Headlight adjustment - distance

GTE

Howdy,

I failed the NCT due to the headlights being off, too high. The NCT guy, who really paid a lot of attention to it on the lane, said the driver's side was off by a tiny amount but enough to fail. He said I'd probably not notice the adjustment which would need to be made.

I went to a place near the NCT centre and they said both lights were way off. What looked like at least a full turn was made to each headlight, even the one which did pass.

Now I have the attached headlight throw. It seems very short. It didn't fill me with confidence when going along some back roads just a short while ago so I took a photo.

Xenon headlights on an A4 B8.

No one ever flashed me giving out about being blinded so I wonder did my adjustment after the NCT just go badly.

Thanks.

the_syco

What make/model do you have, and can you adjust it yourself from within your car, in the driving seat?

GTE

I can't find an image with the markings on the testing machine, but I spied that the driver's side went down to the bottom line; if that means anything to anyone

GTE

the_syco wrote: »

What make/model do you have, and can you adjust it yourself from within your car, in the driving seat?

Automatic leveling on my car with Xenons.

aujopimur

I find that the guys focusing the lights set them a bit low to ensure they pass, after the test I wind them up a little, if the're too high you'll soon get flashed.

GustavoFring

Wonder has one of the leveling sensors detached or broken? It's like a little arm if you're looking on a ramp.

GTE

The lights were fairly uniform and now the passenger side extends a bit further than the driver's. When the shop is open again I'll go in.

Does the image seem off to anyone else?

I trust the NCT guy as he said he did his best to pass the car and was quite complimentary with respect to the rest of the car. He seemed frustrated at how minor the required adjustment was to pass the car.

I found myself a lot less comfortable on the back roads.

mickdw

The beam will extend further towards the left side due to shape of beam but not sure its what is what is going on with yours.
I've factory xenon on my A5 that were never adjusted from new and they are and pretty low on dipped beam.

GTE

Thanks for that. I'll pop into them this week to ask to have them checked.

The distance of the light in the photo reminds me of having the wrong setting for the manual adjuster on the old car.

GTE

How are the headlight alignment testing machines calibrated to the car?

I went back to the garage and they said that the setting is bang on and that the height of the tester is set to the height of the lip of the bonnet/grille.

He said that they get a lot of this from the NCT and that NCT customer service training is to make any issue sound like it's a minor fix and that if one headlight fails, they don't test the other and that comes up as a pass on the sheet.

The NCT guy spent a long time going between the two headlights.

I worked out I have approx 20 metres of headlight throw and I believe I need 30?

Attached image looks fine to me, I see your point though. I drive at least a rental/month and most modern stuff has an appalling light throw compared to years ago IMO.

Or else my eyesight is failing

GTE

Yeah, that's frustrating alright. I have to get a retest so I'll ask him can it be raised to see what he says.

Garfin

The xenon lights need to be focused only after they are put in reference position with a VCDS if you adjust them without it will bring up a fault. I assume they are factory fitted xenons with self levelling, I had mine a Skoda Superb, headlight lenses cleaned and focused properly by DMG Motors in Donegal Town and results were great and a huge improvement. If the lenses a dull and oxidised get them cleaned up, waxed and then properly focused with the correct equipment.

tossy

Garfin wrote: »

The xenon lights need to be focused only after they are put in reference position with a VCDS if you adjust them without it will bring up a fault. I assume they are factory fitted xenons with self levelling, I had mine a Skoda Superb, headlight lenses cleaned and focused properly by DMG Motors in Donegal Town and results were great and a huge improvement. If the lenses a dull and oxidised get them cleaned up, waxed and then properly focused with the correct equipment.

Its so much a reference position, the leveling motors need to be set to 'neutral' prior to adjustment and then the new height needs to be learnt and stored.

I've never done it on a B8 but it's been that way on any other VAG car i've had with xenons.

GTE

tossy wrote: »

Its so much a reference position, the leveling motors need to be set to 'neutral' prior to adjustment and then the new height needs to be learnt and stored.

I've never done it on a B8 but it's been that way on any other VAG car i've had with xenons.

Though a lot of sources show that the VCDS process as being an option 2 where option 1 is a manual process. Either will do according to those sources.

