Re: more on headlights
l8apex32 said:
The '01 I just purchased has the headlights pointed to what I think is too low. But, I thought I'd check with you first.
I read below about the stair step pattern. For me, it looks
like the driver's side light paints a white block of near sun
light in front of the car from just in front of the bumper
to a distance of about 30 feet out. Its far edge is parallel to
the front of the car.
Additionally, the left outer corner of this area of bright light
tails up and away out to the left. It does a great job of lighting
signs to the driver's left.
L8APEX-
Welcome aboard! The pattern you describe for the driver's side sounds about right, except for the distance illuminated directly in front of the car.
The driver's side illumination caught me by surprise: I upgraded from a '98 540i/6 w/ halogens to my '00 M5. The first I was on the interstate and encountered a concrete dividing wall along the center median, I thought the bright light beside me was a car overtaking me from behind. I actually swerved into the next lane the first time it happened!
l8apex32 said:
The passenger side headlight paints its white area starting
at the middle of the car the same distance out. Its lit area is
not parallel with the front of the car, but an angle out and away
from the middle of the lit area. It really lights up most highway
signs which are to the driver's right.
Also, the passenger side is not step shaped, but about 45
degree angle shaped.
Is this normal?
The basic pattern that illuminates the highway signs on the passenger side is normal. The 45-degree angle, however, is not. While stair-stepped implies two surfaces parallel to the ground, I believe that is inaccurate as well: there IS a slight slope to the beam pattern of the passenger light unit. It sounds like yours might be slightly skewed.
What puzzles me is that the two white plastic adjusting screws for each headlight unit do not allow for adjusting the angle you desribe. One screw adjusts up/down, and the other adjusts left/right.
FWIW, the "notch" that I notice between the two (driver/passenger) light patterns, I can place on the middle of the license plate of traffic in front of me. I know there's no standard height for where that falls, but it seems more often than not I could "place" the notch there and watch the auto-adjuster adapt to my throttle and brake inputs.
l8apex32 said:
The issue I have is that the headlights seem to do less than
they should/could with the area in front of the car from 30' out
to 100 or more feet out.
Do you recommend adjusting the headlights based on this?
Yes. As you describe it, your pattern seems to follow the shape of the hood down to the ground, as opposed to being more parallel to the road surface. I've had similar problems since some collision work I had performed a few months ago. The body shop seems to have aimed the lights just a few degrees too low.
I'm wondering if all the hubub about xenon lamps has led shops to err on the conservative (low) side when aiming. That would be a shame, because the improved HID technology that protects you from over-driving your lights at night gets practically negated by some ham-fisted adjustment!
l8apex32 said:
The auto-leveling I read in this thread seems to explain why
when I turn them on, they seem to point down then rotate
up to the position I described above.
Precisely. Pretty cool, eh?
Hope that helps. Good luck!
-Dave