How to adjust headlight aiming level?

[Ricky Bobby]

Park 25 feet from a wall on level ground, measure with a tape measure how high your low beam projector is off the ground (I usually measure to the middle of the projector), now shine the lights on the wall, and walk up to it. Your beam should be roughly the same height at the low point of the step ____/------

If its significantly higher, you are blinding drivers. Another good tip I use is if you are parked on a shoulder of a residential street, the beam should not come above mailboxes.

I recently had to adjust mine down some because they were set high and I was shining the bottoms of trees, now all is good.

and by the way, use Allen wrenches that are properly sized when turning the adjustment hexes, there is an indent for a Philips screwdriver but it is very easy to strip!

[white lancer]

I adjusted both the headlights last night using the little white screw. Much Better now

[cncmastr]

Question, I remove my headlights to replace the bulb and polish them. I have adaptive headlights in my 2005 X5. It seems like the rain is a little bit off on the wall my park in the garage, do I need to regain my headlights, or will they automatically level off correctly?

[Clockwork]

Hi all.
So my HID headlamps are out of wack, horizontally, in my opinion.
I have never liked the light output beam pattern either.
I had the headlamps out to replace signal lights and once reinstalled, I knew I had to adjust my aim (auto only does so much)

Can anyone please verrify that for a left hand drive x5, the left bulb beam output is like this ___/ and NOT ___/--- (like the right headlight is)?

I'm not sure if my HID Phillips bulb is putting out a funny light pattern itself, to the projector or
projector is dirty (hence missing the --- portion of projector) or
perhaps it's normal beam pattern for that left headlamp.

[Clockwork]

ok, gonna follow up this question with a small video (youtube link) about how my auto aim works yet the bulbs still aim very low. Is this because the manual adjustment is incorrect and they need to be raised (and widened), like how they aim when initially started up?
https://youtu.be/dY0HlbQtoO0

[Clavurion]

Originally Posted by Clockwork

ok, gonna follow up this question with a small video (youtube link) about how my auto aim works yet the bulbs still aim very low. Is this because the manual adjustment is incorrect and they need to be raised (and widened), like how they aim when initially started up?
https://youtu.be/dY0HlbQtoO0

Or there is active code on the leveling system so it sets the aim on the lowest position. Or either of the sensor arms are not connected properly.

[Clockwork]

Originally Posted by Clavurion

Or there is active code on the leveling system so it sets the aim on the lowest position. Or either of the sensor arms are not connected properly.

Its funny you responded.
Ive been doing a bunch of research on this topic, this morning, and your name keeps showing up in a LOT of the headlight aiming threads. Thanks very much for your input in all of them.
Yes, the first thing I will check is the position of the arms on the front/rear level sensors. I checked thi years ago tho adn they were both sitting properly (arms on the side of sensor, not pointed downwards)

[X5only]

We were driving our 2005 X5 4.4 sports (with adaptive HID) at night last night from CA to Seattle. At one point my wife happened to drive and kept complaining the light output was not great. So, I asked her to flip the high beam on and, to my astonishment, there was no effect at all. Approaching home on a dark road with no streetlights, I tried again and then noticed the headlights were aimed way too high (above tree trunks) - no wonder the high beams had no effect on freeway with all the light from other cars. I had the bumper replaced several years ago. Now I got homework on fixing the lights - and I hate aiming headlights . I'm glad to see this thread .

[Clockwork]

So, I jacked up my vehicle last night, to confirm proper flexing of the arm on the level sensors, and both flex properly (connecting rod makes the arm of sensor move up and down). I do not have the issue where my lights raise up and down every 30 seconds, like others have, but just wanted to check my level sensors, just to be safe.
SO, I just went to an underground parking lot, checked the ground where my vehicle's tires were sitting to ensure level ground and then I measured, on the vehicle, the height of the fog lamps (24 inches off ground) and then height of low beam projector bulb (32 inches). I then turned on fogs and aimed them a little higher, as they were QUITE low (so now, 18" from ground at about 2 vehicle lengths away from wall) and then added another 8" in height (to where I aimed the lower cutoff) for my Xenon bulb patterns.
i also adjusted the lateral movement (side to side) while I was at it.
I have SO MUCH better light output now. I wonder why/how it got so out of wack, as I remember doing this same thing about 4 years ago.
Even with aiming them, I STILL do not ahve my Xenons aimed as high as newer SUVs seem to have. I was driving home next to a new Lexus or Hyundai or Toyota (they all look the same these days) right after I aimed mine and even tho their light output was SO BRIGHT WHITE, their cutoff pattern was about 6" higher than mine still, but I feel that SUV had poorly aimed bulbs (just cause it left the factory that way doesnt mean it was calibrated properly, sadly).

X5Only, its a bit of a pain in the butt getting the vehicle set up against a wall to have aiming done, albeit, very easy to once you have your measurements, its sooooo worth having a nice light output, for a 16+ year old vehicle.

[X5only]

Originally Posted by Clockwork

So, I jacked up my vehicle last night, to confirm proper flexing of the arm on the level sensors, and both flex properly (connecting rod makes the arm of sensor move up and down). I do not have the issue where my lights raise up and down every 30 seconds, like others have.
SO, I just went to an underground parking lot, checked the ground where my vehicle's tires were sitting to ensure level ground and then I measured the fog lamps (24 inches off ground) and then height of low beam projector bulb (32 inches) and then turned on fogs and aimed them a little higher (18" from ground at about 2 vehicle lengths away from wall) and then added another 8" in height to where I aimed the lower cutoff of my Xenon bulb patterns. i also adjusted the lateral movement (side to side) while I was at it. I have SO MUCH better light output now. I wonder why/how it got so out of wack, as I remember doing this same thing about 4 years ago. I STILL do not ahve my Xenons aimed as high as newer SUVs seem to have. I was driving home next to a new Lexus or Hyundai or Toyota (they all look the same these days) right after I aimed mine and even tho their light output was SO BRIGHT WHITE, their cutoff pattern was about 6" higher than mine still, but I feel that SUV had poorly aimed bulbs (just cause it left the factory that way doesnt mean it was calibrated properly, sadly).

X5Only, its a bit of a pain in the butt getting the vehicle set up against a wall to have aiming done, albeit, very easy to once you have your measurements, its sooooo worth having a nice light output, for a 16+ year old vehicle.

Thank so much Clockwork! So, the above is all I need to do to fix mine, yes?