Given the car was on a flat workshop floor, the manual adjustment should have been fine or else if have expected a backlash online.

The garage said they line the height of the alignment machine up with the top of the grille. Every video I find shows a more complicated process. If that is too low a height, then the beams would be set lower than needed, I'm assuming.

Does anyone have any recommendations for places to get it properly checked in North Dublin? Airport area.

Thanks

tossy

The problem is not the level surface but that you are working against a motor without dis engaging it - like i said i've no real world experience of the B8.

Your best bet is to give Keith at Discount tyres in blanch a shout, you won't go wrong there.

CiniO

Most cars have light beam adjustment specified by manufacturer being around 1% or 1.3% or something similar.

What it means, is that for every metre away from the car, light beam should go down by 1cm (in case of 1% setting) or 1.3cm (in case of 1.3% setting).
So in example if you car has recommended setting of 1%, and your front lights are at 60cm height above the ground, that means that your beam should reach 60 metres.

However NCT has horrendous leeway on their acceptable settings, being it between 0.5% and 2% (not taking notice of car manufacturers recommended setting).

So in case above, if lights were at 60cm above the ground, and set to 0.5%, beam would go as much as 120 metres. And in other extreme, if they were set to 2%, beam would only reach 30 metres. Both extremes should pass NCT, and anything in between them (30m to 120m).

If your lights beam only reach 20 metres in front of the car, then I'm fairly confident they are set way too low.
Normal values are usually between 40 and 70 metres, as this gives best driving visibility.

GTE

CiniO wrote: »

If your lights beam only reach 20 metres in front of the car, then I'm fairly confident they are set way too low.
Normal values are usually between 40 and 70 metres, as this gives best driving visibility.

In that case, how could the garage have gotten the adjustment so wrong? Is setting the height of the testing machine to the top of the grille the problem?

They showed me the results on the machine and according to what they told me and how they set it up, it is bang on. The reality is poor visibility.

GTE

Thanks Tossy for the recommendation. Keith at Discount Tyres in Blanch was spot on and sorted it out.

He said they were set so low they would have failed. The car passed the retest. He even took a photo of the pre-fixed reading of the lights on the machine and they were so low.

He will email it to me if Atlas Auto Services of Fonthill give me problems when I go get a refund. He couldn't understand why they used the lip of the bonnet as the height level of the alignment machine.

I can SEE. I was worried!

GTE

Here is a before and after image. Before on the left and after on the right.

The after image doesn't do it justice; it is a rubbish photo and one of my bulbs just blew :P, but a sign of how much better it is would be how much of the centre line you can see compared to the before and just the intensity of the light on the left compared to the right.

The difference is huge.

I have contacted Atlas Auto Service in Fonthill to see about a refund as the comment I got from the NCT technician after the retest was "bang on", which is what the Atlas Auto Service chap also said about them.

Thanks to all who helped.

brembo26

On a lot of cars if you look very very closely at the lens of the light you will see something like a small dimple or a mark around the center of the dip bulb. This is where you are supposed to line everything up.

Other than that you can you can line everything up with the center of the dip bulb or the center of the projector lens in your case.

Never heard of anyone lining the beam setter ith a lip, a grille or a bonnet. Thats just madness.

GTE

brembo26 wrote: »

On a lot of cars if you look very very closely at the lens of the light you will see something like a small dimple or a mark around the center of the dip bulb. This is where you are supposed to line everything up.

Other than that you can you can line everything up with the center of the dip bulb or the center of the projector lens in your case.

Never heard of anyone lining the beam setter ith a lip, a grille or a bonnet. Thats just madness.

Madness indeed! I will have a look out for that, thanks. When I got the headlights sorted, I was shown the laser which is used to guide their machine.

brembo26

Yeah the laser would have been to just make sure the the beam setter was facing the light unit dead on and not to the left or right a bit.

monster1

bbk wrote: »

Madness indeed! I will have a look out for that, thanks. When I got the headlights sorted, I was shown the laser which is used to guide their machine.

Have a problem with my hawkeye impreza STI, lights have dropped down to the last. They are also self levelling.
Been told its one of the sensors on the suspension. My headlight washers also stopped working. would this be connected? NCT is due.