These days, many modern vehicles come equipped with bright LED projector headlights that are both energy efficient and long lasting. If you’re installing a new set of projector headlights to your vehicle, you might find that adjusting them is a bit complicated. Likewise, the same goes if your existing projector headlights aren’t in line. Thankfully, we’ve got you covered with some tips for adjusting your vehicle’s projector headlights.
What Are Projector Headlights?
Before we start, let’s look at what makes projector headlights different from other headlights. While projector headlights have the typical light source and reflector setup as other headlights, they also use a special lens inside their housing. The lens is able to project the light ahead in a consistent, focused beam by magnifying it. As a result, these headlights have less glare and aren’t as likely to cause oncoming drivers any trouble. At least, that’s the case if they’re installed correctly.
Projector Headlight Adjustment Tips
Some vehicles are more prone to their headlights going off-kilter. It’s especially the case for trucks. Thankfully, projector headlights have adjustment screws for easy tweaking. The adjustment screws turn the headlights forward, back, left, and right, and they’re usually located behind the headlight assembly. You can reach them from the engine bay or the back of the headlight assembly.
Adjusting the headlights won’t require any disassembly, making this a DIY-friendly project. That being said, if you aren’t confident you can do the adjustment yourself, bring the vehicle to a trusted mechanic instead. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Prepare Your Tools
You’ll need to gather your tools before you start to adjust projector headlights so you aren’t scrambling for them at the last minute. Here’s a list of what you want close at hand:
- The owner’s manual
- A ratchet or screwdriver
- Masking tape
- Measuring tape
- A level
- A dry erase marker
- Protective gloves and goggles
If your vehicle has any bubble levels by its headlights, you can use those to aim the headlights.
Position and Prepare Your Vehicle Correctly
It’s important to position your vehicle the right way before you get to work. You’ll need at least 25 feet of space if you want to adjust your vehicle’s projector headlights properly. You should park your vehicle on level ground around 25 feet away from a wall or garage door. Your vehicle shouldn’t be carrying any additional weight during the adjustment. This keeps the vehicle’s focus level from changing. However, if your vehicle regularly carries a certain amount of weight while you drive, you can leave that weight inside and adjust the headlights accordingly.
Take the proper safety precautions like turning off the engine, engaging the parking brake, and making sure the headlights are off so no electrical troubles crop up. Also gear up with protective gloves and goggles.
Take and Mark All Necessary Measurements
Next, you need to take the necessary measurements, which include the height of your vehicle’s headlights from the ground to the center of each lens and the distance between the centers of the two lenses. You can use the dry erase marker or the masking tape to mark the center of the headlight lenses. Using the level and a tape measure, you can transfer the measurement to the wall. Just be sure that everything’s level and straight.
You can establish a baseline setup by marking the horizontal and vertical centerlines of your vehicle’s headlights on the testing wall. This way, you can refer back to the baseline setup as a starting point and see what you’ve already changed.
Aim the Projector Headlights Properly
Finally, it’s time to start adjusting your headlights.
Horizontal Alignment
Start with horizontal adjustment. Don’t try to do both horizontal and vertical adjustment at once. Park your vehicle close to the wall and measure and mark the horizontal centerline of each projector headlight on the wall. After that, back your vehicle up about 25 feet from the wall and adjust the headlight housing using the adjustment screw. Once the beams are parallel to each other and neither too high nor too low, you can move on to vertical alignment.
If your vehicle’s manual tells you to park a different distance from the wall during testing, follow its instructions accordingly.
Vertical Alignment
Again, park your vehicle close to the wall so you can mark and measure the vertical centerline for each headlight. Back your vehicle up and adjust the headlight housing accordingly, this time using the vertical adjustment screw.
Double-Check Headlight Beam Positions
You can double-check the headlight beam positions by marking the vehicle’s centerline on the wall and backing up 25 feet from the wall. The beam patterns should align both horizontally and vertically, but the high-intensity portion of both beams should be at or below the vehicle’s centerline on the wall. This is to prevent their glare from affecting oncoming drivers. You might need to make minor adjustments before you’re ready to test the lights.
Regularly Check Your Projector Headlights
Adverse weather, rough roads, and typical wear and tear can misalign your vehicle’s projector headlights. Keep them clean to prevent dirt and debris from affecting their alignment, and regularly check that they’re still aligned to avoid negatively affecting any other drivers on the road. Now that you know how to aim projector headlights, you can keep them in line as needed.
Keep Reading: Related Posts
Any information provided on this Website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace consultation with a professional mechanic. The accuracy and timeliness of the information may change from the time of publication.
