It is pretty simple to have a check on your vehicle’s headlight alignment. For this, all your need is
- flat surface
- wall to project the headlights on
- measuring tape
- carpenter’s level
- screwdriver
- some other tapes and many more
Once you have all these items handy, you will be ready to verify the alignment of your vehicular lights. Given below are the step-by-step directions for your ease:
Step 1: Prepare your vehicle for checking.
In order to ensure that your vehicle is correctly leveled on the ground while checking, make sure that a
- All its tyres are appropriately inflated.
- Also, your vehicle, either a car, van, or truck, must have at least half of its tank full.
- There should be someone sitting on the driver’s seat while checking.
All these considerations will make sure that the vehicle is equally leveled. Moreover, these are the typical driving conditions, so you should always take the measurements under natural circumstances.
Step 2: Parking the Vehicle
Now, the next important step is parking your vehicle on a flat surface with a straight wall present in front of it. If you don’t have such a garage at home, it is better to take it to a nearby tyres centre.
Park your vehicle on the flat ground almost 10-25 feet away from the wall, with the headlights aimed at it directly. This distance is optimal as it roughly recreated common conditions faced by a driver on the road.
Step 3: Level the Vehicle
In the next step, push down all the four corners and tyres of the vehicle up and down a few times. That will make sure that all the shocks are on an equal level and settle the vehicular suspension. Also, check that all the vehicular tyres like a can or van tyres are equally inflated and properly positioned.
Step 4: Measure the distance between headlights
Take a measuring tape and measure from a fixed-point present on each headlamp moving down to the ground. However, remember the measurements should be roughly within half an inch of each other. That will verify that the suspension is not sagging on either side, which causes inaccurate measurements.
Step 5: Turn on the Vehicular headlights.
Now, turn on the front lights to check the accurate headlight alignment. However, just turn on the headlights, not the fog lights or high beams, as they may disturb the measurements. Then take a tape and mark up both vertical and horizontal centerlines of the headlight beams.
Step 6: Measure the distance between the lines
The centerlines of both lights should not be higher than 3.5 feet above the flat surface of a tyres centre. You can also use a carpenter’s level to confirm the evenness of the centerlines of both headlights. If the lights are not even, lower the upper mark to the lower one’s level.
Step 7: Back up the vehicle
Now the vehicle should be backed up, having the car or van tyres locked completely. That is so that it sets precisely 25 feet away from the wall. This time you should not estimate the distance. Instead, use tape to park it exactly 25 feet distant.
Important note:
25 feet distance is not a fixed standard for all vehicles. The specification and needs of each vehicle vary from the other by the automaker. So, always make sure that you carefully check your vehicle owner’s manual for complete details. Moreover, regardless of the suggested distance, accuracy is the key to checking perfect headlight alignment. So, make sure that you have a good measuring tape with accurate readings. And you know well how to measure the distance accurately.