Adjusting HID Beam?
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 3,382
Likes: 8
From: Vancouver, BC / Seattle, WA
Adjusting HID Beam?
Hi,
I had my Philips Ultion 6K bulbs from the dealership and can say I notice a significant difference when I was on my Garax 8000K. Finally, I can see my own beam and cut-off with street lamps and in the rain.
I notice one thing dealership touched but should of double checked it when I took the car back. Apparently it looks like they raised my HID beams such that it looks straighter than angled down. Maybe a bit too straight that at times when I drive, I notice the beam does have the tendency to aim upwards (seems to look illegal).
My question would be, is this something I can do on my own to adjust this? Or, I should just bring it back to the dealership to get them bring it back to adjust it properly.
Assuming I bring it to the dealership to fix it, do they supposedly have some kind of prism to put in front of the headlight to correct angle or they just eye balling this for the adjustment.
Thanks
I had my Philips Ultion 6K bulbs from the dealership and can say I notice a significant difference when I was on my Garax 8000K. Finally, I can see my own beam and cut-off with street lamps and in the rain.
I notice one thing dealership touched but should of double checked it when I took the car back. Apparently it looks like they raised my HID beams such that it looks straighter than angled down. Maybe a bit too straight that at times when I drive, I notice the beam does have the tendency to aim upwards (seems to look illegal).
My question would be, is this something I can do on my own to adjust this? Or, I should just bring it back to the dealership to get them bring it back to adjust it properly.
Assuming I bring it to the dealership to fix it, do they supposedly have some kind of prism to put in front of the headlight to correct angle or they just eye balling this for the adjustment.
Thanks
Measure the headlight from the ground to the center of the projector. SHould be around 27 inches or so. Then, on flat ground, park the car 25 feet away from a wall. The top of the HID beam should be 2" below your first measurement. There is an adjustment screw by the headlight housing that takes a PHILIPS screwdriver. It should show how in your manual.
There's actually two screws per headlight, and you need to adjust both for proper alignment. (the manual mentions this)
Or if you have OEM HIDs with AFS you can just make one adjustment to the rear AFS sensor to raise or lower the lights a bit, which is probably a lot easier than 4 screws.
Or if you have OEM HIDs with AFS you can just make one adjustment to the rear AFS sensor to raise or lower the lights a bit, which is probably a lot easier than 4 screws.
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 3,382
Likes: 8
From: Vancouver, BC / Seattle, WA
My vehicle does have the OEM HID with AFS. I will see what I can do. The way it is right now when the car starts up and does the full like down up sweep, is that after it stops going up, it is too straight.
I have the same set-up. There is an adjustment screw between the moisture covers on the top of the housing. Like Kurtz stated, check your manual. It also shows an adjustment screw closer to the fender in the manual. You can use a phillips or an 8mm wrench to adjust the horizontal. The #2 phillips works well.
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 3,382
Likes: 8
From: Vancouver, BC / Seattle, WA
I went to the dealership and explained to them this morning since I wanted to get this addressed right away. The service advisor and I drove the car into the service area where they had a wall with marks on the wall and a line on the ground where the car should be at as a reference point. The marks indicated it was somewhere in-between the 24" and 28" marks but from the distance they were, it still did not look like the beam was dropping from looking at the height of the beam coming off the car to what the beam was showing on the wall.
They did say it was within spec but I further explained that a different service advisor told me that they raised the lights verbally but it was not written down as part of the comments when they checked the records when they put the lights in. After that, they went ahead to have the lights worked on again an hour later, they look normal now. I was told by the service advisor the lights are now on the lower end range of the factory specifications.
I am not quite sure what that means, but probably I assume 24” or lower? Just curious what is the factory specification range anyways?
Thanks
They did say it was within spec but I further explained that a different service advisor told me that they raised the lights verbally but it was not written down as part of the comments when they checked the records when they put the lights in. After that, they went ahead to have the lights worked on again an hour later, they look normal now. I was told by the service advisor the lights are now on the lower end range of the factory specifications.
I am not quite sure what that means, but probably I assume 24” or lower? Just curious what is the factory specification range anyways?
Thanks
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Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 3,382
Likes: 8
From: Vancouver, BC / Seattle, WA
I think I may try to do it myself. I did look at manaul but I'm not quite familar of how easy it is to do it.
Simply I just remove the dust covers off? I drove the car around at night finally and it seems to look fine when stationary, but when I drive the beam starts to go down, maybe a bit too low down. Not sure if it's something else they changed too since I do not recall the beam dropping that low - sensor?
Simply I just remove the dust covers off? I drove the car around at night finally and it seems to look fine when stationary, but when I drive the beam starts to go down, maybe a bit too low down. Not sure if it's something else they changed too since I do not recall the beam dropping that low - sensor?
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