Subject: Aiming Euro Lights....

[C1J1Miller at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/24/2007 2:58:43 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, Derek  
Pulvino writes:

So how  has everyone else with Euro lights aimed their  headlights?  
 
from my old 200 site; think SJM has more on his site:
 
 

Aiming the european headlights  
Check the tire pressure, make sure the car has got a half tank or so and  
nothing heavy in the trunk.  Check the european lights to see that the  height 
lever is in the down (normal) position.   When this lever is  flipped upward, 
the lights adjust lower (useful when your car's trunk if full of  diving gear, 
for example, and you don't want the headlights lighting up the  sky).  
Find a (very) level parking area adjacent to a blank white wall (at  night).  
Pull the car up to the wall, steering wheel straight, and make a  vertical 
mark on the wall using tape (electrical or duct tape works well) at the  
centerline of the car.  Turn on the headlights (low beams), and put tape  marks 
horizontally through the center of each headlight's light pattern, and a  second 
horizontal mark 3 inches lower.   Make a vertical mark through  the center of 
each mark.  
--+--                  |                  --+-- 
--+--                  |                  --+--  
Roll the car straight back 25 feet from the wall.  Rock the car a couple  
times to make sure the suspension is properly settled.  
The height aiming point for low beams (top of the beam cutoff) is the lower  
line.  The left/right aiming point is the centerline -- the high angled  
cutoff (euro pattern) should start at the center and flare right through the  lower 
right mark.  
High beams on one piece "aero" headlights will be simulataneously aimed.  
The lower knob on the lights raises and lowers the beam.  The upper knob  
moves the beam in towards the center line or away (and takes a lot of turns to  
do much).  See the owner's manual for a picture of the adjustment knobs.  
The beam pattern almost always looks too low on the wall, but that's where  
they're supposed to be.  Please don't aim your bulbs too high, especially  with 
high-wattage bulbs.  Every time you go over a rise or hit a bump, the  lights 
will move up and down in relation to oncoming traffic and blind them (and  
the guy ahead of you through his rear view mirror).  Everytime your lights  
temporarily flash them, their pupils take a moment or two to readjust, during  
which they are partially blinded. 



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