Last weekend I picked up my new MSC last weekend

The headlights (non-Xenon) were set up to point down at the ground - even the high beam was lower than where I would expect the low beam to be making it almost dangerous to drive at night. I have now managed to get them closer to where they should be but more adjustment is needed. As I am 120 miles from the dealer it is easier to mess around with them myself than go back.

Has anyone else had their car delivered like this? Is this set by the factory or the dealer?

 

mine was way too low from the factory too

my bmw's did not come adjusted this way, they were right on the money

 

Ours required adjustment. I raised the beam alignment a fairly significant amount. The xenons are very bright, but I think the alignment must be good. We don't get highbeam flashes from oncomming traffic.

 

I adjusted my xenons. They barely shined 50' down the road. And with a car so low, you should conceiveabley be able to point them straight ahead without disturbing oncoming traffic.

I only found one adjustment screw. Is there anything for side to side or tilt?

 

You couldn't drive mine at night the way they were set.
I've had the long screwdriver in the glove box all week and have been adjusting to suit; I'm adding the chrome driving lights today also.

 

I also reworked the factory alignment on my R56. Beams were low and well off to driver's right. Alignment took 5 minutes to correct.

 

Sounds like this situation needs to be adressed by BMW under warrenty, and set to US DOT standards. Otherwise we will have a bunch of DIY missalignments on the roads. There is nothing worse than that.

 

I agree!

My non-Xenons where WAAAAAYYYY off!

 

Those of you with that problem needs to inform MINI USA of the situation, instead of "adjusting " them yourselves. What a mess our highways will be if everyone set their own headlights. That way new cars can be corrected. Send an email to our DOTand NTSB people and let them know. DO IT RIGHT. This is serious.

 

screw that it was a 5 minute fix

I'll spend more time than that on the phone with mini, and then even more time taking a stupid survey

it's not very hard to adjust your headlights, all you need is a tape measure

this will help if you dont know how to measure it properly yourself

http://www.aaafoundation.org/pdf/Hea...reBrochure.pdf

 

Nice article, thanks !

 

I don't understand what the big deal is here. Headlights are rearely adjusted properly at the dealer. What, or who, you have in the car when the lights are adjusted will make a differrence. Xenons, in particular, have to be just right.

And with the MINI's lights being so low, you'd have to adjust them way out of whack to be an annoyance to oncomincg traffic.

I set mine to a usable angle, and haven't gotten 'flashed' yet. I live where there are a lot of deer, and it would have been more dangerous to have left them the way they were.

Far better than all the pickups and SUVs with lights 5' off the ground

 

I wish adjusting the non-Xenons was as easy as using a screwdriver. It seems you have to loosen four bolts on each lamp which makes the whole assembly floppy, adjust spacer bolts, tighten it up and see what it looks like. This makes small adjustments very difficult. Is there a better way to do this?

 

Your not being serious, are you?

The elevation can be adjusted by using the simple nylon allen-head screw on the back sid low portion of the light, towards the engine bay. A little adjusment on the xenons goes a really long way (litterally) so only raise about an inch or so each time before going for a drive.

 

my 07mcs headlights also pointed to the ground at deleivery