- Location
- Hainesville IL
Howdy XN, today I'll show you how to properly Align your Headlights.
here is a list of things you will need before you fix your derpy eyed Xterra.
- 1 bubble level (about a yard long)
- 1 thin flat head screw driver or a pick.
- tape
- wall or garage door.
- a flat working surface. (this does matter)
first you need to get you X in position. park you X the lenght of your level away from the wall you have chosen. make sure you are not skewed on the wall. your bumper has to be parrell with the wall in order to align the lights correctly.
once your X is in place, find the dot on the center of your lamp cover. in this case i have a circle headlight first gen but it should be a similar mark for you square light weirdos
here is the center mark on the lens a little bit in front of the screw driver.
next, take your bubble level and place just below the center dot on the light and to get it level. after that you should be close enough to put a piece of tape on the wall. then do the same to the other side.
now that after you have to pieces of take on your wall, join the two pieces with a long strand of tape so that you have a bench mark.
ok, so you got the tape on your wall. now get in your X and pull it back 25ft or so. after doing this you'll see where you headlights are pointing. properly aligned light should be pionting a few inches bellow your strip of tape, because normal low beam headlights actually start to tapper down around that distance and be slightly off to the right but not much to better spot the shoulder of the road. its a DOT thing so i dunno...
so your looking on how your lights beam in comparison with your bench mark line. if one or both are way to low the line or above it, you got some work to do. but dont worry because IMO its the easiest safety measure you can take next to putting on your set belt.
ok so your X has some derpy eyes going on. first pop the hood.
in this area both lights youll find a place for your screw driver to fit in to.
this is the adjuster gear that you will move clockwise or counter to move the light beam up or down.
as far as i know i could not find an adjuster for left or right.
once you lights are level and to your liking, it should be something like this, nice and level. before this, my passenger side was way low.
and there you have it XN, a how to on Aligning headlights.
feel free to add anything in the thread I may have missed.
here is a list of things you will need before you fix your derpy eyed Xterra.
- 1 bubble level (about a yard long)
- 1 thin flat head screw driver or a pick.
- tape
- wall or garage door.
- a flat working surface. (this does matter)
first you need to get you X in position. park you X the lenght of your level away from the wall you have chosen. make sure you are not skewed on the wall. your bumper has to be parrell with the wall in order to align the lights correctly.
once your X is in place, find the dot on the center of your lamp cover. in this case i have a circle headlight first gen but it should be a similar mark for you square light weirdos
here is the center mark on the lens a little bit in front of the screw driver.
next, take your bubble level and place just below the center dot on the light and to get it level. after that you should be close enough to put a piece of tape on the wall. then do the same to the other side.
now that after you have to pieces of take on your wall, join the two pieces with a long strand of tape so that you have a bench mark.
ok, so you got the tape on your wall. now get in your X and pull it back 25ft or so. after doing this you'll see where you headlights are pointing. properly aligned light should be pionting a few inches bellow your strip of tape, because normal low beam headlights actually start to tapper down around that distance and be slightly off to the right but not much to better spot the shoulder of the road. its a DOT thing so i dunno...
so your looking on how your lights beam in comparison with your bench mark line. if one or both are way to low the line or above it, you got some work to do. but dont worry because IMO its the easiest safety measure you can take next to putting on your set belt.
ok so your X has some derpy eyes going on. first pop the hood.
in this area both lights youll find a place for your screw driver to fit in to.
this is the adjuster gear that you will move clockwise or counter to move the light beam up or down.
as far as i know i could not find an adjuster for left or right.
once you lights are level and to your liking, it should be something like this, nice and level. before this, my passenger side was way low.
and there you have it XN, a how to on Aligning headlights.
feel free to add anything in the thread I may have missed.
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