Adjusting headlight aim on 94-97 accord

My 97 accord has about 140K miles. I recently replaced and upgraded my
headlight bulbs. The lighting patterns still seems subpar. Several
people have recommended that I also re-tweak the aim of the headlights
which can make a significant difference, especially since I keep some
heavy stuff in my trunk. The service manual shows a horizontal and
vertical screw adjust for each headlamp. However, there are no specific
instructions to aim them,nor is there a bubble guide for the vertical
aim adjust. Does anyone know the best procedure for re-tweaking the aim
of headlamps?

 

What "upgrade" bulbs did you buy? There are a lot of claimed "upgrades" on
the market that are actually downgrades.

It's not super terrific on those cars, but it's not awful, either --
assuming the headlamps are in good shape and you installed good (and not
just hyped-up) bulbs.

Don't "tweak" anything -- aim them properly.

Have your heavy stuff in the trunk when you're aiming the lamps.

Technically, the only proper way to aim those lamps is with a mechanical
aim device that interfaces with the three pips on each lens. Assuming the
beam pattern isn't too munged up by whatever bulbs are installed or wear
is present in the headlamp optics, you can use the VOR procedure at
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html

DS

 

--------------------

Stick fridge magnets to a white steel garage door. Only adjust a little
bit at a time. See how you like it. Try again next evening

'Curly'

 

If you use Daniels VOR technique, and do the job reasonably well, you will
normally
be about as well off as if a disinterested technician used superior
equipment. This method
can yield good results.

No doubt, with spectacular equipment and a trained and interested
technician, you might
do a little better.

 

I must say, Daniel, that I've never seen this technique before. I have
used walls as a reference for trial-and-error; but, thanks for the info--I
like it. sdlomi2

 

I have used a slightly different method whereby the centerpoints of the
windshield and backlight
are used, and a laser pointer through those points establishes the
centerpoint on the wall. Measured height from from floor level to lamp
center is transferred to the wall. , as is measured distance between two
headlight centers.

Distance from car to wall is still 25 feet.

Object is to get the high intensity beams concentrated around the
intersection of the level line
and the beam line, and the low intensity spot below the level line and to
the right of the beam lines.
It is somewhat subjective, but with a little practice can be done well
enough for most applications.

The last time I had to do this, the 'dealership' had adjusted my beams, and
had one pointed toward Mars and the other toward the nether zones. The
above procedure worked well enough
to pass the inspection examination (which used expensive equipment).

 

That sounds neat also. Now I'd like to put it to work. Like to ask you
a question: I've recently run into a dilemna. Just bought wife a 2005 Town
and Country. I've found and adjusted the up/down beam, but can not for the
life of me find an adjustment for the left/right. A friend (mechanic) could
not find one either. Any ideas? Thx, s

 

----------------

A Dodge Caraven Town & Country? Brand new and the headlights are already
out of adjustment?

Don't get in over your head . . .

'Curly'

 

Thx for the warning, 'Curly'. But I knew before purchase (I'm a retired
dealer plus I did paint/body work for ~8 years.) that the left front had
been "worked". Thanks again. Agree with you that such could be a signal to
be wary of. s

 

There isn't one. You've just run into one of the US DOT's many "we know
better than the rest of the world" dumb ideas.

When NHTSA FINALLY moved to allow visual aim of US headlamps by modifying
the beam pattern to incorporate a (barely usable, laxly controlled)
cutoff, they allowed visual aim in the vertical direction only. On a
visual-aim headlamp, horizontal aim is legally required to be
nonadjustable unless a VHAD (3 lens pips or a calibrated level scale,
etc.) is provided for mechanical horizontal aim. Their claimed reasoning?
"There's no such a thing as a usable visual beam cue for horizontal aim".
Despite the fact the rest of the world outside North America has been
doing it successfully since 1952. (also: "Modern headlamps work so well
that their horizontal aim isn't very critical". These guys are writing the
rules!) So what do you guess will happen when a car with
non-aimable-in-the-horizontal-direction headlamps has a fender bender?

DS

 

You're welcome. Still curious what bulbs you put in.

 

I just park on a long dark street at night with a light colored fence
or something at the end and adjust the high beams so I can get the
best effective illumination down at the end of the street. When you
use a close in aiming points, such as 25 feet away, a 1/16" error in
adjustment at that wall can be a huge error hundreds of feet away
where you really want to see things. Plus you can't do much to
correct any vertical parallax error when you do the aiming at a wall
25 feet away.

 

AFAIK, they are oem's--whatever that may be, with the
non-horizontal-aiming ability you explained to me. Thanks a bunch, & sorry
I know no more about the type; I just "a-s-s-u-m-e-d" they were oem's! sam