How to adjust the car headlight?

Headlights are some of those things that everyone needs to use, every time it’s dark. Most of the time driving at night and using your headlights is a worry free and simple operation, that is until someone appears behind you with their headlights blinding you via your rear-view mirror. 

When this happens it’s not only annoying but dangerous and distracting for drivers in front of you and oncoming traffic. 

It’s important to have quality headlights to light your path. However, those bulbs aren’t doing any good if they’re not correctly aimed at the road, and that’s something many owners forget or downright neglect when owning a car.

What does it mean to adjust your headlights?

Headlights can be set incorrectly or out of alignment for many reasons. Either they were never set up properly at the factory, the headlight unit was replaced at some stage, or the vehicle has bumped into something.

Modern headlight enclosures are separate from the body of your vehicle and are mounted with screws. There are also adjustment screws on the headlight units that allow vertical and horizontal adjustment. Using a fixed point on a wall, vehicle owners can aim their headlights using the adjustment screws and some simple measurements.

How do I know if my headlights need to be adjusted?

A good way to know if your headlights are out of alignment is if other drivers are constantly honking or flashing their bright at you. Even without annoying every other person on the road, you can tell if your headlights need adjustment by looking at the road ahead of you. Are both lights aimed forward to illuminate the road, or are your flashing lights into every house you pass as you drive through your neighbourhood? If one light isn’t hitting the road in front of you by being aimed too high, too low, or to one side, it’s time to adjust your headlights.

Two ways to adjust your car headlights:

1: Adjust your light from the dash.

In some newer cars, the headlights can be simply adjusted by using a button or knob located near the right hand side of the dash for the driver. However if your vehicle doesn’t have a button or knob use the steps below.

2: Adjust your lights from under the hood.

• Park the car on level ground 700 cm (use a tape measure) from a flat vertical surface, your garage wall will work.
• Open the bonnet and look at the back of the headlight casing, on most models there will be two adjustment screws/bolts on the rear or top of each headlight-locate them and grab the right tool in order to turn them (check the owner’s manual to be sure they’re the right ones).
• Cover one headlight with a towel or similar and turn the headlights on (you may want to have the engine running if your battery isn’t new).
• One screw will adjust the headlight up/down while the other will adjust left/right – keeping your eye on the beam on the wall slowly turn one of the screws to determine which direction it’s adjusting if it’s not the way you want turn it back to the original location and use the other screw.
• Ideally the beam on the wall should be no higher than the centreline of the headlight with the area of most intensity directly in front of the headlight casing (use your tape measure here again to measure from the ground to the middle of your headlight and do the same on the wall when adjusting – you can even put a mark on the wall to help you aim).
• In Australia you want the most intensity from the left-hand headlight on the road shoulder, and as such the top of the headlight beams should display a pair of laidback L shapes on the wall as seen in the illustration.
• Repeat the procedure for the other headlight.

If you have any question about alighting your headlights, welcome to contact us Sydney mechanic & smash repair. We are happy to help you.