It has become dusk outside and as the sky darkens you realize it is time to turn on your vehicle’s headlights. You turn the knob and the lights come on but instead of pointing straight down the road as they should, one is pointing to the side and the other is pointed upward. With headlights pointed in the wrong directions it can make it difficult to see down the roadway, especially if it is a rural road without street lights. That is why you should learn to adjust your car’s headlights so they will work as they were intended.

It does not always take a mechanic to do repairs to your vehicle. Some fixes are so simple that anyone can do them. One repair you can make to your vehicle yourself is adjusting the headlights. It takes a few tools and a little bit of your time but once you repair the lights, your night driving will be much improved. You will be able see down the road with the headlights safely guiding your way.

You only need a few tools to start working on the headlights. They are a screwdriver that will fit the adjusting screws, probably a Phillips head, and masking tape.Once you have your tools, wait till it is getting dark and then find and park your vehicle on level ground near a garage door or wall.

On the wall or garage door mark the lights’ horizontal centerlines with masking tape. This masking tape thus should make a straight line across the wall. Also mark the vertical centerline for each light. So you should now a basic idea or T area where the headlight should be centered.

Next move your car back 10 to 25 feet from the garage or wall. Before turning on your lights, find the adjusting screws. These screws typically will be inset close to the headlight. You will want to find these screws ahead of time instead of searching for them after the headlights have heated them up and they are too warm to touch.

The adjusting screws should consist of a horizontal screw and a vertical screw, each with a small spring behind them. Some higher end vehicles come equipped with a small level. If your vehicle has this you will see it attached to the top of the headlight under the hood.

Now turn on the headlights on the low beam setting. When you adjust the low beams, your high beams should set to the right level as well. With the lights now on, see how the beam matches up with the horizontal and vertical masking tape lines you have placed on the wall.

Turn the adjusting screws slowly with the screwdriver while watching the light beams on the wall. Turning the top adjusting screws clockwise should raise the beam while turning them counterclockwise should lower the light beam.You adjust the lights to the left or right by turning the side adjuster screw.

You want to adjust the low beam lights so that they hit two to four inches below the horizontal centerline and two to four inches right of the vertical centerline. You do not want the lights to be completely centered either horizontal or vertically. If the lights were totally centered they could blind the oncoming traffic when you drive on the roadways.Being pointed slightly down from center allows the light beam to keep light on the road.

Once you have turned the screws and aimed the light beams accordingly, your headlights should now be properly adjusted. You can rip off the masking tape and throw it away, put away your screwdriver and pull you car back into the garage. The fifteen minutes you used to adjust will now allow you to drive better in the dark.

Remember that cars can differ so check your vehicle’s owners manual if this technique does not work for your car.Also see how often the manual says you should check the headlights and they should be adjusted. Normally it is recommended that headlights be adjusted every 12 months or whenever you notice that the lights are out of alignment.

So finally what separates the real HID technology and the fake, is the addition of the HID projector (some actually reflector style HID but those aren’t very good and you can’t install these in your car). It is the lense and shield of the projector that concentrates the beam to the floor and creates a cutoff above a certain height as to not blind other drivers. At the cutoff there is a blue color due to the light spectrum. In most cases the color is either blue or purple. The popular trend now is to take the entire HID technology (HID bulb, ballast, lense and shield) and put them into the halogen housing. This is referred to as a HID retrofit ($1,000+).

If you notice, there are even differences in HID lense technology. Some are brighter than others. Some are bluer than others. Some are more blinding than others. The current cars with the best projectors are off Honda S2000, 2004+ Acura TL and 2003+Acura TSX which uses the powerful Stanley/Kioto projectors. Valeo are the next best which are usually found on Audis and then finally there is Bosch.

Recommendation for HID Kit components:

1) Rebased Philips bulbs (4100k is the brightest but also yellow looking. 6000k is white looking. 7300k is a very crystal blue looking)

2) Hella or Philips generation 3 or 4 ballasts

3) Buy or build yourself a wire harness to power the ballast from the battery with the headlight harness used as a constant source switch.

Recommendation for retrofit components:

1) Cars with H4 high and low beam in a single bulb should use the Acura TL bi-Xenon projectors (which mimics having high and low beam in one projector). Otherwise use the S2000 or the TSX projectors.

2) Use D2S 4100k or 4300k bulbs made by Philips.

3) Use Hella or Philips generation 3 or generation 4 ballast.

4) Buy or build yourself a wire harness to power the ballast from the battery with the headlight harness used as a constant source switch.

Installing HID’s into a vehicle not originally equipped with them from the factory is technically illegal. Practically speaking, you stand little chance of being cited for them provided you educate yourself on the requirements of HID lighting and take the necessary steps to ensure you have the right equipment and adjustments to keep it safe. That is, make sure your vehicle’s headlight assembly uses an appropriately designed projector lense (as opposed to a reflector), and of course that your headlights are properly aligned after installation. Many newer vehicles use projector lenses because stock halogen bulbs also benefit from the “light shaping”, but having just any old projector lense does not necessarily ensure that the beam pattern will be correct. It is absolutely essential for HID’s to give the light output a sharp cutoff line to prevent blinding oncoming traffic. As HID’s become more popular, aftermarket projector housings are being produced for some vehicles.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) states that improperly-installed HID’s are getting a lot of complaints. Vendors will usually include a disclaimer that they are intended for offroad use only, but it’s no secret that people don’t follow this rule. Now, there are a lot of aftermarket automotive parts that qualify as illegal but aren’t strictly enforced. Logically, the safety implications of blinding oncoming drivers are more serious than, say, an exhaust that exceeds the legal noise level. So the DOT has actively gone after vendors of HID conversion kits, threatening monetary fines if they continue selling them, and consequently there are now fewer places to buy them.

Be responsible. Do your research. Nearly every vehicle make and model imaginable has an enthusiast community on the web. The people there take this kind of stuff seriously and can help you understand the HID requirements for your car.