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Please, for the love of god, please check your headlight aim! This is especially for the "do-it-yourselfer" who customizes his "ride" by buying and installing aftermarket headlight lense assemblies or raising or lowering the suspension. If you notice people flashing their brights at you and you don't have your brights on then your aim is off buddy. If your aim is off in the other direction then if you're caught on a road with no street lights then you'll be blind to what's ahead of you unless it's 2 or 3 feet in front of your bumper.
I used to run a lot at night and you'd be surprized at the misaligned lights plus some o the wobblers lol, probably one of the most overlooked on cars since most run during the day.
I used to run a lot at night and you'd be surprized at the misaligned lights plus some o the wobblers lol, probably one of the most overlooked on cars since most run during the day.
Some of those are from the auto-leveling systems on many newer HID-style lights. Unfortunately will probably become more common as the tech takes hold, but I agree because I always have to make a double take to make sure they aren't flashing their brights.
I think the problem stems from those who don't know there's screws that hold in the bulb and then there's screws that aim the bulb. They turn the two adjustment screws thinking they hold the bulb in but find they do nothing. Yet when they finally do manage to find the bulb retaining screws (if they ever do) they never stop to think "hhmm....now I wonder what them two screws I was turning actually do?"
BTW a good annual state inspection is supposed to check such things as headlamp aim. Yeah i know there's loop holes, just throwing that one out there.
Probably we are all preaching to the choir - but it's not that hard to figure out which screws release the headlight shell and which are aiming screws - If in doubt, see if you can turn the screw clockwise, as if you were tightening it - if you can, turn it back to where it was, and go for the "other" screws. A lot of Japanese rigs actually have spirit levels built in to the headlight carrier - failing that, with a little common sense anyone can aim headlights against a garage door, or even in a big open parking lot or empty backroad at night.
Not only do you need to check your headlamps to see if they are working properly but........... CHECK YOUR TAIL LIGHTS AND BRAKE LIGHTS!!!! Even if you have a car with 3 brake lights and 1 is out that means if another goes out your only operating on ONE!!!! How hard is it to ask your friend, spouse, bf, gf, etc to stand behind the car and see if they are all working. And while your at it check your turn signals.
If in doubt and your on the road when you pull up behind a car at a light look at the back end of the car in front of you. Do you see BOTH headlights? Do they even LOOK like they are both aiming straight ahead? If there is a car behind you do you see your brake lights in a reflection on that vehicle? In reverse do you even notice that it suddenly, magically gets brighter behind your car when in reverse? If you don't notice that one then your back up lights are out as well.
Not only is this a danger for the others on the road with you it is for your OWN SAFETY as well. Think about the kids sitting in your backseat. With no brakelights your kids head could easily be met w/ a bumper from a car behind you.
Sad thing is I've seen MANY cars w/o headlights or brakelights working and I know a cop nearby should have also seen it but they don't stop them.
I have bought cars that had bad wire harnesses. One on bright and one on low.
Bought a Bronco that had been a Border Patrol truck, turn on the brights and get the alternating bright lows we love to see behind us when we speed
I have bought cars that had bad wire harnesses. One on bright and one on low.
Bought a Bronco that had been a Border Patrol truck, turn on the brights and get the alternating bright lows we love to see behind us when we speed
We also bought a car last year that had problems w/ the headlamps and brights. We saw it right away as we checked it out and did not drive it at night. Got it fixed right away and now it is good to go. But this was one of hubby's "toys" so it was not needed as a "daily driver" so it was easy to avoid driving at night.
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