How To Adjust Headlight Beam Height

[Mike_TX]

Oh Em Gee. The adjustment made a world of difference. I drove around tonight and I kept expecting people to flash me, but no one did. lol.

World of difference!

 

[Josiebro]

After installing my springs my headlights were aimed lower. This has been an easy fix on other cars I’ve owned but the Stinger is slightly different.

First the headlight adjustment is behind the headlight on each side under where the fender and hood meet.

Generally there is a screw to adjust the height, and this hole that’s circled has a marking saying U<—>D, seems like a logical place.

The other hole says L<—>R but there is nothing in the hole. I’ve never had a reason to adjust a headlight left to right though.

I have the K&N intake and I just had to unbolt the heat shield and remove the filter to get to the adjustment. The stock system should be easy as well as you would just need to remove the air filter box which I think is just 3 bolts and a hose clamp.

View attachment 7459


This is what is down that hole. Glad I just purchased an WiFi endescope to get this picture. Obviously that’s not a screw.
View attachment 7458

Luckily on the back side of this “gear” is a 12mm nut. It’s marked by the arrow in the top picture.
View attachment 7460

Park the car in front of a wall/garage door and turn on the lights, mark your starting location with something. I like to use painters tape.

Rotate the nut using a crescent wrench (ratcheting makes this much easier) and see which way the beam moves. If it goes up, keep going. If it goes down, go the other direction. It’s a tight fit so you’ll only get maybe 1/10 a rotation before hitting the frame and it’s a fine adjustment so the 1” I moved the beam took 1 - 1 1/2 rotations of the nut.
View attachment 7457

This just saved my butt after installing the eibach springs. THANK YOU!

 

[legbuh]

Just did this adjustment too (I did it this morning before the sun started shining on one of my garages.

Removing the airboxes took 5 minutes. Adjusting took 2 or 3. All done in less than 15. Could do it again in 10 or less.

Anyhow, I am stock height and aimed them at first line on the garage door. 20 feet away that raised them about 3-4 inches up. I'll go for a drive tonight to see if anyone flashes me. Hope not.

 

[Spriggan]

Sorry to bump an older thread, but I came across this issue as well (low headlamp aim) so I wanted to contribute for anyone reading in the future:

I work in the automotive lighting industry. I was shocked at how low the aim was on the factory GT2 (adaptive) lamps. The cutoff (flat portion at the top of the pattern) shines about 50-60 feet in front of the vehicle, on a flat road. I have seen a lot of bad factory aiming, usually it is too high. But in the Stinger, driving at night is miserable with the factory aim.

In general terms, FMVSS/DOT aiming and beam pattern standards call for that top of the cutoff to be parallel - that is, it should shine to the horizon on a perfectly level surface. The factory aim on my 2018 GT2 was at least 4-6 degrees lower than it should be, which makes a HUGE difference in distance of the headlamp beam.

To aim the headlamps properly, park on a perfectly level surface with the car at least 20 feet from a wall. Look at your headlights - you will see a small dot in the center, molded into the plastic. This is intentional, indicating the optical center for aiming. Use a tape measure and determine how far off the ground that dot is. If it's 30 inches, go to the wall and measure 30 inches up. The top of the cutoff should be 30 inches up as well. If you lower your Stinger by 2", as long as it's even all around, your aim should NOT change! But it's always a good idea to re-aim when you do any kind of suspension change as it could alter how the vehicle sits.

Took a minute, but I located the little molded circle (at least on the passenger side; didn't try to duplicate on the driver side). If you squat down level with the housing, looking at a 45-degree angle to the headlight housing and move your head back and forth, you'll eventually see it. It's not very big, but it is there.

 

[namja]

Anyone consider that the proper adjustment tool would be something like a #24 torx on a long shaft?

confirmed?

what is the actual torx size? and socket?

I'm gonna try that 12mm on the side though.

 

[Bomber]

After installing my springs my headlights were aimed lower. This has been an easy fix on other cars I’ve owned but the Stinger is slightly different.

First the headlight adjustment is behind the headlight on each side under where the fender and hood meet.

Generally there is a screw to adjust the height, and this hole that’s circled has a marking saying U<—>D, seems like a logical place.

The other hole says L<—>R but there is nothing in the hole. I’ve never had a reason to adjust a headlight left to right though.

I have the K&N intake and I just had to unbolt the heat shield and remove the filter to get to the adjustment. The stock system should be easy as well as you would just need to remove the air filter box which I think is just 3 bolts and a hose clamp.

