Is my headlight aligned right?

[Matsweeper]

Hey guys just posting to see if I can get your opinion. I purchased LED headlight kit from xenondepot.com a month back and LOVE it.

It is way brighter then the stock halogen and I can finally enjoy driving at night.

It seems very bright but never got a flashing light from other driving a but I decided to get into a car and park it in front of mine. I felt it was really bright on the driver side mirror and but bright on the rear view mirror.

I attempted to follow the YouTube directions on alignment and it was higher than it was supposed to. Since I am abit obsessed with getting things perfect or near it I want to know if you guys think it is straight. Here are the pics.

I found myself driving. For nearly an hour trying to find a place that was somewhat straigh. It was tough. When I'm behind drivers I fee now it lights up at their number however I know getting a perfect cut off on halogens is not going to happen.

What do you guys think?

 

[Nomar06]

The general rule on retros, with a sharp cutoff, is that the cut off line should be 2feet from the ground at 20feet away from an object.

Like you said, it's tough to get a perfect cutoff from a halogen light but you can take the above as a guide line to align your new lights.

 

[webby]

For a non-projector headlight it looks like it's pretty good to me. You're below the side mirrors and stuff so it won't be as blinding to others. It's a bit easier with a sharp cutoff line from a projector. I think yours seems to be ok from the pics though.

 

[Monk]

As @webby said, keep it from hitting the side mirrors of an equal size car, You could go up a little on low... BUT..... Check that it's not too high on high beam, What you're looking for on high beam is that the beam shoots down the road and not into the air, find that balance.

 

[Pauly99to17]

The general rule on retros, with a sharp cutoff, is that the cut off line should be 2feet from the ground at 20feet away from an object.

This^^

 

[A. G. Pym]

I've been struggling with headlight aiming issues for awhile on my car, and this is all good information, except the beam pattern from your highs should be a little higher than the lows. It will look more oblong and should not have that sharper cutoff that the lows have. In order for the highs to cast further down the road, they have to be higher, but that's okay, because you aren't supposed to have them on when you're driving at someone. The right low beam should be a slightly higher than the left, which yours is. Your cutoff looks really good in those pictures and I would leave it alone. Also that rule of thumb about light height and distance is relative to how high off the ground your car is, so don't just go measure two feet, put a mark, and set your headlights to that. Set the cutoff by measuring to the middle of your headlight housings, then adjust them so the cutoff line hits that height at 20 feet away. Either way, I think yours looks really good and I wouldn't bother with it any further if it was me.

 

[Matsweeper]

I really appreciate the post guys. Honestly I feel like stock halogens are unsafe. Not sure if it's because my other car I've had for 7 years with stock HID got me used to it but I couldn't see anything. I really wanted to retrofit but right now I'm all stout keeping my car own as possible with little to no modification that require drilling, baking, splicing, etc, unless it's own from honda.

These lights are great! Compared to halogens. Very little ground glare might a tiny bit annoying at times but it's very minimal and at least I can see.

 

[13blacksedan]

I ordered these a few weeks ago and they have been on back order from xenon depot, they are supposed to be delivered to me today though. When I get them in ill check if I need any adjustments and let you know how mine went

 

[13blacksedan]

I got them in tonight, but I'm having the same problem. It seems like it isn't the direct beam aiming high though.

 

[13blacksedan]

 

[13blacksedan]

The passenger side was very high, after adjusting it is reasonable, but still a little high. It got dark and I had to give up for the night because I have to work early tomorrow.

 

[webby]

Best bet is getting to a wall with like 25ft of flat ground. Walk back 25ft and park the car facing the wall. Then adjust the beam height.

 

[13blacksedan]

Ya i will this weekend

 

[13blacksedan]

I had the led's in vertical the first time and I seemed like they fit fine but we're aiming very high, then put them in horizontal and they were much better. Maybe @zenondepot can elaborate on them

 

[13blacksedan]

I assume they should fit only one way though, right?

 

[Matsweeper]

I had the led's in vertical the first time and I seemed like they fit fine but we're aiming very high, then put them in horizontal and they were much better. Maybe @zenondepot can elaborate on them

I didn't know you can put them in horizontally

 

[13blacksedan]

Ya I didn't have much time, hopefully I can research and play with them again this weekend

 

[13blacksedan]

Well I tried adjusting them this morning with our mechanic at work, it seems like my passenger headlamp adjustment doesn't work at all and it is aiming very high

 

[Matsweeper]

Well although the LED headlight does what it's intended to (produce more light then halogen) I will hold on to them and decided to do a retrofit myself within the next year. The "hotspots" although minimal are just annoying to look at also it doesn't seem to light much of the sides and last but not least, every time I make a turn and my lights hit a wall, I see two bright halo light reflect from wall.

I'm glad i could see better at night but for half the cost of retrofitting myself I shouldn't of waited.

 

[Matsweeper]

So annoying that honda doesn't include a HID option for the civics. I believe 90% of its competitors have HID or at least projectors as an option.