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Old 10-20-2008, 02:45 PM
PaulDexler PaulDexler is offline
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: Chatsworth, CA, USA
Posts: 229
Re: adjusting them hi-lo beams?

Here's how I've done it, ever since I switched to Cibie lights on myMercedes, some 20 years ago. Actually, this is what they say in their instruction sheet. Along with the screwdriver to do the actual adjustments, you will need some fairly wide masking tape, a level, and a tape measure.
Park the car on level pavement, about 20 feet from a wall. The car should be perpendicular to the wall. Take aim through the rear window and mark with tape where the exact center of the car is. (On the SVX, you can line up the rear wiper with the rear view mirror to set the point. Mark it with a vertical piece of tape about three feet long.)
Measure the height above ground of the center of the headlights. Mark that height on the center tape.
Measure the distance apart the centers of the low beam lights are. Using the level, mark half that distance on each side of the center line. Now carry the height mark from the center line to the line marking the center of each light. Now you have a mark on the wall where the center of each light should be aimed. But not quite...
With European lights, it is easy. They have a flat-topped low beam with a steep kick-up to the curb side, so that the light will travel farther along the side of the road and (hopefully) not glare into the eyes of oncoming drivers. U.S. style lights blur that out, the kick-up is not so great, and the flat top of the beam is not so flat.
But still, adjust the lamps so that the kick-up is a couple of inches to the right of your center mark, and the top of the main hot spot light area is just below the horizontal center mark.
That does it for the low beams. High beams are easier. But since our lights are in a one-piece housing, there are no separate adjustments for low and high, just the overall one. You could do the thing this way using the high beams.
Measure the distance between the high beams. Mark half that distance out from the center line on your horizontal line. Adjust the lights so that the "hot spot" hits that mark exactly on center.
OK, you're done. If you've borrowed someone else's wall, don't forget to peel off all your tape marks, and enjoy your properly aimed lights.
Paul
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