How to Check your Headlamps are Aligned Correctly
When your headlights are not properly aligned it is not only that you can incur a major loss in your field of view while driving at night, but your headlights could be focused on the oncoming traffic, blinding drivers and being a hazard to public safety. When a bright light is focused in someone’s eyes, they become temporarily blinded, and have black dots blurring their vision for a short time after getting the majority of their eyesight, not to mention their night vision back. This can cause major accidents and you would be a likely candidate for that blinded driver to crash into head-on. Knowing how to check that your headlights are aligned properly will save you a bundle if your headlights become highly misaligned at night, while you are far from a garage.
With your vision when driving in the dark already reduced, you need to have your headlights bright enough and properly aligned so that you will not see any wildlife, people or other dangers or distractions until after you have hit them. The more time you have to react to dangers on the roads, the better your chance of avoiding them and a proper headlight alignment, with a good set of bright headlights, will give you that needed time at night, where there may not be any street lights, to evade any problems that only become visible in your headlights.
Your owner’s manual will show you the proper alignment of your headlights and how to do it. Follow these instructions properly and your headlights will be properly aligned. You can have your headlights professionally aligned, which gives you the perfect alignment and field of view at night. However, if you would rather align your headlights yourself, or if you are out on the road late at night and your lights just came misaligned (from hitting a big pot hole or something), focusing your own headlights is not all that difficult, as long as you know where your vehicle’s headlight adjustment screws are located. A nice, flat wall located about 10 to 15 feet in front of your vehicle is also a very helpful thing to have when aligning your headlights.
The headlight adjustment screws are usually found just beside or below the light housings, but you should check with your auto owner’s manual to make sure where yours are located on your specific make and model of vehicle. If you do not have your owner’s manual or a Jane’s repair manual for your vehicle, you can usually find all of the information that you need online. This computer thingy is just great with providing information that you would otherwise spend hundreds of dollars on maintenance manuals for, and now your smartphone or even your vehicle’s GPS unit can find that information on the Internet.
The first thing you need to know, however, is where the alignment adjustment screws are on your headlights in your specific vehicle. Since you are realigning them, you might as well go ahead and buy a new pair of better bulbs and start from scratch. But, if your bulbs are very good and almost new but just out of alignment then following these easy steps to align your headlights will save you more than enough money from the garage to warrant a set of the best bulbs on the market, and maybe even a new set of headlight covers if yours are scratched and dented.
The steps for checking your headlight alignment and properly aligning them include;
Park your vehicle on a flat surface about 15 feet from a light-colored, flat wall, head-on to the wall. Put your vehicle in park and set your emergency brake. Turn the engine off, leaving the ignition in the “Accessories” setting.
Turn the headlights on (or, if you are starting over with a new set, take the old set of bulbs out and insert the new set then close the light housing and then turn on the headlights). You headlights should be focused about 10 degrees lower than your headlights and the driver’s side light should be slightly lower and to the right than the passenger-side light is. Neither headlight should point to the left-hand side of your car (while looking at the wall from the vehicle).
There are two alignment screws for each headlight, one to make the lights go up and down and one to make them go side to side. Play with them to get used to which is which, and how much they make the headlights move with each ¼ turn. Adjust the alignment screws (usually with a Phillips #2 screwdriver or your fingers) until the headlights are level with each other on the wall and pointing slightly below the level of the vehicle’s headlights’ level. A 10 to 15 degree drop in the headlights is ideal.
The left headlight should be pointing slightly to the right and down from center so that it doesn’t shine into the eyes of oncoming drivers. The misaligned headlight could blind oncoming drivers and cause a major accident likely involving yourself or the vehicles directly behind you. Take your vehicle for a short test drive on a very dark country road if possible. If the headlights are perfectly aligned they should not veer onto the oncoming traffic’s lane, and should give a broad spectrum of light that gives a great view of the right-hand side of the road, beyond the edge of the soft shoulder. If your headlights are aligned properly, great! Pack your tools and drive on.
But if your headlights are still not quite right, head back to the drawing board. If you are still having problems it may just be time to bite the bullet and take your vehicle to a garage to have your headlights professionally aligned. Mechanics have special gear that aligns headlights perfectly, taking into consideration what type of headlight you have and its intensity.
At present, the best types of headlight lamps to purchase for your vehicle are Super Plasma GT-X, Sylvania Super Star, HID (High Intensity Discharge), and LED (Light Emitting Diode) bulbs. One more way to improve the intensity and direction of your headlights is to purchase high-definition headlight covers. These are the plastic or glass covers that cover the headlights, and over time they get scratched and dented from driving on gravel roads and behind vehicles and trucks. These covers should be replaced when they show signs of being scratched more than not, or you can purchase a new set of high-definition covers that increase the intensity and clarity of your headlights.
Unless you have experience doing it, aligning your own headlights should really only be done during an emergency, while you are out on a dark road and your headlights become extremely misaligned, or you have to buy a new set of bulbs and there are no garages open to install and properly align them. Most garages offer free headlight alignment when you purchase a set of bulbs and when you also purchase a set of new, high-definition headlight covers the alignment will most assuredly be free.
