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Aligning the headlights
By KiaMech
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First of all, the high beams
and low beams adjust together. So, adjusting one will throw
the other off some.
There is no left/right adjustment of the headlight because
they are composite headlamps. If you feel that you need some
adjustment, there are the mounting bolts that may allow some
play and washers can also help.
Before adjusting, make sure the tires are inflated to
whatever you run them at. There shouldn't be any load that
you don't normally travel with. Unless you take a lot of
trips, don't load the back with suitcases. Also, no driver
or passengers in the car. Most importantly, you need to be
parked on a flat, level surface.
Pull up to a wall so that the low beam on each side is 118"
away from the wall. Directly in front of each bulb, on the
wall, make a vertical line with some tape. This could be the
biggest challenge, which is to get them exactly right. If I
were doing it, I would first stand at the back of the
Sorento and "eye" down the sides of it. Pick a spot that is
in your line of sight and walk up to it, then do it to the
other side. This may piss you off because this is the time
where ALL of your door dents and body waves will catch your
attention.
After that, you'll need to make the actual vertical lines.
The headlight bulbs are 58.5" apart. So, for instance (and
this is not an actual measurement) say that the tape you put
on your wall is 70" apart from each other. You take
70-58.5=11.5". Then divide 11.5 by 2=5.75". That means that
you mark your vertical lines exactly 5.75" inside of your
eye-balled marks. Make sense???
Next, you need to mark a horizontal line 35" from the ground
on the wall. 35" should be the distance between the ground
and the low beam bulb. If yours is different, just move the
line accordingly.
OK, hard part is done.
Then you turn on your low beams, and adjust them up or down
so that the brightest part of each beam is about 1"-1.5"
below the horizontal line.
That's it.
Don't be surprised if the low beam doesn't hit the vertical
line. It shouldn't. If you drive on the right side of the
road, both headlights should aim just left of the vertical
lines so that the road lines jump out at you more.
If you drive on the left side of the road, both headlights
should be just to the right of the vertical lines.
If you look closely at the beams at night, they will not be
perfectly symmetrical. This kind of sucks, but this is the
way they are supposed to be. The Department of
Transportation (in the States) has very strict rules about
headlight design and aiming. We've had light assemblies that
we had to change out because they did not meet DOT specs
with regards to aiming, and could not be used in the states
until it was corrected.
If you want to aim your fog lights, the procedure is about
the same. The fog lights are 52" apart and the bulbs are
about 20" from the ground. You would work these numbers just
like you did for the headlights. They should aim about 2.5"
below the new (20") horizontal line.
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