R56 How do you adjust/raise the headlights?
6th Gear - AX Champion
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,296
Likes: 297
From: Pittsboro NC
mine were unusable, they pointed at the ground and you really couldn't drive at night with them that way.
it's not very hard to adjust them with a tape measure and your driveway, provided it's flat
it's not very hard to adjust them with a tape measure and your driveway, provided it's flat
OVERDRIVE
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 5,602
Likes: 107
From: Arizona
Hey, just crank the puppies up a bit and go with it. Don't mess with no tape measures, that's for the wusses.
4th Gear
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 560
Likes: 6
From: (Old) England
I thought some of you do-it-yourselfers might like the data from my bit of headlamp adjustment this evening.
Being a Yurpeen with a halogen-lamped Mini, I have the adjuster switch shown above which acts as a wonderful measure of how much to adjust the lights - tonight I wanted to set my lights so that the previous switched-up position became the new switched-down position - as I know that even the switched-up is a severely low alignment.
Luckily the guy parked on the street in front of my Mini left a six feet gap (that's lots in my crowded urban street) so I simply set up a board resting against his car's rear bumper and drew on that (the board, not his car...) as an alignment guide.
The range provided by my adjuster switch at six feet was 2" vertically, so that showed me that I didn't need a wall 25 feet away - 6 feet does fine.
To achieve that 2"/72" change required 3.5 turns (I call 360 degrees 1 turn) on one lamp's adjuster screw and 4 turns on the other, so you can see I'm not treating this as a very high precision operation.
So don't be adjusting the lamps by half a turn and then trying driving to see if you've made enough change - I suggest two turns is the minimum difference that would be noticeable. And I'm guessing my lamps are eight turns out from a sensible alignment, but I'll take it in stages.
On the allen/hex key versus crosshead screwdriver debate, I'll add that my plastic adjuster screws have both - there's a crosshead recess at the bottom of the hex recess!
Andrew
Being a Yurpeen with a halogen-lamped Mini, I have the adjuster switch shown above which acts as a wonderful measure of how much to adjust the lights - tonight I wanted to set my lights so that the previous switched-up position became the new switched-down position - as I know that even the switched-up is a severely low alignment.
Luckily the guy parked on the street in front of my Mini left a six feet gap (that's lots in my crowded urban street) so I simply set up a board resting against his car's rear bumper and drew on that (the board, not his car...) as an alignment guide.
The range provided by my adjuster switch at six feet was 2" vertically, so that showed me that I didn't need a wall 25 feet away - 6 feet does fine.
To achieve that 2"/72" change required 3.5 turns (I call 360 degrees 1 turn) on one lamp's adjuster screw and 4 turns on the other, so you can see I'm not treating this as a very high precision operation.
So don't be adjusting the lamps by half a turn and then trying driving to see if you've made enough change - I suggest two turns is the minimum difference that would be noticeable. And I'm guessing my lamps are eight turns out from a sensible alignment, but I'll take it in stages.
On the allen/hex key versus crosshead screwdriver debate, I'll add that my plastic adjuster screws have both - there's a crosshead recess at the bottom of the hex recess!
Andrew
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.
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.
2nd Gear
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 56
Likes: 0
From: Kansas
Left / Right Lateral Adjustment?
OK all experts - what is the correct procedure for lateral adjustments of xenons? I quickly checked and saw no adjuster screws, other than for height. Did note that the assembly looks like it has adjustment washers or spacers behind the mounting points.
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