Low beam headlights too low? Can we adjust them?

[K_Squared]

I've done a couple night drives in the Emira and the high beams are absolutely off the charts amazing. I feel like I can see EVERYTHING with them. However, the low beams seem like they're TOO low and on backroads at night where we have lots of deer around here I feel somewhat blind as they do not give much view up ahead. Anyone else notice this? I checked the manual and I don't see anything about adjusting them but I really feel like they're poorly adjusted too close to the road as I can't see much more than maybe 100 feet or so ahead at most.

 

[K_Squared]

Bump, anyone?

 

[Porter]

There has to be an adjustment. Likely screw fittings on the back of the housing.

 

[Eagle7]

The service manual refers to a "headlamp adjuster cable" but it doesn't have anything about actually adjusting it. Your dealer would probably be able to do it.

 

[Porter]

The service manual refers to a "headlamp adjuster cable" but it doesn't have anything about actually adjusting it. Your dealer would probably be able to do it.

View attachment 40187

Maybe the adjustment is internal to the headlamp, and the other end of the cable has an adjustment knob?

 

[K_Squared]

Has anyone else driven at night and noticed this? Compared to my 340i I feel somewhat blind in the Emira with low beams. Conversely, the high beams are out of this world bright and reveal EVERYTHING but obviously I can't keep them on all the time

 

[KJD]

To search is to find….

19 Months 12 Days later

Complete centre cap. Probably why they’re £32.69 each! Got it! Thanks!

www.emiraforum.com

 

[Porter]

Holy crap that's an incredibly useful post. I pinged a mod to see if we can split that out. Thanks @KJD !

 

[KJD]

Holy crap that's an incredibly useful post. I pinged a mod to see if we can split that out. Thanks @KJD !

No problem.

I posted that over a year ago and someone finally noticed…

Seriously though, no-one seems to do a search on here.
There are loads of topics that have been done to death by us oldies just waiting for people to find.

 

[K_Squared]

No problem.

I posted that over a year ago and someone finally noticed…

Seriously though, no-one seems to do a search on here.
There are loads of topics that have been done to death by us oldies just waiting for people to find.

Thanks for sharing the post. Respectfully, I DID search for this on search engines, in the handbook, and on this forum. Unfortunately, forum application search algorithms are often fairly useless. For example, my previous search of "headlight adjustment" returned this despite the existence of "headlight adjuster" in your post:

It seems that nobody was able to actually find it and since you were the OP of that post, it makes sense that you pulled it from memory

Regardless, I genuinely appreciate the tip/information. I'll test it out tonight to see if I can properly adjust the low beams to see more than 50 feet in front of me.

EDIT: If you do a search for "headlight adjust" it does come up. The search algorithm apparently requires an exact match of the entire string. Good to note for future searches in this forum. Use the most basic form of what you want to find.

 

[KJD]

It seems that nobody was able to actually find it and since you were the OP of that post, it makes sense that you pulled it from memory

Well, that’s odd, because I didn’t pull it from memory. I searched for “headlight adjuster” to find my own post.

Anyhow, glad to help.

 

[Wiz33]

I've done a couple night drives in the Emira and the high beams are absolutely off the charts amazing. I feel like I can see EVERYTHING with them. However, the low beams seem like they're TOO low and on backroads at night where we have lots of deer around here I feel somewhat blind as they do not give much view up ahead. Anyone else notice this? I checked the manual and I don't see anything about adjusting them but I really feel like they're poorly adjusted too close to the road as I can't see much more than maybe 100 feet or so ahead at most.

Just went for the first night time drive. Headlights are bright but I think they're aimed a bit low could use another 50-100 feet range before it hits the ground. Thanks for the link that show where to adjust the height. I'll give that a try later.

 

[Eagle7]

Just went for the first night time drive. Headlights are bright but I think they're aimed a bit low could use another 50-100 feet range before it hits the ground. Thanks for the link that show where to adjust the height. I'll give that a try later.

I've noticed on mine the passenger side seems okay, but the headlight is noticeably lower on the driver side. Did you ever try adjusting your lights?

 

[Eagle7]

Okay I just adjusted the headlight on the driver's side. You need a 6mm hex wrench, and to raise the light beam you turn the wrench towards the front of the car. If you're leaning over the fender on the driver's side to adjust, it looks like you're turning the wrench counter-clockwise. Turning it 3/4 of a turn looked to raise the beam by about 3/4 of an inch on the wall. How much that will raise the projected light on the road I won't know until tonight.

 

[Wiz33]

Okay I just adjusted the headlight on the driver's side. You need a 6mm hex wrench, and to raise the light beam you turn the wrench towards the front of the car. If you're leaning over the fender on the driver's side to adjust, it looks like you're turning the wrench counter-clockwise. Turning it 3/4 of a turn looked to raise the beam by about 3/4 of an inch on the wall. How much that will raise the projected light on the road I won't know until tonight.

how far was the light from the wall? 3/4" sound like a lot..

 

[Eagle7]

how far was the light from the wall? 3/4" sound like a lot..

Maybe 5 feet? I wanted it fairly close so it would be easier to tell which direction the light was moving. The driver's side on my car was not just a little lower than the passenger side, it was lower enough that you could see in front of the car where the light stopped on the road about 3 car lengths in front of the driver's side, while the passenger side was still illuminating much further out. These lights have very definite pattern edges.

I'll check again tonight out on the road, and adjust as necessary. I can just drive around in the neighborhood and I'll be able to tell immediately if it's too much or not enough. I mostly just want both sides to match.

 

[Wiz33]

Maybe 5 feet? I wanted it fairly close so it would be easier to tell which direction the light was moving. The driver's side on my car was not just a little lower than the passenger side, it was lower enough that you could see in front of the car where the light stopped on the road about 3 car lengths in front of the driver's side, while the passenger side was still illuminating much further out. These lights have very definite pattern edges.

I'll check again tonight out on the road, and adjust as necessary. I can just drive around in the neighborhood and I'll be able to tell immediately if it's too much or not enough. I mostly just want both sides to match.

Can you take some pictures of what you light pattern looks like after the adjustments. Thanks.

 

[Eagle7]

Lol I just got back about 30 minutes ago, and didn't see your post until just now. The adjustment I made was perfect. Both sides now illuminate the same and the left isn't too high, which I was hoping wouldn't be the case. I'll check again tomorrow night and see if I can get a decent picture.

 

[Wiz33]

Lol I just got back about 30 minutes ago, and didn't see your post until just now. The adjustment I made was perfect. Both sides now illuminate the same and the left isn't too high, which I was hoping wouldn't be the case. I'll check again tomorrow night and see if I can get a decent picture.

Thanks, So you basically brought the driver side light level with the passenger side? That should be fine and would not affect oncoming traffic.

 

[Eagle7]

Thanks, So you basically brought the driver side light level with the passenger side? That should be fine and would not affect oncoming traffic.

Yes lol, what did you think I was trying to do? I stated in my write-up that the driver's side was very noticeably lower than the passenger side which was why I wanted to adjust the driver's side. At any rate, now the light field in front of the car is nice and uniform from side to side.