Headlight Aiming Information

[OldGuyNewJeep]

FYI...I have a Rubicon with stock tires and no lift. It might be a little different depending on your setup.

Same setup for me, and my suspicion is that FCA is not adjusting headlights for Rubicons. Probably aimed the same as Sport/Sahara even though our Jeeps sit nearly 2” taller.

I *LOVE* my LED lights. The visibility they provide is nothing short of awesome. It bothers me to think that I’m blinding oncoming traffic, though.

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[Rhinebeck01]

Same setup for me, and my suspicion is that FCA is not adjusting headlights for Rubicons. Probably aimed the same as Sport/Sahara even though our Jeeps sit nearly 2” taller.

I *LOVE* my LED lights. The visibility they provide is nothing short of awesome. It bothers me to think that I’m blinding oncoming traffic, though.

@OldGuyNewJeep

Indeed the LED's really help visibility.. a real plus in deer country.

I really brighten things up on the back country roads by running with the head lights on high beam AND the fog lights on. REALLY lights things up.

Great that the Tazer JL has the feature that enables the use of fogs with bright lights..

 

[OldGuyNewJeep]

Marked my adjustment screws with white-out and backed them off 1.5 turns. Thank you for sharing and saving me the hassle of running my own experiment! I suppose if I get flashed, again, I'll make my dealer adjust them. I can't be bothered to find somewhere that's flat, that will let me pull right up to a wall, and that will then let me back up 25 feet.

After some testing I put 1/2 a turn back (so backed off just 1 full turn instead of 1.5). No one is flashing me. 1.5 aimed my just a bit too low.

 

[NeilP]

I've watched a bunch of videos from different LED headlight manufacturers. It seems that they all say to measure up 36 inches and apply your painters tape at that level and set the low beams so the cut off is right at the bottom of the tape.

I've also seen some instructions saying to measure to the center of your head lamp and put your tape at the same height and adjust accordingly.

I tried the 36 inch method tonight and it seems to me that they low beams are way to low.....especially on a downgrade. (It is crazy how definitive that cutoff line is!)

What have you guys found that works the best?

 

[TylerV76]

I've watched a bunch of videos from different LED headlight manufacturers. It seems that they all say to measure up 36 inches and apply your painters tape at that level and set the low beams so the cut off is right at the bottom of the tape.

I've also seen some instructions saying to measure to the center of your head lamp and put your tape at the same height and adjust accordingly.

I tried the 36 inch method tonight and it seems to me that they low beams are way to low.....especially on a downgrade. (It is crazy how definitive that cutoff line is!)

What have you guys found that works the best?

When I switched to Oracles I had the same issue. The cutoff was like nothing I had ever seen before. I live out in the "country" so to speak, so no street lights etc. At 36" I couldn't see around corners well or going downhill. It was a bit dangerous to be honest, especially with all the deer we have out here. I almost drove into a lake on a downhill turn the first day. Measuring to the center would put me around 45" so that's off the table.

I've got the Mopar lift and running 37's so I played with the height quite a bit. I ended up at 37" and it throws light a hell of a lot farther than 36". The difference 1" makes is pretty drastic (insert joke here). I have been flashed once by a very low car but imo they would have done it at 36" as well. When I pull up behind someone in a car, I am just a hair below their side mirrors and haven't seen anyone covering them to block my lights. I've come to the determination that I'm going to get flashed by smaller cars occasionally and as bad as it makes me feel, I cant jeopardize my own visibility for the rare occasions someone in a Miata gets pissed. And there's absolutely nothing you can do when cresting a hill. Your lights will be in someones eyes regardless of how you aim them. What I will do however is when Im in a drive thru etc, I turn off my headlights and just run the halos and fogs until Im out of the line as a courtesy.

Imo, LED's are not the right lighting to use on cars. It reflects off wet surfaces drastically, oncoming LED's seem to almost drown out mine and they are far more sensitive to aiming than HID's or Halogens.

Lastly, if you run your fogs all the time, make sure those are aimed properly as well.

 

[Megawatt]

I just park in the street in front of my house (quiet neighborhood rare traffic). Turn on the lights and go stand in front of Jeep a couple hundred feet out. Try to get your eye level approx height to an oncoming drivers eye level. So if you’re 7feet tall you obviously need to squat down or go get a chair to sit on. You will know what it’s like to be blinded by LED’s if the aim is too high.

Adjust down until you’re not blinded anymore. Too many variables to rake, lift, tire diameter, winch on steel bumpers, etc to use a standard measurement for all Jeeps like the 36” idea.

 

[NeilP]

When I switched to Oracles I had the same issue. The cutoff was like nothing I had ever seen before. I live out in the "country" so to speak, so no street lights etc. At 36" I couldn't see around corners well or going downhill. It was a bit dangerous to be honest, especially with all the deer we have out here. I almost drove into a lake on a downhill turn the first day. Measuring to the center would put me around 45" so that's off the table.

I've got the Mopar lift and running 37's so I played with the height quite a bit. I ended up at 37" and it throws light a hell of a lot farther than 36". The difference 1" makes is pretty drastic (insert joke here). I have been flashed once by a very low car but imo they would have done it at 36" as well. When I pull up behind someone in a car, I am just a hair below their side mirrors and haven't seen anyone covering them to block my lights. I've come to the determination that I'm going to get flashed by smaller cars occasionally and as bad as it makes me feel, I cant jeopardize my own visibility for the rare occasions someone in a Miata gets pissed. And there's absolutely nothing you can do when cresting a hill. Your lights will be in someones eyes regardless of how you aim them. What I will do however is when Im in a drive thru etc, I turn off my headlights and just run the halos and fogs until Im out of the line as a courtesy.

Imo, LED's are not the right lighting to use on cars. It reflects off wet surfaces drastically, oncoming LED's seem to almost drown out mine and they are far more sensitive to aiming than HID's or Halogens.

Lastly, if you run your fogs all the time, make sure those are aimed properly as well.

Thanks for the info fellas.

I live outside of town also and the road out to the house has a lot of small hills and several curves. I was delighted with the new LED's when I headed out to a friends shop building to check the adjustment. EVERYTHING was illuminated. Got to the shop & got everything measured out and adjusted and headed back to the house. More than once I had to slow way down because I couldn't see. That cut off line was like someone dropped a towel over the top half of the windshield.

I didn't want to bother by friend again, so once I got back to the house, I marked the lamp height on the garage door with the painters tape, then added a second piece 2" higher and readjusted the lamps. I drove back out to his shop & back and I could see better, but still not quite happy with the results. I will tweak them a bit more over the next few nights and I'll eventually find a happy spot.

 

[Austin23]

The trial and error system worked best for me too. I parked our 2nd vehicle down the road a bit facing the Jeep and then adjusted my headlights down until they were just below the oncoming driver's line of sight.

 

[Heimkehr]

What have you guys found that works the best?

When I replaced my halogen H13s with the equivalent Beamtech LEDs, I first benchmarked the aim of the factory bulbs. That reference point was used to dial in the aim of the Beamtech bulbs.

Infrequently, an oncoming driver will flash their headlights at me. I'd wager this is due to the observably higher light temperature, or color, of the LED bulbs. Their cutoff is the same height as was the halogen bulbs, and is in fact sharper and easier to observe. Thus, it's not a matter of aim so much as said driver possibly being more sensitive to the whiter light. Unfortunately, with the ever-increasing saturation of LED lighting in the automotive market, his situation isn't going to improve.

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