danmm7

iTrader: (1)

When i got my 2006 RL, my low beam headlights seemed to be too low. They were aimed too close and if i was driving on a DARK freeway in the middle of the night with 60+mph, it was scary! The light cut off was too close and everything after the cutoff was completely dark. I had to use my high beams all the time. Not a good idea if there were other incoming cars or cars far in front of me.

I took the car to the Acura dealer for a check. They told me that the headlights were "a little too low" and they adjusted them to spec.
I took the car for a spin that same night and i noticed that my low beam lights were adjusted way too high. I could see the beam shooting all the way to tree branched far ahead of me. I could see my low beams illuminating overhead freeway signs far ahead of me. I could see my low beams illuminating inside cars in front of me when i was approaching them. Sure, i had great visibility of the road in front, but what about the other drivers??
It become more obvious that my lights were too 'high' when i went on a two-way curvy road and during my 1 hour drive, 2 drivers from the other direction flashed me with their high-beams!!! I was blinding them.

I took the car to the dealer again and i told them that it looks like my low beams are adjusted way up high.

After 10 mins of inspection, the technician told me that the lights were "within spec" and that this is how they should be. I told him that i disagree and that other people on the road were not happy, so he agreed to adjust them a little bit down. Now they are only a bit better. I still think that i am blinding other drivers, i still illuminate trees in front, ...yet, the Acura tech is convinced that the lights are fine.

So, my question for all of you Acura RL owners is.... how do you like your low beam headlights??
Are they too low? Too high?
Did you ever have to adjust them?

Should i attempt to adjust them myself? It looked a little more complicated than it was on the TSX. Any special tools required?


*** On a side note, i drove two Acura loaner cars recently....09 TL and 09 RDX ... both had crappy low beam headlights that were shooting too close in front of the car. I had to use high-beams often.

Thank you for any feedback!!

stevesrl

^^^ The headlights are terrible. Bottom line the cut off is way to dramatic. I painfully adjusted the headlights exactly as outlined in the service manual. I even set the passenger side a little higher just for a little extra visibility. I would say that my headlights are now tolerable. Reason is I can vividly see everything in front of me fo about 50-80ft ft. After that it's limited.

These headlights are thousands of dollars and $10 halogens beat them hands down because they don't have the dramatic cut off. Halogens blend away far into the distance.

Before I adjusted the headlights my car was downright frightening to drive.

I am also interested in what everyone else has to say on this subject...please all chyme in.

Headlights are cool looking.
They are very bright for where the light shines.
PROBLEM IS DISTANCE becasue of the cut off.

You can adjust them yourself see service manual. No Special tools required. You can run into trouble, because the adjustment gear is plastic and easily stripped.

michaelbmenaker

This was a common complaint in '05 when the car first came out. Most folks have had the best luck with this fix: Have the Left-side (driver side) headlamp adjusted to exactly match the passenger side height. This is high enough to be useful and not too high and blinding to oncoming traffic.