Bass Mech

after the HID thread was revived today I decided to do a little investigation into the factory adjustment of the HIDS.

using the PDF provided here https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...=256416&page=2

I printed the instructions to perform this adjustment per factory specs.

first a little history, about a month ago when I got my car I like others was unhappy with the fact the low beams are just about worthless on dark roads, I had already adjusted my headlights vertical adjustment 2 turns upwards and noticed a great improvement, in addition to that adjusted the horizontal aim the exact same 2 turns on each light.

just now I made the target screen and measured as instructed to see how far off my seat of the pants adjustment was.
turns out they were almost at factory spec! based on my observations I suspect the headlights on all the cars come from the factory with their headlights adjusted way too low. I estimate about 3 inches too low at the measured 25 feet from the front of the car.

I actually had to raise mine still about 1/2 inch to make them meet the factory specification. my drivers side was a little lower than the pass but its hard to tell unless you actually use a screen as instructed to align them.
they were also not pointed correctly horizontally either.
now that I have made the adjustments I can see a significant different in the aiming, they don't blind anyone but do light up street signs much better than before.

I would definitly reccommend to anyone who is not happy with the lighting to try doing this adjustment before you seek different HID bulbs or any other mods to the lights.

iSuxeL

iTrader: (21)

So you did both vertical and horizontal??

Bass Mech

yes both times, but this time rather than counting turns i actually set up a screen with alignment marks on it and aligned both lights using the H and V to aim them exactly as instructed. huge difference!

iSuxeL

iTrader: (21)

Was it really time consuming making the screen?? Cause I was just going to eyeball it.

Bass Mech

actually no it was very simple, ill save you the reading and planning its more simple than they make it out to be..

i took a cardboard box i had laying around that was white, broke it down and cut it on 1 corner so it would lay flat and wide. you could use the side of a building or any flat surface as long as it is 90 degrees from the ground and the ground is flat and level.

you need to measure from the ground to the center of 1 headlight. you will find a small dent directly in front of the low beam projector.
using a tape measure, measure how high this is off the ground.
on your screen measure the same height from the ground and make a level line all the way across it at that height.

now measure the distance between your headlights, i measured 54 inches.
next make a vertical line on the screen right down the middle from top to bottom intersecing the H line you made earlier.

take 54 inches and divide by 2 this gives you 27 inches from center left and right and make another vertical line for each.

now position the car 25 feet from the wall with the engine running in park and lights on low beam.

you also need to align the car exactly center of the center line you made earlier.

if you can picture this, your car will now be aligned so that the exact center of each headlight will be pointed directly at each cross hair for the left and right headlights.
using a movable screen like i did made this a snap, i set the car at 25 feet and then moved the screen left or right untill i had it centered. i was able to look through the back window, align the shark fin, the defroster line in the middle and sight that through the center of the rearview mirror and then into my target.

now with the lights on you really dont need to measure anything because the uppermost part of the beam (the part to the right) on both lights should be dead on the horizontal line and the measurement is to measure from the line to the lower part on the left 2.8 inches. the 2.8 inches is not adjustable because its a function of the shield inside the headlight so just align the upper part to the line.

now move the horizontal adjusters so that the cutoff lands directly on the vertical line for each light and your done!

what's interesting about this adjustment is that the lights are actually designed to point directly straight ahead. and if you think about it this makes a lot of sense because on a flat road, oncomming traffic assuming they are a vehicle of the same or similar height will have the drivers eyes about a foot or 2 higher then their own headlights.
since its impossible to keep the lights out of oncomming traffic eyes when you factor in hills and uneven pavement the objective must be that car manufacturers design these specs so that on average on a flat road you won't be blinding people.

iSuxeL

iTrader: (21)

Thanks for the explaination. I gotta do this cause my lights are so off, I think its cause its lowered now. I feel like it can be another 5+ ft. Hopefully this isnt as hard as it sounds LOL, dont worry your explaination is pretty clear Im just tired right now

shyishguy

Where's the screw to make horizontal adjustments? I only see one screw on the assembely

Bass Mech

you have to remove the front and side engine cover's, on the passenger side it is about 1 inch beind the front of the airbox cover just under the thin long cover that hides the fender bolts and in the same position on the drivers side.