How To Adjust Headlight Beam Height

[YOWStinger]

Anyone consider that the proper adjustment tool would be something like a #24 torx on a long shaft?

Makes sense!

 

[YOWStinger]

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Wait so... Tldr: place car at least 20 ft from wall, and dot in lighting should be 30 inches up?

Well, generally speaking, depends on your ride height. Best thing to do is park right in front of the wall, mark the horizontal line of your headlight wash on the wall, back up 20', then adjust the light up until it's at that line.

Or do the opposite, put a board up like I did, make a mark on the board, then move the board. I didn't have a good wall to use for reference. Tape on a garage door and move 20' from the garage door works.

You want it level, if you're slammed, 30" might actually be pointing up.

 

[Fl stingergt]

take out your air box use a wrench on nut on back of housing Nice and easy

 

[5tinger]

I've adjusted mine to level out just below the side view mirrors of an average sedan

 

[YOWStinger]

I've adjusted mine to level out just below the side view mirrors of an average sedan

Better to actually “level” them, mirrors are above headlights, which means that you’ve probably pointed them up. At what distance do they hit the bottom of the mirror? If the car is 10 feet further away, they’ll likely be pointing directly into the mirrors.

 

[eflyguy]

On a level surface, my cutoff is 29" at 10' - and my headlights give fantastic coverage at highway speeds and above.

The base of the side mirrors are 37" (and the Stingers are lower than most), if your low beam is hitting the mirrors, not only are they pointing "up" but you're wasting the majority of the light, which is configured so that more is focused immediately below the cutoff point.

 

[5tinger]

Better to actually “level” them, mirrors are above headlights, which means that you’ve probably pointed them up. At what distance do they hit the bottom of the mirror? If the car is 10 feet further away, they’ll likely be pointing directly into the mirrors.

The cutoff lines are level. However dont have a flat surface to measure. The important thing is they're significantly better than before & they're not cuasing glare issues to other traffic.

 

[Driver]

I finally got around to adjusting mine. So much better now I regret not doing it over a year ago when first I got the car.

The cheapest long Phillips head screwdriver from Bunnings was all that was required. Insert in to U/D hole & turn clockwise (which turns the bolt anti-clockwise). The tip of the screwdriver is turning the gear at the bottom of the hole. Quite a few turns were required.

Hopefully I've not gone too high now. Reflections from the street signs are a lot more noticeable now.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Hopefully I've not gone too high now.

As I said, after a few drives, I lowered mine a tad. Try and keep the top of the headlight beam below the side mirrors of cars just in front of you. I think that is a good measure of where our headlights should be raised to, and the distance back as per common highway spacing, i.e. four or five car lengths. The top of the headlight beam should just miss the side mirrors. Sure, tilting them higher would be preferable. But this isn't all about me.

 

[rocket23]

My beam tech led lamps provide excellent vision. The oem lamps on the 2.0 are more reflective inmho than the gt version Which in turn needs to be adjusted for better vision

 

[Driver]

As I said, after a few drives, I lowered mine a tad. Try and keep the top of the headlight beam below the side mirrors of cars just in front of you.

Yeh I'm no where near that high. But road signs here are retro-reflective coated & the lower ones (arrows for a tight bend) are quite glary.

 

[exsmith]

Thanks for this post, my 2018 GT2 lights were set way too low. Used method described above with car parked 6-8 ft in front of my garage door. Using painter's tape I adjusted both sides up about 3.5 inches on the door, then it seemed like further turning of the bolt did nothing. Taking it out that night it seemed too high: LED lights are very bright even in low setting and seemed to be shining on the upper portion of cars in front of me and lighting up signs waaaaaaay down the freeway. Today I attempted to adjust them down, but after a ton of cranking, I could only get them to come down around 1/2 inch??? Wondering if this has something to with self leveling feature?

 

[rocket23]

The garage door technique is 25 feet away and the top of the 1st panel roughly 24 >30 inches from the ground.

 

[Ozstung]

[

Thanks for this post, my 2018 GT2 lights were set way too low. Used method described above with car parked 6-8 ft in front of my garage door. Using painter's tape I adjusted both sides up about 3.5 inches on the door, then it seemed like further turning of the bolt did nothing. Taking it out that night it seemed too high: LED lights are very bright even in low setting and seemed to be shining on the upper portion of cars in front of me and lighting up signs waaaaaaay down the freeway. Today I attempted to adjust them down, but after a ton of cranking, I could only get them to come down around 1/2 inch??? Wondering if this has something to with self leveling feature?

I had the same issue i followed the technique listed in here using the screw driver after trial and error i thought i had it right but kept getting flashed by oncoming traffic. I took it to my mechanics and he said all i had managed to do ls loosen the self levelling cable. He said there was a nut there i should have adjusted instead.

 

[Fl stingergt]

Ya take airbox out and using nut is proper way to adjust.

 

[Ozstung]

Ya take airbox out and using nut is proper way to adjust.

Yep so i hear and yet many moons back on this forum under a particular thread just about all but 1 member said the screw driver method was the way to go. I feel guilty now i gave it the thumbs up. Feel now i should give an extra 5 hail marys at church. Oh i haven't been going regularly since 1976

 

[Mike_TX]

I like the "horizontal" method posted by Paul J. McCain on page 9. I couldn't find the llittle dot molded into the headlight cover, but it was easy enough to determine that the top of the cutoff of my low beams was at 28" immediately in front of the lights. Interestingly, the top of the cutoff at 20' was a disappointing 25" ... 3 whole inches low. Doesn't sound like much, but project that out down a highway and it's major. I'm adjusting mine tonight when I can drive behind them and give 'em a real world test.

Thanks all for this thread.

 

[Mike_TX]

By the way, I suspect the Korean origin of these cars holds the answer to the aiming thing. S. Korea is a smaller place, and it has lower speed limits than the U. S. Therefore, the farther reach of the headlights isn't as necessary as in the states, where we're whizzing along at 80mph. You'd think they would aim cars destined for the U. S. according to U. S. DOT standards, but apparently not ... *shrug*

 

[Ozstung]

I like the "horizontal" method posted by Paul J. McCain on page 9. I couldn't find the llittle dot molded into the headlight cover, but it was easy enough to determine that the top of the cutoff of my low beams was at 28" immediately in front of the lights. Interestingly, the top of the cutoff at 20' was a disappointing 25" ... 3 whole inches low. Doesn't sound like much, but project that out down a highway and it's major. I'm adjusting mine tonight when I can drive behind them and give 'em a real world test.

Thanks all for this thread.

Yes there was a lot witten here about the headlights particularly pointing skywards up into the trees i was one of them. Having them professionally adjusted its like chalk and cheese. Im really happy with the results. No more getting continuously flashed by others.

 

[Mike_TX]

I just did the adjustment on my lights using the "horizon" method. It was super easy, using the "funnel" and the long-shank screwdriver referenced above). Took maybe 2 minutes each side. I'm anxious to see tonight how they do on the road.

For the record, my 2020 GT2 has headlight centers ~28" from the ground. I marked out the same height on the back wall of the garage, and parked the car at ~20'. Adjusted the lights up until the tops of the "hot spots" were at 28". The hardest part of the whole process was finding a screwdriver that would fit the darn hole!