View attachment 7459


This is what is down that hole. Glad I just purchased an WiFi endescope to get this picture. Obviously that’s not a screw.
View attachment 7458

Luckily on the back side of this “gear” is a 12mm nut. It’s marked by the arrow in the top picture.
View attachment 7460

Park the car in front of a wall/garage door and turn on the lights, mark your starting location with something. I like to use painters tape.

Rotate the nut using a crescent wrench (ratcheting makes this much easier) and see which way the beam moves. If it goes up, keep going. If it goes down, go the other direction. It’s a tight fit so you’ll only get maybe 1/10 a rotation before hitting the frame and it’s a fine adjustment so the 1” I moved the beam took 1 - 1 1/2 rotations of the nut.
View attachment 7457

After installing my springs my headlights were aimed lower. This has been an easy fix on other cars I’ve owned but the Stinger is slightly different.

First the headlight adjustment is behind the headlight on each side under where the fender and hood meet.

Generally there is a screw to adjust the height, and this hole that’s circled has a marking saying U<—>D, seems like a logical place.

The other hole says L<—>R but there is nothing in the hole. I’ve never had a reason to adjust a headlight left to right though.

I have the K&N intake and I just had to unbolt the heat shield and remove the filter to get to the adjustment. The stock system should be easy as well as you would just need to remove the air filter box which I think is just 3 bolts and a hose clamp.

View attachment 7459


This is what is down that hole. Glad I just purchased an WiFi endescope to get this picture. Obviously that’s not a screw.
View attachment 7458

Luckily on the back side of this “gear” is a 12mm nut. It’s marked by the arrow in the top picture.
View attachment 7460

Park the car in front of a wall/garage door and turn on the lights, mark your starting location with something. I like to use painters tape.

Rotate the nut using a crescent wrench (ratcheting makes this much easier) and see which way the beam moves. If it goes up, keep going. If it goes down, go the other direction. It’s a tight fit so you’ll only get maybe 1/10 a rotation before hitting the frame and it’s a fine adjustment so the 1” I moved the beam took 1 - 1 1/2 rotations of the nut.
View attachment 7457

I have a 2021 Stinger Gt. The low beam is dangerously low, especially when turning to the left (In Australia we drive on the left hand side of the road, so the beam to the left of the road shines higher to avoid dazzling oncoming drivers) When turning right, the dynamic bending lights adjust to send the higher left hand side beam to the centre of the road, but when turning left the opposite occurs, making visibility dangerously short.
I have found the two adjusting screws (as shown in previous post), and a No2 Phillips screwdriver fits snugly into the funnel shaped guide to engage the phillips head screw. The screw was initially hard to turn, almost felt like it was spring loaded, but once started and worked in either direction, it turns quite easily. However, no matter how much I turn the screw, the headlight low beam remains in the same place. I have turned each side screw about a dozen turns anticlockwise to raise the beams, but nothing changes.
Any ideas?

 

[Fl stingergt]

Take air boxes out there is a nut you can use for further adjustment. Right under airbox on feder side

 

[MerlintheMad]

I have a 2021 Stinger Gt. The low beam is dangerously low, especially when turning to the left (In Australia we drive on the left hand side of the road, so the beam to the left of the road shines higher to avoid dazzling oncoming drivers) When turning right, the dynamic bending lights adjust to send the higher left hand side beam to the centre of the road, but when turning left the opposite occurs, making visibility dangerously short.
I have found the two adjusting screws (as shown in previous post), and a No2 Phillips screwdriver fits snugly into the funnel shaped guide to engage the phillips head screw. The screw was initially hard to turn, almost felt like it was spring loaded, but once started and worked in either direction, it turns quite easily. However, no matter how much I turn the screw, the headlight low beam remains in the same place. I have turned each side screw about a dozen turns anticlockwise to raise the beams, but nothing changes.
Any ideas?

A snuggly fitting screwdriver shank is probably not getting all the way seated in the worm gear. If you use a screwdriver with a thinner shank so that it has some play inside the access hole, you'll get a better feel for how the screwdriver tip is engaging with the gears.

 

[Bomber]

A snuggly fitting screwdriver shank is probably not getting all the way seated in the worm gear. If you use a screwdriver with a thinner shank so that it has some play inside the access hole, you'll get a better feel for how the screwdriver tip is engaging with the gears.

