I hit a pothole hard the other day. It was unavoidable because the median was to my left, and a car to my right, and the road was narrow, leaving me no room to swerve to avoid it. I hit the pothole on the driver's side of the car. It was hard enough that my heart was pounding for 10 minutes after it happened, and I was just waiting for my TPMS sensor to light up, thinking I hit it hard enough to have done something to the wheel and/or tire. I got home unscathed, and thankfully the wheels/tires were not affected in any way.

HOWEVER, i'm now noticing either the driver's side headlight to be aimed too high, or the passenger's side being too low, I can't tell for sure because I don't remember where they were aimed beforehand.

Pic - this is about 15-20 feet behind the car in front of me:



The strongest beam on the driver's side headlight is halfway on the liftgate of the van in front of me, and the strongest beam on the passenger's side is just touching the top of the bumper.

What do you think?

 

Very possible and you see the result... You can readjust it, there's a white screw under the hood just behind the headlight assembly, turn it one way or another to adjust up or down.

 

I'm leaning more to saying the right headlight is the correct aim, what do you think?

 

They're probably both off if anything

 

Knocking the entire light assembly off that much from a pothole is possible but considering there are 4 adjustment points I seriously doubt it. I say this having hit several wheel swallowing holes and cracking three wheels yet never having my headlights knocked out of alignment. The fact that you have Xenons looking at your pic it's more likely that one or more of your driver side vertical aim sensors on front have been knocked out of balance.

 

I kind of agree...The unusual thing is that they are solid in their place and not moving around all over the place. Not only that, when I start the car in the dark (automatic lights) and the lights are on they do their "height sensor motion" both together with no indication that something is broken. Plus when driving, they move up and down, working with the height sensor as it should too.

 

Glad I came across this post... hit 2 major potholes (toasted my driver and passenger front rims within 2 days) this past month and have noticed the same thing but convinced myself that I was imagining it. I'll have to go out and play with the adjustments.

 

So I lowered the driver's side headlight so I can stop blinding the crap out of people in front of me and I noticed this:

Passenger's Side:


Driver's side:


The "eyeball" on the driver's side is pushed in, and to the left, so it's aimed outward to the left. There is nothing loose moving or shaking around in there either, so I don't think anything cracked or broke. Odd...

I guess I'll take it in to the dealer soon to address this issue..

Can anyone comment on this? Anyone see anything like this before?

 

Hey Shoof I'm sorry to report that I did the exact same thing in May of 2009. I hit a very large and deep pothole in my 2008 Mini S. Immediately I noticed the driver's headlight seemed out of alignment. Soon after the TPMS went off. I don't drive my Mini often(as I am a mini-van driving soccer mom in my other life lol). Decided to wait till July to address the problems when I was due for my annual maintenance. The dealer is over an hour away. My free annual maintenance ended up costing me $849.76. I was told the adjuster arm was broke. They said that it was a 1 piece assembly. They couldn't just repair the adjuster arm. The entire headlight had to be replaced. About an hour later they call me back informing me that when they went to adjust the other headlight they discovered that arm was cracked. They said it would work but that it couldn't be adjusted so I felt I had to go ahead and replace it. In addition I had a large bulge in sidewall of LF tire which had to be replaced(fortunately I had purchased the Safeguard tire plan so there was no charge. The RR tire also had a screw in it and had to be replaced as well) I was stunned when I found out the cost of the headlights. All that from a pothole! So finally I quit whining about it until a couple weeks ago when I was pulling off the interstate and hit ANOTHER pothole coming off the exit ramp. This one was definitely not as severe as the last but I've been very sensitive about hitting any little bump. Immediately I got out an looked at my headlights and the driver's side is sagging within the well and alignment is off. There is NO WAY I'm telling them I hit a pothole again. It seems to me that the design is defective. I'm hoping that it will be covered under warranty. I'm curious to hear what the dealer tells you. Please keep me updated.

 

Sorry to hear of your mishaps...I'm friendly with the dealer, and sent the above pics to them to show the service advisor what's happening. I did tell them it was from hitting a pothole. Thankfully the tires/wheels are fine (I have Safeguard as well, the Premier plan that also includes curb rash damage repair). They said that it's a common thing to happen to the headlights, and would replace it for me under warranty. They keep headlights in stock because it must happen around here often.. I figured I would address a few small things at the same time, PLUS I finally tanked and gave them the OK to order the JCW upgrade for my car, so once those parts come in, i'll be taking my baby in to fix the lights and other little things, and install the JCW upgrade. Probably later this week, or early next week.

 

old thread, but i hit a curb in my 04 once, very hard, it was either that, or hit the 18 wheeler that was cutting me off into the curb lol.

my passenger headlight (thats the side i hit the curb on) is cracked on the inside housing. still havent replaced it, but will eventually.