Who is anal about their headlamp aim?

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Well, I am. Be interesting to hear if it's just me

First off, one of my biggest piss-boilers is someone either coming the other way, or driving along behind me, with badly-adjusted headlamp(s). Either blinds me when they're coming towards me, or I get a constant 'flash flash flash' effect in my rear-view mirror, even after dimming the mirror. The very worst culprits behind me actually illuminate everything inside my car. Arrrgghhh!

I can sort-of forgive it if I see the car is loaded with back-seat passengers. Ok, the twunt driving SHOULD know where the adjuster knob is - but in many cases, especially women, I am probably expecting too much to think that they know about this feature on their four-wheeled white good.

Me, I am really anal about my headlamp aim. When I get a new-to-me car, I often spend ages adjusting the units to my satisfaction, because it seems that no-one has ever bothered before. If one of the adjuster motors has failed, this gets changed immediately. If I am not happy with a sharp beam pattern, I generally buy new bulbs (trick ones usually like Osram Nightbreakers) because cheap bulbs don't seem to have a nice focus and cut-off.

I like to get the beams perfectly parallel left-to-right first (sometimes they've been so bad that the beams actually 'cross' each other only 10 or so metres in front of the car ), and then spend ages getting them so they point at the floor 'just right,' so that they illuminate the road a decent distance in front of the car, without being high enough to dazzle or cause annoyance.

I have a brick wall near my house, where I can park my car opposite, to use to set my aims. Years ago, I made a couple of small, unobtrusive marks on the wall, and I use it as a starting point for all my vehicles. However, once set to my markers, I generally leave the tools in the car, and over the next few night-time drives, often stop the car after a while for a 'tweak.'

I even start to notice, after a while, when the rear shocks and springs start to get a wee bit tired, and the aim has started to creep up a little. So, out come the tools, and the anal adjustment begins again


I just have to have them perfect. Or it gives me OCD itch like nothing else!

Anyone the same?

[V8forweekends]

I get mine done at the local garage on the proper alignment machine, but yes, I am a stickler and I feel similarly about the numbers of cars with one lamp pointing straight up etc.

With that said, even the "pros" seem to have no idea sometimes - when getting my Mondeo MOTed at short notice and not at the regular place the tester patronisingly told me to turn the little thumbwheel - I explained it didn't have one due to factory HIDs and therefore auto leveling and he set one side higher, couldn't do the other side and so left it! I had to go to the Ford Dealer and get it aligned properly.

ETA - how many folk do you think actually know what that thumbwheel is for? A colleague at work once proudly told me it changed the headlights to dip the other way for driving on the continent ........

Edited by V8forweekends on Monday 23 June 22:50

[Troubleatmill]

Worst offender is the Yoof - who insist on illegally bright lights - poorly aligned towards the sky - and somehow..just not the legal type of white beam.

If you want HID's.... buy a car that had them as standard... don't try to replicate with illegal halogen's.

[Steffan]

I do agree it has become ridiculous on the roads at night with daft blinding lights from a lot of cars. It seems to be the "look at me" idiots who are only interested in themselves and their selfish satisfaction that blinding other drivers gives them. Probably deafening them as well with illegal horns and deafening exhausts. Sadly the law is ineffective and on it goes. Pity.

[Insanity Magnet]

Funnily enough I get flashed fairly regularly in the scenic (also the old one). Garages (plural) adamant that they have been set correctly all along, no MOT issues etc.

Happens if the thumb wheel is set anything above pointing hard down. Must be a(nother) Renault quirk...

[rich83]

You sound like a hoot!!! ;-)

[SMcP114]

I'm honestly not anal about anything apart from sex with Artoir off the site.

[Viper_Larry]

You should live here in the US with all their ridiculously jacked up trucks lighting up your whole car inside behind and blinding you from every mirror or coming at you. Seems to be a LOT worse than I remember in the UK

[Durzel]

So would you say these sidelights were too bright then?





(the company I bought them from sent the wrong wattage bulbs, but not sure whether to keep them)

[Captain Muppet]

If I buy a car with poor headlight aim I'll fix it, and do it myself as it's a simple and easy job in most cases.

I'm not sure this counts as "anal" though, it's less effort than checking tyre pressures every now and then, and way less effort than washing a car.

I did spend quite a bit of time setting up the light on my bike, but only because I made the light unit out of a couple of crashed ones, one of which was LHD dip direction.

[gp3000000]

Me. And every other responsible driver on the road.

[brag] I've become so proficient at it I can do it accurately with just a wall. Passes MOT afterwards every time. (I'm not a tester)[/brag].

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

rich83 said:

You sound like a hoot!!! ;-)

You should see me at parties

[DJFish]

I was sat beside a London cab on my bike at some traffic lights, there was a female cyclist ahead of him and his headlamps were perfecly placed to illuminate her nether regions making the lycra seem almost translucent....

Is that what you meant OP?

[Qwert1e]

Do people know how to DIY?

• Find a flat surface facing a vertical wall where you can shine your headlights - a multi-storey car park is ideal.
• Drive the car right up to the wall; headlamps on high beam; stick a small piece of black insulating tape on the wall at the centre of each beam.
• Reverse the car backwards in a straight line about 30 feet.
• If the headlamps are correctly adjusted the beam centres will still be on the insulating tape...
• .... if not, adjust to re-centre.
• Then when you switch to dip beam the angles will be just about right.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Qwert1e said:

Do people know how to DIY?

• Find a flat surface facing a vertical wall where you can shine your headlights - a multi-storey car park is ideal.
• Drive the car right up to the wall; headlamps on high beam; stick a small piece of black insulating tape on the wall at the centre of each beam.
• Reverse the car backwards in a straight line about 30 feet.
• If the headlamps are correctly adjusted the beam centres will still be on the insulating tape...
• .... if not, adjust to re-centre.
• Then when you switch to dip beam the angles will be just about right.

Interesting. I always do mine on low-beam, so I can see and compare the cut-offs. Easy because you have a very clearly-defined line of beam cut-off at the top of each beam...

[ModernAndy]

Insanity Magnet said:

Funnily enough I get flashed fairly regularly in the scenic (also the old one). Garages (plural) adamant that they have been set correctly all along, no MOT issues etc.

Happens if the thumb wheel is set anything above pointing hard down. Must be a(nother) Renault quirk...

I've noticed that on Scenic's. Can't remember if it's the near or offside light but one can be perfectly fine and the other is like it's on full beam.

[cologne2792]

I've found the solution - the new A8:

Put the lights on full beam and it won't dazzle the other drivers - cleverest thing I've seen in a long time !

[rich83]

cologne2792 said:

I've found the solution - the new A8:

Put the lights on full beam and it won't dazzle the other drivers - cleverest thing I've seen in a long time !

Matrix headlights? They are very clever indeed.

[xjay1337]

Got auto levelling bi xenons, no need for adjustment, yolo.

[harry kular]

Think I belong in here, definitely part of my auto-OCD...