No, unfortunately that's not the case. The guide in the funnel shaped piece guides the screwdriver perfectly into the phillips head screw and I can feel it turning. in the case of the l--r funnel for lateral adjustment, it's the same and I can actually watch the screw and plastic 12mm nut turning. I tried the next sized driver down and it's a loose fit in the screw so there is a risk of stripping the phillips slot (the screw requires mild force to turn).

 

[Fl stingergt]

Take the air boxes out 5 min lot easier to adjust lights.

 

[Bomber]

Thanks FL stingergt, most helpful. All fixed! However, on the 2021 model (at least) there is no need to remove airboxes. However, removing one allowed me to see what was happening better. Two reasons my adjustments were not working: 1) I was turning the wrong way, and the lights were probably already at their lowest setting. I went by the forum advise of anticlockwise for up. However, whilst this is true when turning the 12mm nut, the opposite is the case with the screwdriver. the screw actually operates a worm drive in the side of the gear which turns with the hex nut. The correct direction turning the screwdriver is clockwise UP. It's actually clearly marked on the funnel shaped guides, but easier to see with the boxes removed (thanks FL stingergt)! second reason I couldn't see the headlights moving was because the worm drive is geared down, a full turn of the phillips head screwdriver only moves the nut about 1 flat. I was worried before about screwing the screw right out, but there are no restrictions on the amount of turns you can make (probably apart from when the light reaches its maximum position up or down)
Things learned (at least for the 2021 model)
1) All that is needed is is a No2 8" phillips head screwdriver. At first the screw is a little tight, feels like it's spring loaded. This is because the nut is a little sticky when first moved, but is fine once turned a bit. Therefore I would NOT recommend using a smaller screwdriver, I think there would be a good chance of stripping the plastic phillips slot. Keep plenty of downward pressure on the screwdriver when first starting. If the slot does happen to strip, there is still the option of removing the boxes and using a 12mm ratcheting socket.
2) It can take quite a few turns to move the beam far because of the gearing in the worm drive. Don't be afraid of the screw coming out. I never done it by the book, I had to be about 4' from the wall of my carport for the car to be level. I raised the top of the beam about an inch, will try it tonight. If it needs further adjusting, it's only a 2 minute job once you have the hang of it.

 

[Fl stingergt]

Good job . No problem. I’ve had my car close to four years been all over it and had probably ever common issue every one else has had.

 

[brianwithnoy]

this adjusts both your headlights at the same time?

 

[Bomber]

No. there's an adjustment on each side. Low beam only, high beam is self levelling

 

[5tinger]

No.2 Philips can adjust the headlamp height via the funnel.
The factory aim was unbelievably low. The cutoff was about 18m ahead.

 

[patrick49]

Bumping this as a thank-you - hadn't been driving at night much since being lowered but I've had to do it more recently and I was reacquainted with the super-low aim. Got this knocked out in 5 mins with a screwdriver and some tape on the inside of the garage door. Aimed both sides up a little over an inch from point blank range and went for a drive, definitely much better but maaaybe a little too high. The few cars I passed didn't flash me, but I'll try to find a spot where I can test it on a flat surface from 20' to get it right.

 

[rocket23]

Bumping this as a thank-you - hadn't been driving at night much since being lowered but I've had to do it more recently and I was reacquainted with the super-low aim. Got this knocked out in 5 mins with a screwdriver and some tape on the inside of the garage door. Aimed both sides up a little over an inch from point blank range and went for a drive, definitely much better but maaaybe a little too high. The few cars I passed didn't flash me, but I'll try to find a spot where I can test it on a flat surface from 20' to get it right.

Better at 25 feet away and tape height set at 24 inches

 

[Grump]

Where are you guys finding 20'+ of flat surface? Seems any minor indentation in the road surface throws the beam many degrees off.

 

[MyHarpoon]

Where are you guys finding 20'+ of flat surface? Seems any minor indentation in the road surface throws the beam many degrees off.

I've found that the exact height of the cutoff is irrelevant (i.e. you don't need to know it to set the lights. As long cutoff is at the same height from 10', 20', 50', or whatever, you're maximizing light distance while assuring you're not blinding anyone. This method also removes any variability due to lowering springs.

 

[rocket23]

I've found that the exact height of the cutoff is irrelevant (i.e. you don't need to know it to set the lights. As long cutoff is at the same height from 10', 20', 50', or whatever, you're maximizing light distance while assuring you're not blinding anyone. This method also removes any variability due to lowering springs.

agree to disagree.....the ''cutoff'' can still be way too high and blind on coming traffic ....so height is very relevant. I completely understand the situation you describe, but the lights still need to be ''aimed'' otherwise , why have an adjustment screw at all?