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Can someone measure the beam height off a wall or garage door so I know how high to set mine?
The first thing that I remember surprising me about the Model S was that it’s LED headlights were rated very poorly. When I first got my car out at night, the headlights were bad - so I agreed. There was nice white light, but it was not spread out enough and anything over 30mph I would be out-driving them, which is extremely dangerous. I do a lot of back country road driving where it’s true pitch black and there are no street lights. Aux lights are not uncommon.
I did my usual research and all I could find on TMC was people complaining that their nose cone HID headlights were aimed too high and people were flashing at them. As I have the LED and they’re the opposite of too high this didn’t really apply. However, I noted where they adjusted their headlights up and down and went out and tried it.
Well the difference is astonishing. I went from having the worst headlights I’ve ever had, to having headlights equivalent to what I consider to have the best HID headlights ever made (Honda s2k). I understand in detail the differences between HID, LED, and halogen, so I had the right expectations going into this.
This post is more a PSA that Tesla is not adjusting all cars’ headlights at the factory, so if you’re not satisfied with the light output, check your alignment - it literally took me 4 minutes! And please please please be careful not to blind oncoming traffic! Too high and you waste light going off into the sky. Too low and you can’t see down the road.
Could you please post the part number from the service invoice?I too am in total agreement. I knew about the poor headlights and confirmed it the very night I drove back home from delivery. That was September 2017.
That being said, I've had both headlights replaced under warranty in January 2018 as they had condensation problems and noticed the replacement headlights were much more powerful. SC confirmed this as they told me they had a better technology headlight introduced end of 2017. On a winter drive to Sudbury, ON at night I validated the much improved quality of lighting, but as you mentioned I too thought they were pointed too low.
So I asked from SC an upwards adjustment of about 2'' from 20' and validated this improvement on a all-nighter road trip to the Carolinas in April 2018, and I can say the lighting was absolutely supreme, even in wet and foggy conditions.
This is a simple adjustment everyone with Model S LED headlights should perform for improved safety.
Now that the panel is off, look at the back of the headlight and you will see a round piece of white plastic (the rest of the headlight is black so it stands out). You can put a Phillips head screwdriver into this and screw up - this is how you adjust the headlights.
Count the number of revolutions of your screwdriver so you can fine tune it. That’s really it. I put them up 3 full turns and went for a drive and it was astonishing the difference
- COUNTER CLOCKWISE goes up
- CLOCKWISE goes down.
I'll try and get you a measurement tonight.Anyone do this yet (and happy with their results) and able to share their 1) distance of car to wall, and 2) height of beam on wall?
Sweet, thanks a lot! Looking forward to itI'll try and get you a measurement tonight.
Yes.So does this work for the LED lights (height adjustment) or not?
In the garage measurement, it might be important to know where your suspension was set.So I measured my current setup adjusted by Tesla SvC.
From 10' away, driver side headlight's top cutoff was at 28'', passenger side top cutoff at 32''.
Slight bias upwards but not to the point where high beams would be irrelevant.
Here's a pic of the pattern from 10ft away:View attachment 316078
Now the low beams on the road:
View attachment 316079
Same place, high beams:
View attachment 316080
And finally a side view of the lighting bias:
View attachment 316081
All in all, easy fix, great improvement!
You're right, I forgot to point out this was at standard suspension height.In the garage measurement, it might be important to know where your suspension was set.
Just checked mine, set from the factory (I assume, I never adjusted them), and this is very close to what I have. Perhaps a little lower on the passenger side.So I measured my current setup adjusted by Tesla SvC.
From 10' away, driver side headlight's top cutoff was at 28'', passenger side top cutoff at 32''.
Ugh...I've got coils not air suspension so I'm guessing I have no option to adjust my LED lights. Bummer.