How To Aim And Align Your Headlights

Learn How To Be A Safer Driver by Aiming Your Headlights

Suppose you replace your original halogen headlight with an LED bulb. In that case, you'll probably blind everyone else on the road and still not be able to see as well as you would like to, regardless of the type of headlights you have—projector or reflector, vehicle or truck.

However, you should be aware that an LED headlight bulb must have a particular design to function properly in your car. It must have a specific type of LED chip, as well as a particular width and positioning within the lamp. It must also be positioned correctly.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to LED headlight bulbs; there are numerous factors to consider. You will never be able to focus your headlights if you swap out your halogen bulb for one that has an odd beam pattern. Let me start by demonstrating what a lousy beam pattern looks like and why, no matter how hard you aim it, it will never work.

As you can see in this illustration, our beam pattern is now completely out of scale. Assess its height and note the location of the beam's top. Take the brightest part of this beam pattern and place it where you need it on the road, and you'll notice that it travels very high. Everyone else is blinded. Because of this, light bulbs with this type of beam pattern are ineffective.

Please take a picture of your car with its original halogen headlights on any road. As you can see, there is a clear cutoff line, and the brightest area is located close to the center, at the top of the beam. We call this the hotspot. Because of the hotspot located close to the top of the beam, the headlights can be targeted beneath the oncoming driver's field of vision.

The halogen bulb will now be removed and replaced with a well-performing LED bulb, such as the GTR Lighting Ultra 2. If you're curious about why this one performs better than others, view our other videos. The fact remains that it does.

It's crucial to note that the beam pattern of this headlight bulb closely resembles that of the original halogen. Look at that: you can properly adjust it to provide you maximum brightness without blinding other cars on the road. We have the same cutoff line and the same hotspot around the top center.

Every day, we receive comments from folks who are upset about how bright and blinding LED headlights are. Others respond by saying, "As long as you have them aimed correctly, it's fine," but that's only half the picture. To start, you still need to purchase the appropriate bulbs.

How to Properly Aim Your Headlights

Now that you've selected the appropriate bulbs, let's discuss how to aim your headlights. You will notice two things on your headlight: In order to have some room between your front bumper and the wall itself, start by pulling your car up to the wall approximately three feet away.

If one person typically drives your car, you should make sure that someone is seated in the driver's seat while you aim. You should replicate this for this as well if your vehicle typically has a lot of construction equipment, other kinds of equipment, or anything else that could make the car heavier.

The last thing you want to do is adjust the weight of your cargo and then aim your headlights. Prior to reaching that average level, you should make sure that your tires are properly inflated and that you have approximately half a tank of gas left. When performing this job on your own, any of these factors could cause the alignment to be incorrect.

After your car is three feet from the wall and squared up, mark the center of the car with a vertical piece of painter's tape or another marking device. Next, mark the center of each headlamp and attach a second vertical piece of tape to each side.

Make sure the distance on the wall between your headlight marking and the center is the same. That small depression in the plastic may be where you find the center of your headlamp.

Now, measure with a tape measure from the ground up to the headlight's center height. The height of your headlight's dimple measured from the floor up is this value. Mark the distance on your piece of tape by measuring it up to the wall tape. That ought to pinpoint your headlight's exact location on the wall.

Make a mark after measuring two inches down. The tape should include two markings for each headlamp.

To give yourself a cross-section of where to aim, place a horizontal piece of tape on the wall between the two marks that indicate the center of your headlight and a two-inch drop.

When you are 25 feet away, the top of your beam pattern should be at the bottom of this horizontal measurement at that 2-inch mark. Pull the car back 25 feet now that all of your markers on the wall are accurate, and we'll examine the aim after that.

Although some manufacturers specify different distances closer or farther away, 25 feet is a general rule of thumb for any vehicle. Therefore, be sure you're doing this correctly by consulting your owner's manual before performing it yourself.

Now that your car is 25 feet from the wall, it's time to position the headlights up and down with a screwdriver or other tool. Every headlamp has a separate alignment adjuster; they all function essentially the same way, but occasionally, they may differ slightly.

There will almost always be something that requires a Phillips screwdriver. The headlight settings area is located on your headlight; you open the hood and look down. You may then determine whether it is a socket, whether a Phillips screwdriver will work, or whether a Torx bit is required.

Adjusting the Beam: Ford F150 vs. Dodge Ram 

An enclosed component with a little tube on top is visible on this F150. Turn your screwdriver clockwise or counterclockwise from the top of your engine compartment to adjust the internal mechanism of your headlamp. The projector or reflector will move up or down when this device is turned.

We have something similar on the back of this Dodge lamp, but it doesn't protrude from the top. Things are well down here, close to the center of the headlamp, as you can see, but fortunately, they made things simple for us by including a guide that goes into the same gear drive.

This Ram headlamp uses the same technology, but a Phillips screwdriver is not needed. In this situation, either a socket or a Torx driver can be used.

Check the direction of your headlight now. The cutoff line at the top of your headlight, which is located precisely where the brightest portion of the beam is, shouldn't cross that 2-inch drop mark. We want to lower both of them to reach that point since, as you can see, one is higher than the other.

The concept is that your beam pattern's size increases with distance from an object. For regular highway driving, we thus demand a 2-inch drop over 25 feet in order to communicate with a significantly larger drop farther in front of the vehicle.

Test It On The Street

While driving, I like to check that my headlights are barely bouncing off various street signs. Based on the detailed instructions we just went over, this is a solid indication that they won't be getting in anyone's way.

Imagine someone changing their mirrors because you're blinding them, or seeing the back of someone's head in the car in front of you, or you're driving around and all the street signs are lit up all the time. In that situation, such are either examples of incorrect LED headlight bulbs or improperly positioned headlights.