bclexus

For some strange reason Lexus sets their headlight height at the factory 6-8 degrees too low. The low beam headlight adjustment barely lights at a distance worthy of traveling at 40 mph, much less 60 or 70+ mph. Once I adjusted my headlights up it made all the difference in the world when driving at night.

IndyIS

Awesome, thank you! Some help please. Earlier in this post you noted to turn counterclockwise 1 and 1/6 turns, but in the other posts you linked to, you mentioned you turned 3 turns clockwise. Dumb question alert... do I turn the screwdriver counterclockwise so that the gear head turns clockwise? Or am I missing something completely obvious?

Edit: Never mind, I see that someone else said 3 turns whereas you said 2" at 12'. But, can you confirm the 1 and 1/6 turns part of the question?

bclexus

I had to turn mine more than just 1 1/6 turns if I recall correctly. The headlight height moves vertically pretty slowly even at 25 feet - it's not a fast movement by any means.

I highly suggest that you park the car on a flat surface and distance the car off a wall the recommended 25 feet and place painters tape on the wall where the headlights currently hit the wall so you can actually see what you've done by making the adjustments. It's really important that adjustments be done where the ambient light is very low...or preferably dark. Pay very close attention to the 45 degree angle (image below) the headlights cast on the wall because that is your adjustment pinpoint, or focus point. Measure your headlights from the ground (X) and adjust the headlights (how they project the 45 degree angle on the wall at 25 feet on the wall) to the (X) same height...or even a 1/2" higher. Your headlights will then light up the distance (down the road/highway) nicely for when you are traveling faster than just 40 mph, but will not be high enough to blind oncoming vehicles.

SpicedRum

It was me with a 2018 with triple beams, and 1 1/6 turns counterclockwise worked well for me. No idea what adjustments would be needed for the non-triple beams, but perhaps thats what the 3 turns was talking about? Note there is no horizontal adjustments on the TBs, just vertical. And the bolts were not where the little holes in the plastic cowls indicate they should be.

IndyIS

@bclexus and @SpicedRum - thank you both for all the help, I really appreciate it. The hardest part was finding a flat spot to measure and adjust the lights, but once I did, I was able to mess around this evening (the tip on the sharpie made it easier to try different turn options) - 2 full turns got a lot of folks flashing their brights at me in the 3 mile loop I drove; just over 1 turn didn't get a single person flashing brights at me; 1 1/2 turns got a few flashes but not nearly as many as 2 full turns.

The ideal spot seems to be 1 1/6 or somewhere between there and 1 1/2 - another night I may screw around to figure out what's most optimal. For now, it's sitting just over the 1 1/6 turn mark and the road is lit up like it supposed to be. Too bad Lexus didn't just make this adjustment for us.

Thanks again for all your help!

ReggieFish

Yeah, my wife's CX-9 has headlights that can be adjusted from inside the cabin. Also, the homelink garage door opener linking process is convoluted. And of course needing a subscription to remote start the car is disappointing.

bclexus

I'm glad you got your headlights adjusted.

Funny that you mentioned folks flashing their high beams (brights) at you until you got them properly adjusted. I've been down in Cancun, Mexico for a few days having fun and one night we left the resort property where I saw a number of vehicles with the headlights aimed all sorts of weird ways; some were aimed down at the ground just a few feet in front of the car...all the way to one car that had its headlights aimed up into the palm trees on the right side of the road. I thought about you!