The regular beams do not project very far, is this normal? It is fine with the high beams.

 

What model year and trim do you have?

 

My 2013 has the low beams too low. Since they're automatic self levelling I'm stuck with this. As a result my fancy Xenons deliver less light than the fixed halogens on my 09.

 

The xenons have a much sharper cutoff than conventional halogens, but I suspect there has to be an easily accessible adjustment screw/bolt - that has been the case on every other car I have had with xenons (even if they don't disclose it in the manual).

 

I believe I saw one last time I was under the hood. You can also adjust if you have access to diagnostic tools. First thing I would do though is to check that the mounting tabs are intact. When I had a problem with my lights, broken tabs ultimately proved to be the cause.

 

I have 2012 base model.

 

i have a 2010 XFR, and it has the brightest headlights that I have ever had in a car. My service advisor tells me that the xenon lights with the concave lenses, actually spreads more light on the roadway than 2012 and later models.

 

Unfortunately, the low beams and high beams are not individually adjustable on the 2012 and 2013 models. My low beams are just barely acceptable but the high beams seem to be too high. Although they illuminate the road ok, the brightest portion of the high beams is way up in the trees a quarter mile down the road. In fact, it is rare that an oncoming vehicle will object to my high beams when approaching me on a two-lane road. I asked the dealer to lower the high beams and their tech told me that if he did the low beams would be down in the dirt.

 

I had the dealership check my car for the same issue. They said that an adjustment can be made but won't be much. They were able to adjust mine which has made a BIG difference!

 

Thanks for reminding me, I need to check for an adjustment screw on my 2011. Since purchasing, the left headlight always seems to be pointed too low.

 

I can confirm the headlights are up/down and left/right adjustable. If you do adjust, do not just angle them up and blind oncoming drivers.

A simple how to:

How To: Aiming Xenon Lights - BMW M3 Forum.com (E30 M3 | E36 M3 | E46 M3 | E92 M3 | F80/X)

I still can't get over how sharp the cutoff is on the S2000 projectors.

 

It's a common issue I believe with the Xenon equipped XFs. They tend to be aimed down in front of the car and not out enough.


The good news is they can be adjusted.


My 12 has intelligent xenon lights and they are constantly adjusting the light output as I find that annoying at times because the output is quite poor sometimes.

 

Mine was delivered new with the headlights pointing downwards, terrible. I just adjusted them up by eye using a 6 mm allen key in the adjusters. I aimed them at the same height as my slightly lower Subaru BRZ which also has Xenons. Nobody has flashed me yet.

I suspect these cars are shipped with the headlights aimed down to reduce discomfort for shipping staff who must watch these cars being driven into containers or onto transporters or into ships. These Xenons can be actually blinding under some circumstances.

This adjustment ought to be part of every PDI but, sadly, doesn't seem to be.

I now know these are not self levelling, which I thought was legally required in Europe.

 

Mine are very bright in my 09 XF SC. Coming from a W211 E class these are awesome. Now that car had terrible light output.

 

Can anyone post a picture of the location of the allen screw that need to be adjusted on the later models (2012)?

 

I'd like to know the position of the adjustment screw as well.

Regarding self leveling, I thought that it was a DOT requirement in the US that all bi-xenon HIDs to have self leveling, which is not to say that DOT requires all xenon HIDs to have self leveling.