condition, and if there is a leveling device, it needs to be adjusted accordingly obtained load, the position of the car with a driver, without passengers.
Fog Head Lamp Adjustment
Fog Head Lamp Adjustment a bit, but still differs from the above described method. Before adjusting, provide the car with an additional load of 154.32 lb (70 kilos), you can use anything that fit in your car. Also fill a full tank and put the car so that it is aligned to the highest level surface, at 32.8 ft (10 m) from the resulting light from the screen. However, many experienced drivers say that 16.4 ft (5 m) are enough. Draw lines on the wall, meaning important point by their edges. Bottom line is the distance between the land and fog lamps, top line is the same, only doubled distance. Also mark the distance to the center of the car, looking at it straight to the centers of both fog lamps. As a result, you will have lined screen canvas with two lamp’s center points, and limits of the lower and upper light boundaries.
After all conducted drawings, set the car at a distance of 32.8 ft (10 m) from the wall and, using a screwdriver and adjusting screws on headlights achieve the lamp beam focus at the points where the lamp centers intersect.
