Anyone know where the adjustment for the headlights is located?

I took a quick look under the hood and did not see the "normal" screws for headlight adjustment.

 

Xenon or Halogen? Is this an R56?

 

2007 Mini Cooper S - Xenon

 

Usually not easily adjustable, and improperly aimed Xenons easily blind other drivers. What's wrong with them? You can check them yourself using this method:

1. Pull up next to a wall, garage door, etc... with the bumper a few inches away.
2. Tape a + where the center of each spot shone on the wall.
3. Back up about 20-25 feet (the ground has to be level... no inclines) The lights should be shining in the same spot (or a couple of inches lower). The right headlight may be slightly adjusted to the right.

I'd let the dealer adjust them. It should be covered.

 

Mine were way too low from the factory. The light was concentrated right in front of the car, just a bit farther than you would get with normal fog lights. The atached pic shows a plastic height adjustment screw. Screw clockwise for raising the beam. I would do no more than 1/2 to 1 turn at a time and use some sort of tape reference as mentioned in the post above. I did also use the ~25' from a wall method to make sure I wasn't blinding oncoming traffic.

As a side note, IMO the HIDs are nice, but not the greatest.

-my 0.02

 

I was just at the dealer today and someone came up to my MA and butted in and asked that question....their response.....in the r56 there are xeons, which most people are not used to. A lot of people think there lights need to be raised beacuse the light doesnt carry as far. In fact it does, but what gets people is that there is such a distinct cut off from light to dark, and is barely any fade from light to dark like old halogens. Most likely there fine, and your just not used to the distinct cut off that your amazing bright xeons have haha

 

I thought the Xenon's in the R56 were auto balancing. Think I read it in the manual.

 

All Xenons have self-leveling--it's a law, to prevent blinding other drivers.

 

Do you know how it works? Cuz there are plenty of drivers on the road that DO blind me!

 

Not really, but this might help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlamp

 

Self leveling is accomplished by sensors in the front and the rear suspension. They are designed to lower the lights when there is a heavy weight in the rear of the car that would otherwise cause the lights to angle up relative to an unloaded car.

 

True, but that doesn't mean they are properly adjusted to begin with.

 

jlevy - Thanks for the picture and instructions.

I have xenon lights on other cars and I am familiar with the light pattern they produce but the Mini's lights are just way to low.

 

Thanks Eric for the good point.

 

Also don't be freaked out if you see this pattern and can't figure out how to eliminate it. Its supposed to be there.


============/

 

Also don't be freaked out if you see this pattern and can't figure out how to eliminate it. Its supposed to be there.

Woops...double post.

I was going to include a line drawing but it is not turing out...
Can anyone supply a visual for the pattern I am referencing?

 

My girlfriend thinks my car "winks" at her when it auto levels the headlamps.

 

You're not the only one. I drove across country thinking my Xenons were crap. Just a slight turn of the adjuster and suddenly I could see AHEAD of the car instead of IN FRONT of the car. The cutoff makes it easy to keep from adjusting them too high.

 

Is this the thread you were looking for?

Don't adjust them too high, or you will blind other drivers.

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=107920

 

mine were not adjusted correctly from the factory, this is my 3rd car with xeons and first one that had to have them raised

 

jlevy,

In another thread, somebody discribed the screw as the below, which sounds different that the picture you posted????

"Pop the hood. Look at the headlight unit from the top down. Behind the headlight, down low and towards the center of the car is a white, nylon, allen head screw. That's your headlight elevation adjustment."

 

That plastic phillips head screw in the pic is definitely the adjustment screw on my car. Adjusting the HIDs was the first thing I did on my car. They were driving me crazy pointed right at the road in front of me. Maybe some of the HID units on later builds come with an allen head screw instead Mine is an early (January - I believe week 1) build.

-JL

 

Same screw as pictured. Same location and function. Mine's an allen head. So they can be different.

 

So does this screw adjust non-Xenon headlights too?