Adjust headlight

On Saturday, June 6, 2020 at 2:09:46 PM UTC-5, Scott Dorsey wrote:
> Andy > wrote:
> >On Friday, June 5, 2020 at 7:14:20 PM UTC-5, wrote:
> >> Steve W:
> >>
> >> Provision of X and Y adjustment of motor vehicle
> >> headlights is common sense. I think even as recent
> >> as my 2008 Kia Optima had both.
> >
> >Back when cars had glass headlights, you had both adjustments.
> >
> >That was when I had a Pinto.
>
> When you had a Pinto, the frames of American cars were slapped together with
> hammers and approximate spot-welds and nothing really matched. The doors
> didn't fit right, the hood seams were never nice and straight.

I do not think they were "slapped together". That had assembly lines even back then.

But Ford being Ford, they were the worst American made cars.

(F)ix (O)r (R)epair (D)aily

Within a year, all my window knobs had cracked.

I went thru 4 throwout gears for the starter motor.

But as my father was a taught Ford mechanics, I did learn a lot about repairing cars.
:-)

Andy

Xeno wrote:
> On 6/6/20 10:14 am, wrote:
>> Steve W:
>>
>> Provision of X and Y adjustment of motor vehicle
>> headlights is common sense. I think even as recent
>> as my 2008 Kia Optima had both.
>>
> Same for wheel alignments but these days you only get to adjust toe.
> Caster and/or Camber adjustments often are non-existent. The reason is
> that car body manufacture is much more accurate these days and the wheel
> alignment will be within tolerances when it leaves the factory. In the
> event of an accident that puts the wheel alignment out, it is up to the
> body repairer to bring the car body, hence the steering, back to factory
> specifications. If it is only the steering that has sustained damage, it
> is necessary to replace such components that sustained damage. This is
> the way of car manufacture nowadays, get used to it.
>
> As for the headlight aiming, the horizontal setting is fixed because it
> generally does not need adjustment except in case of damage. As above,
> the repairer needs to ensure this is correct as correct headlight aim is
> a legal requirement. The vertical adjustment, however, might need to be
> adjusted depending on the vehicle's static load, ie. the load the
> vehicle normally carries. A lot of vehicles have a driver adjustable
> setting for this anyway and this has been the case from the 70s. It used
> to be a lever under the bonnet at each light, these days it is commonly
> a rheostat on the dash somewhere that can provide multiple headlight
> vertical positions. A few cars I owned had the rheostat, quite a fancy
> arrangement. This driver operable adjustment is more critical on FWD
> cars since the headlight aim can vary quite a lot between a driver only
> laden car and a fully laden car with luggage. A 1972 model I owned had
> the simple underbonnet levers so not a new idea by any means.
>

The vehicle in question uses power for the vertical adjustments. You
center it, then manually aim it to the correct point, after that it
should be automatic if it's connected properly.

--
Steve W.

Xeno:

I've driven plenty of domestic and foreign post-2000 cars, and I have yet to see any with
dashboard controls for the aim of headlights. Everything from Impalas to Accords, Optimas
to Malibus. Never seen a "rheomawhatitiz" anywhere on any dashboard I've ever sat in
front of, as passenger or as driver.

wrote:
> Xeno:
>
> I've driven plenty of domestic and foreign post-2000 cars, and I have yet to see any with
> dashboard controls for the aim of headlights. Everything from Impalas to Accords, Optimas
> to Malibus. Never seen a "rheomawhatitiz" anywhere on any dashboard I've ever sat in
> front of, as passenger or as driver.

For the most part the systems in use are automatic. There are some that
have manual adjust with a dial but not common in the US.

--
Steve W.

On 7/6/20 10:30 am, wrote:
> Xeno:
>
> I've driven plenty of domestic and foreign post-2000 cars, and I have yet to see any with
> dashboard controls for the aim of headlights. Everything from Impalas to Accords, Optimas
> to Malibus. Never seen a "rheomawhatitiz" anywhere on any dashboard I've ever sat in
> front of, as passenger or as driver.
>
You need to look a little harder. Such adjustments are not uncommon. I
have owned at least two cars with such things and they are by no means
up market models.

--

Xeno


Nothing astonishes Noddy so much as common sense and plain dealing.
(with apologies to Ralph Waldo Emerson)

On 7/6/20 12:22 pm, Steve W. wrote:
> wrote:
>> Â*Xeno:
>>
>> I've driven plenty of domestic and foreign post-2000 cars, and I have
>> yet to see any with dashboard controls for the aim of headlights.
>> Everything from Impalas to Accords, Optimas to Malibus.Â* Never seen a
>> "rheomawhatitiz" anywhere on any dashboard I've ever sat in front of,
>> as passenger or as driver.
>
> For the most part the systems in use are automatic. There are some that
> have manual adjust with a dial but not common in the US.
>
Well, my experience is with Australian models. The US experience might
well vary.

