Thought I read somewhere that the X type headlights are self leveling or self adjusting? Something like that. Can anyone explain this to me?

Also I think I read that you need to be careful adjusting the headlight because they're prone to breakage?

I noticed my drivers side headlight is pointed up a lot higher than the passenger side which appears to be pretty much level.


Thanks!

 

Well you are referring to the two different types, the self-leveling lights are the HIDs and the ones that have fragile adjusters are the composite lights with just the bulbs and some, including myself, have had to bake the headlight and replace the adjusters...which really isnt that bad to do.

 

So how do I know which kind I have?

 

Well I would imagine that you have the composite lights if the one light is not leveling automagically, now I could be wrong but I would pop the hood and see behind your headlight housing if there is a housing attached to the headlamps...this would indicate you have HIDs or the fact that your bulbs have a small warm up period when you kick them on.

 

Okay, so if you have the self leveling, then they don't need to be manually adjusted? And those are the ones that are HID?

Since mine are slightly out of whack, they are most likely regular halogen? And those are the ones that tend to break when you try to adjust them?

 

See Quote.

 

Got it, thanks. I'll take a closer look tomorrow. Any tips on adjusting them without breaking the adjusters?

 

You shouldn't break the adjusters just moving them up or down, I broke mine installing aftermarket HIDs

 

>You shouldn't break the adjusters just moving them up or down

No, they break just fine on their own...
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Jaguar - it's not an automobile, it's a Motorcar

 

Yep, or the dealer breaks them for you, as in my case...

 

My high beams are looking up at the tree tops....40FEET ABOVE THE CAR!!!

I guess they are true High BEAMS!

 

Well said!

 

Just for clarification, you can tell if you have the self leveling headlights or not by doing a few things. The easiest is to park your car facing a wall, but being parked back about 30 feet from the wall at night. Now, start the car and then turn on the headlights. Watch the bright circle that the headlights create. Does that circle remain in one spot, or does it dip down some and then come back up to some height? If the light remains stationary, you have the standard headlights. If they dip and then come back up, you have the self leveling headlights.

If still in doubt, go out to your car and look under the rear bumper. You will notice on one side that there is a small arm that will come off the large main suspension arm. The small arm will have a black box on it that is sitting at an angle that then has a second arm coming off of it that goes to the body of the car (you can find these boxes on both of the front wheels too, but easier to see on the rear end of the car). These are the height sensors. The computer looks at these 3 height sensors and then calculates where the headlights should aim so they are aimed properly for heading down the road.

As for breakage, the plastic used tends to dry out and become very brittle. So, a little bit of force from say adjusting the height or trying to replace a bulb results in breaking the supports and the headlights facing who knows where. This seems to be true of both styles of headlights (self leveling and standard headlights).