Hello,
I have a 99 Pontiac Grand Am. When I drive at night with the headlights or high beams on, it seems the light is directed upwards too much, since the road in front of the car is dark. Can I adjust something in the headlight to change the direction of the light?
Most cars have adjustments for the aim of the headlights. In the old sealed beam days these adjustments were simple and just about anyone with a phillips head screwdriver could make the adjustments needed.
Now headlight aiming differs from car to car and is much more complicated. You may need to take the car to a dealer or body shop to get the headlights aimed properly.
If you are carrying a lot in the trunk or pulling a trailer the weight in back can make the headlights shot light up in the sky instead of on the road.
This response does not provide any specific details on how to adjust this type of headlight. If there is an adjustment that can be made I would prefer to make it myself to avoid the high labor costs of repair shops. There is nothing heavy enough in the trunk or being towed to cause this problem.
You might get lucky & find the info you need to do this in your owners manual.
The do it yourself section in the owners manual for my wifes 02 Sonata has detailed instructions for how to aim the headlights.
OR plan B would be to buy the 99 Grand Am repair manual from any auto parts store. Around 20 bucks.
The problem is there must be a hundred different directions depending on the make model and year.
Why or why did we every let the designers take over from the engineers and give us things like this designer headlights that cost more and are far more expensive and difficult to replace or adjust.
BTW when on high, I believe your will find most headlights are going to provide more light further down the road so there will be less near the car. That is normal and correct. After all you should be using the “Brights” only when you are on the type of road where you need to see further down the road.
if you ask someone at your dealership they might tell you how to do it…even for free
Its more where to aim them than how to do it. If you take the headlight cover off, you will see several screws attached to the headlight mounts. One set moves the light right and left, and the other up and down. It’s pretty obvious once you get the headlight housing off. Some use a phillips screw drive, others a star drive, and others yet a hex drive.
Car needs to be on a flat and level surface like a driveway about 15 feet away from the garage door or wall. Mark the center of each light beam on the door with masking tape before you start so you can put them back again if you get it all screwed up. Then start adjusting. You maybe just need to lower them a little. The cartons of headlights used to have the pattern printed on them but not anymore. Even the service manuals don’t have it in much any more because its done with a a different device now. The garage door is the DIY method.