--

Xeno


Nothing astonishes Noddy so much as common sense and plain dealing.
(with apologies to Ralph Waldo Emerson)

On 7/6/20 5:09 am, Scott Dorsey wrote:
> Andy > wrote:
>> On Friday, June 5, 2020 at 7:14:20 PM UTC-5, wrote:
>>> Steve W:
>>>
>>> Provision of X and Y adjustment of motor vehicle
>>> headlights is common sense. I think even as recent
>>> as my 2008 Kia Optima had both.
>>
>> Back when cars had glass headlights, you had both adjustments.
>>
>> That was when I had a Pinto.
>
> When you had a Pinto, the frames of American cars were slapped together with
> hammers and approximate spot-welds and nothing really matched. The doors
> didn't fit right, the hood seams were never nice and straight. Because
> of that, a lot of precision things like headlight positions required
> adjustment because they were relative to a frame and body that were not
> straight to begin with.
>
> Now that car bodies and frames are built to rather higher degree of
> precision, many adjustments that were once critical are no longer necessary.
> --scott
>
Pretty much sums it up. ;-)

--

Xeno


Nothing astonishes Noddy so much as common sense and plain dealing.
(with apologies to Ralph Waldo Emerson)

On 7/6/20 8:08 am, Andy wrote:
> On Saturday, June 6, 2020 at 2:09:46 PM UTC-5, Scott Dorsey wrote:
>> Andy > wrote:
>>> On Friday, June 5, 2020 at 7:14:20 PM UTC-5, wrote:
>>>> Steve W:
>>>>
>>>> Provision of X and Y adjustment of motor vehicle
>>>> headlights is common sense. I think even as recent
>>>> as my 2008 Kia Optima had both.
>>>
>>> Back when cars had glass headlights, you had both adjustments.
>>>
>>> That was when I had a Pinto.
>>
>> When you had a Pinto, the frames of American cars were slapped together with
>> hammers and approximate spot-welds and nothing really matched. The doors
>> didn't fit right, the hood seams were never nice and straight.
>
> I do not think they were "slapped together". That had assembly lines even back then.

Slapped together refers to the *tolerances* used. Much tighter
tolerances these days.
>
> But Ford being Ford, they were the worst American made cars.
>
> (F)ix (O)r (R)epair (D)aily
>
> Within a year, all my window knobs had cracked.
>
> I went thru 4 throwout gears for the starter motor.
>
> But as my father was a taught Ford mechanics, I did learn a lot about repairing cars.
> :-)
>
> Andy
>


--

Xeno


Nothing astonishes Noddy so much as common sense and plain dealing.
(with apologies to Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Xeno wrote:
> On 7/6/20 12:22 pm, Steve W. wrote:
>> wrote:
>>> Xeno:
>>>
>>> I've driven plenty of domestic and foreign post-2000 cars, and I have
>>> yet to see any with dashboard controls for the aim of headlights.
>>> Everything from Impalas to Accords, Optimas to Malibus. Never seen a
>>> "rheomawhatitiz" anywhere on any dashboard I've ever sat in front of,
>>> as passenger or as driver.
>> For the most part the systems in use are automatic. There are some that
>> have manual adjust with a dial but not common in the US.
>>
> Well, my experience is with Australian models. The US experience might
> well vary.
>

Well you folks down under couldn't use the automatic version, they would
all point up instead of down... LOL.
I've seen "manual adjust" power versions here as well, usually on the
lower cost models where they share a lot of parts with the uplevel
versions.

--
Steve W.

Xeno > wrote:
> On 7/6/20 10:30 am, wrote:
>> Xeno:
>>
>> I've driven plenty of domestic and foreign post-2000 cars, and I have yet to see any with
>> dashboard controls for the aim of headlights. Everything from Impalas to Accords, Optimas
>> to Malibus. Never seen a "rheomawhatitiz" anywhere on any dashboard I've ever sat in
>> front of, as passenger or as driver.
>>
> You need to look a little harder. Such adjustments are not uncommon. I
> have owned at least two cars with such things and they are by no means
> up market models.

All the cars I have rented _in Europe_ have headlight adjustment
dials in the cockpit, but none of the cars I've driven _in America_
have them, whether Japanese, European or American makes.

I suspect thekmanrocks hasn't driven many cars outside the USA.