headlight alignment? - Third Generation F-Body Message Boards

Bobby_80s · 08-17-2009, 09:46 PM

is there a page of directions or guidelines? for aligning your headlights

you know how our cars have those phillips head screws to adjust the angle of the headlights

well i was wondering do you eye ball it or is there a measurement or what?

and to avoid confusion im not referring to body alignment with the hood and fenders and bumper

i'm talking about the light beam being too high or too low or too much to the left or right while driving at night

NINÅ · 08-18-2009, 10:49 AM

Go to your tool box and grab a tape measure, masking tape, and a level.

Park on a level surface 25 feet away from a wall.

Locate the center of the windshield and rear window.

Apply a strip of tape to the windshield and rear window vertically on center.

Stand behind the car, and sight along those center lines.

When center lines are aligned, you can locate the headlight centerline on the wall.

Mark the wall with a line.

Measure the distance between the headlight lenses, center to center.

Divide the distance in half and measure that distance to the right of the centerline on the wall.

Draw a line.

Do the same on the left side.

Measure the distance from the ground to the center of each headlight.

Mark that distance on the wall with a horizontal strip of tape.

You should now have two crosses on the wall, with centers that correspond to the center of each headlight.

Turn your headlights on low.

The left edge of the bright spots on the wall should just touch the vertical bars of the crosses in the lower right quadrants.

The top edge should just touch the horizontal bars.

The above is good for low, sports cars such.

For rolling boxes such as SUV’s (Shaky Utility Vehicles), or any other vehicle which has it’s headlights too high off the ground (the D.O.T. is too ignorant to mandate headlight height uniformity) the headlights need to be aimed down to avoid glare.

Happy Racing!

If People Drove Any Slower They’d Be Going Backwards

Fog lights are not driving lights. They look dorky. Turn em off slow pokes.

How bout those dorks too scared to drive without headlights on in the daytime!

.
.

Stephen · 08-18-2009, 11:34 AM

I USED to do that......

Then I found I could see better, by going to a dark stretch of road in the middle of the night & adjusting to what I could see best with.

Nobody ever "brights" me in oncoming traffic at night, so if it bothers any oncoming traffic, its not real bad. And I live out in the country, so when its dardk, it DARK. No street lights, no city lights. So bright, badly aimed headlights show up real well.

FYRCHKN · 08-21-2009, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen

I USED to do that......

Then I found I could see better, by going to a dark stretch of road in the middle of the night & adjusting to what I could see best with.

Nobody ever "brights" me in oncoming traffic at night, so if it bothers any oncoming traffic, its not real bad. And I live out in the country, so when its dardk, it DARK. No street lights, no city lights. So bright, badly aimed headlights show up real well.

Same here...I live WAY out in BFE so I adjust mine the same way on a dark backroad.

Bobby_80s · 08-21-2009, 11:11 AM

yea i wish, but i commute through many towns and i need the real adjustment. i'll try out what nina said and my dad is going to a garage guy he knows and see what he does in that situation.